Depression and Diet
No matter how old or healthy you are, you should always practice a healthy diet. Making sure your diet is fitting your body’s needs won’t cure your depression, but eating the right foods and receiving the proper nutrients will help your minds ability to work on getting it’s chemicals in line with the rest of the body, while allowing your mind to focus more on feeling well.
Everyone is different and before changing the diet you practice on a daily basis you should always check with your doctor and make sure what you want to change is reasonable and works well with your body. Your doctor can give you a designed diet and exercise program for you, but to get started, there are always the basics to cover.
There is the food triangle that most all of us have seen, and therefore, we know we need: vegetables, fruits, carbohydrates, sugars, grains, dairy, and protein. We need the many different types of food this world has to offer and the ultimate question is how much of each? When depression plays in you will ultimately be looking for the ones that improve you mood, relax your body, still your mind, and energize your body. Fruits are tangy, tart, and also give you natural sugars which boost your energy and are full of antioxidants which will help your brain in battling the free radical damage that we battle with everyday such as radiation from the sun.
Carbohydrates, mostly from grain, like cereals, bread, or pasta, carry high levels of seretonan. When the chemical seretonan is released into your brain it creates the nice calming effect that will sooth and relax you. Vegetables like carrots, celery, asperigus, and cucumbers give your body vitamins which keep you mind focused, clear, and also add to your energy. Protein from meats like beef or ham or from other things like nuts, and eggs which will maintain your energy and build your muscle mass.
Starting with a healthy breakfast will help you get going in the day when you don’t feel like it, and the energy to keep you going. The beginning of the day may be the most difficult time of the day to get up and going. You may feel tired, sad, and like you don’t want to get up or do anything. When you begin by eating breakfast, even if you don’t feel like it, will help your energy levels and create a better beginning for you. The rest of the day should be kept in similar regards. When people think about dieting they automatically think that it’s taking food away, when in reality you need to diet to create a balance of foods and maintain that balance. To start your day, you should continue your day in the same way, continue with eating foods that keep up your energy, keep you calm, and maintain your heath to keep your body in top shape, where in turn you will help your brain in raising it’s positive chemicals.