Good Mood Diet Blog

Are you looking for a way to burn more calories every day but feel stuck to that desk chair in front of your computer? Well you need to get on the ball at work.

I talk with lots of office workers that have to use a little space heater all year long because they are so cold when they sit at their desk. It’s not a temperature problem – it’s a metabolism problem. The more minutes you sit still, the lower your metabolic rate goes. Soon you aren’t burning any calories and you aren’t’ producing any heat to keep your temperature at a normal level. You need to move more because muscle contraction produces heat and burns calories – two things you really want more of.

If you replace your desk chair even a few hours each day with a well inflated exercise ball, you’ll stimulate the muscles of your legs, hips, back and abdominal regions to constantly contract. This, in turn, heats you up and fires up your usage enough to double your daily calories! And that’s hot!

Eat Right and Exercise Regularly!
Alice

One of the key foods in The Good Mood Diet is either an egg yolk or soy every day. While I'm used to being asked whether we should now be tossing the white down the drain and eating the yolk (no way; eat both!), I haven’t been asked about eating raw eggs in a while. But since the question came up, I want to make the answer very clear: DO NOT EAT RAW EGGS!

When I first started research with bodybuilders in the early 1980s, throwing several raw eggs into a protein shake was very common. No one knows how many of the people who participated in that practice got food poisoning from it, but the risks were not well known by the public at the time.

Today we know that raw or undercooked eggs can be vectors for Salmonella bacteria, the most common source of food-borne illness. Once the eggs are cooked thoroughly, the bacteria is destroyed. So please don't add a raw egg to your whey protein shake. This is also a very good reason not to eat raw cookie dough that contains eggs.

Watch our recipes page for some great egg recipes in the months ahead.

Yours in a Good Mood,
Dr. Susan Kleiner

If you’re reading The Good Mood Diet, you’ve probably noticed the Isolated Whey Protein supplement that I have you add to your smoothie for a morning snack. What is it? Why is it added? Here are the answers:

Whey protein is one of the two proteins found in dairy products; the other one is casein. Whey protein is high in tryptophan, the amino acid required in the diet for the manufacture of serotonin in the brain. Research has shown that when stress-prone subjects were supplemented with whey protein, they had a decreased stress response and improved coping skills. So whey protein is a great mind supplement.

Whey protein also contains the most ideal composition of essential amino acids for muscle cell recovery, repair and growth after exercise. Because it is quickly digested and absorbed, it is referred to as a “fast protein,” rapidly making it to the muscle cell after consumption. So whey protein is a great body supplement.

Isolated whey protein offers you only the protein, without the carbohydrate and fat that is found in a concentrated whey protein supplement. During the morning and right after exercise, all you need is the extra whey protein added to your milk (with the option of adding a fruit). The extra carbohydrate and fat from a concentrated whey protein supplement adds unnecessary calories if you’re trying to lose weight. And the fat slows down digestion.

Likewise, if you just add more milk to the smoothie, you will get more whey protein, but you’ll also get more carbohydrate. It also becomes a very big drink. To get the additional 14 to 21 grams of whey protein that you get from the supplement, you’d need to add another 2 to 3 cups of milk.

So put your food to work for you. Enjoy the shake either mid-morning, or ideally right after exercise. You’ll feel the difference right away, and again later in the day whey you don’t crash from fatigue because you didn’t feed yourself right after exercise.

Yours in a Good Mood,
Dr. Susan Kleiner

We are in the midst of the Passover week-long holiday and rapidly approaching Easter this Sunday. While so many people are talking about all the foods they shouldn’t be eating during the holidays, I spent time last night thinking about all feel-great foods that are traditional at this time of year.

One of the cornerstone foods for the Passover seder meal is charoset. It symbolizes the mortar used by the Israelite slaves to build the great pyramids of Egypt. While you might think that it should be bitter to create sadness, it is actually quite sweet, to remind the Jews of the sweetness of freedom. The main ingredients are apples, walnuts, sweet concord grape wine and cinnamon, all ground together. Depending on where you are from in the Diaspora, other ingredients like dried fruits are commonly added. It is an incredible Good Mood food, and many families eat it all week long as a side dish or dessert.

Both Passover and Easter emphasize the coming of Spring, and so eggs are very symbolic for both holidays. Any way you eat them, eggs are one of my top feel-great foods.

