Got a meat lover in your family? Fred Flintstone, drop the brontosaurus drumstick and perk up your ears: vegetarians are not only healthier, they're happier, too. So says new research published in Nutrition Journal.
Diets heavy in meat and fish contain higher levels of the fatty omega-6 arachidonic acid (AA). Even though we keep hearing that omegas are good for us, it's more the 3s than the 6s. Today's meat is five times higher than the grass-fed meat that our ancestors ate. And research has shown that high levels of AA can cause "mood-disturbing brain changes."
Omega-3s not only combat the negative effects of the 6s, they boost brain power, mood, and should be consumed over the 6s in a 4:1 ratio. Even so, fish eaters weren't better off than their leaf-eating peers, particularly in the mood department.
The small study compared the diets of 39 meat-eaters, who were assigned to to one of three diets: one ate meat, fish or poultry daily while another ate fish 3-4 times weekly but no meat, and the third was strictly vegetarian. After two weeks, mood scores remained static for the omnivores while the vegetarians reported "significantly better moods and less stress."
Experts advise eating chia or hemp seeds, cauliflower and purslane to incorporate those all-important omega-3s.
Are you a veggie? Did you notice an improvement in your mood or stress levels when you gave up the carne?
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