11 Foods That Boost Happiness + 9 "Sad" Foods To Avoid, From A Neuroscientist

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March 22, 2022 — 10:05 AM

The following general rules apply to all brain types, but I will also break down targeted recommendations for each of the five primary brain types. (Based on our brain imaging work at Amen Clinics, we have identified five brain types related to personality: Balanced, Spontaneous, Persistent, Sensitive, and Cautious.) Not all diets are right for all brain types.

Take it from Rachael Ray, who took our Brain Health Assessment and discovered she has the Persistent Brain Type. After going on one of those high-protein, low-carb diets, she told me, “I was so mean that I wondered why my husband didn’t leave me.” She was on the wrong eating plan for her brain type. Knowing how to eat for your brain is one of the keys to feeling happier.

The real happy foods are the ones that make you feel good in the moment but also enhance your mood, energy, and physical well-being in the long run. This one simple eating strategy is the most important with respect to happiness. Think of common comfort foods like pizza, ice cream, or chips—they may give you a quick boost now but rob you of feelings of contentment later. In general, they are low-quality foods that have been scientifically engineered to taste so good that they trigger your brain’s “bliss point” and the release of some of the neurochemicals of happiness—such as dopamine—causing you to become addicted to them.

The Standard American Diet (aptly referred to as “SAD”) is filled with foods that are loaded with unhealthy ingredients and artificial chemicals that are detrimental to mental, emotional, and physical well-being. A growing body of research shows that the SAD diet increases your risk for depression, anxiety disorders, ADHD, and dementia, as well as diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and cancer.

As a psychiatrist who has met with tens of thousands of patients over more than 30 years, I can tell you that having any of those issues steals your joie de vivre. 

In the book, I give you a list of nearly 200 specific happy foods and an additional 12 rules for happy eating, including how to eat for your brain type. For example, people with the Spontaneous Brain Type tend to do better with a higher-protein, lower-carbohydrate diet while those with the Persistent Brain Type (like Rachael Ray) respond better to an eating plan focused on complex carbohydrates with lower amounts of protein. When you tailor the general rules to your specific brain type, it will help you feel healthier and happier than ever.

Excerpted from You, Happier: The 7 Neuroscience Secrets of Feeling Good Based on Your Brain Type by Daniel G. Amen, M.D.