Eat Your Way to Happiness!

1. Eat Your Way to Happiness! 10 Secrets to Improve Your Mood, Curb Cravings, and Keep the Pounds Off Elizabeth Somer, M.A.,R.D.

2. Objectives • Describe the 1,2,3 breakfast rules • Explain the link between sugar, stress, and cravings. • List 3 nutrients essential for memory and explain why they are important and what foods supply them. • Explain at least 3 dietary guidelines for aiding sleep.

3. What are you willing to tolerate?

4. Neurotransmitters 101 • Everyone turns to food for solace • Your diet and the blood-brain barrier • 40+ Neurotransmitters • Food & Mood: The chicken ‘n the egg • The Cycles • Throughout the day • Throughout the month: PMS • Throughout the year: SAD • Neurotransmitters work in concert • What are the best foods? • IT’S NOT A FOOD – IT’S AN EATING STYLE!!!!

5. Secret #1: Real Food • What are real foods? • Why are real foods critical to mood, energy and health? • 1,000s of studies, spanning decades of research. • It’s not just fiber or vitamin C or a phytonutrient • The 75% Solution • No more than 3 grams fat/100 calories • No more than 1 gram saturated/trans/100 calories • Tricks of the trade • Purge the kitchen then restock the fort • Bring foods with you

6. Secret #2: Breakfast • Post/Kellogg’s have made a fortune off your Neuropeptide Y levels! • The most important meal of the day • National Weight Control Registry findings • Leaner • More nutritious diets • Memory, thinking, recall, & problem-solving • Intelligence, creativity • Energy, less fatigue • Happier, calmer, more even mood, less depression

7. The Alarm Goes Off…. • 8-12 hours since you last ate. • Do you want to run on fumes or fuel? • It only takes 5 minutes! • Oatmeal cooked in nonfat milk, topped with fruit • Whole-grain waffle with PB and blueberries • Fruit parfait • Pancake wrap • Smoothie • Cantaloupe with yogurt and granola • The Gold Standard: Whole grain cereal, milk and fruit

8. The 1-2-3 Breakfast   

9. Secrets #3 & #4: Quality Grains, Less Sugar • Serotonin: pain, sleep, mood, and appetite •  tryptophan   serotonin • It’s all carb foods that  serotonin • Insulin’s effect on blood amino acid levels • Why people crave carbs • Why low-carb diets won’t work long-term • Overweight:  cravings for sweets • Can’t will-power away these cravings! • For mood & weight: Choose whole grains/quality carbs!!

10. Growing up on the Savannah Growing up on the farm in 1906 Growing up in the loft/condo in 2009 Is this much sugar a problem? A study from the University of Minnesota found that the more refined foods a person eats, the higher the calorie intake and the lower the intake of vitamins, minerals, and other mood-enhancing compounds. America’s Love Affair w/Sugar

11. If it’s processed, it probably has sugar - 10 teaspoons in a can of cola • 9 teaspoons in a cup of vanilla yogurt • 6 ½ teaspoons in a quarter cup of cranberry sauce • almost 5 teaspoons in a Healthy Choice Grilled Turkey Breast entree • 4 teaspoons in a half cup of commercial spaghetti sauce • 3.5 teaspoons in a half cup of baked beans • 3 teaspoons in a cup of Campbell’s Tomato Garden soup or two tablespoons of KC Masterpiece Original Barbeque Sauce?

12. Sugar, Stress, & Cravings • UC San Francisco studies: The stress hormones signal a craving for sweets, which in turn reign in the stress. • “What was fascinating about these findings was that the rats were less able to cope when they didn’t get fat and sugar in their diets.” • While some might help, more could be harmful. • University of Alabama studies on depressed subjects: The caffeine and sugar effect. • University of Calgary:  fat   stress response. • The 6% Solution

13. Lunch: Galanin • Galanin: The more fat you eat, the more you want •  fat pre-load  50%  calorie intake later • Lunch rules: ①Low-fat, calorie-controlled (~ 500 calories?) ②Combine carbs and protein ③2 fruits or vegetables • Examples: • Black bean & veggie burrito • Spinach salad topped with grilled salmon. Serve with bread. • Peanut butter and banana sandwich on whole wheat, with yogurt or milk.

14. Secret #5: Super Mood Foods • The brain uses more oxygen than any other tissue. • The wear and tear associated with years of free radical damage is suspected to contribute to memory loss, even to Alzheimer’s disease. • Studies have found that thinking ability remained high throughout life when people consume antioxidant-rich diets.

