Diggs - Happy foods: over 100 mood-boosting recipes

happy foods

happy foods

OVER 100 MOOD-BOOSTING RECIPES

BY KAREN WANG DIGGS

Copyright 2015 by Karen Diggs.

All rights reserved. Except for brief passages quoted in newspaper, magazine, radio, online, or television reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording, or by information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Published in the United States by Viva Editions, an imprint of Start Midnight, LLC, 101 Hudson Street, Thirty-seventh Floor, Suite 3705, Jersey City, New Jersey 07302.

Printed in the United States.
Cover design: Scott Idleman/Blink
Cover photo: iStock
Illustrations: Hovin Wang (www.hovinwang.com)
Text design: Frank Wiedemann

First Edition.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Trade paper ISBN: 978-1-63228-008-4
E-book ISBN: 978-1-63228-014-5

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Contents

Recipes in This Book

Appetizers

Snacks

Breakfast

Main (Lunch or Dinner)

Sides

Soups

Salads

Beverages

Sweet Treats

Dressings & Miscellaneous

Foreword

IT WAS ONE OF THOSE COLD AND RAIN-DRENCHED DAYS WHEN IT felt as if the whole world were trapped in a veil of endless gray. I longed for a ray of sunshine, but it was nowhere to be found. Sitting alone in my kitchen, I felt the blahs creeping in, and wanted desperately to escape.

As my eyes roamed toward the door, my gaze took a detour when it was distracted by the vibrant, yellow-orange beckoning of a winter squash, lounging on my kitchen counter. The bright warm colors cheered me immediately, and I wanted that glow to permeate my being. Instantly, I knew that making a soup with that wonderful vegetable would be my solace.

As I sipped and savored the color and flavors of my golden soup, it dispelled my melancholy. This happened not only because it tasted good, but also because my body and brain recognized as true nourishment many nutrients from the squash, along with other ingredients I added, such as ginger, nutmeg, and cardamom.

The truth is, no matter how young or old, we all quest for happiness, every single day. Some days are more sunny then others, some are just plain dreary. Sometimes, those dreary days can turn into weeks, months, even years.

According to the World Health Organization, by 2030, depression will be the second most common disease after heart attacks. We are a world of sad people, popping Prozac and putting on false smiles to keep it all together, barely.

Is the solution to keep popping pills, or is there a more organic way to deal with being down in the dumps? Heres a morsel to chew over: Parallel to the global increase of depression is the rise of processed fast foods around the world.

Could there be a correlation between what we eat and how we feel? Thanks to recent studies by concerned scientists, we dont need to guess. The results of one study with over 12,000 participants, published in Public Health Nutrition journal, reveal that consumers of fast food, compared to those who eat little or none, are fifty-one percent more likely to develop depression. This clearly shows that there is a link! In fact, it is dose-dependent. Meaning that the more junk food you eat, the more likely you run the risk of falling into that dark pit of despair.

Even without scientific validation, dont we all know deep inside that our most immediate and profound connection with nature is through food? We cannot survive without food, but more importantly, we cannot be healthy and happy without the right foods.

I can personally attest to the power of wholesome organic food vs. fragmented junk food in the arena of depression. Before I became a nutritionist, I was a workaholic chef, cooking for five-star hotels and opening up restaurants. The tremendous stress and long hours, plus a bad breakup with my ex of seven years, caused me to binge on an endless array of fat-laden, starch-filled, sugar-saturated junk food as a means of self-medication.

Lamenting the demise of my relationship, suffering physical and mental fatigue from my stressful job, and lacking the energy to exercise, I literally ate my way into a hapless depression. Coming home from work, I would collapse into a corner and gorge on ice cream, cookies, and cup-a-noodles. Yes, in that particular order. And I would repeat the multicourse junk-a-thon again until I fell into torpor. Eventually, I would pass out from the sugar overload, subconsciously hoping that when I awoke I would be somewhere else and be someone else.

I totally hit rock bottom and had to take a leave of absence from my work. Fortunately, during this hiatus, I came to realize that though I was a chef, I knew nothing about eating well! I had no clue about the nutritional value of ingredients I encountered every day in my kitchen. I had no idea that a candy bar was causing me to suffer hypoglycemia, that a milkshake contributed to my brain fog, or that donuts were the culprit of my constant bloat. It was that moment of lucidity that prompted me to return to school to study nutrition.

Once I learned that white sugar leached minerals from my body, that factory-farmed chicken caused hormonal imbalances leading to PMS, and that using processed vegetable oils caused inflammation, I was saved from the downward spiral of bad food and sad moods. Knowing what to enjoy and what to avoid changed my worldand without feeling deprived or hungry, my depression lifted, my energy increased, and I had the desire to participate in life again.

So, can a bowl of frilly lettuces dressed with vinaigrette really liberate one from the chains of woe? Can a piece of grilled salmon topped with pesto part the dark clouds in your head? Is it possible to feel energized and cheerful by having scrambled eggs for breakfast instead of a sugar-coated Danish? Well, if the empirical evidence shows that eating junk food leads to depression, then its likely true that refraining from junk food leads to improved mood. Of course, there are myriad biochemical and psychological factors that contribute to sad moods, but certainly, what we put into our bodies does affect how we feel.

The journey to happiness begins with a single healthy bite. So, lets cook!

Almudena Snchez-Villegas, Estefania Toledo, Jokin de Irala, Miguel Ruiz-Canela, Jorge Pla-Vidal, Miguel A Martnez-Gonzlez, Fastfood and commercial baked goods consumption and the risk of depression, Public Health Nutrition, 2011; 15 (03).

Introduction:Why You Sing the Blues

SOAR AND SLUMP: BLOOD SUGAR BALANCE

Why Going Up and Down Is Bad

Come, lets take a ride. A thrill ride! An extreme, stratosphere-reaching, adrenalin-pumping roller-coaster ride like those in popular amusement parks. Lets call our ride: The Mammoth Mega Rush.

Ready? Sit tight and strap yourself in real good. Take a deep breath and prepare to be catapulted two hundred feet above the ground. Hover precipitously at the dizzying summit, and then plunge down, down, downback to the bottom, accompanied by your own hair-raising scream, Ahhhhhhh! And then get ready to do a few more loops of the same.