Picture this: it’s a warm summer’s afternoon and you remember you made Liz’s chilli and mango ice lollies (see recipe on page 74) the day before. You head to the freezer and, as you enjoy this tropical treat, a chain of mood-boosting events unfold in your brain. Sweet and spicy flavour and the enticing mango aroma activates your taste buds, as well as olfactory receptors in your nose. They send electrical signals to your brain and the specialised cells responsible for producing dopamine (your pleasure and reward brain chemical) come to life.
Like a puzzle piece falling into place, this dopamine then attaches to receptors on other brain cells. Here, neurotransmitters can either turbo-charge cell activity (excitatory) or calm it down (inhibatory). In the case of the
