Eat healthy and be happy

Hey everyone, 

My name is Megan Dean and I am doing some work this summer with the crew at Puravida Fitness until I head back to school at NDSU (in Fargo) where I study Exercise Science and play soccer. I am so excited people are becoming more aware of how good health behaviors can impact so many different aspects of our lives.  

In my health psychology class this past semester I found it especially interesting how everything about the human body is linked together. Our bodies, minds, and social lives are all interrelated in what is called a "Biopsychosocial Model".  In this model, it explains that if one of those aspects of our lives is off balance it directly affects all of the other parts of our life. For example if a person is diagnosed with a disease, cancer for example, their body is affected physically by the disease slowly weakening and attacking the body. Their psychology is affected by different things like what our attitude toward the disease is, do you give up or fight harder? Psychology is also things like seeing a freckle on your arm and thinking it's a mole and that the cancer spread.  Socially, we are affected by things like friends treating us differently because they don't know what to say or they you think they are only talking to you now out of sympathy.  

It is cool how our body works isn't it?  I was reading an article in my mom's Fitness Journal called "Diet is Linked to Depression". Naturally, this sparked my interest because of what I learned my psychology class.  The article explains that "healthy meals make for happy lives".  It explains, "researchers found that those with the highest intake of whole foods, such as fruits, vegetables and fish, had significantly lower incidences of clinical depression than those who ate a diet laden with processed foods....Specifically those who consumed a lot of processed meat, chocolate, sweetened desserts, refined cereals, high-fat dairy and fried foods were more vulnerable to depression over time".  Once again we see how directly related our body and our minds are. So let’s break this down using the biopsychosocial model. Our diet directly affects our body composition and thus changes how we look and feel over time.  This poor health habit makes people feel less confident about themselves and is probably part of the reason people making these choices head down the road to depression. Depression is also strongly correlated with chronic illnesses, like diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Often times these diseases are a result from an unhealthy diet, which may be another reason researchers are finding unhealthy diets are closely linked with depression.  Once a person hits depression after these food choices their social life may begin to change too.  Their social life will be affected if the depression causes them to pull away from friends or become overly dependent on those around them. 

So, the moral of the story is…?  If you maintain a healthful diet filled with a variety of colorful fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and plenty of vitamins and minerals you will not only look better on the outside, but you will feel better physically, mentally, and socially because everything in our lives is interrelated...which, in the end, will allow you to do the things you love more easily, and what a sweet deal that is!

Eat healthy and you WILL be happier. It's proven! :D