Are you Feeling Hopeless?

• Do you feel detached and numb?

• Are you irritable often?

• Are you constantly blaming yourself?

Many key factors affect mood regarding food. For example, when we experience certain nutritional deficiencies, our brains lose the ability to work to their fullest. As a result, moods can be negatively altered, and the human body cannot grow and repair itself satisfactorily. On the other hand, when the body and mind are adequately and consistently nourished, the brain will naturally produce chemicals that help in the fight against depression.

When people seek help for depression, approximately 60% don’t fully benefit from talk therapy, and 30% don’t find sufficient relief from medications. Overall, diet quality is often a contributing

factor for both, and integrating nutrition therapy can improve depression. Nutrition counseling combined with psychotherapy produces better outcomes than just medication or psychotherapy alone.

Many nutrition-related diseases are a common predisposing problem in patients with depression. For example, insulin resistance and diabetes, cardiovascular disease, autoimmune disease, chronic pain, chronic inflammatory disease, allergic disorders, and liver disease can affect brain health. An integrated diet-nutrient program can reduce and correct these nutrition-related diseases and relieve long-term depression.

Lifestyle choices can have a significant effect on mental health. For example, poor food choices can aggravate the symptoms associated with both depression and anxiety. And conversely, making positive changes to how you lead your life can speed recovery.

Alcohol and recreational drugs are mood-altering substances that can increase your risk of developing serious depression.

Alcohol can lead to impulsive behavior, and there is a known link between alcohol and suicide. And alcohol can exacerbate anxiety attacks. Drinking alcohol may negate the benefits of antidepressant medication, and it might be unsafe to take them simultaneously. 

Preliminary research strongly suggests that having a poor diet can make you more vulnerable to depression. Nutrient insufficiency is frequently present in patients with depressive illnesses. In addition, ultra-processed foods or too many high glycemic index (GI) foods can result in
fluctuating blood sugar and mood swings. A person whose diet is high in processed meat, chocolates, sweet desserts, fried food, refined cereals, and high-fat dairy products is more likely to develop depression. High dietary saturated fat versus essential fatty acid intake, food allergy reactions particularly involving gluten intolerance, and milk and yeast allergies are strongly associated with depressive illness.

Fortunately, simply changing to a healthy diet that includes fresh fruits and vegetables, low and moderate GI foods, and fish can reduce the likelihood of developing depression and reduce or eliminate depressive symptoms.

A Nutrition Counseling approach investigates the disturbances in body chemistry caused by nutritional imbalance resulting from improper diet, food sensitivity reactions, gastrointestinal dysfunction, inflammation, and toxic environmental agents contributing to the patient’s illness. Once identified, nutritional balance can be restored with informed dietary and nutrient supplement protocols, integrated with ongoing medical treatment to improve patient health outcomes.

When a person’s diet is deficient in some of these nutrients, neurotransmitters aren’t made correctly or don’t get what they need to function properly, and various emotional and mental disorders can result.