Philosophy 101: I like PB & J Sandwiches

[NATEDOG]

the answer is.................. all of the above. I think your mood effects your diet, and your diet effects your mood.

[MrBill]

Look! Stay calm, hand over the chocolate, and no body gets hurt.

[loser]

fine sudz you whiny baby

let me explain myself.

In my experience, food is not a reflection of mood; nor is mood a result of the food a person eats.

I believe it to be a question of overall lifestyle. For the most part, those who eat healthy (as you described,) and have a good attitude maintain a healthy lifstyle.  This  includes healthy activity, spirituallity, and sex.....yes healthy sex!

Case in point:  if someone has a healthy mindset, including a healthy relationship and an active physical life, coupled with a decent diet...this person is going to be in a good mood.


However, if one of these components is weak or lacking altogether, the person in question is bound to be less healthy and more prone to depression or even anger.

While I see your argument for good eating, I feel that a holistic approach to wellbeing is the key factor, not one specific factor (eg diet).

[Pyro]

Not long ago, I saw an article over on CNN’s website that cited a study that the FDA sponsored through John Hopkins University on the relation between food and well-being.  They divided test subjects into two groups based on their answers to a poll about the current state of their health. Then they had the test subjects maintain a strict log of their dietary intake over the course of a week.  The differences in diets between the two groups were huge.  Surprisingly, the healthy group is the one that ate a lot more heavy high-fat high-sugar “junk” foods than the unhealthy group.  However, the biggest differences in the diets between the two groups were extremely elevated consumption rates of particular foods in the non-healthy subjects.  Soups, particularly chicken soup, were consumed on average almost 2000% more in the unhealthy group than in the healthy group.  Orange juice was another item with highly elevated consumption levels in the unhealthy group’s diet.  It's something to think about before you have that bowl of soup or glass of OJ.

[-sudz-]

The chicken soup doesn't surprise me: http://chetday.com/chicken.html  (don't read if you've a weak constitution), but the OJ does.  My intuitive feeling would've been that a glass of OJ in the morning would put anyone in a little better mood.

I've scoured the net looking for other articles on diet and personality and at most they take the position that your diet is a reflection of your personality, if they address it in any real way at all.

I tend to agree with Nate that it's a little of both, maybe they even feed on each other.   Unfortunately, I can't find evidence about diet affecting personality traits (or visa-versa), much less anything about degree.

So I'll do the only thing a man can do in the absence of definitive proof:  I'll take a guess and insist it's the right point of view until others believe me or get tired of arguing.

I think the body responds to demands made by the mind by signalling what its needs via "hankerin's" and cravings.  Your repetoir of foods available for "hankerin" status grows with the variety of foods you try out.  So in this sense the degree that diet affects personality is a mild nudging, the degree that personality affects diet is overwhelming - but should be tempered by responsiveness to a body's cravings.

All Hail PB & J!