Life Without Blues

Depressed people often develop a sweet tooth due to the chemical process that is taking place in the brain during depression. But sugar has higher glycemic index, than starchy foods like pasta, rice or potatoes. Therefore, eating a candy will cause blood sugar levels to peak higher, boosting the serotonin level in the brain, then if we had a bowl of brown rice.

Chocolate is a perfect short-term drug against depression, as it thought to contain psychoactive substances such as anandamines (^?), caffeine, phenylethylamine (^?) and sugar.

Is sugar really that harmless and can be taken as much as you want when you feel down in the dumps? Nancy Appleton, PhD, clinical nutritionist compiled a list of 146 reasons in her book Lick the Sugar Habit on why we shouldn’t consume sugar at all. Here are just a few of them:

• Sugar can decrease growth hormone -the key to staying youthful and lean
• Sugar feeds cancer
• Sugar can weaken eyesight
• Sugar can interfere with the absorption of protein
• Sugar contributes to diabetes
• Sugar can cause cardiovascular disease
• Sugar can impair the structure of DNA
• Sugar contributes to the reduction in defense against bacterial infection (infectious diseases)
• Sugar greatly assists the uncontrolled growth of yeast infections
• Sugar contributes to osteoporosis

The only good thing about sugar is that it tastes good and makes us feel good. Temporarily.

Are there other alternatives to sugar? Yes, but most of them are neither safe, nor useful.

• Asparthame turns into formaldehyde in the body if heated above a certain temperature.
• Saccharine caused cancer in rats when given to them over a long period of time.
• Xylitol is quite expensive and can lead to diarrhoea.
• Honey still raises the level of blood sugar, which makes is unsuitable for diabetics.

However, one of sugar alternatives, stevia (^?), has been used for centuries by American Indians to treat diabetes. Stevia is a perennial shrub of the aster family, native to Central America and now cultivated in Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, United States, Israel, Thailand and China. The leaves contain several chemicals called glycosides, which taste sweet, but do not provide calories. The major glycoside is called stevioside. Stevia doesn’t increase blood sugar levels which makes it safe for diabetics and contains antioxidants, as recent studies showed.

Stevita Co. Inc., Spoonable Stevia, 16oz Jar, great for baking!

Low-carb diet might not be as healthy as it was previously thought. There’s a cetain proof of higher risk of clogged arteries and heart attack in the long-term in those who is on a low-carb diet.

And what about patients who suffer from depression?

Researches at MIT discovered that the brain produces serotonin only after a sweet or starchy carbohydrate meal that mustn’t be eaten in combination with proteins. So eating pasta or graham crackers, natural rice or whole-grain bread will allow the brain to make serotonin, but having steak and potatoes or a hamburger will prevent serotonin from being produced. Sometimes people still feel hungry after they have eaten a high-protein meal, which means that their brains are not making enough serotonin to shut off their appetite.

Most women on a low-carb diet miss carbohydrates the most after the second week of dieting. As women have much less serotonin in the brain that men, low-carb or serotonin-depleting diet will deprive them of the happiness-chemical making.

When we have carb cravings it means that our brain sends signals that we need certain food to stabilize our mood. As we experience a mood change usually in the late afternoon or mid-evening, that’s when we feel like eating something sweet or starchy. Our body regulates itself as long as we listen to it and make the right food choices.

If we don’t nurture our brain properly, irritability, restlessnes and grumpyness is something we have to deal with. Furthermore, munching on fatty foods like bacon or cheese makes us tired, lethargic and apathetic.

“When you take away the carbohydrates, it’s like taking away water from someone hiking in the desert,” Wurtman said. “If fat is the only alternative for a no- or low-carb dieter to consume to satiate the cravings, it’s like giving a beer to the parched hiker to relieve the thirst — temporary relief, but ultimately not effective.”

That’s why it is crucially important not to skip breakfast and include smart carbohydrates into your menu plan.

More posts:

Tip #1. Good Mood Breakfast

Technorati Tags: carbohydrate cravings, clinical depression, low-carbohydrate diet

1. Blackdoginstitute

The Black Dog Institute is a not-for-profit, educational, research, clinical and community-oriented facility offering specialist expertise in depression and bipolar disorder.

