Eating For Health

Feeling down, anxious, under stress?   Many people turn to food to boost their mood but then choose junk food, foods high in sugar and fat.   Junk foods won’t really help improve your mood.   What are some foods that not only are mood boosters but also good for your health? Good fats and your mood: The Harvard Health Blog notes the healthy omega-3 fats actually travel to our brains and interact “with mood-related molecules in the brain.   These healthy fats are also anti-inflammatory which helps “relieve depression”.   And omega-3 fats may help stabilize any mood swings.   (See:   What are omega 3 fats and why are they good for you? )   Some ways to add omega-3 fats to your day: Fish:   A good source of omega-3 fats are fish like salmon, mackerel, tuna, herring and sardines.   Oils:   flaxseed oil and canola oil. Seeds:   Flaxseeds, chia seeds Nuts:   walnuts are high in omega-3 fats Green, leafy vegetables lik...

This week my husband showed me an interesting article in TIME, Can Taurine Slow Aging?   Who isn’t interested in slowing down father time?   Then my husband asked me if I knew what taurine was.   I said, “sure, it is an amino acid in some proteins.”   So, what does taurine have to do with slowing aging?   What foods have taurine?   Are there ways to increase taurine levels in your body besides eating certain foods? .   What is taurine? As noted in my blog, How can you add some high-quality protein foods to your day? , proteins are made up of building blocks called amino acids.   Your body can make some amino acids but some you have to get from the foods you eat.   For babies taurine is an essential amino acid but adults can make the amino acid, taurine.      Taurine levels decline as you age. Although adults make taurine, the amount we make decreases substantially with age.   For example, in 60-year-old individual...

You hear the word “fat” and you think you don’t want any fat in your diet.   But there are fats that are actually good for you.   Most people know olive oil, especially EVVO is a healthy oil.   Have you heard of omega-3 fats?   What are they?   What foods have them?   And why are omega 3 fats good for your health?    What are omega-3 fats?   Believe it or not, your body can’t make these fats.   We all know our bodies can certainly make fat as anyone who has gained weight knows.   But there are 2 fats your body can’t make, one is omega-3 and the other is omega-6 fats.   Both of these are called essential fats as you have to “eat them to get them”, your body can’t make them.   (I tell students in my class that “essential” means you have to “eat them to get them”.) There are actually 3 different types of omega-3 fats and you may have seen some of these mentioned in commercials.   o    EPA – eicosapentaen...