Feeling Sluggish?
Have A Fish

The food we eat can sharpen our minds,
or make them lumpy.

DAVID ZEMAN STAFF WRITER

eeling a little, urn,
tense? Have whin-
ing co-workers set
your teeth on
edge? Unclench that
jaw for a moment and
bite down gently on a
... bagel.
Feel the soft, chewy
innards of the dough.
Let those carbos
glide past the bulging veins of
your neck, soothing your nerves,
relaxing the rat-a-tat-tat of your
heart.
Sound improbable? Can an or-
dinary bagel restore the tran-
quility that's been missing from
your life since the birth of your
firstborn? Perhaps.
A stream of recent studies sug-
gests that the food you eat can
have a significant impact on your
mood. Some foods, like carbohy-
drate-rich bagels, can sedate your
brain — causing what Sinai Hos-
pital clinical dietitian Halle Co-
hen calls "a post-lunch slump."
Other foods have been shown
to make some people grouchy, de-
pressed, alert or anxious, and
may even exacerbate neurologi-
cal diseases, mental illness or the
mood swings associated with
menstruation.
Researchers offer technical ex-
planations for why some foods
change the way we produce neu-
rotransmitters, the chemicals

Fk

Photo by Rick Smith

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which send messages through
our bodies.
Suffice it to say, research on so-
called "brain food" can be con-
densed to this: Feeling sluggish?
Have a fish. A tad depressed? Lay
off the Yoo Hoo and other sugars.
Losing your memory? Slurp an
oyster.
Of course, dishes that turn up
on Jewish tables often cut across
food categories or — as in the case
of gribenes or halvah — fit no cat-
egory at all.
Which makes notoriously lit-
tle difference to some Jews, who
can't be bothered by the health
risks of their high-fat culinary
habits. As former college basket-
ball coach Abe Lemons explained
it: "When I die, I want to be sick!"
Other Jews may not know any
better. Comedian Buddy Hack-
ett recalled- that when he left
home and entered the
Army he thought he
was dying because his
heartburn finally dis-
appeared.
Nevertheless, some
of us do care. Some of
us are tired of feeling
crabby all the time. Or
confused. We want to
know which so-called
Jewish foods are adding
to our stress. Is that
salami making us dotty?
Does charoses feed our
neurosis?
Granted, such concern
violates another culinary
adage — this from writer
Roy Blount, who isn't Jew-
ish but should be. He main-
tains that one should never
eat with an ulterior motive.

