Happiness is a Loaded Smoothie

Raw Vegan Replacement Therapy… A Smoothie?

My first tentative dip into the raw vegan pool was through the process of substitution. A raw green smoothie displaced my usual breakfast – typically something that I would grab off the Bed and Breakfast table after my guests were done eating. I was literally like a dog waiting for scraps. A piece of frittata?! A heel of cinnamon toast!? Give it to me! Now! Hell, I was a one-woman’ ravaging horde – the poster child for the Importance of Eating a Good Breakfast! Leaving  my house so early in the morning to prepare food for other people, I would hardly have time to make something for myself. But the green smoothie was easy. Throw some fruit and veggies into a blender, add a smattering of superfoods, flip a switch and whoosh! I’m out the door. Efficient and flavorful. Quick, too.

And here’s the miracle.

Health wise, I had, honestly, never really felt bad, by anyone’s standards. But all of a sudden there was a huge shift in my emotional state: I felt unbelievably happy.  And it wasn’t like normal run-of-the-mill everyday happiness. It was hyper-happiness. Raw happiness. And all this from a smoothie! Who’d have thunk?

At first I almost found it disturbing.

And I can only imagine what everyone else thought of me prancing around with this big smile on my face all the time:  people don’t do that! I was like some kind of freak! I figured I must be going insane or something. Like maybe, I should grab a jelly doughnut just to tone myself down a little.  My mother-in-law used to have this saying about not ’hiding your light under a bushel basket.’ But I was glowing just a bit too brightly, even for my own comfort. The fact is, I just wasn’t used to that much joy. And I’m a happy person!

Gradually and thankfully, ecstasy became less of an alien state.  Yet there’s no denying that the higher the quantity of raw food in my diet, the happier I am. And that’s a fact. My emotional state has almost become a gauge of what I need to eat.

Can You (Healthfully) Eat Your Way Happy?

Does your diet truly have a bearing on emotional state – meaning , can what you eat help to make you happy? As far as I’m concerned, it does! And science actually seems to agree with me!. As per research, mood swings in human beings are regulated by arachidonic acid (AA); higher levels of this substance render a person vulnerable to mental and emotional disturbances.

Arachidonic acid is present in food sources that are rich in omega-6 fatty acids, namely meat and fish. The body actually converts Omega 6 fatty acid into cytokines which are inflammation raising proteins, causing emotional nose-dives.

From this it follows that with a diet high in flesh foods, your body becomes more susceptible to frequent upsets, mood swings and emotional imbalance. It’s strange, but personally I noticed a long time ago that eating certain kinds of meat actually made me nervous. And it literally seemed to come from nothing because, at the time, I thought it tasted good and didn’t seem to have any kind of major convictions that might lead me to being guilt ridden over my food choices.

Eating For Emotional Health

In comparison a plant based diet provides the body with negligible amounts of AA. What does this mean? Well, it means that those following a vegan or raw vegan diet are less susceptible to emotional upheaval and  are generally more emotionally stable, content and at peace with themselves. But let’s just say that the more raw vegan food you can smoosh into your diet on a daily basis, the better your general mood is likely to be. Now that’s something anyone can get on board with.

The blender gives us an easy place to start when embarking on a Raw-Till-Four diet.  Frankly this smoothie is a great place to start wherever you’re going for the rest of the day. It can feel like a pretty big baby step!  So load up that blender and catch a buzz!  ‘Cause I would love to go out into the street just once and see everyone out their grinning from ear-to-ear! How much fun would that be!