The Easter lamb is traditional for the holiday meal. Lamb is delicious source of good mood nutrients like protein, vitamin B-12, Niacin, Riboflavin, Vitamin B-6, Iron, Zinc and Magnesium. Lamb roast, chop or legs are considered lean meats, making them a good choice for a heart healthy diet.

Your holiday meals will not only help you celebrate the season, but will also put you and your family in a good mood!

Yours in a Good Mood,
Dr. Susan Kleiner

There are a couple of people I suggest thinking about over your Good Mood Diet cup of hot chocolate tonight. (Yes, for newbies, the GMD does call for – let’s say requires – you to drink a cup of hot cocoa before bed; just use a brand that does not contain Dutch chocolate or is not "dutched," or processed with alkali).

One of those people is Hugh Prather. He is a Lutheran minister and author of more than a dozen books based in Tucson. One title I highly recommend is Prather's "Spiritual Notes to Myself." During an extended interview I had with Prather for that book release in 1998, he talked about a nightly ritual he used with his wife and two then-teenage kids.

"We lay on the big bed in our bedroom," said Prather, referring to the room and bed he shared with his wife, Gayle, who has co-authored some of the books covering life choices, meditation, stress relief and spirituality. "Each of us takes turns talking about the best part of our day and the worst part of our day. We do it every night. It's a great way for the kids to let out some problem they might be having at school or with a friend. Truth is, my wife and I benefit from it too. We can let go of our problems and troubling issues."

Perhaps even better, the nightly family laydown provided the Prathers an unabashed opportunity to celebrate the good things in everyone's day. We can forget to celebrate the small victories sometimes.

While I don't recommend drinking those GMD hot cocoas in bed, you might try finding a cozy spot in the house – or outside as the spring nights permit – and using the Best and Worst strategy as you sip.

If there are nights when a family gab is not possible, then maybe James Pennebaker has the best approach. He is a University of Texas researcher who has conducted a number of studies that show writing journal pages can help us heal from physiological conditions. His work clearly shows that healing can come in both physical and emotional forms, opening up the journal option to any of us who need some healing and repair (uh, yes, that would be pretty much all of us).

Pennebaker suggests writing about your deepest feelings, whether hurt, grief, depression or, on a brighter note, joy and passion. His research shows that people who write about feelings will boost their immune system while dampening the effects of stress hormones.

Some of us find it hard to write as a habit. Maybe we can't think of the just-right way to express our feelings. To that end, keep in mind the GMD motto that "you don't have to be perfect or even close to it." That should make the writing go easier and the hot chocolate taste even better.

Bob Condor

A recent study in the Journal of Strength and Conditioning Research found that average adults, when attempting to do a weight lifting workout on their own, tend to use resistance that is insufficient to stimulate strength or muscle firmness. The study looked at both women and men who attempted strength training without professional instruction.

This confirms what I notice as I look around weight rooms in the gyms I work in. And it’s exactly as I would expect from the questions and concerns I hear from the public at fitness presentations. Fears, misconceptions and bad advice from non-professional trainers about how to do strength building and weight lifting exercises cause people to use resistance that is too small and this prevents them from getting the results they are looking for.

We are told to lift weights to make our muscles firm, hard, tight and toned and working at a higher metabolic rate. Women tend to be fearful of getting bigger muscles and men are fearful of not getting bigger muscles.

When you are strength building, you want to pick a weight or resistance that makes it really hard to do 8-10 repetitions. Repeat that exercise at least twice a week until it becomes easy to repeat it 10 times. Then begin to use a slightly higher resistance that again makes it hard to repeat 8-10 times.

The journal studies show that “untrained men and women” typically self-select a workload (resistance) for weight lifting that is less than 70-80% of the biggest resistance that they could do once (known as their 1RM). Men typically selected 60% of their 1RM and women used the resistance that was only 56% of their personal 1RM.

Without the resistance large enough to limit the number of repetition you can do and that would cause your muscles to become stronger, you will be able to do more than 12 repetitions.

Never Exercise with a Jerk! Get sound exercise advice and follow the facts of physiology regarding strength building. And check out my article on strength building “Spot Reducing versus Targeting Strength.”

Alice Lockridge

If any of you are smokers out there, you might have noticed a change in your habit now that you're following The Good Mood Diet. Not only is it a little easier to let go of cigarettes once your mood is naturally lifted by the food that you eat, but a study published in this month's issue of the journal Nicotine and Tobacco Research has found that most of the feel-great foods on The Good Mood Diet make cigarettes taste bad. What a great adjunct to a smoking cessation program.

