If you eat protein either alone or with a carbohydrate and if your brain is running low on the chemicals that make you alert, the protein will replenish those chemicals and you'll be re-energized.I long ago assigned soft drinks and doughnuts to the "occasional"category in my diet, along with mayonnaise and Goo Goo bars.
Now I've given up my chocolate chip breakfast muffin. Yes. While tearing into the cellophane wrapper, I noticed that this staple of my diet supplied 44 percent of my daily fat allowance. If I ate nothing for the rest of the day except twigs and berries, I might squeak in under the limit.
But that's not the only reason I've gone cold turkey on those warm, comforting muffins. About the same time, I talked to Kayla Carruth, a nutritionist at the UT Medical Center in Knoxville, about the "food-mood"connection. Too much fat in the mornings, she said, can slow you down and muddle your mind. Opening my mouth to form words in the morning takes all the energy I can muster. I don't need fat-induced muddle.
Enough about my dietary whims. Let me tell you what Carruth says about the food-mood connection. Bottom line is that you can eat foods that make you feel and act certain ways. I am not making this up.
Books attest to this little known truth. And Carruth explains the facts in public programs she presents. In a nutshell, eating protein such as that in lean meats and low-fat dairy products will make you more mentally alert. Eating carbohydrates like sweets and starches will make you more relaxed. I confess I have taken journalistic license with Carruth's words. Numerous "ifs" and "buts" must follow to give you the big picture. So let's tackle a few of them.
If you eat protein either alone or with a carbohydrate and if your brain is running low on the chemicals that make you alert, the protein will replenish those chemicals and you'll be re-energized.
If you eat carbohydrate alone, without protein, your brain will make more serotonin, which helps you relax.
Neither effect is immediate. Foods must pass through the stomach and into the bloodstream--usually about a half hour.
We're not talking about foods from an organic farming co-op north of Petaluma. These are foods in your kitchen now: chicken, bread, cookies. Here's an example of how it works.
You need to be in top form after lunch. Say you've got a megabuck sales call to make, or a job interview, or a TV taping. You eat a healthy baked potato and reward your self-restraint with a small piece of pie. Uh-oh. Snooze city. Two carbohydrate laden foods turbo your brain into serotonin production. You're late for the sales call, nod off during the job interview, and smile stupidly throughout the TV taping. I exaggerate. But you will be more relaxed and have less of the "umph" you need to do a good job.
If you had eaten a small serving of fish and some low-fat cottage cheese, you would have been "up" for the afternoon's mental challenges. The protein would've given your brain a boost that would've helped you do your best. Sure, you're saying. If it's that easy, surely everyone who has a job to do in the afternoons would eat fish and cottage cheese for lunch. Only preschool children and the unemployed would have baked potatoes.
Come on. You know why the fish and cottage cheese regimen won't fly. Some people don't like fish and cottage cheese. Others don't have time to shop for and prepare fish, and you don't find cottage cheese in many vending machines. And sometimes you just gotta have a hamburger.
What Carruth and other nutritionists are telling us, though, is that we can--if we choose--eat for a desired result. Here's why.
Neurotransmitters are chemicals that carry messages in the brain. Three of the neurotransmitters have to do with the food we eat. One we've already talked about--serotonin, the calming one associated with carbohydrates. The other two, dopamine and norepinephrine, are the alertness chemicals. Eating protein-rich foods--the very lean meats and low-fat dairy products--primes your brain to make more of these alertness chemicals.
Overeating or dieting can make your neurotransmitters go wacko. So can food additives. Your mood-food connection goes in the ditch. Fat (remember my chocolate chip muffin?) is a culprit, too. It makes digestion take longer and messes with your mind and mood. Fruits and vegetables, on the other hand, don't affect the mood-food pas de deux.
Alert reader that you are, you've probably divined that if what you eat can affect your mind, your mind also can affect what you eat. This isn't a huge problem unless your mind orders up a half gallon of double chocolate chunk fudge brownie ice cream and a pork roast twice a day.
If you're thinking that all this is interesting but not terribly useful, you're not alone. That's exactly what Carruth says.
"Few of us are disciplined enough to eat just what we need to produce the desired effect. What this all goes back to is eating a well-balanced diet," she says.
Carruth says normal eating includes some cravings and some giving in to them, but within reason. If you consistently shove reason aside as you rush to the fridge though, you need to work with your cravings to bring them under control. Find low fat substitutes for the food objects of your affection and allow yourself some rewards for good behavior.
If you have marked highs and lows in your daily moods and energy levels, learning more about the food-mood connection might help. If you have to put your head on your desk and nap for ten minutes in the afternoon, try adding a small serving of protein-rich food to your lunch. If you're bright-eyed at bedtime, leave off the late night low-fat papaya-passion fruit yogurt (protein packed) and eat a muffin (carbohydrate intense) instead. Does the food-mood connection work the same in women and men?
Theoretically, yes, Carruth says. "But women in particular feel they give in to cravings." And monthly female hormone fluctuations come into play, too. In all eating, Carruth advises common sense.
"Listen to your body. Don't wait until you're famished before you eat. Don't eat too fast."
And, she says, "Quit eating before you feel too full. When it's full, the stomach sends the brain a message. Some people never use that signal though, and if you don't use it you may lose it."
Tina R. Jones (trjones@utk.edu)