Book Review: 'Eat Your Way to Happiness' by Elizabeth Somer

Battling the blues? Put down that Prozac prescription and head for the pantry, says Elizabeth Somer, author of the new book "Eat Your Way to Happiness." It's time for a diet makeover.

Changing what and how you eat can dramatically improve your life, without the negative side effects of antidepressants, writes the registered dietitian and frequent morning TV show guest.

Somer says people who followed diet advice she gave in her 1995 book, "Food & Mood," have told her they've seen their energy increase, their memories improve, their PMS symptoms vanish, their extra weight drop off and even their depressions lift. (She emphasizes that people should always seek medical help for depression that lasts more than a month or is accompanied by other symptoms.)

In her new book, she shares some of their stories and offers updated nutritional information.

Included in "Happiness" is advice we hear from many quarters today: Eat a good breakfast; cut back on sugar, white flour and saturated fats; choose real food over processed food most of the time; exercise daily. But she also goes further, quantifying what we should aim for and including research to back up her claims.

For example, Somer writes that sugar today makes up 25% of calories in most American diets -- much of it coming from processed foods. But a diet in which even 9% of calories are from added sugar is a red flag for weight and health problems, she says, and too much sugar offers a temporary "high" that can end in fatigue and depression. The good news is that cutting back can bring immediate weight loss, mood improvements and increased energy. She says we should aim for no more than 6% of our calories from added sugar -- 30 grams, or 7 1/2 teaspoons, a day on a 2,000-calorie diet. (This doesn't include the sugar found in naturally sweet foods such as fruit.)

Somer lists a dozen "super mood foods" to include in our diets whenever possible. Nuts are in the No. 1 spot, and she recommends an ounce a day to raise metabolism, take the edge off hunger and help regulate blood sugar. Other must-eat foods include soy (a memory booster, she says), milk and yogurt, dark leafy greens and dark orange vegetables, broth soups (which help dieters feel satisfied on fewer calories, a secret to permanent weight loss), legumes, citrus and tart cherries (they contain melatonin, a hormone that helps regulate sleep).

She spells out potential brain- and mood-boosting benefits of eating omega-3 fats, especially DHA, found in fatty fish ("Prozac from the sea"). She also goes into the downside of eating fatty fishes -- the mercury they may contain -- and gives DHA-fortified alternatives.

Somer offers tips for how to eat to sleep better (one is to eat a light dinner no less than three hours before bedtime) and work with, rather than fight, cravings. She discusses supplements, beverages and the right vices in which to indulge (good news for dark chocolate lovers). She outlines an ideal diet -- think fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, milk and soy, lean protein. Her book also includes recipes and a two-week kick-start diet plan.

-- Anne Colby

Photo: "Eat Your Way to Happiness," Elizabeth Somer, Harlequin, $16.95

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Comments

[DarcyB]

This sounds like a great book with great advice on a proper diet. I saw a presentation by a Dr. Lustig called “Sugar: The Bitter Truth.” You can watch the 1 1/2 hour video here, http://www.uctv.tv/search-details.aspx?showID=16717 He basically states that high fructose corn syrup, fructose and sucrose are what is causing obesity in the world population and to stay away from it whenever possible. Look at your food labels carefully because it’s in just about everything. You can also check out this website, http://www.AmazingCalmEnergy.com for other options that will help boost your energy and burn those extra pounds. To everyone's Happiness!

[Paul Maher]

There’s an interesting post over at the Health Journal Club that makes the case that people should just not eat anything that wasn’t a food 100 years ago. Gets rid of the aspartame, bleached GM flour, high fructose corn syrup garbage they try to pass off as food these days. If interested you can read on it here,
http://healthjournalclub.blogspot.com/

[Jere Krischel]

Absolutely right on about sugar, and we can extend that to all carbohydrates (since they turn into sugar almost immediately in the blood).

The fear of saturated fat, however isn't justifiable.

Stop eating carbohydrates, and you'll see a disappearance of the diseases of civilization, including obesity, heart disease, diabetes, cancer and other chronic diseases.

For more information, check out a lecture by Gary Taubes at Berkeley - google for "gary taubes berkeley". He's the author of "Good Calories, Bad Calories", the definitive work on the science history behind diet.

[savvysavingbytes]

I agree with Elizabeth Somer that sugar in processed foods is a big culprit here. Some people still seem unaware that sugar is added to processed foods like canned peas and corn, stewed tomatoes, spaghetti sauces, etc. Except for shredded wheat, most cold cereals too are packaged with sugar.

I wrote about the positive effects of losing 10 pounds by altering my diet in:

http://savvysavingbytes.com/2009/08/drop-pounds-save-pesos-plus/

[Dr Traci.com]

While these certainly aren't "secrets," at this point, it's certainly the way more people should be eating!

[dice8up]

I don't buy it...

"stop eating carbohydrates ...?" where will you get your energy?

I am old school... and i think what we should stop eating are foods that were spepcifically pronouced not to be ideal in the Bible...

[Nick1254367]

This is an exciting book! I commend that you promote a healthy lifestyle that can lead to happiness. I just have recently had my own shot at defining happiness, which aims to be more “scientific” and “objective” (as much as this is possible for a subjective feeling such as happiness):

“A person can be considered to have experienced a “happy” moment if the person chooses to re-live it as an end in itself if offered at no cost.”

For the detailed derivation of this conclusion please have a look at

http://www.spreadinghappiness.org/2009/08/what-is-happiness/

What do you think about this definition?

Thank you,
Nick