Dealing with Depression from a nutritional standpoint

Orthomolecular medicine has been around for a long time, but many pple dont realize that depression is often rooted firmly in a poor diet.

http://www.randalls.com/wellness/healthnotes.asp?org=safeway&ContentID=1200006

_The_Crazy_Makers_ by Carol Simontacchi is an enlightening read that talks about how from infancy onwards, we're brainwashed into feeding on prepackaged crap that literally starves our brains of essential nutrients. no wonder mental illness and depression are so prevalent in our society! and then we've got this crazy upside down food pyramid based on grains and carbs that was designed by big agriculture to line thier pockets and has absolutely nothing to do with keeping people healthy.

Anyways, to combat depression, i try to eat the 'Best Diet Ever' Maintaining adequate protein levels is important. I eat wild or ranged meats rich in the omega 3 fatty acids. and i stay away from dead artifact pseudo-'foods'.

 

serotonin is one of the neurotransmitters targeted by antidepressants. to put it simply, increasing serotonin levels makes pple feel better.

How to raise serotonin levels naturally?
1-Okay, there are some food sources that help with serotonin production--foods high in B-vites (brown rice, chicken, corn ,eggs, green leafie's, legumes, meat, nuts, peas, sunflower seeds, nutritional yeast), Calcium (almonds, brewer's yeast, green leafy's and cruciferous veg's, fish with bones, sesame seeds, tofu), Magnesium (green leafy's, brown rice, sesame seeds, shrimp, salmon) and Tryptophan (turkey, soy foods, peanuts, almonds).

2-Essential fatty acids necessary for serotonin production are the omega 3's (fish oils found in mackerel, salmon, sardine, tuna; walmut oil, flax oil) and 6's (canola oil, chicken, eggs, flax, grape seed oil, safflower oil, sunflower oil, turkey, wheat germ oil) as well as Gamma-Linolenic Acid (black current oil, bluegreen algae, borage oil, evening primrose oil). I've also read that most pple have an excess of omega 6's and need to decrease the amount of 6's in their diet in order for the 3's to function well. I guess most of us are lacking in 3's.

3-Long-term stress depletes serotonin levels. Short term stress actually increases serotonin, but after time you get burn-out and it becomes increasingly difficult for the body to produce serotonin. So reduce stress--this can be as simple as adding exercise and meditation to the daily routine or as life changing as choosing to leave a really stressful job.

4-Avoid stimulants bc they deplete serotonin over time--this works the same was stress does. We're talking things like caffeine, refined carbs, chocolate, sugar as well as the heavier stim's like cold remedies, alcohol, street drugs, diet pills and tobacco

 

| go running for my depression. It helps. A lot.

 

took the words out of my mouth. I was gonna ask "how about excersise?"

 

oh, yeah, sure there are lots of other ways of dealing with depression other than nutritional

biofeedback
meditation
energy work
yoga
fake it till you make it (there's a technical term for that one, but it's escaping me at the moment)
etc, etc, etc

anyone know of more nutritional ways of dealing?

 

junk food is bad if you have depression, especially because it contains color additives and synthetic preservatives, which might trigger the depression or make the symptoms more pronounced.

I also read somewhere that if you put dried hops in a pillow (like a little sachet), they help you sleep and relax and help some people with depression symptoms and migrane symptoms.

 

i think the biggest problem with 'junk food' isn't the junk food itself, although they certainly do put tons of crap in it, but rather that eating a lot of it you just don't get the diversity of things your body wants and needs.

i can easily see those kinds of deficiencies as contributing to brain chemstry problems. lots of things about the air can affect you mental state and i suppose being exposed to them over a long period of time would also affect mental condition. i know atmospheric electrical charge does something to hairlike things in your sinusis that does things to your head. and it stands to reason that aromas doe too. the hopps thing, well who knows, but wild mint, gets better and happier dreams too. i guess which ever you can get where you are. also the smell of real pine needles is good, but all that may depend on the individual, like a lot of things do.

=^^=
.../\...

 

lavender too, and the citrusy essential oils, like grapefruit

_the crazy makers_ talks about in specific detail how exactly processed foods f*ck with the normal mental processes. the best advice i've ever gotten about food is to eat foods that look like they did when they were still growing, it's hard to go wrong with that.

 

nice article, but i've recently read that licorice root is more effective than st. john's wort

 

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yeah, i know, canola isnt my first choice, ever, but i do use organic canola mayo sometimes when i'm not up to blending my own with better quality oils. i'd definitely stay away from the monsanto, roundup ready, factory farmed, rancid, nasty canola that's widely available in grocery stores!

 

ps, did y'all see this part? i think i'd be laughing so hard if i tried something like this that i'd forget all about depression....

 

Great thread. I know that cutting out refined sugars has helped greatly with my depression.

Diet change was the best thing I ever did, but I've still got some work to do.

 

side effects of licorice

a low tyramine diet is usually recommended when pple take pharmaceutical mao inhibitors. not sure if this applies to herbal sources of maoi's or not though...often herbs will contain protective substances that arent present in the laboratory produced chemical drugs.

anyways....

 

I don't know I think that'd make me feel a bit crazier!