Here's how to put that news to work for you. The foods that worsened the taste of cigarettes were dairy (milk or cheese), non-caffeinated beverages such as juice or water, fruits and vegetables. All of these foods are high on the list of feel-great foods. It shouldn't be a surprise that the foods on the feel-bad foods list, like alcohol and caffeinated beverages, enhance the taste of cigarettes.

Step back and look at your day. When do you most crave cigarettes? Arrange your diet plan to have a cold glass of milk at that time, or some fruit and cheese. A can of V8 and a handful of almonds might even do the trick. Don't worry about the serving sizes or calories at this point. A few extra calories can't hold a candle to the damage that cigarettes are doing to your health.

While this isn't a proven method of smoking cessation, it might be a good way to take the edge off of your cravings and deter you from smoking even one cigarette. Each step forward is a step in the right direction.

For more information on this research from Duke University see the abstract, titled The effects of foods, beverages, and other factors on cigarette palatability.

Yours in a Good Mood,
Dr. Susan Kleiner

As I was surfing the web the other day I came across an article on the best zoos to visit. My daughter loves animals and she loves to visit the zoo. We have a great zoo here in Seattle, the Woodland Park Zoo, but we have visited zoos from Miami to Cleveland to San Diego and aquariums from Baltimore to Vancouver, British Columbia. Her relationship with animals stirs a place deep inside, making her feel wonderful. I smile just thinking about it.

It’s important to take note of all the different things in life that make us feel good. It’s also important not to take something that should make you feel good and turn it into something that actually makes you feel worse. Exercise and diet are two great examples of this, and I sometimes see this in my Type A personality clients.

First let’s deal with the exercise. Exercise is meant to be fun, to get your heart and muscles pumping and your lungs working. It’s supposed to reduce stress, but I know people who make exercise a stress inducer rather than a stress buster. While participating in competitive sports can be a good thing, getting too competitive with your exercise can impede relaxation. Don’t compete with the person next to you on the treadmill; go at your own pace. If you’re not feeling well, maybe take a day off or just go out for a walk, rather than doing that high intensity exercise routine that was planned for the day. Give yourself enough recovery time after an illness, rather than jumping back into it and ending up injured. Remember, fitness is a journey, not a destination.

Next, your diet. The Good Mood Diet is not about perfection. If you can’t do it all, then pick out three or four things, or maybe even just one to do each day, and see what happens. I know many readers who have just tried the hot cocoa at night to start with and done just that for a week or two. Then they recognize that they’re sleeping better and now they can think about eating breakfast in the morning. They do that for a week and then realize that they have enough energy to start to be more active. And on from there.

Each thing builds on the next. So don’t stress out about not doing the plan perfectly, or exercising as hard as your neighbor. As your diet improves and you slowly become more fit, you’ll have the mental energy to do things that you let go of many years ago. Some people pick up old hobbies or start new ones. That makes you feel good. Others notice that they have the desire to interact with their spouses in the evening rather than space out in front of the TV. That makes you feel good.

The Good Mood Diet creates the foundation for you to participate in all the other things in life that make you feel good. Next week we’re going to the zoo to see the brand new baby Sumatran tiger. That will feel great!

Yours in a Good Mood,
Dr. Susan Kleiner

An article from foodnavigator.com, a publication distributed to the food industry, came across my e-mail the other day. The crux of the article is that juices and other foods, distributed worldwide, use the same nutrition label regardless of the source of the ingredients. Since products distributed worldwide usually are NOT produced locally, using local produce and foodstuffs, the nutrient composition of those foods are not standard or controlled.

The story targeted a juice produced by GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Ribena. GSK had to admit that Ribena did not necessarily contain the vitamin C content as claimed on the label. The varying nutritional content of locally sourced blackcurrants in certain countries created a large discrepancy in the accuracy of the label, ranging from accurate in Singapore to almost no vitamin C in Australia.

One huge concern is that nutrition labeling is required on all packaged products, yet there is no guarantee that the values are actually accurate. GSK used an average value for vitamin C on their label, but the nature of an average means that there will be some that are much higher in vitamin C content, and some that are much lower.

