Are You Nutty Enough?!

Nuts are one of nature's finest snack foods, delicious, satisfying and full of goodness!

They have many health benefits, which include:

• They are high in fibre, which helps you stay feeling full for longer, and speeds up the rate at which food moves through your body.

• They are a good source of protein, as most vegetarians already know, which is essential ofr all cells in the body, including the chemicals which affect your mood and mental health

• They are also a good source of essential fatty acids (good fats) which are really important for good mental health

• They contain a wide variety of vitamins and minerals (which varies between different varieties) - these include several of the B vitamins, vitamin E and Selenium.

As the amount of nutrients varies between varieties of nuts, a good way to get a good balance is to eat an assortment of mixed nuts (and seeds, I will cover these in another post). Unsalted are best.

I will be covering all the different vitamins and minerals and their health benefits in further articles if you would like to know more.

Good Mood Foods - Food Containing Tryptophan

Tryptophan is an essential amino acid, one of the building blocks that your body uses in order to make new cells, hormones, chemicals etc. It cannot be made by the body, so has to be taken in through your diet.

The feel-good brain chemical Serotonin and Melatonin, which helps you sleep, both require tryptophan. So in order to boost production of both, hopefully lifting your mood and helping with sleeping problems such as insomnia, it makes sense to eat foods with lots of tryptophan in them.

Good foods to try include:

•Chocolate (yes, really!)
•Oats
•Dairy Products
•Eggs
•Poultry
•Pulses eg chickpeas
•Nuts
•Banana

One of the problems with amino acids is that they compete with each other to be absorbed by the body. So the best way to incorporate tryptophan-rich foods is with a meal containing lots of carbohydrates rather than proteins.