How Food Affects Your Mood

Have you noticed that some food makes you feel light and energetic while some makes you feel lethargic and even angry? What is this seemingly invisible relationship between food and mood? What you eat fuels your feelings. Eastern philosophies give a lot of importance to food because the way knowledge leads to growth of the mind, food leads to growth of the body.

According to the Vedas, food (and the entire universe) is made up of 3 tatvas or gunas. These are fundamental fibers – something more primal than elements. They are rajas (action), tamas (inertia) and sattva (light force). So depending on the kind of gunas you feed your body – your body behaves excessively like those gunas!

For example – fruits are sattvic – they make you feel light and fresh; while fermented or stale food including garlic, mushrooms, over-ripe or under-ripe vegetables are tamsic and could make you feel lethargic. Spicy, hot, bitter food and caffeine are considered rajasic foods – and could make you overly active or restless.

The three gunas are present in the fibers of our food and in our bodies – together, they could be the link between food and mood.

How mood affects your food

Now, you might be wondering: “Why do I feel happier eating tamsic pizza than sattvic banana?” Here might be why:
Your mindset while eating the pizza – you were possibly already in a happy place by the thought of having pizza. The way your mind behaves while eating is almost as important as what you eat. Eastern philosophies believe “You are what you eat” and “You are what you think.”

The body is nothing but hardened thought. So what thoughts flow through your mind while eating? Are you eating something healthy just because you have to? Are you distracted while eating? Try our food meditation sessions and experience this first hand!

We broke down food and mood as part of the Food for Thought series with Shikha Mehta.

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