Amid your busy daily life, you often face various pressures and conflicts. Behind these seemingly trivial matters lie deeper issues of poor communication and accumulated stress. Dr. Lobsang Gyaltsen presents an interesting viewpoint regarding food in his book Preventive Medicine: The Tibetan Art of Healing Body and Mind.
You can improve physical health, bring peace to your mind, and more effectively cope with life’s conflicts and pressures through dietary adjustments. This naturally arouses curiosity: Which foods can provide you with inner peace? Dr. Lobsang has selected eight foods that are beneficial for calming the mind. Let’s explore and see if any of your favorite foods are among them.
8 foods to calm the mind
1. Black sesame: Taming emotions
Since ancient times in Tibet, black sesame has been considered an aristocratic health food. Traditional Chinese medical texts state: “Sesame is heavy and warm in nature, and it enhances positive energy while dispelling stagnant evil.” Stagnation here refers to diseases related to circulation and nutrient transport.
From the perspective of Western medicine, I chose sesame because it is rich in calcium. A lack of calcium affects bone health and causes grouchy emotions. By maintaining sufficient calcium concentration in the blood, conditions prone to volatile outbursts, anxiety, and irritability can all be improved. You can directly eat black sesame seeds, drink sesame powder beverages, consume sesame paste, or have sesame cream — all suitable!
2. Seaweed: Transforming stress
Red algae, seaweed, nori, kelp, wakame, and hijiki are all excellent sources of magnesium. For a joyful mood, magnesium is indispensable. Who is prone to magnesium deficiency? They are people under tremendous stress, those who sweat a lot from vigorous physical activity, and those taking diuretics. To calm tension and restlessness, stabilize heart rate and blood sugar, improve insomnia and chronic inflammation, eat many terrestrial plant foods, and even more so, learn to eat plants from the sea.
3. Spinach: Natural detoxifier
Folate, also known as vitamin B9, is extracted from spinach leaves. Folate is closely related to blood formation and is a critical anti-stress nutrient. In moments of mild melancholy or anxiety, eat spinach. If stir-fried with garlic, it also helps you recover from fatigue and tastes delicious. Another reason I recommend spinach is that it is deep green in color and rich in chlorophyll, a natural detoxifier that helps the body eliminate heavy metals.
4. Yogurt: Gut health
The reason this food, a gift from heaven, came into the world is accidental. Legend has it that ancient nomadic peoples stored fresh milk in sheepskin bags and accidentally fermented it. Everyone thought the taste was quite good; we’ve been eating it for thousands of years. Maintaining an excellent intestinal flora produces happy hormones like serotonin, and working together with melatonin, the synergistic effect improves your mood and sleep quality.
Whenever I promote yogurt, someone asks if some other food can also be used after my speech. If you want to combat the harmful bacteria in your gut, why would you reject extra help? Let’s open our hearts; we welcome all excellent bacteria regardless of origin. In addition to yogurt, you can also include yogurt drinks, probiotics, and fruit and vegetable enzymes as your comrades. Eat and drink whatever good bacteria you have available, be flexible and easy-going, and don’t get caught up in details.
5. Nuts: Dispelling fatigue
Regularly eating a small handful of nuts, such as hazelnuts, walnuts, almonds, or peanuts, is enough; there is no need for a large quantity. People with chronic fatigue are physically and mentally exhausted. When weak and irritable, petty matters aggravate them, and their tempers quickly flare up. Once they lose their tempers, good luck bids them farewell, and that gets even more infuriating.
When you can’t stay strong, please eat this food! What I value most about the nut family is their vitamin E content. While combating oxidation and free radicals, especially for those under high stress, often worn out, or living in environments with poor air quality, let vitamin E in nuts strengthen your protective barrier.
6. Bananas: Calming the mind
Bananas are an excellent source of trace minerals, essential for calming the mind. They are suitable for those who are melancholic, sleep poorly, carry trauma and stress, and need to replenish energy quickly during prolonged exercise. Eating bananas supplements tryptophan and also facilitates serotonin synthesis.
Bananas with unsweetened yogurt are a good option for those needing improved digestion and better sleep. For those seeking to turn enemies into friends and promote friendships, sharing a bunch of bananas with others is better than staring at each other and fuming all day.
7. Cucumbers: Cooling and refreshing
How do you describe someone who remains calm and composed in English? “Cool as a cucumber.” I find it quite apt. Especially in summer, eating cucumbers to cool down and reduce heat is very effective. With their high water content, cucumbers are a food suitable for those with a hot temper, excessive salt intake, and chronic dehydration.
I often nag people around me to drink more water. For those who dislike drinking water, I teach them to slice cucumbers thinly and a whole lemon and soak them together in water. Cucumber-lemon water is delicious and effective at preventing chronic dehydration, which can cause constipation, dizziness, memory loss, and emotional anxiety.
8. Honey: Naturally sweet, releasing inner peace
Sweetness has always been soothing to the heart. However, considering the various adverse effects of excessive refined sugar intake, I recommend natural sweeteners. Honey is my favorite. When your mind is full of disturbing thoughts and plagued by negative memories, and you cannot help but resent and blame others, have a cup of honey water first!
Taste the sweetness with the aroma of flowers. Switch to a sweet mindset and let kind people, things, and loving thoughts stick to you again. Flowers bloom in abundance — not to show off; they are naturally beautiful, so why compete? Forget it, stop fighting, stop competing, enjoy the honey water, and graciously skip over the bad scenes.
Translated by Katy Liu and edited by Amanda
