Healthy Diet

**Posts:** 128 · by **Pollyanna** » Sat Mar 06, 2004 7:29 pm

So, is there a good, basic, easy rule of thumb to go by when it comes to diet? Many foods can cause mood swings and they may differ from person to person. Is there a good guidline by which we depression sufferers trying to make a new lifestyle can follow?
No chocolate, no coffee, limit dairy products, limit any artificially produced products, no tomato, no citrus, no garlic, no onion, and the list goes on and on. What am I to eat? oatmeal with no sugar or milk, and broccoli, and just a little chicken or fish? And of course drink a gallon of water a day!

I think you can tell I am a little frustrated. First I hate being told how to ruin my life - I can do that by myself quite well. My history stands testimony to that.

Really, I am glad that the Atkins Diet has someone else proclaiming, "Watch out!" I have never liked this diet and I have seen friends and relatives using it for many many years. It just does not make sense to me.

**Posts:** 128 · by **Pollyanna** » Sat Mar 06, 2004 7:59 pm

I doubt that very strongly, but I listed it because I am on medication that caffeine is suppose to counteract. I listed some of the items that I am not suppose to have due to other medical conditions also.

Do you have any simple guidelines for a healthy diet?

**Posts:** 28 · by **Rex** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 5:12 am

I have been making some notes on food stuffs that are meant to effect moods (from articles I have read); to increase serotonin levels, for example - I shall hunt for them and try and post them here tomorrow. I haven't actually got to the point of implementing the ideas into my diet otherwise I would remember what they are - I know that fish and coffee are meant to be good - although I for one dont need to drink any more coffee.

I am not expert, so others may disagree - but I much prefer the idea of looking at what we eat rather than taking pills.......may be we could call it polyanna food then we could all become like polyanna?

Sorry I haven't got the info to hand right now!

Rex

**Posts:** 2821 · by **Roger Elliott** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 7:59 am

One thing to look for to ensure your blood sugar levels are stable is an intake of protein at every meal, and if possible between meals for snacks (such as nuts).

Protein also contains the most tryptophan - the recursor to serotonin from which it is manufactured, although there is much more to lifting depression that just serotonin! Serotonin as a chemical will make you soporific, unmotivated and slow. Dopamine is much handier little fellow, implicated in focus and motivation. Of course it is much more complicated than this, but it helps me to think of them that way!

Roger

**Posts:** 5816 · by **Michael Lank** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 10:28 am

Bananas are a good source of food for stimulating production of both serotonin and doapamine!

**Posts:** 2821 · by **Roger Elliott** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 12:22 pm

And turkey is one of the richest sources of trytophan - the serotonin precursor. Perhaps the reason for after-Christmas-dinner sleepiness?

**Posts:** 128 · by **Pollyanna** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 4:01 pm

Thanks to all who have posted. I love bananas. I have always thought they were just about the perfect food. I am glad to see them make the list.

Protein, huh? Does it have to be animal protein? Oh, guess not, since nuts are included as a good snack. I love almonds! I have a very old book that lists almonds and broccoli and bananas as foods to help with handling stress. I eat meat now, but I recall happier days when I was vegan. I frequently wonder if I should try to cut out meat all together again.

I would love to learn that coffee is good for depression. I LOVE and MISS my coffee. My doctors tell me, "NO COFFEE!! NO CAFFEINE!!"

**Posts:** 2821 · by **Roger Elliott** » Wed Mar 10, 2004 4:11 pm

There was one study of over 10,000 nurses in the US that seemed to show that those who drank coffee showed less depression. Could have been down to increased sociability though, or a completely erroneous conclusion!

In general if you prone to anxiety or insomnia, caffeine is a bad thing.

If you are prone to sleeping, like me, it is very good :wink:

**Posts:** 28 · by **Rex** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 4:41 am

If you look at: http://ivy_league0.tripod.com/rhyme_of_ ... t_wanderer

Strange address I know but they have a section on:

Rhyme Of The Ancient Wanderer (Support for Dysthymia, BPD, and Depression)

Which has bits on:

What foods will increase your serotonin levels
Can foods alter your moods?
Smart foods
How do vitamins help
Minerals and vitamins
Amino acids
Minerals and your diet...

All related to mood.....

Hope it helps

**Posts:** 28 · by **Rex** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 4:45 am

Another link on brain foods can be found at:

http://www.thethinkingbusiness.co.uk/brainfoods.htm

Which begins:

"One cannot think well, love well or sleep well
if one has not dined well."

Virginia Woolfe

Rex

**Posts:** 80 · by **minstrel** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 5:17 am

Rex wrote:Another link on brain foods can be found at:

http://www.thethinkingbusiness.co.uk/brainfoods.htm

The link Rex provided here includes this quote:

Omega 3 fatty acids are essential to the optimum performance of your brain. Lack of omega-3 fats in your diet can lead to depression, poor memory, low IQ, learning disabilities, dyslexia, ADD and many more mental disorders.

