#Microblog Monday 202: Bad Mood Foods
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I eat almost all the foods that put us in a bad mood. I don’t know if there are more on the list because the actual book isn’t out until September, but if these seven are the focus of the book, I’m making some pretty poor life choices.
I’ve actually cut out diet soda for the most part. I was having at least one glass per day, but I haven’t bought it in months. Though I use artificial sweeteners in my coffee, so… I’m still getting the worst part of the diet soda. I also use margarine when I’m baking pareve. (Which is just a kosher way of saying it’s non-meat and non-dairy.) Butter isn’t an option, so that wasn’t a very helpful suggestion.
I tend to bake my own sweets and we never get fast food (going back to that whole kosher thing). But I love salty snacks (especially pretzels… mmm…). And I use canned tomatoes all the time. And cereal (though my main one, Special K, is on the correct side of the sugar limit). So let’s say I semi-regularly consume 4 of the 7 and I hit 6 of the 7 on a monthly basis?
Crap.
How did you do with the bad mood food list?
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17 comments
I’m surprised I’m actually pretty good compared to that list – 2 out of 7. My main failing is takeaway food, like fish and chips or pizza or Asian takeaways. I think the canned foods they talk about are not canned tomatoes or coconut milk (which I use on a regular basis), but soups etc. with high sodium contents. So if I eat so well, why am I so grumpy?
I try to keep aware of what I’m eating. I think a lot of adults never make the connection between what they eat and how they feel- tired, depressed. I love junk food but I know I’ll be more irritable and exhausted if I have fried foods, sugar, and caffeine so I try to limit those to once a week. I feel a huge difference.
Overall I don’t do too bad, especially now that I have changed up my diet over the last 2 months. So I am probably 1/7 a couple times a week.
I’m actually allergic to artificial sweeteners, so those products have never been my issue. I do love fast food French fries, but that is only something I have on occasion anymore. We use smart balance instead of butter for most things, and some canned goods but I try and find low or no salt versions. Cereal is another weakness of mine, but I just don’t buy the sugar loaded stuff at all. Maybe a couple times a year (the Reese’s Puffs Bunnies cereal in the spring…it’s sooooo yummy) and luckily in my house a box can be gone in a day and then the splurge is over.
I have become super aware of what I spend my money on anymore, I check labels and get angry at tricky marketing. It’s so crazy that I am like this, considering I grew up on stuff like Doritos, Pepsi, and Captain Crunch cereal.
I had a very weird occular migraine in my 20s, when I was drinking a lot of diet Coke, and haven’t touched the stuff since then. I will plead guilty to the occasional fast food hamburger, some canned food, & some margarine, particularly in baking. But salty snacks are my true downfall!! Bring on the chips & popcorn!
2/7 for me. Chinese takeout is my favorite but we try to limit it to once a month because of the deliciously poisonous msg. I rarely buy baked goods but allow myself a lot of leniency after procedures and my go-to is entenmann’s – so that’s maybe a few times a year.
For parve baking, I love using safflower oil or coconut oil. Anything that calls for margarine can be substituted. I personally don’t think it compromises taste or texture.
You know what makes me unhappy? Stressing about food. 🙂
I’m just glad they don’t mention coffee: I can never give that up. But yeah, sugar is the enemy: when I’m overseas in Europe having the usual biscuity/croissanty/sugar-filled breakfast they so love it makes me cranky and jittery. Nothing can perk me up like the odd sugary snack, though. I just can’t find a worthy substitute when the blood sugar drops.
2 or 3 out of 7 (canned tomatoes are critical for so many recipes!!). Packaged sweets and cereal are limited in my house (also tend to bake my own), but sometimes it’s needed.
Soda is a hard one for people. It was considered a treat for me growing up, so giving it up entirely wasn’t difficult. Grey struggles with it, though, as soda was a staple for him as a kid.
Interesting. I rarely eat any of these foods. Fast food and cereal on *rare* occasions, but I don’t drink soda (diet or otherwise), I only use butter, and I rarely eat processed snacks period, either salty or sweet.
Sadly, through experimentation, I have found that a few foods I love (like baked goods, including cake, bread and bagels, and pizza) make me feel unwell physically and mentally: heartburn, dip in energy, irritability hours later. So now I avoid them.
Not too shabby. I should look for more BPA free labels on the cans of food I use to make otherwise healthy meals. And occasionally I do salty snacks. I shudder to think how crabby I’d be if my diet were shabbier!
Eh. I gave up my beloved daily can of diet coke about a year ago when studies showed a possible association of artificial sweeteners with Alzheimer’s. I usually ignore such weak purported links (see MSG) but that’s one thing I really fear…even though it doesn’t run in my family and I don’t have certain bad gene variants according to 23andme. I do treat myself a few times a year with a Diet Coke though…
Canned—yes but not high sodium stuff. Not too worried about the occasional can with bpa (we don’t use cans every day).
Pretty good as to the rest…I’m vegan so I’m already ahead…
Have you tried Better Buttah? Vegan, delish, no trans fats
Only canned foods, and that’s just because I use canned organic black and garbanzo beans in recipes. If that’s the worst thing I’ve got in my diet, I can live with that!
I miss a lot of these foods! And I doubt having them occasionally affects mood drastically – I think the regular consumption is more of an issue.
Well, from THIS list I don’t do too badly. But, I know that’s not the whole story. 🙂 I haven’t had a diet soda in over 6 years. But, I do have regular ones, and I’ve lost weight doing so. I occasionally eat fast food, and I do use a lot of canned tomatoes. But nothing else on the list.
Oh man, I am so glad that coffee and wine aren’t on this list! I did pretty okay — I don’t drink soda (diet or otherwise) and I don’t eat typical fast food (although I will spring for Five Guys and Chipotle every once in a while!), and I can’t eat packaged sweets thanks to celiac. But, I do sometimes eat canned things like beans or soup, but I’m hoping because they’re organic that they’re not quite as bad? Same with the salty snacks, I try to eat organic (and always gluten free) so maybe not as much MSG? I CAN ONLY HOPE! The cereal gets me too. I love my Honeynut Cheerios with blueberries added on top. But thank goodness, coffee, wine, avocados, and blueberries are all off the list (at least the abbreviated one!).
The only one I eat regularly is margarine. And I love butter, but nothing puts me in a bad mood like trying to spread hard butter on my bread.
Hrumph. 4/7 regularly-ish for me and my family. But, I think we are still on the better side of it all, because we do use moderation.
I don’t care for soda much (hubby drinks it much more), but it is never diet in our house. Aspartame tastes bad and leave a bad aftertaste. Plus, it isn’t good for asthma.
Sweets…of all types: that’s my major downfall. 🙁 I’m a sugar-rat through and through. (Blame it on my mom, she said I could.)
As for the others, we use them but we do try to keep it to a minimum. We are quite health and better food choices for the kids. We do allow them to have yummy stuff, but just not all the time. Plus, I’d rather teach them all good things in moderation (instead of binging once a week=candy day).