Eat Bananas To Overcome The Blues

{image- www.boldsky.com} Melbourne : Depressed? Have bananas and pineapple to boost your spirits.

Consuming sunflower seeds, bananas , pineapple, tofu, spinach, chicken, asparagus and cottage cheese may help you feel good, according to a paediatriuam and natural health expert.

A diet high in tryptophan -- an amino acid converted by the body into the feel-good chemical serotonin -- can improve mood and wellbeing, says Dr Caroline Longmore, founder of Galen naturopathic centres, Britain.

In her e-book "The Serotonin Secret", Dr Longmore writes that the body cannot produce tryptophan so unless we get enough through diet, we may suffer a deficiency, leading to low serotonin levels, which is associated with mood disorders, anxiety, cravings and irritable bowel syndrome.

"Following a diet which contains foods rich in naturally occurring serotonin will improve your mood, leaving you energised and in a state of harmony and wellbeing," the Age quoted her as saying.

Dr Longmore claims the best way to get optimum tryptophan levels is through a carefully devised eating plan. She rates dozens of foods for their levels of tryptophan.

Written with an Australian-trained medical scientist and naturopath, Katrin Hempel, the book has 50 recipes designed to solve serotonin imbalance without drugs. The concept of Britain's Food and Mood Project works on the same principle as selective serotonin re-uptake inhibitors, such as the popular antidepressant Prozac.