Mommy Suburbia: Fight The Blues With These Amazing Mood Boosting Foods

You got a good night sleep but you find yourself feeling a little down in the dumps, grumpy and irritable. Ever happen to you? It can be so frustrating when your emotions get the best of you and you find yourself feeling moody, snappy and short with everyone - especially your kids. Or worse yet, your children are acting moody, grumpy and a little worn out!

What do you do about this?

I've been doing a lot of research lately trying to find some ways to naturally boost my mood, feel more energetic and have a more positive outlook in my daily life. Did you know that the food we eat not only serves as a way to feed our bodies but different types of food can have an impact on regulating our mood, help fight symptoms of depression and reduce anxiety. I guess the saying "You are what you eat" has some truth to it! Fill yourself with junk and you are bound to feel junky.

Something I came across recently while learning about the impact food has on our mood really peaked my interest and I wanted to share it with you. We all know what comfort food is right? That big tub of Ben & Jerry's or that gooey pan of rich chocolate brownies - ring a bell? Yeah, I thought so. When you're feeling blue comfort food is where most of us go to find a little consolation but what if this comfort food is really making the blues worse.

However I learned that a little tweak to what you grab out of the fridge to comfort yourself could be the perfect solution to getting yourself out of that funky mood. This great info-graphic I found on Berries.com has a big list of mood-boosting foods and the impact they have on us when we eat them.

I've included a small snapshot of the info-graphic to whet your appetite but if you want to read more head over to the original blog post on Shari's Berries Blog for the full article! I know after reading it I wanted to stock my fridge with these mood-boosting foods and teach my kids about the wonderful benefits of these tasty treats.

(Note - Please know that I do realize that there are people who require daily medication to help them with clinical depression, anxiety and many other disorders and I am grateful that the medications are available to help. Please consult a doctor if you think your symptoms are serious)

Chocolate, The Super Hero We All Know And Love

While you are checking out the Shari's Berries blog make sure you read the article on the 12 health benefits of dark chocolate! I knew dark chocolate was amazing and now I have 12 more reasons supporting my hunch! Yeah!!

A little while back my husband and I participated in a health assessment through his employer. The feedback was somewhat shocking to me since I've always been quite healthy aside from a few colds each year. The results showed that my bad cholesterol was high and my good cholesterol was too low. Heart disease does run in my family so I was definitely paying close attention when I had my one-on-one consultation with a health advisor.

The advisor suggested I incorporate salmon twice a week into my diet. I love salmon, who doesn't but UH, have you checked the price of salmon lately? For a middle class suburban family of 6 this just isn't a realistic weekly menu item based on our current grocery budget. One meal would cost us more than $50! That is 1/3 of my total weekly budget for one meal. Fish sticks, we could afford fish sticks but who wants to eat that junk! No thanks!

The health advisor suggested that if I couldn't afford to eat salmon regularly to try to incorporate avocado, raw nuts like almonds as well as dark chocolate into my weekly diet!

Wait - did she just say dark CHOCOLATE? Cue the music, dim the lights, this party is about to get serious!!

Since chocolate is one of my most favorite things in the world I was relieved to hear this as an option to help improve my health. I know eating dark chocolate makes me happy but the fact that it is good for me (in moderation of course) is a double bonus!

Where To Find Mood Boosting Foods

Here are some great mood-boosting foods & containers I am stocking my fridge and pantry with to help ward off the blues and keep my body strong and healthy!