A dietary pattern characterized by a high consumption of red and/or processed meat, refined grains, sweets, high-fat dairy products, butter, potatoes and high-fat gravy, and low intakes of fruits and vegetables is associated with an increased risk of depression."
A depression meal usually describes a low-effort meal you put together when your mental health condition makes cooking hard. Sometimes they're a little unorthodox, but the general message is the same: eating something is better than eating nothing.
While it's best to mix in a variety of healthful choices from all five food groups, a diet rich in fruits and veggies, whole grains, healthy oils and lean proteins has been shown to stabilize mood.
turkey and other tryptophan-containing foods, such as eggs, dark chocolate, cheese, pineapple, bananas, oats, and tofu. nuts, especially almonds — an excellent source of vitamin E that may help prevent vitamin E deficiency, which is linked to mood disorders. chia seeds, which are a good source of omega-3s.
In general, eating a healthy diet packed with fruits and veggies is linked to greater happiness. Whole grains, healthy fats, and nutrient-rich proteins (fish, nuts, beans), can also do your health, mind, and mood some major favors.
High-Glycemic Foods
Eating a diet chock full of foods with a high glycemic index, such as sweetened drinks, processed meats, and processed baked goods, has been linked to a greater risk of depression through various research, including a 2015 study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
People with depression seek different ways of shaking those unpleasant feelings of sadness and despair. Eating is an easy way to boost your mood because comfort food activates the reward centers of the brain. This prompts you to eat more of the pleasurable food, even if you're not hungry.
Boiling a couple of cups of rice gives you a good base for a whole bunch of foods. Once you've cooked it, you can add a tin of kidney or black beans, a tin of corn, and a jar of salsa or tomato sauce. And if you need meat why not some canned tuna. It should be enough to feed you for a couple of days.
Bananas. Bananas are a tasty and convenient snack, and bananas help depression. That's because the fruit contains serotonin, an essential neurotransmitter that balances mood and daily functioning. Most antidepressants work to boost serotonin levels in the brain.
Feeling stressed? Try a chamomile tea latte. By now you have probably heard about the stress-reducing properties of chamomile tea. Add some whole milk that comes from grass fed cows (it contains conjugated lineolic acid, or CLA) and you will be ingesting a healthy fat that helps to control blood flow to the brain.
Controlling for many other health and lifestyle factors, the study found that individuals who ate dark chocolate had significantly lower odds of reporting depressive symptoms than those who ate no chocolate at all. The positive effects of dark chocolate were not seen with milk chocolate.
The researchers narrowed down the top 10 raw fruits and vegetables they found to be associated with better mental health and fewer symptoms of depression. These include carrots, dark leafy greens such as spinach, lettuce, cucumber, apples, bananas, grapefruit, other citrus fruits, fresh berries, and kiwifruit.
Dark green leafy vegetables in particular are brain protective. Nuts, seeds and legumes, such as beans and lentils, are also excellent brain foods.
Foods naturally rich in magnesium may, therefore, help a person to feel calmer. Examples include leafy greens, such as spinach and Swiss chard. Other sources include legumes, nuts, seeds, and whole grains. Foods rich in zinc such as oysters, cashews, liver, beef, and egg yolks have been linked to lowered anxiety.
There are effective treatments for depression, including medications (such as antidepressants), along with talk therapy. Most people do best by using both.
Medication. A doctor may prescribe medication alongside counseling or if other methods do not help. According to the NIMH , drugs, such as antidepressants, can help treat depression. Antidepressants include fluoxetine (Prozac) and citalopram (Celexa).
There's no quick fix for severe depression. Although antidepressants like Prozac have been around since the 1970s, they usually take weeks to make a difference.
Researchers found that those who ate fruit more often had lower levels of depression and higher levels of mental well-being.