Food & Mood: The Complete Guide to Eating Well and Feeling Your Best, Second Edition (Paperback)

~ Elizabeth Somer M.A. R.D. (Author), Nancy Snyderman (Preface) "What a miracle you are!..." (more)
Key Phrases: serve with nonfat milk, galanin levels, nerve chemicals, Feeling Good Diet, United States, Winter Blues (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

In the early 1990s, when Elizabeth Somer, M.A., R.D., a nationally recognized award-winning nutrition expert and the nutrition correspondent for Good Morning America, wrote the first edition of her groundbreaking book, Food & Mood, scientists were just beginning to understand how what we eat affects how we feel. Over the past several years, nutrition research has exploded, and this edition of Food & Mood has been completely revised and updated to reflect the latest findings on the relationship between diet and mental and emotional well-being.

Food & Mood covers all the bases for eating right for a healthy body and mind and includes practical, nutritionally sound advice for putting Somer's Feel Good Diet into practice. Somer starts out by simply and eloquently elucidating the science behind the food-mood link. She explains how food affects mood; the basis of food cravings; how diet is connected to stress, PMS, and fatigue; and what foods banish the blues, boost brain power, and improve sleep naturally. Need to stop overeating and abusing food? In the second section, Somer gives compassionate, pragmatic advice for turning your eating habits around for good. The final section gives detailed, step-by-step suggestions and guidelines to help you eat right to feel great. Included are shopping tips, daily menus, information on designing a supplement program, and tantalizing recipes. (Who knew burritos, brownies, and chocolate chip cupcakes could be good for you?) --Ellen Albertson

From Publishers Weekly

What at first glance would appear to be yet another look at the relationships of food with emotional state is, instead, an extremely well-researched probe of what a good diet can mean to both body and mind. Somer, editor of Nutrition Report, dispels many of the myths about specific foods and diet patterns, putting in their place scientific studies showing the links between mood and diet. Among the topics she discusses are food cravings, stress and diet, food allergies and intolerances, eating disorders, premenstrual syndrome and how food can affect sleep patterns. More than 100 tables, charts and worksheets help readers evaluate their diets and make appropriate changes. Menus and recipes are also included, and the need for supplements is discussed. Readers will appreciate Somer's no-nonsense style and the absence of contrived anecdotes to make important dietary points. Although some may find that the book gets off to a slow start, those who stick with it will find a valuable nutritional sourcebook.
Copyright 1994 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: Holt Paperbacks; 2 edition (December 15, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0805062009
• ISBN-13: 978-0805062007
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #13,574 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

114 of 116 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Breaking old eating habits, March 25, 2000

By A Customer

As the mother of two little boys, one and three years old, I found myself getting as tired and cranky as they were at 2PM nap time. I just assumed it was a natural part of being a busy mom. If I didn't sneak a nap while they were down, I'd rewarm the morning coffee and 'reward' myself with a cookie. When I picked up "Food and Mood" I actually had my husband in mind! When I started using the author's eating strategies, I noticed I wasn't craving a nap or coffee at midafternoon and I was really feeling good. For other 'tired' mom's, one key that helped me was when I started eating a protein-based midmorning and midafternoon snack, which helped me avoid the quick high of coffee and sugar that wore off too soon. I've since incorporated the same strategies with the kids and my husband (a habitual midafternoon candy bar eater), and he says he notices a difference and a better energy level too. I've recommended Food and Mood to so many friends that I actually wanted to write a review to help spread the word. This is one less cranky mom wishing you well.

98 of 106 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I owe my life to this book, November 1, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Food and Mood: The Complete Guide to Eating Well and Feeling Your Best (A Henry Holt Reference Book) (Paperback)

After years of depression, lethargy, and out-of-control weight, I thought that I would be that way forever. I had lost interest in anything fun. I couldn't keep up with household tasks. I was irritable, grouchy, intolerant. All I wanted to do was sleep.

Until reading and applying the principles presented in Food and Mood!

I can't recommend this book highly enough. I truly believe that it saved my life!

66 of 70 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars What you eat has a profound affect on how you feel., September 25, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Food and Mood: The Complete Guide to Eating Well and Feeling Your Best (A Henry Holt Reference Book) (Paperback)

Summary: This book is a fairly complete reference. It begins by explaining some aspects of chemical brain function. It then goes on to explain how diet can radically affect how a person feels, including mood and energy problems. As an aside, it also mentions PMS and SAD (seasonal affection disorder) as causes for food cravings and mood problems. It also mentions how certain low level diet deficiencies can cause various types of bodily harm. (The ones related to B vitamins are downright scary.) Finally this book proposes the Feeling Good Diet as a solution to all these problems.

Pros: The book is highly informative and enlightening. It is more complete on its own subject than many other books are on the subjects they cover.

Cons: This book falls short in that it is not a cookbook by any stretch of the imagination (although it does have a very short list of recipes). Although most of the book is highly informative, the Feeling Good Diet section is limited to lists of good foods and bad foods. The book also has a certain flaw common to most books: it takes too long to say what it has to say. Still, as far as books go, it is a four-star ranker.