4 Nutritional Tips to Improve Depression

The W.H.O organisation defines depression as “Depression is a common mental disorder affecting more than 264 million people worldwide. It is characterized by persistent sadness and a lack of interest or pleasure in previously rewarding or enjoyable activities.  It can also disturb sleep and appetite; tiredness and poor concentration are common. Depression is a leading cause of disability around the world and contributes greatly to the global burden of disease. The effects of depression can be long-lasting or recurrent and can dramatically affect a person’s ability to function and live a rewarding life.”

Beyond Blue states that “In Australia, it’s estimated that 45 per cent of people will experience a mental health condition in their lifetime. In any one year, around 1 million Australian adults have depression, and over 2 million have anxiety.”

And I am sure in this COVID-19 pandemic the numbers are only increasing.

The good news is that depression is a treatable condition. Please speak to your doctor about treatment avenues. There are medications, supplements and many lifestyle factors that can contribute to healing from depression. Today we are talking about how nutrition can affect depression and help you emerge from the haziness of a depressed state.

More recent science is looking at brain health and its relation to inflammation and gut health!

First, let’s look at the inflammation.

Inflammation is the bodies way to try to heal an injured area of the body. Whether that be due to a fall with a sprained ankle that gets red, swollen and sore, or whether that be blood vessels damaged by sugars and toxic foods, or whether that be inflammation in your brain! The inflammation is a good thing when we are trying to heal, but prolonged inflammation causes its own damage. In today’s world, we are often pro-inflamed, partially due to the diets we eat. It is evident that what we eat contributes to the inflammation levels in our body. Diets high in processed foods and full of refined oils, sugars, additives, colourings and other toxic ingredients will add to inflammation and the damage it can cause! One way to reduce your inflammation levels is to cut out (or at least reduce) the processed foods! EAT CLEAN

Secondarily, the health of your gut is vitally important. What does this even mean? It means the bacteria (microbiome) that live inside you can affect your mood. Keeping the microbiome diverse and balanced can dramatically affect your mental health. So how do you look after this colony of bacteria inside of you? Prebiotics and Probiotics.

Prebiotics are compounds in foods that induce the growth of the bacteria in your guts. It’s your bacteria’s food. You can feed the good bacteria with healthy fruits, vegetables, meats, fibres, and properly prepared grains. Therefore, I recommend eating the rainbow of fruits and vegetables and a varied diet! That means lots of different coloured fruits, vegetables, meats, nuts and seeds! Probiotics are the actual bacteria. Foods that contain probiotics include fermented yoghurt, vegetables, sauerkraut, kombucha, and kefir. Adding these to your diet can increase your good bacteria levels.

Thirdly, there are a few foods that are known to be beneficial for brain health. This primarily includes good fats like fatty fish, avocados, olive oils and fresh nuts. Just avoid the rancid and processed vegetable oils like canola, safflower, sunflower, peanut, rice bran. Some of these are fine if they are super fresh, but usually, the processing of these oils leaves them rancid and then toxic to our body. This creates more inflammation! Stick to the healthy omega 3 rich fatty fish and fresh nuts and avocados.

Lastly, sugar spikes can really play with your mood! Hence the term HANGRY! So, smooth out those sugar highs and lows by sticking to whole real foods that are minimally processed (if at all). And eat two to three square meals a day! Unless you are already diabetic or prediabetic it is better to leave a 4-6 hour window between your meals. This will ensure your body is adapted for fat or carbohydrate metabolism. This will serve you because your body will be able to draw energy from either ingested foods broken into carbohydrate or when that runs out, from your stored fat sources of energy!

Depression is a serious condition; please don’t think you can just fix it all with a dietary change. If you are feeling symptoms for more than a couple of weeks, please seek help!  If you are unsure of whether you are experiencing depression and want to find out more about it, I suggest you go to the beyond blue website. You could do their quiz about your symptoms and read a lot more about depression, anxiety and find help!