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Food is known to affect our mood and how we feel; which is probably why “a man proposes with a box of chocolates along with other gifts, instead of a box of onions,” Dr Dimple Jangda, an Ayurveda expert, pointed out on Instagram. As such, are there any specific foods that are known to make us feel happy, and also low? According to research published in BMJ, “Epidemiological research has observed that adherence to healthy or Mediterranean dietary patterns — high consumption of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and legumes; moderate consumption of poultry, eggs, and dairy products; and only occasional consumption of red meat — is associated with a reduced risk of depression.”
Concurring, Dr Jangda added that Ayurveda also states that food and human emotions share an important relationship. “A bar of chocolate makes our body release serotonin, making us feel uplifted.” She further shared that Ayurveda and yoga define the “three states of mind and the diet that promotes it.”
1. Sattva: Sattva means “balance, harmony and light,” adding that the “Sattvic diet promotes emotions like compassion, kindness, love, forgiveness, empathy.” Sattvic foods, which include fresh fruit, vegetables, whole meal bread, pulses, grains, sprouts, nuts, seeds, honey, herbs, milk and dairy products that are free of animal rennet, are pure vegetarian.
The many benefits of such foods include: it “raise our consciousness, inspire us to positive action, unleash our hidden potential and creativity.”
2. Rajas: Rajas means “activity, movement, agitation, passion, moving, and emotional.” Defining a perfect rajasic diet, she said, “A rajasic diet is overly spicy or hot and it includes onion, garlic, coffee, fizzy soft drinks, tea, sugary foods, too much chocolate.” She explained that these foods also provide us with energy.
However, such a diet can “destroy the mind-body equilibrium, feeding the body at the expense of the mind,” she said, adding that, “a rajasic person will experience poor digestion and constant restlessness.”
3. Tamas: Meaning “inertia, dullness, inactivity, or lethargy, tamasic food is the most un-advocated diet, and leads to the destruction of the mind and body alike,” the expert said. This diet which consists of, “dead food such as meat, fish, poultry, eggs, stale foods, processed packaged foods, with preservatives and additives, reheated food, alcohol, cigarettes, drugs” can harm our bodies.
She explained that “these foods don’t uplift your energy or consciousness, but instead pull us downwards into laziness and inertia.” Linked to “diabetes, heart and liver diseases,” a person consuming it feels “unmotivated, careless; unaware of ourselves and others.”
Agreeing with the relationship between food and emotions, Vikas Chawla, Ayurveda Expert, Vedas Cure, highlighted that Ayurveda espouses the axiom, ‘What we eat is what we become’. “Hence, it says there is a direct relationship between our food and emotions. Food gives us energy, and our energy is based on our emotions. Our food habits have a significant bearing on our mood and state of mind, which ultimately decides which emotions we are feeling at a particular time. Following a similar yardstick, Ayurveda recommends eating leafy vegetables such as cauliflower, broccoli, etc. and low-calorie fruits like bananas, apples, nuts and seeds. It maintains our blood sugar levels and is known as mood-uplifting food. It increases our mind consciousness and stabilises our body hormones, makes us fit and disciplined, and enhances feelings of happiness and pleasure,” he said.
The expert added, “Foods that cause overwhelming emotions and exacerbate feelings of stress, anger, and depression are oily and greasy junk items, alcohol, consumption of refined sugars, artificial sweeteners, and excessive salt consumption. Ayurveda classifies them as addiction, and any addiction makes us lose our self-control and emotional regulation and causes us to feel irritated, groggy, and virulent.”
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