What can you do as a consumer? Aside from the science project done by the students in Australia that discovered the label discrepancy, my suggestion is to make sure that you eat a variety of foods that contain an array of nutrients to meet your nutritional needs. In other words, don’t depend on one food as the staple for a specific nutrient.

For example, you might eat an orange every day for your vitamin C. But what if that orange has the low end of vitamin C rather than the high end? Other foods that contain vitamin C are tomatoes, broccoli, berries, cherries, and many others. By including a variety of foods you ensure your vitamin C intake will always be optimal. Use this fundamental strategy for all of your food choices. You will create a diet high in variety, dense in nutrients, and strong in flavors and textures. It will taste delicious and you will feel great!

Yours in a Good Mood,
Dr. Susan Kleiner

Have you heard? Now you can buy Diet Coke Plus. The “plus” is for a few added vitamins and minerals: about 15% of your daily needs. I wish you could hear my deep sigh. If you’re a diet coke drinker, I’m certain you don’t choose it for its health benefits. If you’re a diet orange soda drinker, will you switch to diet coke plus for the added nutrients? Unlikely. And if I were you, I certainly wouldn’t bother to do so, either.

When you drink diet soda, choose it because you love it. The small amount of added nutrients are insignificant. Enjoy your drink, and make sure to eat all the rest of the foods that you need to eat to feel great every day. Those will give you the nutrition you need, not the sprinkling of 5 nutrients added to the diet coke.

So when you pass it in the beverage aisle, join me in rolling your eyes. Don’t pay more for it because you think it might be healthier. It isn’t.

Yours in a Good (and skeptical) Mood,
Dr. Susan Kleiner

It was Sunday afternoon, and my family was sitting around reading, when everyone looked up almost at once and said, “ I’m hungry.” Of course, they don’t get up and get anything themselves, they all look at mom, right? Well, the complaint in my house from my children, as you can imagine, is, “Why don’t we have any junk to eat in the house? Why do you have to be the food doctor?”

So I decided to make something that was fast, would taste great, and that was really feel good food: whole wheat pita chips, with a twist.

The other day I picked up a small bottle of cold-pressed merlot grapeseed oil flavored with chipotle peppers*. I wasn’t sure what I’d do with it, but I thought it would be fun to try. It had just the right zing, even just for dipping.

Grapeseed oil is known for its high flash point, or smoke point. This means it can withstand high heat while cooking and will not burn as readily as other oils. This quality has made grapeseed oil a choice of many gourmet chefs around the world. Grapeseed oil is recognized as a heart-healthy cooking oil. It is high in antioxidants and vitamin E. It has about half the saturated fat of an olive oil and early research has shown that it may help to raise HDL and lower LDL cholesterols.

I had whole wheat pita bread that I had bought the day before, brushed them with the grapeseed oil, sprinkled them with Kosher salt, cut them into triangles and baked them on a cookie sheet at 350o F for 20 minutes, flipping them at 10 minutes.

I barely got them out of the oven before everyone was eating them and loving them. They are crispy and salty with just the right amount of zing, with the plus of whole wheat. Served with hummus, they are great. It was a huge improvement on the plain whole wheat pita that can be a hard sell to kids sometimes, and even adults.

*I found the oil at a store called Oil & Vinegar.

Yours in a Good Mood,
Dr. Susan Kleiner

• Find 10 strengthening exercises that use different muscle groups (major ones that move big body parts).
• Do the exercises against some kind of resistance that makes it hard to repeat 10 times.
• Do them at least twice a week.
• Once it becomes easy to repeat an exercise 10 times, use a slightly harder resistance.

1. Stand-ups and sit-downs (squats)
2. Pull-downs, chin-ups, or high pulley pulls
3. Shoulder press
4. Step-ups (up about 8 inch steps)
5. Seated rows
6. Chest press (a.k.a. bench press)
7. Curls-ups on the ball
8. Lateral curl-up on the ball
9. Biceps flexions
10. Triceps extensions
11. Lateral rises
12. External rotation of hips

• Dairy
• Fish
• Whole grains
• Avocadoes
• Olives and olive oil
• Nuts and seeds and nut and seed butters

One of my favorite books for the non-scientist about brain chemistry is “Satistfaction: the science of finding true fulfillment,” by Dr. Gregory Berns. In a nutshell, Dr. Berns explains the history and findings of the research investigating the neuroscience of true satisfaction. The key is taking action, as in a “job well done” giving satisfaction. And that digging a ditch may create more long-term satisfaction than winning the lottery, since winning takes no physical action on the part of the winner.

