Healthy food makes a healthy mind
This is the very first and most critical step in returning to full health of mind and body.
Learning how to eat natural, vital, healthy food is a process. It’s something that we have to learn to do and that means working at it. As with learning anything truly worthwhile, this does require a degree of self-discipline. This self discipline will usually only arrive when you finally realize the importance of what you are putting into your body — and into brain.
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Understand that your mind is housed in your brain and your brain is part of your body. Whatever you feed your body affects your brain – and therefore it affects your mind and your mood. After all, it is your mind that controls how you feel.
The farther away you get from quick, processed foods and the closer you get to natural, unprocessed foods the better you will feel.
Some of us have to start again from scratch, changing most of our eating habits along with most of what we put into our bodies – and consequently our minds. But be assured – it truly is worth it!
You know only too well that what you have been doing has not worked so well. If it had, you would be feeling a great deal different.
Yes, tradition is wonderful and habit can be reassuring, but are your eating habits truly helping, or are they harming you? Do all aspects of tradition need to dictate who you really are, if a big part of you doesn’t feel good as a consequence? Can you still retain tradition while making modifications that will work in your favor? Does it really matter what everyone around you is doing or has been doing all of their lives?
It may work for them, but it doesn’t seem to have worked for you because you have not been feeling well. Does it really matter so much what you have been taught to eat in the past; does it really does matter what everybody around you is eating – or is your own emotional and mental well being somehow more important.
Treat this as a real journey of discovery; a journey towards real and lasting health of mind and mood. The two really cannot be separated. You may very well have to leave your traditional comfort zone for a while and allow yourself to experiment, but this doesn’t need to frighten you.
In fact, if you allow it to, it can do the reverse – it can bring a degree of adventure, autonomy and an even greater sense of purpose back into your life. And if you have been feeling depressed, then that sense of adventure, autonomy and purpose may very well be something that has been missing for a long time.
Let me explain what you need to do in order to feel better in a nutshell:
1. Replace the essential fatty acids in your brain. Your brain is more than 50% fat – but it is essential that it’s the right kind of fat.
Eliminate hydrogenated, saturated and damaged ‘trans’ fats, which means avoiding fast foods, and incorporate foods high in Omega 3 fatty acids – organic eggs from chickens fed additional Omega 3 oils with their feed; wild fish, oily fish such as mackerel, seaweed and algae.
Consider taking an Omega 3 supplement containing EPA and DHA, together with a good Omega 6 oil such as evening primrose or star-flower oil, all readily available from good health food stores.
Avoid deep-fried foods and switch to extra-virgin cold-pressed olive oil where possible.
2. Eat whole grain, low GL index foods (check for lists of GL foods on the internet), fresh vegetables and fruit (preferably organic if the budget will allow), soya products such as tofu (but not soya oil), fresh eggs and fish. (Avoid tuna because of its mercury and other heavy metal content.) Combine this with a reasonable amount of nuts and seeds.
3. Eliminate most sugars and simple carbohydrates together with all caffeine.
4. Eat plenty of low fat protein (preferably from non-hot-bloodied animals), fish, soya products, Quorn, nuts and seeds etc. These provide the essential amino acids that you need in order to function and feel well.
5. Take extra vitamin B6, B12 and folic acid, preferably in a complete mega-vitamin B complex tablet, together with 1000 mg vitamin C daily. Also take a good multi vitamin-mineral tablet that contains vitamin D, magnesium, zinc and chromium picolinate daily.
6. Consider taking a 5-HTP supplement. This powerful natural supplement has been shown to raise serotonin levels in the brain and has been used in Europe as a treatment for depression for some time now. Be sure to check with your healthcare practitioner before taking 5-HTP to make sure that it is not contra-indicated in your particular case.
And it should go without saying – never skip breakfast!
If you’ve been experiencing depression then you’ve probably been far too serious for far too long – but have you been serious in the right way? Now is the time to get serious about what you put into your body and therefore into your mind.
In depression we tend to greatly devalue our self. Eating the right foods and taking the right nutritional supplements is exactly the opposite of this.
Now is the time to make those changes that you need to make in order to feel much better. Do this and reap the rewards in how you feel, think, and look at life.