Food can make you lose weight, lower cholesterol and on the flip side gain weight or higher one’s cholesterol. Many people use food to comfort themselves while food can make others feel bad. Each day you are giving your candidates advice on their resumes, interviewing skills and dress, but a new study by Susan Kleiner at MSN Health suggests that you might want to add some foods tips to that list of advice.

Your eating habits can directly affect your mood. When you are nervous, you may grab whatever you can get your hands on before that big interview. Below are some suggestions for foods that will boost your mood and energy as well as foods to stay away from.

The ‘stay away from’ foods:

• Large order of fries – a few is okay, but not handfuls of them
• Super sized sodas - any more than 12 ounces is very dehydrating
• Pork rinds – they are fried and there is no way around it
• Bacon cheeseburgers – plain is the only way to go…don’t push it
• White Flour pasta with cream sauce - heavy….heavy… heavy
• Salami / cold cuts – if it is prepackaged, forget it! (Too many nitrates and preservatives.) Fresh meat would be okay.
• Packaged “fruit” snacks – these might seems health, but they are nothing but sugar and chemicals
• Desert for one – a few bites are okay, but not the whole thing.
• Wine or Beer – ahem, hopefully you know this one already ;-)

Mood boosting foods:

• Fresh or flash frozen fruits – bananas, blueberries, mangoes, oranges, pomegranates, strawberries
• Fresh vegetables – spinach, broccoli, dark and leafy greens
• Cold cereal – a small bowl with some fruit
• Vitamin D milk – it boosts serotonin in the brain
• Oatmeal – it helps slow the absorption of sugar and help keep you from becoming tired or cranky
• Lentils – yes Lentils, they stock the body up on folic acid and low levels have been linked to depression
• Coffee in moderation – it has been proven to improve mood and performance, but be weary as too much can cause headaches and can make you jittery
• Salmon – oily fish with omega-3 fatty acids put people in a better mood

Most of the “feel bad” foods are ones that give us that immediate feeling of euphoria, but they are also the ones that make us hold our stomach shortly their after. Often times that feeling doesn’t translate into energy but instead makes you feel like you need a nap. Set your candidate up for a mood boosting meal to help ensure that they are at their best on the face to face your have work so hard to set.