Last Updated on August 1, 2022 by Neelam Singh
The food you eat can have a huge impact on your mood and emotions. We have heard of people saying that eating certain foods gives them calmness and makes them feel better.
Neurotransmitters in our brain can either agitate us or make us alert or calm us down. Some of the foods that we eat can influence these neurotransmitters thereby influencing our mood and emotions.
Ancient Indian texts had explained the connection between emotions and foods eons ago. They classify foods into sattvic, rajasic and tamasic foods. Naaznin Husein, Founder-Director, Freedom Wellness Management, shares the classification of foods as follows:
- Milk and milk products, rice, millets, pulses, sprouts, fresh vegetables, fresh fruits, honey, jaggery, spices like ginger, turmeric, cardamom and coriander are sattvic foods.
- Fish, egg, meat (mutton, chicken), coffee, tea, wine, beer, white sugar, deep fried foods, chocolates, etc, are rajasic foods.
- Highly processed foods, preserved foods, frozen and canned foods, stale / rotten / reheated / leftover foods, meat (pork, beef), strong brews and intoxicants, garlic, onion, are tamasic foods.
“Sattvic foods enrich the soul and energize the body and mind. They create purity, virtue, serenity and happiness. Consuming sattvic foods give strength, satisfaction and health. Rajasic foods keep one bound to passions and primal instincts. They lead to pain, jealousy, aggression, delusion and attachment. Excess intake could lead to sorrow and sickness. Tamasic foods push one into ignorance, pessimism and laziness”, adds Naaznin Husein.
Modern science and research have shown that intake of foods that come under sattvic category provides micronutrients and dietary fibre much more than rajasic and tamasic foods do.
Choose foods wisely for positive emotions!
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