Add some folic acid to your morning oatmeal!!

My roommate Lydie and I were talking about the blog today, and I mentioned I was going to do a post on how great black beans are (see next post). She mentioned to me that black beans are one of the top 10 "Happy Foods"- meaning they lift your mood. I decided to look into this "happy foods" thing further.... Turns out beans have folic acid, making them a mood lifter. She also told me that folic acid has been shown to be effective in preventing breast and cervical cancer. Interesting. Lydie THEN told me that there is no way that people can get ENOUGH folic acid in their diets between 3 daily meals, AND that alcohol depletes any folic acid reserves you may have. Time to get me some folic acid vitamins, I thought!!

I looked into all of this happy food business/folic acid buzz and wanted to share what I found....

1. Low folic acid levels have been linked to depression. Foods rich in folic acid are leafy greens, beans, peanuts, orange juice, and some fortified cereals (what is a fortified cereal??? I'm guessing not my Lucky Charms...)

2. Omega 3s have been shown to fight depression in "several clinical studies". Find these bad boys in salmon, tuna, walnuts, and canola oil (BONUS: Canola oil is better to cook with than olive oil, which our fabulously loyal readers already know from our last post).

3. I found an article suggesting that high levels of folic acid are good for preventing colon and breast cancer. It's written by Choi and Mason. I don't know who they are, so take this bullet point for what you will.

Link to my happy foods articles:

http://www.articlesbase.com/alternative-medicine-articles/10-happy-foods-fight-depression-fatigue-naturally-136750.html

http://health.yahoo.com/experts/joybauernutrition/11481/top-ten-happy-foods/

Happy Eating!!