2. Helpguide

Helpguide’s mission is to help people understand, prevent, and resolve life’s challenges. We empower people with knowledge and hope. Our goal is to give you the information and encouragement you need to take charge of your health and well-being and make healthy choices.

3. WebMD: Depression

Professional resource with lots of slide-shows, discussion boards and articles.

4. Health: Viatal Information WIth a Human Touch

News, people’s stories and tips on coping with depression.

5. Clinical Depression.co.uk

Self-tests, depression learning program, depression withdrawal.

Technorati Tags: depression tests, resources on depression

It is estimated that there are between 10 percent and 25 percent of women and five percent and 12 percent of men will experience a major depressive episode at some point in their lives. While sadness, loss, passing mood states, or other normal emotional experiences are not persistent (may last up to 16 weeks), major depression leads to role impairment, reduced productivity and severe physical symptoms.

A typical MDD patient has an average of 35 days a year when he/she is unable to work or carry out normal everyday activities. Major depression increases risk of stroke, hypertension, heart disease and death due to heart attack. Research shows that about 57 percent of patients with MDD are treated for depression and only one in five of the patients receiving adequate treatment, which is usually antidepressants and psychotherapy.

Suicide is the 11th cause of death in the United States, as it kills 31,000 people each year and severely inflicts injuries on another 425,000 each year. The most suicides are committed in April. People who commit suicedes have one of the following conditions: clinical depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, postpartum depression, alcohol or drug abuse, PTSD, and chronic pain.

Technorati Tags: Facts About Clinical Depression

Here is another self help technique that will help you beat the blues, a kind of game that shows you how to set goals and achieve them.

Take several colorful post-its and write some easily achievable goals on each of them. Like “Take a pottery course” on a pink one, “Write down all things I like about my relationship” on a blue one and “Start working out from Monday on 3 x a week” on a yellow post-it. Stick all post-its near your desk or on the fridge so you can see them. Your objectives should be as simple as possible, so that achieving them gives you immediate gratification.

To find out more about negative thinking patterns and how they become a habit, read Dr. Luciani’s book “The Power of Self Coaching”. It is a great book regardless of whether you have a diagnosis of anxiety or depression or just struggling to deal with the stress of everyday life.

Technorati Tags: mind games for depression

Clinical depression can be a difficult health condition to handle on your own. You should always check with your doctor first, whether you need medication or not, but if you are taking anti depressant drugs and would like to eventually stop, or if you are having some depression but don’t want to take drugs for it, you can always consider self help methods to fight depression. There are three effective methods you can try, all of which can help you to tackle depression without lifelong drug dependency and nasty side effects from anti depressants. The first method is to get cognitive behavioral therapy or CBT. Depression and anxiety can be effectively treated with CBT, which is a kind of talk therapy. Cognitive behavioral therapy alone may not be enough and depending on the severity of your depression and you might consider medication. Although CBT might be a powerful method to heal yourself more naturally and work through the negative thinking patterns. I can recommend a workbook on CBT organized as a step-by-step program The Cognitive Behavioral Workbook for Depression: A Step-by-step Program (Workbook). The second way to remedy depression naturally is to change your diet.  The usual diet in developed countries is full of processed foods that may fill our stomachs but actually deprive us of good nutrition like white bread, white sugar, saturated fat, etc. For example, many people notice relief for depression in a few days by just giving up on white sugar in their diet. Loads of studies prove that the right diet with plenty of fatty fish, whole grains, leafy vegatables, selenuim-rich foods and vitamin D can enhance our mood dramatically.

The third approach to natural depression help is to give our body some exercise. You can practice exercise in everyday life like, for example, take the stairs rather than the elevator, park your car in the farthest spot in the lot, walk while you’re talking on the phone, or you can buy pilates of yoga video and exercise at home.

As you can see, there are plenty of proven ways to beat the blues naturally without drug dependence.

Technorati Tags: self help depression