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    Change Your Food, Change Your Mood: A Nutrition-Based Approach to Reducing Stress, Banishing the Blues, and Feeling Great
    Change Your Food, Change Your Mood: A Nutrition-Based Approach to Reducing Stress, Banishing the Blues, and Feeling Great
    Change Your Food, Change Your Mood: A Nutrition-Based Approach to Reducing Stress, Banishing the Blues, and Feeling Great
    Ebook244 pages2 hours

    Change Your Food, Change Your Mood: A Nutrition-Based Approach to Reducing Stress, Banishing the Blues, and Feeling Great

    By Janet Maccaro

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    About this ebook

    Could how you feel be linked to your last meal? You bet! Nutritionist Maccaro empowers you to fight back against stress, depression, anxiety, anger, and addiction by replenishing your body with foods and supplements that enhance your mood. Learn how to stock your kitchen with brain-balancers, hormone-helpers, stress-busters, sleep-enhancers, energy-boosters, and more!
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherSiloam
    Release dateSep 20, 2012
    ISBN9781599799056
    Change Your Food, Change Your Mood: A Nutrition-Based Approach to Reducing Stress, Banishing the Blues, and Feeling Great
    Author

    Janet Maccaro

    Janet Maccaro, PhD, CNC, is a respected lecturer, author, and radio/television personality. She has doctorates in nutrition and natural healing and is also a leading expert in natural progesterone supplementation. Internationally recognized for her knowledge in women’s health, Janet Maccaro has written books that include Fabulous at 50, A Woman’s Body Balanced by Nature, The 90-Day Immune System Makeover, Breaking the Grip of Dangerous Emotions, Midlife Meltdown,and Natural Health Remedies.

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      Book preview

      Change Your Food, Change Your Mood - Janet Maccaro

      Most CHARISMA HOUSE BOOK GROUP products are available at special quantity discounts for bulk purchase for sales promotions, premiums, fund-raising, and educational needs. For details, write Charisma House Book Group, 600 Rinehart Road, Lake Mary, Florida 32746, or telephone (407) 333-0600.

      CHANGE YOUR FOOD, CHANGE YOUR MOOD

      by Janet Maccaro, PhD, CNC

      Published by Siloam

      Charisma Media/Charisma House Book Group

      600 Rinehart Road

      Lake Mary, Florida 32746

      www.charismahouse.com

      This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—without prior written permission of the publisher, except as provided by United States of America copyright law.

      Unless otherwise noted, Scripture quotations are from the New American Standard Bible, Updated. Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission (www.Lockman.org).

      Cover Designer: Judith Wright

      Executive Design Director: Bill Johnson

      Author Photo: Markow Southwest, www.paul.markow.com

      Copyright © 2008 by Janet Maccaro

      All rights reserved

      Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:

      Maccaro, Janet C.

          Change your food, change your mood / Janet Maccaro. -- 1st ed.

              p. cm.

          Includes bibliographical references.

          ISBN 978-1-59979-226-2

          1. Mental health--Nutritional aspects. 2. Mood (Psychology) I. Title.

      RC455.4.N8M33

      2008 616.89’0654--dc22

                                                                                      2007045911

      E-ISBN: 978-1-59979-905-6

      CONTENTS

      Introduction

      PART 1: HOW FOOD AFFECTS YOUR MOOD

      1 The Mind-Body Connection

      Chemicals and the Brain

      Emotions and the immune system

      Moods and amino acids

      Identifying Emotional Disorders

      Generalized anxiety disorder (GAD)

      Social anxiety disorder

      Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD)

      Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)

      Panic disorder

      The Medication Maze

      Brain Food for Your Mood

      2 Hormones and Your Diet

      PMS: The Period Before Your Period

      PMS diet protocol

      After the Fall: Cravings, Calories, and Hormones

      Natural supplements

      On to menopause

      Hormones From Plants in Your Diet

      Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy

      3 Stress and Your Diet

      How Stress Affects Your Body

      How Stress Affects Your Brain

      Addressing Adrenal Exhaustion—Diet and Lifestyle

      Symptoms

      Protocols

      4 Fatigue and Your Diet

      Take a Look at Sugar

      A Hidden Cause of Fatigue

      Food Allergies and Fatigue

      Juicing

      Supplementation

      Tired and Toxic?

      Detoxification

      Insomnia and Your Diet

      Natural Sleep Aids

      5 Depression and Your Diet

      Bring on the Protein

      Amino Acids: The Natural Tranquilizers

      The Big B Connection

      Other Supplements

      GABA

      Liquid serotonin

      Magnesium gelcaps

      Brain Link and Anxiety Control 24

      PART 2: HOW TO FEEL YOUR BEST

      6 The Feel-Good Diet Program

      Meal Plan

      Recommended Supplements

      Mind Medicines

      GABA

      Magnesium

      Progesterone

      Other amino acids

      Brain Balancers

      Omega-3 fatty acids and your moods

      Other brain/mood helpers

      Hormone Helpers

      PMS program

      Menopausal program

      Stress Busters

      Stress busters from nature

      Stress-busting drugs vs. herbs

      Sleep Inducers

      Foods to avoid before bedtime

      Foods that promote restful sleep

      Other sleep-promoting strategies

      Energy Boosters

      Protein = Energy

      Nutrition for Adrenal Exhaustion

      Mood Enhancers

      Mood food: carbs

      Mood foods that provide folic acid

      Mood foods that provide magnesium

      Mood foods that provide niacin

      Mood foods that provide zinc

      Mood foods are low in sodium

      Mood foods in moderation

      Feed Your Mind With Positive Food

      Appendix A: Food Sources for Selected Vitamins, Minerals, and Other Nutrients

      Food Sources of Calcium

      Nondairy Food Sources of Calcium

      Food Sources of Magnesium

      Food Sources of Potassium

      Food Sources of Iron

      Sodium in Foods

      Food Sources of Vitamin C

      Food Sources of Vitamin A

      Food Sources of Vitamin E

      Carbohydrate Content of Selected Foods

      Food Sources of Dietary Fiber

      Dietary Sources of Protein

      Sugars in Selected Foods

      Appendix B: Product Sources

      Dr. Janet’s Balanced by Nature Products

      Tranquility

      Safe Passage

      Women’s Balance Formula (Progesterone cream)