To ensure that your diet is rich in omega-3 fats, ensure that you eat plenty of oily fish like salmon, sardines, trout, tuna, herring, mackerel and anchovies.

Although the parts about memory and low IQ are probably an exaggeration, there has been a lot of research in the past few years in the use of omega-3 essential fatty acids (EFAs), especially in fish oils, and both the incidence and treatment of depression, anxiety disorders, and even bipolar disorder.

This research, in my opinion, is rather convincing - increasing omega-3 EFA in your diet does reduce sumptoms of depression and anxiety and has been used with some success as a supplementary or even sole treatment for bipolar disorder.

Thre is a rather interesting book called "The Omega Connection" (I can't recall the author's name) which reviews this research and provides recipes and other suggestions for diet.

This approach has also been used to treat postpartum depression, where the use of SSRIs might be of concern for breastfeeding moms:

Fatty Acid Could Offset Postpartum Depression And Improve Babies' Development

April 9, 2002
ORLANDO, Fla. (American Chemical Society) -- Pregnant or nursing women may be able to reduce their chances of developing postpartum depression and improve the neurological development of their babies by increasing their consumption of the essential fatty acid DHA, according to David Kyle, Ph.D., the U.S. director of the Mother and Child Foundation. DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) is an omega-3 fatty acid mostly found in fish like tuna and salmon and in algae.

**Posts:** 248 · by **grovelli** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 8:32 am

RogerE wrote:Protein also contains the most tryptophan - the recursor to serotonin from which it is manufactured

But why does the link mentioned by Rex say the opposite, ""the protein content of these foods might actually inhibit serotonin production."?
I've heard that milk relaxes because of its tryptophan content but now I'm confused as to whether to chalk it up to its protein or carbohydrate components.

**Posts:** 80 · by **minstrel** » Fri Mar 12, 2004 4:23 pm

grovelli wrote:
RogerE wrote:Protein also contains the most tryptophan - the recursor to serotonin from which it is manufactured

But why does the link mentioned by Rex say the opposite, ""the protein content of these foods might actually inhibit serotonin production."?

It's not necessarily the opposite - the problem again is in the complexity of the manufacture, uptake, and metabolization of neurotransmitters, and how they interact with other systems:

The transporter pump for tryptophan has some interesting properties that influence how much tryptophan can get into the brain. First, the transporter pump is shared by other so-called "large neutral amino acids," abbreviated LNAA. What this means is that if other LNAA's are present-as they would be if we were eating a balanced diet-then tryptophan would "compete" with the other LNAA's for access to the transporter pump. What this means is that if we eat a diet that contains relatively large amounts of protein (made up of all of the amino acids) the amount of tryptophan entering the brain will be substantially less than the amount entering the brain while on a low protein diet.

On the other hand, if we eat a high carbohydrate-low protein meal, the amount of tryptophan entering the brain will be significantly increased compared with the normal situation. Focus on Tryptophan

It may also have to do with how tryptophan is distributed in the brain, as suggested by this rather imposing article:

Administration of 4.0 mmol/kg i.p. GHB to rats induces an accumulation of tryptophan and 5-HIAA (5-hydroxyindole acetic acid) in the frontal cortex, striatum and hippocampus without causing significant change in the tissue serotonin content. In the extracellular space, GHB induced a slight decrease in serotonin release... Taken together, these results indicate that the GHB-induced stimulation of tissue serotonin turnover may be due to an increase in tryptophan transport to the brain and in its uptake by serotonergic cells. Gamma-hydroxybutyrate increases tryptophan availability and potentiates serotonin turnover in rat brain

Reading this stuff leads me one minute to say, "Oh! I get it now..." and the next to say, "Huh?".

**Posts:** 128 · by **Pollyanna** » Mon Mar 22, 2004 11:11 pm

Many Thanks to all of you who have posted on this subject. I have been away for a while and was overwhelmed by what I found here today. I have visited the sites given and read a great deal of the valuable information there. Thanks for sharing all this with me.

I am continually amazed by how intelligent and well educated you all are. I am so surprised that so many smart people also have mental/emotional problems. I always thought there was something lacking in my intelligence - even though I scored a 135 IQ in college. I hardly know what to say.

I will go put all this new knowledge to work for me now....

And go exercise. :wink:

Thanks to one and all.

**Posts:** 28 · by **Rex** » Tue Mar 23, 2004 5:34 am

I have been really lucky to have access to a good education and find that more or less I can apply myself well to problems at work.

It occured to me - only recently - why the hell dont I just look at my bouts of depression in the same way as I deal with issues at work - and for once in my life put "all that supposed education and intelligence" to working on something for me - finding a solution for my depression - and so I have began to treat the solving of this problem of depression with the same dedication that I would in putting together a progress report for the boss.

I find it helps to think of it in that way.

Good luck.

Rex

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