“Eat an apple a day to keep the doctor away”, might impress some kids from your neighborhood and even though apples are generally good for you, it’s not that simple. In order to maintain a healthy state of mind, one needs a balanced diet and enough hydration. You can’t eat fast foods, then devour an apple pie and say, “Yeah, well, I’m eating healthy… There was an apple in my pie.” Sadly, doesn’t work that way. Lucky for you, however, striking the middle ground in your diet isn’t that hard, either. All you have to do is eat certain foods that contain B-vitamins, magnesium, zinc, tryptophan and other essential minerals, vitamins and amino-acids.
B-vitamins
Deficiency of the vitamins in the B group can be bad for your mental state. It can cause poor memory, poor concentration, depression, state of confusion, stress – you know, all the “good” stuff. Don’t worry about it, though, as the vitamins of this group can be easily obtained from certain foods, such as brown rice, bananas, steamed green beans and more. The vitamins of this group are really important but can be easily depleted. Stress, for example, has a severe antagonizing effect on B6. Now, B6 is a really important vitamin, especially because it plays a role in the biosynthesis of some of the most important neurotransmitters, including serotonin and dopamine. That’s why these vitamins are very important and you can’t afford not having them in your diet.
Magnesium
Magnesium is also important for dopamine production. Dopamine is what you might the “neurotransmitter of happiness” – it’s the pleasure neurotransmitter. Stress is one of the biggest enemies of magnesium in your system, which is why it’s important to consume a lot of it when you’re under stress. Of course, too much of anything can be harmful (that’s an inherent quality of “too much”).
Magnesium also plays a role in stimulating the production of GABA (Gama-Aminobutyric acid) which is an inhibitory neurotransmitter. Low levels of GABA can cause mental decline, anxiety and sleep disorders.
How can you get magnesium? Usually from green foods, such as spinach and broccoli, as well from almonds and sunflower seeds.
Vitamin C
You can obtain vitamin C from foods such as broccoli, orange juice, peppers, brussels sprouts, strawberries.
Vitamin C is important for boosting your immune system. There are also theories that it helps with the nerve cell damage caused by stress, but there has been no conclusive research done on the subject. We do know that lack of vitamin C can cause lack of motivation and tiredness.
How to create a balanced diet
There is no one single way on how to achieve a balanced diet, however. You have to eat all sorts of foods – vegetables, meat, fish, fruit, dairy products, nuts – everything contains something your body needs. You need to have a basic understanding of what certain deficits might cause you (like the ones explained in the article). However, there should be absolutely no problem when it comes to deficits if you eat everything. Generally speaking, the more colorful your diet is, the better. If you have a well-balanced eating routine and eat various foods, you should feel well and energetic most of the time. You should also remember that stress is your enemy and even though we live in stressful times, you should do everything your power to reduce it as much as you can. After all, your diet alone can’t keep you feeling happy and blissful, but if you find a balance to your life, in combination with a healthy and balanced diet, you will be one step closer to finding the peace we are all looking for.
Matt Stone is a writer and blogger and his favorite topics are related to healthy lifestyle. He is a manager in EndOfTenancyCleaning, London.
