By: Allain Dumon Fonte
On and off lockdowns, faces covered, economic insecurity, and inability to travel to see family and friends can be very depressing. Many of us are experiencing severe depression and series of anxiety attacks. But life must go on and we must learn to be strong to survive. So, wake up! Get out of your beds, walk to the kitchen, check your fridge, or go to the nearest grocer, and start enjoying these happy foods that will surelypower you up from your worries.
Many nutritionists and food researchers have backed up these food and beverages with data that support brain function and could boost up our oxytocin. So, whenever you are feeling down, these following meals can power you up.
1. CHAMOMILE TEA
Photo by Küflü Çıkın.
Chamomile tea is popularly known as the relaxing tea. In the shared research of Adelphi University and Rutgers University, chamomile tea is found to contain anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties; and is believed to help regulate neurotransmitters that affect the mood of a person. The University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine also found out that chamomile tea helps in regulating how our bodies respond to stress, or also known as hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical
(HPA) axis.
2. DARK CHOCOLATE
Photo by Vie Studio
Researchers in the University of L’Aquila in Italy found that dark chocolate contains flavanols that helps improve brain function by efficiently improving blood flow to the brain and have neuroprotective effects. This helps in uplifting the mood and has significantly lowered the depressive symptoms.
3. SALMON
Photo by Christina Voinova
Salmon is one of the favorite seafoods all over the world, and as they say, “no one can go wrong when cooking salmon”. Apart from being a delicious treat no matter how you prepare it, salmon is also one of the most healthful foods there is. UK’s Bournemouth University researches the effects of Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) that is found in salmon. In the research, it was found out that PUFA exhibits treatment to a variety of neurodegenerative and neurological disorders. Researchers in Aix Marseilles Universite in France also found out that salmon prevents various heart diseases and degenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s.
4. TURMERIC SPICE
Photo by Karl Solano
Turmeric spice contains curcumin, a compound that increases conversion of alpha-linolenic acid to DHA. In a joint-research of Reim University Hospital of France, Autonomous University of Tlaxcala of Mexico, and the University of Hong Kong, they found out that turmeric spices increase effectively the Docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) levels in the brain, and that DHA is an effective treatment for anxiety and depressive disorders. UCLA’s Brain Injury Research Center found out that curcumin in turmeric spices is an effective treatment for major depressive disorders, schizophrenia, and impaired attention.
5. YOGURT
Photo by Visual Stories || Micheile
Yogurt has probiotics, otherwise known as the healthy bacteria, which is well-known to cure gastrointestinal problems. However, the Neuroscience Department of the University of Verona in Italy presents a research that probiotics help on improving cognitive reactivity, mood, and sleep quality. In the research of Centro de Investigación Biomédica de Occidente at Instituto Mexicano del Seguro Social and of Universidad Autonoma de Aguascalientes in Mexico, it stipulates that probiotic in yogurt improve the gut-brain-axis by increasing the production
serotonin. Serotonin helps in mood, sexual desire and function, appetite, sleep, memory and learning, temperature regulation, and some social behavior.
For most people, exercise and relaxing don’t seem to belong in the same sentence. In yoga, though, these elements come together in a workout that both clears the mind and tones the body. Practiced for centuries before, yoga at its heart remains simple: it’s just you and your mat.
This was the philosophy that drew Jennifer Martinez to yoga, and inspired her to start YogaHub Philippines. The fact that it feels inclusive was also a factor. “I am drawn to yoga, because you don’t have to be an expert to do it!” she explains. “Yoga knows no size, age or body size. This is actually the reason behind YogaHub’s tagline: real people, real yoga.”
“I was looking for an exercise that would complement my running, since I was having a hard time breathing every time I ran,” Jen recalls of how she got into the workout. “That’s when I found a Yoga for Runners workshop, and I fell in love with it instantly.”
With yoga, she found she could properly control her breathing, and became stronger and more flexible—things she had previously thought were impossible. Aside from that, she felt it kept her spiritually aligned. “Aside from its physical benefits, yoga has contributed positively on my outlook on life,” she admits. “On days that I feel really down or when I get stuck in a cycle of unhealthy thoughts, yoga is there to boost my serotonin levels, and help me break free from whatever I’m feeling that day.”
Jen soon became a certified yoga teacher, and started holding public and private classes around the city. The idea of YogaHub came in soon after, when her husband pushed her to open a studio. Now, YogaHub is the leading yoga studio in Cebu and has helped the exercise gain popularity among Cebuanos.
YogaHub recently expanded to a second branch, which Jen feels was timely considering the way the fitness landscape in Cebu has changed over the past few years. “It’s growing really fast, and I love that we now have so many different types of exercises to choose from,” she adds.
Juggling time between running her studios and being a mother of two, Jen admits every day is not a walk in the park. “The challenge is keeping the standard of quality of the studio—that there are excellent and qualified teachers for every class, and that there is always delightful service from our staff. Sometimes there are just things that are out of your control, and that means we have to cancel classes.”
Aside from yoga, Jen also alternates between TRX and cross training, and follows that up with eating clean. “When you practice yoga, it’s only natural that you have a better mind and body connection. In a way, it draws you to a healthier lifestyle,” she explains. “I just make sure I get a little bit of everything. I am vegetarian, but that doesn’t mean that I deprive myself of eating what I like. It’s all about balance.”
The balance in important, because Jen believes wellness goes beyond the physical. “It’s about beaing aware of waht is working in your life and improving upon it, and what’s not working in your life and actually doing something positive about it.”
Yoga is certainly a fitness regimen that does more than improves your body. It affects you on a spiritual and emotional level that, in the end, greatly improves the quality of life. Jen Martinez is certainly proof of that.
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