Realize how, a few hours after lunch, we reach for the chocolate biscuits lying in our workstation drawer? Or how a steaming cup of coffee becomes mandatory before proceeding with any more work? We crave these foods, called `pick me ups`, because they elevate the mood and energize the body.

Mood foods

We must understand that our body is extremely intelligent. Our brain cells talk to each other via messengers - `happy` messengers to carry `happy news` and vice versa. Our body is always on the lookout for something to boost the happy messengers.

Nature has provided a host of substances - caffeine, sugar and chocolate - which can temporarily make one feel better. These substances work by chemically boosting one or more of the happy messenger levels, thus helping to balance the overstressed brain.

Cigarettes, alcohol, drugs and tobacco are potent pick me pick-me-ups as they provide a high which most other substances don`t. But, while not all of us are smokers or drug addicts, we are all addicts in some way or the other.

`Chocolates are some of the most commonly used pick-me-ups`, says Mamta Sharma, a nutritionist from Mumbai. `They release endorphins and serotonin - the happy messengers in the brain`, she elaborates.

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