Angry? It might be something you ate

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Home » General Wellness Buzz

Angry? It might be something you ate

Submitted by Buzz Team on Monday, 4 May 20096 Comments

What we eat and how we feel is very related and important to know how it effects us.

Imagine that a calm, happy life could be served on a breakfast, lunch or dinner plate, even in a brown bag. According to some, it can be.

You won’t find it in a fast-food hamburger box or a vending machine. But more and more research shows there is a correlation between good food and good mood.

“It’s a fast-food nation, and we don’t always take the time to make the connection between what we eat and how we feel,” says Kristy Lewis, a naturopathic doctor at Pure Med Naturopathic Centre in Ottawa.

“We live in a society where people want to take a quick pill, whereas conscious nutrition is a lot of work.”

Aggression is a behavior that many food experts say can be altered by diet. What we eat can even affect our sense of right and wrong.

“Food is not just something that fills our stomach. It’s very active biologically and chemically, and it affects us,” says Jack Challem, Montreal-born author of The Food-Mood Solution. “Your body needs vitamins, protein and other nutrients to make the brain chemicals that help you think clearly, maintain a good mood and act in socially acceptable ways.

Among the foods that cause aggressive behavior, says Challem, are “junk fats” or trans fats.

“Sixty per cent of the brain is fat, so if you consume junk fats, you’re putting a high percentage of junk fats into your brain, and that impedes the way brain cells communicate with each other.”

While the science of food and mood is still evolving, foods linked to allergies are also on the list of suspect aggressor foods, says Lewis.

“Casein, which is found in dairy, and gluten in wheat are two culprits. According to some theories, some people get a toxic effect, creating a substance in the body that leads to aggression or the inability to control behavior.”

Manufactured chemicals like aspartame and monosodium glutamate (MSG) can also be temper igniters, Lewis says. She suggests nixing foods like instant soups and sauces that contain MSG, plus foods with artificial coloring and low-cal sweeteners.

Aggressive behavior can also be related to low blood sugar, so experts recommend eating more small meals of whole grains, protein and vegetables to keep levels in balance and avoiding refined carbohydrates such as bread, fruit juices and pastries that cause levels to yo-yo.

On the sunny side, some foods dissipate aggression.

“There is evidence that omega-3 fats help improve depression and aggression as well,” says Mona Moorhouse, clinical dietitian at the Royal Ottawa Hospital. Adding protein, high-fiber vegetables and B vitamins to your diet are also good mood bets.

Lewis says when diet is altered, improvements in aggression are tangible, often seen within two weeks.

To assess whether you have food-related aggressive feelings, she recommends keeping a journal. Jot down what you eat and when, and your patterns of aggression during your day.

Lewis also recommends supplements such as 5-HTP, which boosts the brain’s feel-good chemical serotonin, or GABA, which induces relaxation and inhibits overstimulating the brain.

If a good diet and supplementation still do nothing for your nefarious outbursts, you could check with your physician. You might be having trouble absorbing nutrients. Or perhaps it’s just time to take some anger management classes.

FOODS LINKED TO AGGRESSION

Sugar: While carbohydrates initially boost mood by activating serotonin, you’ll also crash quickly after consuming them, making you feel cranky.

Caffeine: While caffeine improves alertness in the short term, the crash that follows can make you irritable.

Alcohol: Alcohol weakens brain functions that normally restrain impulsive behaviors such as excessive aggression.

Wheat and milk: The main allergic response to wheat and casein in milk products is possible brain inflammation, which can cause hostility.

MSG and artificial sweeteners: Their ingredients can heighten reactions, including aggressive feelings.

FOODS THAT COMBAT AGGRESSION

Peanuts, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, almonds, artichokes, spinach, turkey, soy, parmesan cheese, gelatin, mozzarella, peaches, red peppers, papaya, corn, sunflower seeds, lentils, carrots, turnip, squash, broccoli, oats, avocado, potatoes, bran, banana, kidney beans, peas, tomato juice.

6 Comments »

E MacInnis said:

I discovered this 30 years ago when I observed that eating chocolate made me angry. If I ate chocolate, the next day I lost my temper with my children. Please note that the effect was delayed 24 hours, so it was difficult to make the correlation. With further self-experimentation, I found that the more expensive the chocolate, the worse the effect. The chocolate easter eggs that tasted like plastic didn’t seem to effect me. So I stopped eating chocolate, because my children were more important to me than any food. And when I think back and imagine all the days I have spent in a happy mood, instead of angry, I am delighted.

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Diane P Reply:
March 31st, 2010 at 11:21 am

I have the exact same situation. I eat chocolate and become angry/aggressive after, although mine occurs more quickly. I’m looking into a disease called Wilson’s syndrome in which the body cannot relieve itself of copper, which is contained in chocolate. Other common foods high in copper are many kinds of nuts, liver, sunflower & pumpkin seeds. There has to be a reason for this as it doesn’t happen to everyone as is obvious from other posts.

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Dave V Reply:
April 26th, 2010 at 1:38 pm

I noticed the EXACT same thing. If I ate a lot of chocolate, approximately 18-22 hours later, I was an angry mess for about 6-8 hours (which is VERY unlike my normal mood). I too would blow up at my kids, and didn’t know why. I also notice that the effect was stronger the more (and the higher quality) chocolate I ate. Chocolate cake for example, doesn’t do it, but I ate some of those Lindt chocolates, and the next day I was…well just angry for no good reason.

It scares me because the mood is almost uncontrollable. It borders on quiet rage. And yes, the onset of the mood is delayed by 24 hours which made it very hard to connect the two. Thanks E MacInnis – I thought I was nuts.

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- 27 June 2009 at 5:01 pm

MSGisnotgood said:

MSG make me verry irritable and make me become very negative. I can find something wrong with everything when I have eaten a product with MSG. And it’s in almost everything that taste good chips, seafood, fajitas, asian food, ect. makes me soo sad!!!

Reply

- 12 May 2010 at 12:11 pm

AngryCoeliac said:

Am so glad I found these posts. Have been really depressed as not understanding what was causing my anger – would eat more chocolate when angry and just end up feeling even more angry! Milk chocolate seems to affect me more. Really going to try to cut it out and hopefully my mood will improve. Thanks guys.

Reply

- 30 June 2010 at 1:34 pm

Goji Gorger said:

We have got to listen to our own body and the signals we get after eating certain foods!
Paying close attention to what we eat and how we look or feel afterwards is key.
Often this becomes harder to really know what does and doesn’t agree with us, especially when we eat so many different processed foods, fast foods, too much sugar, wheat and dairy produce.

The only real way to know what is good for you is to go back to basics!

Re-set the system by having no processed foods, eating fresh vegatables and fruit and drinking plenty of pure water.
If we are able to continue this for even a couple of weeks when we start to add foods that we used to eat such as burgers, breads, cakes, cookies or any processed foods we can almost see and feel an immediate difference!
Such as; less energy, emotional ups and downs, bags under the eyes when we wake up and feeling exhausted all the time!

Our systems are overloaded from our complicated modern processed diets! The way we look and especially the way we feel are simply down to the fact our diets are not simple anymore!

What can be more simple than a fresh green salad, with a homemade sald dressing? If you really want to feel & look good and control your emotions then simplicity is for you!

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