15. Add Super Mood Foods • Nuts • Dark green leafies • Colorful fruits, such as watermelon, mangos, kiwi, & oranges • Broth-based soups • Wheat germ

16. Are You Getting Enough? • How many fruits and vegetables did you eat yesterday? • You need 8+ servings a day of richly-colored produce. • Every national nutrition survey shows we are not getting enough... • The USDA Healthy Eating Index • The University of Michigan Study • FDA’s Study

17. Sneak ‘em in! • THE #1 most important anti-aging habit: • 2 fruits and/or vegetables at every meal and at least 1 at every snack • Add vegetables to favorite dishes • Peas in soup, grated carrots in spaghetti sauce, corn in muffins, heap produce onto pizza, pureed leftovers in soup • Drink your vegetables • Juice, smoothies • Mix fruit into tossed salads • Make fruit your dessert • Pile berries on sorbet or cake, dip strawberries in chocolate, poach a pear, bake an apple, make watermelon sorbet

18. Secret #6: The Good Fat • 60% of the 100 billion brain cells is fat. • The more fluid/flexible those membranes, the better they relay info. • Omega-3s = the most flexible. • 75% of omega-3s in brain is DHA. • Omegas: From heart disease to depression • 50%  in depression w/  DHA • American Psychiatric Association (2006): Omegas important in tx of depression.

19. More on the Good Fat • The Omega-3s: • Brain: ↓ inflammation, ↑ speed and flexibility, serotonin, cell function, cell regeneration = ↑ memory, reaction times, IQs & ↓ Parkinsons, Alzheimers, dementia, MS, ADD • Omega 6:Omega 3 - We evolved on diets with a 1:1 or 2:1 ratio

20. Not All Omega 3s Are Created Equal • ALA, DHA, and EPA • ALA: Walnuts, flaxseed, soy • Heart disease • DHA and EPA • Salmon, mackerel, sardines, herring • Heart disease, dementia, depression, Alzheimers, Parkinsons, etc. • The mercury-omega dilemma • Fortified foods

21. Secret #7: Supplement  A Multi • 100% to 300% of the Daily Value • Skip the “extras” • Iron for the ladies • Vitamin D  Calcium and magnesium • The Omega-3 fat DHA • Antioxidants and beyond • SAM-e

22. Secrets #8 and #9: The Right Thirst Quenchers and Vices • Liquids can make you fat • Caffeine lingers in body up to 12 hours. • Try eliminating coffee/tea for 2 weeks. • Add back sparingly. • Tannins and iron • Vices: Dark chocolate, red wine, and tea

23. Secret #10: Eat Right at Night • Large or fat-laden meals • Spicy Foods • Gas-forming foods • MSG • All-carb dinner: Sleepy • Carb-protein: Alert • The bedtime snack • The nightcap

24. 7 Food & Mood Rules ① Take it slow. ② Eat well and spread it out. ③ Cut back on sugar, caffeine, & saturated and trans fats; eat more DHA-rich foods ④ Lace a real-foods diet with super mood foods ⑤ Exercise!!! ⑥ Drink water. ⑦ Supplement responsibly.

25. Put it into practice • Breakfast: Whole grain cereal, soymilk w/DHA, banana and glass of OJ • Lunch: Turkey breast sandwich on whole wheat, spinach salad with olive oil/vinegar dressing, piece of fruit, glass of nonfat milk • Dinner: Grilled wild salmon, baked sweet potato, steamed green peas, instant brown rice • Snacks: Yogurt, fruit, nuts, dried fruit, string cheese, 100% vegetable juice, soymilk w/DHA, etc. • Bedtime snack: air-popped popcorn, ½ whole wheat English muffin with jam, ½ cinnamon-raisin bagel with honey

26. Secret #11: Exercise!!!! • Exercisers are: • Happier. • More satisfied with their lives. • Less prone to depression, anxiety, and stress. • Less prone to PMS, SAD, and mood swings associated with menopause. • They also: • Live longer. • Look up to 20 years younger.

27. Feel-Good Fitness Guidelines • Move Every Day for at Least 45 Minutes. • Aerobic Activity: Walking, Swimming, Cycling, Jogging for at least 4 hours a week. • Strength Training: Weight Lifting at least twice a week. • Warm Up and Cool Down for Flexibility. • Set goals and make it fun!

28. Food should look good, taste good, and be good for your body, mood, and mind.Eat well and be happy!!