ood can make us feel good. It can lift our spirits. It can increase our energy. It can help prevent disease. Food can help regulate our bodies like a personal health assistant.

What Are Feel-Good Foods?

Feel-good foods are those that taste good, are good for us, and help us feel good about how we fuel our bodies. They also deliver some very specific and measurable benefits to our health. The fact of the matter is much of what ails us can be alleviated by some of the choices we make.

	If you’re stressed, consider salmon your new best friend.

Basically, our bodies are made up of a very complex mix of chemicals. We alter those chemicals every time we put something in our mouths. “You are what you eat” is not so far from the truth.

Spice up Health Food

Every healthy food—even those we snubbed our noses at when we were kids—is a potential culinary treat. Try a portion of gently simmered brussels sprouts with caraway and low-fat sour cream. Add a side of Quadruple Soy Threat—soybeans, tofu and edamame—sautéed with ginger, scallions and a savory tamari sauce, both accompanying a nice piece of grilled, wild salmon with a fresh-squeezed orange glaze. It looks good, smells great, tastes fabulous, and has more soluble fiber, folic acid, vitamin D, and Omega-3 fats than one meal has a right to offer. Add the benefits to your cholesterol levels, blood pressure, sleep patterns, skin tone, and overall wellbeing and you’ve got the equivalent of a magic potion.

Benefits of Feel-Good Foods

Different foods work their science for different benefits:

The beneficial bacteria of yogurt helps digestion and kills harmful bacteria that can cause GERD (gastroesophagial reflux disease), ulcers, or yeast infections. Bedtime bananas are practically a sleeping pill you can peel. Serotonin and melatonin in bananas are soothing, and the magnesium is a muscle relaxant. Grapes offer a host of phytochemicals that are great for your heart.

If you’re stressed, consider the salmon your new best friend. Rich with omega-3 oils, salmon can help reduce stress levels.

Tips for Choosing Feel-Good Foods

Even if you forget to read labels and can’t take time to research health benefits, here are a few easy-to-remember tips to achieve an overall healthy lifestyle.

1. Go green. If it’s a choice between anything white and anything green (or brown), go green. Green is good and means more nutrients, less processing.
2. Veggies rule. We’re grazers by evolution. Whatever color vegetable you choose, the darker it is, the better. Darker means it has a higher nutrient value. Traditional thinking says our protein in meat, poultry, or fish is the entrée and vegetables are the side dish. Reverse that by making the vegetables the entrée with a side of meat or fish.
3. East fresh foods. Fresh is better than frozen, frozen is better than canned. Fresh (and local) is good. Modern flash freezing techniques make frozen fruits and veggies a quality, close second.
4. If it’s canned, it’s been processed. This can reduce the nutrients, increase additives, or both.
5. In season, in style. Any food in season is bound to be fresh. If you live near the source of a seasonal fruit or veggie, it doesn’t suffer the stress of travel: New Jersey tomatoes, California artichoke, Georgia peaches, Idaho spuds, to name just a few.
6. Size does matter. In a world where bigger is better, trimming the portion size is so important. No platters and no mounding allowed.

There’s a simple beauty about foods and eating well. If you plan your nutrition choices with their healthy benefits in mind, you’ll give your family a delicious quality menu for living well. Here’s to your health.