By Marlene McKee, N.E., DIHom.
The day of the colors red, pink and everything heart-shaped is around the corner: Valentine’s Day. It is also the day of sweetness from chocolate, many kisses and much love.
Marlene McKee
Love is what makes the world go around – exhilarating emotions, uncontainable for a short time or forever. Whatever the time span might be, these overwhelming feelings for another person are the healthiest ones one can imagine. They are better than vitamins, minerals, antioxidants or fancy anti-aging supplements.
Feelings of love soaring through your body release dopamine, serotonin, endorphins, those happy-making neurotransmitters that stabilize your mood, make you sleep like a baby and stop all pain in your body. To have this happen without the help of any artificial means is something very special. It needs to be retained and extended indefinitely.
Sustain Love with Food
You would think love is based on emotions alone. Well, even emotions depend on what we eat. The right nutrition can nurture our emotions. In other words, love cannot live on love alone.
Whatever chemicals pass through our brain and body creating moods, thoughts and feelings of any kind are based on our diet. And what better day to start feeding our emotions, our heart, than Valentine’s Day!
Eat Your Aphrodisiac
Any food that makes you happy and feel good can be considered an aphrodisiac. Some foods are considered to be aphrodisiacs because of their shape or their aromas. Other foods and herbs, according to researchers, do have the ability to stimulate the production of hormones or other chemicals that influence our libidos.
Foods that are purported to affect hormones, brain chemistry and mood include strawberries, avocados, asparagus, mushrooms, garlic, artichokes, bananas, cucumbers, dates, figs, honey, pomegranates, oysters, sardines, salmon, anchovies, grass-fed beef, duck, crab and lobster.
Recipe for Love
My perfect Valentine’s Day meal would consist of a variety of gorgeously colored vegetables and salads prepared with dressings of delicate olive and flax seed oils and fragrant herbs that awaken the senses. The finest meat, fish or fowl from nurtured backgrounds prepared lovingly would grace the table served with a delicious wine that encourages blood flow.
Dessert on this “nurture happiness day” is, of course, chocolate. And I want it to be a decadent piece of dark, antioxidant-rich chocolate. The wonderful chocolaty sweetness releases feel-good chemicals that induce excitement and combat stress.
Valentine’s Day All Year Long
Wouldn’t it be great to have Valentine’s Day all year long? Not just with the day’s standard fare of chocolates, but with a meal of fine organic foods especially selected to nourish our heart?
Would it be too hard to prepare your “happiness meal” let’s say once a week? Maybe even more often? Providing health and happiness to keep love alive shouldn’t be considered a luxury but a necessity. Think about it: A Valentine’s Day celebration a week, will keep the doctor asleep.
Marlene McKee, N.E., DIHom. is a nutrition educator and homeopath cased in Los Angeles, California. For over 30 years, she has helped people achieve vibrant health by teaching them how to eat healthy and how to prevent illnesses with proper food and nature’s medicines. www.bodyiqonline.com
Featured image adapted from the photograph “crystals” by bitzi ☂ ion-bogdan dumitrescu, available under a Creative Commons license.