The Good Mood Diet, by Susan Kleiner, is a book this “Foodie” mom has found helpful. Kleiner is a registered dietitican experienced in working with both weight loss groups (which included people with chronic illnesses) and also professional- and Olympic-caliber athletes.
The jacket blurb says: “One day to feeling better than yesterday; one week to erasing depression ; one month to lasting weight loss!” Normally such hyperbolic statements make me avoid a book, but incredibly I found the first two statements fairly true—I was in a much better mood with much higher energy after several days following Kleiner’s advice. (I confess I didn’t give the weight loss program a full month.)
Kleiner believes many diets cause cravings and irritability. Others simply don’t include enough protein, healthy fats, and antioxidants for optimal nutrition and energy.
Kleiner focuses first on what people should eat. If you aren’t ready to follow a structured diet program, Kleiner recommends taking the positive step of making sure you get certain healthful foods each day, including one egg (substitute soy if you have high cholesterol), green tea, unprocessed cocoa, fish, and a tablespoon of ground flaxseed.
The Good Mood Diet places critical importance on having protein at each meal and snack and balances carbohydrates, fats and protein. Kleiner believes low-carbohydrate diets may interfere with the brain’s serotonin levels, leaving people prone to depression. However, Kleiner emphasizes low-fat and healthy-fat proteins and healthy carbohydrates like whole grains.
Kleiner then presents a structured eating program, with a two-week starter phase, a continuing phase, and pointers for maintaining optimal weight and mood. She presents food planning guidelines for 1600 calories a day, which she believes is the minimum people should consume for health and mood, and two higher-calorie calories for larger or very active people, along with a guide for determining which plan is right for you.
Kleiner strongly recommends avoiding refined sugar for the first two weeks of the plan, then having refined sugar or alcohol only twice a week for the continuing weight loss phase. (Ideally this would be either dark chocolate or red wine, for the antioxidants.) Kleiner calls refined sugar a “feel-bad” food and recommends adding it back in slowly and journaling one’s mood and energy level to see how much our bodies’ can handle.
Kleiner also provides two weeks’ worth of menus. The foods are simple to prepare. Kleiner’s recommendation to eat fish five times a week can get expensive and will not be to everyone’s taste. Kleiner recommends fish oil or other omega-3 supplements if you cannot eat fish this frequently. However, she also recommends some lower-cost fish options, such as canned tuna brands which are low in mercury.
The book also includes vignettes from people who were part of a group who followed the plan together for several months, as well as a couple of other of Kleiner’s clients.
This book’s emphasis on quality and simplicity appealed to this “foodie” mom. It probably helps that I like fish, dark meat turkey and fruit smoothies with protein powder, but Kleiner provides options.
I began by simply trying to get the recommended foods each day: one egg, whole grain cereal with a sprinkling of ground flaxseed, green tea, and cocoa made with skim milk, undutched cocoa powder and Splenda. (The richest cocoa I’ve ever tasted.)
I followed Kleiner’s program for several days and felt the most energetic I ever have,so I give the program my hearty endorsement. There are faster ways to lose weight, but Kleiner’s program helped me break the cycle of being too exhausted to make salads and healthy food or to exercise, and too “brain-fogged” to really pay attention to what I was eating. For me the “Good Mood Diet” is just that—it helps me have the proper mood, motivation and energy to do what I need to do to be healthy.
Please see these related blogs:
Book Review: Yoga as Medicine: The Yogic Prescription for Health and Healing
The Importance of Exercise during Depression