Skip fast food version and go for the real happy meal deal

Jump in! We’re going for a short ride to get a real-deal happy meal — foods that raise your spirits as they lower your blood pressure, LDL cholesterol and your risk for cancer, heart disease and diabetes.

For more than a decade we’ve tried to convince you that too much fast food, trans fats, sugary and diet drinks are threats to your physical and emotional health. New info is out that drives this home big time.

Threat No. 1: People who eat fast food are 51 per cent more likely to be depressed than folks who don’t.

Get-happy Solution: Make your breakfast or lunch and snacks to take to work. Our faves: 100 per cent whole-grain cereals; veggie burgers; salads (with healthy dressings on the side); nuts (especially walnuts); and fresh fruit.

Threat No. 2: Diet drinks — through some combo of self-deception (“I saved calories, so I can eat more”) and body chemistry (you

actually crave more sweets) — lead to an unhealthy waist circumference. Bummer!

Get-happier Solution: Enjoy filtered coffee (reduces brain dysfunction and some cancers), three ounces of orange juice daily (flavonoids protect your heart from stressors), and plenty of water. Two 8-ounce glasses before each meal speeds your return to a healthy weight and reduces depression.

Threat No. 3: Eating trans fats

boosts your risk for depression by 48 per cent.

Get-happiest Solution: Live the Mediterranean diet — enjoy fish (or supplements of 900 mg of algaebased DHA omega-3s) and 1½ tablespoons of olive oil a day, and you’ll cut the risk of depression by around 30 per cent!

Mehmet Oz, M.D. is host of The Dr. Oz Show, and Mike Roizen, M.D. is chief medical officer at the Cleveland Clinic Wellness Institute.