Avoid the afternoon stress-eating binge
That foods can soothe, reduce anxiety and boost your mood is well known to anyone who has kept a vise grip on a pint of Chunky Monkey at midnight or dived into the deep end of a party pack of chips at the end of a day gone awry.
In a perverse way, ice cream and chips do represent a fast-track to happiness. A load of simple carbohydrates provides an instant lift because carbohydrates trigger the rapid release of serotonin, the mood-elevating "happy hormone." When the brain produces serotonin, we experience a calming effect.