This gives real insight into why climbing a hill, playing an instrument, helping someone move, gardening, painting, and other physical activities make us both happy and satisfied.

So the next time you’re feeling dissatisfied, get up and move. Do something. Take action. Because without action, you have no satisfaction.

Yours in a Good Mood (because I just completed this blog),
Dr. Susan Kleiner

One of the things Dr. Kleiner and I hear regularly - well, practically daily - about the Good Mood Diet is that people don't feel hungry on the plan. They don't feel deprived or limited. And, of course, folks tell us how much better they feel in short order.

It's an approach that changes mindsets about healthy eating. Foods become part of your wellness rather than dreaded symbols of more fat and low self-esteem. So many Americans just don't connect delicious food with healthy food, and the plentiful eating of Good Mood foods as a loving act for your body and, no small point, your brain.

But don't just take my word for it. A new government report shows that just one in seven Americans eats enough fruits and vegetables. For the record, men are worse than women, said U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention researchers said in an early April report.

And U.S. adults aren't doing any better on regular exercise, which Dr. Kleiner incorporates in Chapter 6 of The Good Mood Diet book.

The CDC tracked the percentage of us consuming at least five servings of fruits and vegetables daily and engaging in moderately intense exercise for at least 30 minutes five days per week or vigorous exercise for at least 20 minutes three days per week as recommended by the government. The numbers: 14.6 percent of Americans met both the dietary and exercise benchmarks.

The report was based on self-reported data from a 2005 telephone survey of 356,112 Americans, which means those percentages might even be a bit high.

So when you are adding those orange sections to your dinner salad or tossing some spinach into your morning scrambled egg, feel good about the healthy change in direction of your Good Mood compass. You are part of a small group of Americans who add fruits and veggies and who connect it to feeling better. That's the starting point, even if people still eat the other processed foods in their diets.

The Good Mood Diet is enhanced with regular exercise. We talk in the book about pedometers to help you increase your daily walking to the 10,000 steps recommended in university research. More next time about how to add more walking to your day without necessarily spending hours at the health club.

Bob

There’s nothing like meeting great people. Recently, I spent two days in the company of 60 fabulous women at the Microsoft Mid-Atlantic Region Executive Women’s Retreat. What a group of dynamic, powerful and fun women. We were all in a good mood just feeding off of each other’s energy.

There were three women authors speaking at the conference, including myself. The other two were MJ Ryan, author of This Year I Will…. How to Finally Change a Habit, Keep a Resolution, or Make a Dream Come True, and Barbara Stanny, author of Prince Charming Isn’t Coming: How Women Get Smart about Money.

They are fabulous women, wonderful speakers, and their books are excellent. If you are looking to change your life, read their books.

Yours in a Good Mood,
Dr. Susan Kleiner

• Jumbo rubber bands
• Bunge cord style rubber bands
• Surgical tubing rubber straps
• Hand-held weights
• Large cans of food
• Milk or fruit juice jugs (screw on lid tightly)
• Bricks
• Books with straps around them
• Socks filled with rocks (tie at the opening)

A very big part of The Good Mood Diet is the philosophy, or approach to food. It’s new for the diet world. Because I have worked in the sports world for 25 years, I teach all my clients, and now you, to think like an athlete.

The sports world is built on success. The diet world is built on failure. Even the business model is based on failure. Athletes look at their past performances once, learn from their mistakes, and then move on to their plan for success in the next game or competition. They live in the present and the future. Dieters rewind the film of their past dieting errors hundreds of times, hoping that the next time the story will change; but it never does. The past won’t change. But you can change the present and the future.

Athletes don’t dwell on the past, they focus on what they need to do to be successful. They don’t focus on what doesn’t work, they target what works, and they expect it to work successfully. That’s what I want you to do. Think about what you NEED to eat to feed your brain, to feel successful, and to be a success. Put your food to work for you, and you will think, and feel, like an athlete. Anticipate and visualize your success, and you will be a winner!

Yours in a Good Mood,
Dr. Susan Kleiner

Every day brings a new study about the brain. Not too long ago the “big news” was that we had a window of opportunity to hard wire the developing brain only between the ages of zero and three. Today the really big news is that our brains never stop growing and developing. One of the greatest influences on the development of the brain from birth to death is how we move our bodies. Anne Green Gilbert has known this for decades as she taught dance to generations of students. Her groundbreaking work is internationally renowned.

