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Why are you so blue?

Why are you down?

Why are you in a bad mood?

And better yet, did you know that your bad mood might be caused by the food, dude?

Anyway, wake up today and get excited to find out about the surprising bad mood foods and

good mood alternatives.

Folks, we learned years and years ago that our gut, which processes all the food we eat

and the beverages we drink, is our second brain.

So what goes on here affects what goes on here.

And if you have depression, may be episodic depression, you're up, you're down, maybe

you've got a serious mental condition, or maybe you're just not happy enough.

I bet if you will learn how to ditch the bad mood foods and consume the good mood alternatives,

you will be happy that you did.

Let's get started.

Number one, agave nectar.

Now, that's surprising that agave is bad because it is in so many health foods, but agave actually

has a lot of fructose.

And fructose can be challenging for the liver.

And when the liver is burdened, your mood suffers.

You feel loaded down, toxic.

If agave nectar is a bad mood food, what sweetener do you think is a good mood food?

Drumroll please, manuka honey.

Now, honey in general, raw honey, is amazing.

It's the only predigested food on the planet, and it's loaded with enzymes.

It's God's perfect sweetener.

Manuka honey actually contains antibiotic properties.

Manuka can be used topically for wounds and taken internally for ulcers.

Manuka is definitely a good mood alternative, but keep in mind it does have a strong flavor

so you're not necessarily going to sweeten baked goods or even oatmeal with manuka.

It is an acquired taste, but it is sweet and it is a good mood food.

Alcohol.

Alcohol is a bad mood food.

Folks, some people say, "But I drink alcohol because I'm in a bad mood and I feel really

good."

But then you crash.

And alcohol also affects the liver, which makes it a bad mood food.

Now, think about this.

When we're talking about alcohol, alcohol is highly processed.

The materials often are genetically modified.

They're certainly sprayed with pesticides, herbicides, fungicides.

So, in general, high-percentage alcohol beverages and/or beer, which is pictured there, can

be a bad mood food.

But what's the good mood alternative?

You guessed it, red wine, but a little bit.

Now, red wine typically has sulfites as preservatives, which can cause issues in sensitive people.

A limited amount of good, organic or biodynamic red wine can be good for you.

But you don't have to have it.

You could have kombucha.

I bet you didn't realize that kombucha has a trace amount of alcohol, but it also has

probiotics, enzymes, and a bunch of other good compounds, such as catechins, and polyphenols,

even theanine from tea, which boosts your mood and your brain.

Sugars and artificial sweeteners.

Sugar causes insulin to rise.

Insulin rising causes serotonin to drop.

Serotonin dropping causes you to feel blue, right?

So if we want to turn that frown upside down, how do we do it?

Not by artificial sweeteners.

Artificial sweeteners can be neurotoxic.

Pink, yellow, blue, packets, doesn't matter what, you're not losing weight, but you might

be losing some precious brainpower.

Avoid sugar and artificial sweeteners.

What are some good sweeteners, you ask, to boost your mood?

Well, here it goes, honey, we talked about that a little bit.

Stevia is a decent non-caloric sweetener.

Coconut sugar is actually a whole food sweetener.

They get it out of the coconut tree.

It's the sap from the coconut tree.

Really, really good.

You can get it in liquid, you can get it in powder.

And molasses is a nutrient-dense, high-mineral sweetener.

Again, it's an acquired taste because it's very rich, but it can be good.

So take a gander at some of those sweeteners.

They can help make your day a little bit sweeter.

Margarine is a bad mood food.

For years, they were saying to avoid butter, consume margarine.

Margarine contains hydrogenated oils, which can be toxic to the body and the mind.

Margarine, bad mood food.

Guess what is a good mood food?

You're correct, grass-fed butter.

Butter is better.

Better butter is better so you'd better consume butter, right?

You know that butter actually contains short chain fatty acids.

One is butyric acid, which is for the gut, balances your microbes, and good gut means

good brain and good mood.

Ixnay on the argerine-may.

Consume grass-fed butter.

Coffee, now this is an interesting one.

Coffee can actually be a good mood food if you use organic beans, you grind them yourself,

and you put some good things in it.

But let's just assume that you consume too much coffee and it drains your adrenal, stimulates

too much etc.

What are some good alternatives?

Green tea or herbal infusions, such as turmeric.

If you use ginger, you use turmeric, you use peppermint, you use dandelion, almost any

herb or spice, elderberry, clove can be used in a hot water extraction called a tea, an

infusion or a decoction.

Those are good alternatives, a little bit less processed, lower in caffeine, or in the

case of turmeric, zero caffeine, and they're not easily abused.

In China and Japan, people consume 10 cups of green tea a day.

Much easier on the system.

Again, coffee can be good if it's made correctly, but if you're a coffee junkie, you're going

to have some ups and downs.

Try to eliminate or minimize the coffee, substitute with green tea, turmeric tea, other infusions.

Cocktail mixers, good for a little while, bad crash.

We're going to avoid those and the good mood alternative is soda water and lime or you

could do some type of natural mineral water, basically sparkling water.

You can even add some other things of sparkling water to sweeten them up or stick with red

wine.