      Dr. Janet’s Glucosamine Cream

      Pain and Stress Center Products

      Notes

      INTRODUCTION

      IT’S TIME TO feed your brain! As the master organ of your body, your brain controls not only your intelligence and your body functions but also your emotions and moods. You cannot achieve and maintain peak function—physically, mentally, and emotionally—without the right energy-producing fuel supplied in the best amount and combination. That’s why it is so important to consider what you put into your body in the form of fuel (food and supplements). What you consume affects your emotional health as much as it influences your physical and mental health. Your food really does affect your mood.

      Deep within your brain is a portion known as the limbic system. In the limbic system you will find the thalamus, amygdala, hypothalamus, and more. This system deals primarily with behavior and emotions. This is the emotional storehouse of the brain where motivating feelings such as anger, fear, and pleasure are born.

      Our brains become depleted just as our bodies do. So it follows that by supplementing our brains with specific nutrients, which are needed for our brains to create new neurotransmitters, we can replenish, recharge, and regenerate our brains while simultaneously focusing on nutrition to rebuild our bodies.

      When I discovered this, it literally changed my life. In the past, I had been able to keep my body in balance through diet and specific supplements that were targeted to my particular areas of concern. However, this discovery about brain replenishment proved to be the missing piece of the puzzle. With this piece in place, my health— including my emotional health—could become total and complete.

      I want to pass on to you what I have learned about changing the foods I eat so that I can attain and maintain healthy moods. With this knowledge comes the responsibility to share my findings, which are truly life changing.

      PART 1

      HOW FOOD AFFECTS YOUR MOOD

      WE HAVE ALL had the experience at some point—something we have eaten has had a clear and traceable effect on our emotional state. Perhaps you drank several cups of coffee along with a sugary doughnut or two. Soon afterward, you felt wired, giddy, and too jittery to complete a sentence. Some time after that, however, the bottom dropped out and your mood plummeted, along with your energy level.

      What happened? All that caffeine and sugar affected you both physically and emotionally, and it was a little like being on a roller coaster. It is pure cause and effect. What you consume through your mouth, whether it is a meal, a snack, or a food supplement, can make a big difference in how you feel.

      Since most of us don’t particularly want to go around feeling depressed, fatigued, achy, or generally useless, it’s good to learn as much as possible about how ordinary foods can enhance not only our physical state but also our emotional state. It’s also good to know which foods and combinations of foods can detract from our feeling of well-being so that we can avoid them or consume them in moderation.

      chapter 1

      THE MIND-BODY CONNECTION

      YOUR BRAIN IS responsible for all of your thought patterns, your movements, and your behaviors. It is also responsible for all of your moods and emotions, both pleasurable and painful.

      CHEMICALS AND THE BRAIN

      Neurotransmitters, which are important chemical messengers of the brain, help to control our feelings of anger, fear, anxiety, and depression. When neurotransmitters are depleted, prolonged anxiety or trauma can overload the cerebral cortex of the brain, causing the release of adrenaline. When adrenaline floods the brain, it triggers a multitude of life-disrupting physical symptoms.

      While emotions, especially panic and anxiety, involve the brain, they are also felt throughout the entire body because our brains control every cell in the body. Biological and possibly genetic factors may be involved when people experience crippling anxiety or other emotional illnesses. It also seems that a person’s perception of traumatic events or stress can actually alter his or her brain chemistry.

      Emotions and the immune system

      Because fear, anxiety, and other dangerous emotions can alter the brain and body’s chemical balance, they have a profound influence on the development of illness. In fact, prolonged stress can lead to eventual immune system breakdown. In other words, your emotions are not just all in your head! They are linked to the chemistry of your immune system.

      Candace Pert, PhD, professor at the Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience at Rutgers University, made this statement in her research on the entire physiology of the body:

      The chemical processes that mediate emotion occur not only within our brains, but also at many sites throughout the body, in fact, on the very surfaces of every single cell.¹

      Early in Dr. Pert’s career she discovered a way to measure chemical receptors on cell surfaces in the brain. At this particular time, Dr. Pert was studying opiate receptors in the brain, which act like keyholes for opiate drugs such as morphine. It is the binding of an opiate to its receptor that creates the emotion of euphoria.

      Soon after, it was discovered that the body makes its own opiates called endorphins, which serve as natural painkillers. Our bodies release these endorphins, or painkillers, during events such as childbirth and traumatic injury.

      Later on, it was discovered that a host of other receptors besides opiates could be found in the brain along with other natural chemicals called neuropeptides. However, not all neuropeptides are associated with emotions as strong as euphoria. Some are more subtle, according to Dr. Pert. This groundbreaking information shocked the scientific community. The fact that endorphins were found in the immune system and that opiates and other receptors were found distributed in parts of the body outside the brain gave the mind-body connection credibility. This new research challenged the old notion that the immune system is independent of the nervous system.

      Opiate receptors found in the brain were also found on immune cells. This opened the door and gave birth to mind/body medicine. Today, it is common knowledge among researchers

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