The Importance of Healthy Diet to Our Psychological Contentment

What substance is as common as oxygen? Food. It is a part of every facet of our lives: home, work, parties, funerals, weddings- everything! One of the most enjoyable activities people do in life is eating. It is a very important part of our family and social lives. Food can be categorized into two main groups: nutritious and unhealthy. How do these two varying types of food affect a person's emotions? Numerous studies have been conducted on how the type of food a person ingests correlates to their physical well-being. However, not many studies have focused on the emotional aspect of healthy or unhealthy eating habits. Happiness is defined as a state of well-being and contentment which is the most sought-after emotion across the planet.

The pursuit of happiness is even listed as an "inalienable right" in the Declaration of Independence. Many factors contribute to a person's life satisfaction including education, relationship status, and living conditions. As an integral part of our society how can food factor into the happiness quotient also? This paper will examine how the two groups of food can either positively or negatively alter emotional well-being.

A healthy diet, per the World Health Organization, consists of fruits and vegetables (FV), legumes, nuts and whole grains. FV consumption is a core to any doctor recommended diet. Higher FV intake is associated with lower risks of chronic diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and stroke. (Conner, Brookie, Richardson, and Polak 2015). Another important aspect is that research has shown that eating fruits and vegetables has been linked to higher levels of energy, happiness, and positivity.

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Positive effect emotions were measured based with adjectives such as calm, content, cheerful, happy, pleased, energetic, enthusiastic, and excited. Negative effect emotions were measured using words such as depressed, sad, unhappy, anxious, nervous, tense and angry. (White, Horwath, and Conner 2013). In this study, participants reported higher positive affect when they ate more servings of fruits and vegetables in the same-day analysis.

The results also showed improvements in next day experiences from the same servings. The same test also measured negative effect experiences after eating unhealthy foods such as chocolate-coated biscuits, cake, and corn snacks. The results showed that when a participant consumed more servings of corn snacks, their days were less enjoyable than the days when they had a healthy eating pattern. This demonstrates that healthy food consumption does influence happiness levels.

Many factors contribute to a person's happiness. Brain activity such as creativity and curiosity influence one's feeling of wellbeing. A person whose brain is actively considering the world around them is more likely to feel a sense of purpose rather than a sense of worthlessness or exclusion. In the same manner when a person's brain is engaged in a creative pursuit it provides feelings of purpose, achievement and meaning in life. Therefore, creativity and curiosity do contribute to happiness.

In the study "On Carrots and Curiosity..." it was found that a diet strong in fruits and vegetables enhanced both creativity and curiosity (Conner, Brookie, Richardson and Polak, 2015). A study of university students in New Zealand showed that the students reported feeling happier when they were engaged in creative activities (Silvia, Beaty, Nusbaum, Eddington, Levin-Aspenson and Kwapil, 2014). Involvement in the world around us leads to enhanced feelings of happiness and a healthy diet promotes that involvement.

Over 121 million people across the globe are affected by depression. Not much is known about how diet plays a role in developing depression, but certain healthy eating patterns have been related to a lower risk of depression. Fruits and vegetables have a high content of B vitamins. These vitamins have an effect on the synthesis of neurotransmitters in the brain, such as serotonin.

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