Cocktail mixers typically have a high percentage of alcohol, they've got a lot of chemicals,

sweeteners.

Some of the simple syrups out there have a lot of toxic products in them.

You can buy better versions, but cocktail mixers typically rob your mood in the long

term, create addiction, and you're better off consuming some of the bubbly with naturally

sparkling waters or a small amount of red wine.

Deli meats, this is a tough one because we all have kids and many go to school so what

do we do?

Sandwich, sandwich, sandwich.

Most deli meats, especially those you buy in a grocery store, have lots of chemicals

to preserve them for a really, really long time.

So what can you do to avoid the chemicals?

Again, the nitrites, the nitrates that you will find in deli meats?

Well, roast your own meat and carve it.

Now, I know what you're saying, it takes a lot of work.

An alternative is to go to your local grocery or health food store and have them carve you

some of their roasted meat that is sort of where the butcher area typically is located.

Maybe not the butcher, the deli whatever, but think about this, if they will do it for

you from their roasted meat, there are a lot fewer chemicals than if you buy something

in a plastic bag.

But organic and even grass-fed deli meat can be better because the preservatives are much

less.

Egg whites, bad mood food.

"What are you talking about?

Egg whites are, you know, supposed to be good for my weight," etc.

The egg white craze was absolutely dead wrong.

Egg whites contain the most allergenic part of the egg and they're really not a whole

food.

So when you consume egg whites, if you create sensitivities and allergies, you can create

deficiencies and nutrients, all affect your mood.

So ditch the white, go for the whole.

In fact, I hate to tell you this, or I love to tell you this, the yolk's better than the

white.

So if you're going to dump something, dump the white.

But I like the whole egg and I love the yolk.

The yolk's yummy and guess what?

Egg yolk contains lutein, which is an antioxidant, good for the eyes.

Egg yolk contains phosphatidylcholine and lecithin, good for brain, and the mood.

And, newsflash, eggs don't cause an increase in cholesterol.

They've proven it now with studies.

That was faulty information, the incredible, edible egg is back.

Ditch the whites, go for the hole.

That's a good mood food alternative.

Non-organic fruits and veggies.

Now, we have shown on the draxe.com website that each year, the Well Group, I think the

Working Well Group, they're called, comes out with the Clean 15 and the Dirty Dozen

so there are some veggies and fruits that you can consume in their non-organic form

and they're a little safer.

You can find that list on draxe.com.

Now, also, there are certain fruits and veggies that you can use a veggie-type wash to get

some of the residual pesticides off.

But what is the answer to consuming non-organic fruits and veggies with pesticides, herbicides,

fungicides that damage the brain?

What is it?

You tell me.

I know, an easy one, buy organic when you can.

Local is good if it's unsprayed, certified organic, look for the USDA sticker on your

produce.

It is more expensive, but your mind's worth it.

Folks, did you know that upwards of 15 to 18% of adult Americans have been on antidepressant

or anti-anxiety medicines?

That is massive.

Kids are on all kinds of medications now for ADD and ADHD.

It's so important to keep your brain and your mood in order.

It affects everything in your life so it's worth spending a little money buying organic.

You may have heard this phrase, "You're going to either pay the farmer more now or the doctor

more later."

You're not saving by going conventional.

Go organic.

Salted nuts and seeds.

Now, I have no problem with, salt as long as it's high-mineral salt, Celtic sea salt,

Himalayan salt, real salt, but if you're going to use sodium chloride that is very, very

processed and chemicalized, that's not going to help your mood at all and it can cause

issues with blood pressure etc.

Salted nuts are hard to avoid.

You eat them, you eat them, you eat them, and you keep eating them.

Also, salted roasted nuts in oil are often containing bad and damaged fat.

So what's the alternative?

Nuts and seeds in their most natural form.

That involves raw, dry roasted, or best of all, soaked and sprouted, you can do that

on your own.

You can buy sprouted nuts and seeds at your local health food or grocery store.

Visit draxe.com to learn how to sprout nuts and seeds.

In fact, we should make a video called, "How To Soak And Sprout Nuts And Seeds."

Watch for that in the future.

I think we're going to do it.

To recap, your gut and what you eat affect your mood.

There are bad mood foods and there are good mood food alternatives.

And guess what?

Today you've learned about a handful of them.

So I want to encourage you to jump on board, get in a good mood, forget your troubles,

come on, get happy.

Shiny happy people, everybody.

Agave nectar, bad.

Manuka honey, good.

Alcohol, particularly a high percentage, bad.

A small amount of red wine, organic, biodynamic, or kombucha, good.

Sugars and artificial sweeteners, bad.

Honey, stevia, coconut sugar, molasses, better for your mood.

Margarine, bad.

Grass-fed butter, good.

Coffee in abundance can be challenging for your brain.

A little bit of coffee, actually, is good for the brain if you put some good fats in

it.

Green tea or a turmeric infusion, or other herbs, good.

Cocktail mixers, bad.

Alcohol levels are high.

Sugars are typically high.

Chemicals are high.

Go for sparkling water and lime or even a little bit of red wine, as we talked about.