When Foods Make You Feel Bad

Truth is, you don’t have to eliminate any foods from your diet. The important step is realizing what foods make you feel awful and put you in a bad mood. If you pay attention, you can identify how certain foods, in certain portions, blitz your mood like a linebacker clobbering a quarterback.

The approach I take as a nutritionist is to figure out how my clients can eat those foods in smaller portions while still enjoying them for the culinary experience and the sheer fun. It’s not about eliminating foods you love, but about appreciating them more. It’s one of the eating strategies I explain in my new book, The Good Mood Diet: Feel Great While You Lose Weight  (Springboard Press).

“I came to realize that I was gobbling chocolate chip cookies to stuff down the stress in my life,” says Paula Burke, a Seattle business consultant with two young children. “Now I really savor a good piece of chocolate, taking the time to take pleasure in it. I enjoy it so much more.”

My list of feel-bad foods is really more about not overdoing it rather than not eating any particular food. For instance, I am not totally opposed to the occasional order of french fries, just make it a small order. If you simply must sample a great cheesecake while dining out, share it with at least one other person. Plus, some items—notably alcohol and chocolate—can actually transfer to the feel-great foods list if you consume them in moderation.

Here are the Good Mood Diet’s Feel-Bad Food categories:

• Alcohol
• Caffeine (large doses)
• Fried foods
• Fatty meats
• Fatty snack foods
• Refined sugars and starches (most often in packaged foods)

And here are my top 10 Feel-Even-Worse Foods (in no particular order). Note that the oversized serving dooms the mood-boosting of some items:

Large order of fries: America’s favorite fast food is a mood-buster when you eat, oh, more than two handfuls. If you insist, get a small order and eat one fry at a time. You will be surprised at how satisfied you will be.

Supersized sodas: This is no bargain when applied to your emotional ballast. Drinking more than 12 ounces will take a big gulp out of your mood in the ensuing hours.

Pork rinds: Forget the Atkins unofficial stamp of approval. This snack is fried skin, no way around it.

Bacon cheeseburgers: The best burger for mood is a hamburger without the cheese or bacon or secret sauce on a whole grain bun. If you insist, go for the occasional slice of cheese or strip or two of bacon (but why not save the bacon for its solo performance as a breakfast treat?). And skip the double and triple patties.

White flour pasta with cream sauce: Alfredo, alschmedo. Even worse if you don’t at least order it with shrimp or chicken for some protein.

Salami/cold cuts: If it is prepackaged, forget it. Too many nitrates and other preservatives to yank down your mood. Opt for fresh-roasted turkey or fresh, lean ham at the deli counter.