Developed by Anne Green Gilbert, the BrainDance is a series of exercises based on eight fundamental movement patterns that we move through in the first year of life. Research has shown that these patterns are crucial to the wiring of our central nervous system. As babies, we did these movements on our tummies on the floor. However, cycling through these patterns sitting or standing has been found to be beneficial. This "dance" is an excellent full body and brain warm-up for children and adults in all settings. The BrainDance can be done at the beginning of class; before tests, performances, and presentations; and during computer work and TV watching for brain reorganization, oxygenation, and recuperation.

excerpt from www.creativedance.org

In my house we use BrainDance to wake up every morning. It changes my outlook before I get out of bed, and helps with those mornings when my children can’t find the right side of the bed to get up from. The video is a fabulous gift for new parents, or anyone who wants to improve their day and develop their mind.

To find out more about BrainDance, Anne Green Gilbert, and her Creative Dance Studio, go to www.creativedance.org.

Yours in a Good Mood,
Dr. Susan Kleiner

• The typical large whole egg contains 213 milligrams of cholesterol or 71 percent of the suggested daily maximum for cholesterol.


• Jumbo and extra-large eggs check in at more than 90 percent of the max.

• Eggs from pasture-fed, heritage breeds had about half the cholesterol count of conventional eggs. The study, though small, is a powerful indicator that we can rely on nature to help us navigate good food and mood.


• Perhaps most head-turning is those heritage, free-range chickens are producing eggs that have twice the vitamin E, six times more beta carotene (which helps the body make vitamin A) and four times more omega-3 fats.
  
  [Editor’s note: “Heritage” is to livestock what “heirloom” is to vegetables. According to the Sustainable Table Web site, “Heritage breeds” are traditional livestock breeds that were raised by farmers in the past, before the drastic reduction of breed variety caused by the rise of industrial agriculture.]

• Eating an egg for breakfast instead of a bagel reduces hunger and calorie intake at not only lunchtime but over the next 24 hours. The egg eaters in the study consumed, on average, 163 calories for lunch and 418 less during the whole day.

If you read the newspapers these days you might think that having a glass of wine is right up there with hiking, eating enough fiber, or getting enough rest in terms of health benefits. NOT! I am here to tell you that alcohol is not a health drink, no matter what form it comes in.

While there is published research that has shown that what is referred to as “moderate drinking” (1 drink per day for women; 1-2 drinks per day for men) may be good for the heart and circulatory system and may protect against Type 2 Diabetes, the same research typically has also shown that more than 6 drinks per week increases the risk of developing the same chronic diseases, especially in women.

And then there’s the research that we haven’t seen. When private industry contracts with private research institutions (for-profit, non-academic institutions) they often retain the rights over the publication of the research. In other words, if the research results are not in their favor, they are never published. So we have no balance in the reporting and the scientific literature, throwing the weight of the cumulative data in favor of one side of the research question.

We have no way of knowing whether this is actually what is happening with the research on alcohol, but it boggles my mind that in an age where alcohol consumption actually leads to so many problems*, the large number of news article about alcohol reflect it in a positive health light. Except for last week...

*In the U.S., alcohol is implicated in about half of fatal traffic accidents. Moderate to heavy drinking can damage the liver and heart, harm an unborn child, increase the chances of developing breast and some other cancers, contribute to depression and violence, and interfere with relationships.

On April 28th a study from the University of Mississippi Medical Center was released with the headline: “Mouse study may explain why alcohol increases breast cancer risk.” The story acknowledges that drinking “even modest amounts of alcohol is an established risk factor for breast cancer in women.” How many of you ladies out there know this?

The article continues, “A recent study showed that 60 percent of breast cancers worldwide were attributable to alcohol consumption.” Doesn’t sound like a health drink to me.

In the research with mice, the researchers found that moderate alcohol consumption significantly increased tumor size and density, without a significant change in body weight. So these changes cannot be blamed on increasing adiposity (“fatness”) of the mice.

So the next time you want to celebrate or have a cocktail party, try our Good Mood Drinks in the recipe section of the book. Then you can really drink to your health!

Yours in a Good Mood,
Dr. Susan Kleiner