Depression and your Diet

Written By Kelsey Ruffing, MA, MS, LCPC

By now, everyone knows that a healthy diet is beneficial to the mind and body. We can no longer deny the mind-body connection and see these two as separate, independent systems. However, there is absolutely not enough attention paid to diet and how it impacts mental health disparities such as depression and anxiety.

Unfortunately, in America, many foods that are labeled “healthy”, “organic”, “gluten-free”, are not actually what they seem. Have you ever really looked up the guidelines for manufacturers that allow them to place these labels on food? Even our own fruits and vegetables have some kind of chemical sprayed on them at some point during maturation to either help growth, deter insects and wildlife, or help them last long enough to hit the shelf. Perhaps we cannot hide from everything that has the potential to cause us danger when it comes to food, but the more educated and aware we become, the better the choices are that we can make. Your diet is impacting your mood, performance, energy, physical health, and even your children’s health!

Let’s take a deeper look.

Various documentaries are listed at the end of this blog that educate on diet, production of food and health and wellbeing. 

Serotonin is a chemical produced in the brain and the digestive system (in the gut) that is known to have an impact on depression. When our bodies do not produce enough serotonin, it can result in a depressed mood, low energy, negative thoughts, cravings for sweets, low libido, and irritability. Serotonin is commonly increased when you take medications such as Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRIs), as for example: Prozac (fluoxetine), Celexa (Citalopram), Zoloft (Sertraline).

What most people do not realize is that many neurotransmitters responsible for difficulties with mental health, such as depression and anxiety, are not only in the brain but also heavily produced and populated in the gut. Epinephrine, norepinephrine, serotonin, and dopamine (the feel good chemical)  are all responsible for controlling gut health and aid in nutrient absorption, blood flow, gut microbiome, immune defense, and more. The same chemical that impacts your mood and causes your depression, impact your gut and what occurs in your digestive system. If you feed your gut processed foods with no nutrients, you are disrupting homeostasis in the gut and disrupting these chemicals, causing a negative response. There is a clear link here between diet and mental health.

Diet impacts mental health so much so that the diet of pregnant mothers has an impact on behavioral and emotional problems in children after they are born. Read that article here. Also, maternal depression and unhealthy diet also play a crucial role in abnormal child development. You can access that article here.

The ‘SMILES’ trial, published in 2017, was the first randomized controlled trial looking at whether dietary changes could help adults with depression. It is honestly unbelievable that it took this long for research on diet and mood to get to this point, but this is progress. The trial was a success and concluded that dietary improvement could be an efficacious and accessible treatment for the management of depression, and co-morbidities such as diabetes. To see the study and results click here.

Here are some things you can start looking at today!

FOODS THAT LOWER SEROTONIN (BAD):

  • Sweets, sugar, candies

  • Caffeine (sorry)

  • Simple carbs (white rice, white bread, ect)

  • Overly processed foods (come in boxes and bags)

FOODS THAT RAISE SEROTONIN (GOOD):

  • Salmon (wild caught, not farm raised)

  • Spinach, leafy greens

  • Nuts

  • Poultry (Grass-fed)

  • Eggs (Cage-free)

  • Pineapple

  • Turkey

SUPPLEMENTS THAT HELP WITH MOOD:

  • 5HTP (I personally use this) Do not take if you have heart issues

  • Vitamin B’s (B6, B9, B12)

  • Magnesium

  • Zinc

  • Vitamin D

  • Pure Tryptophan

  • Probiotics (for gut health)

  • Omega 3 fatty acids

  • L-Theanine (can make you more resilient to stress)

** Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors (SSRIs), serotonin norepinephrine re-uptake inhibitors (SNRIs), monoamine oxidase inhibitors (MAOIs), and tricyclic antidepressants (TCAs) all work by increasing serotonin levels in the brain.

*** Taking medications accompanied by supplements that increase serotonin production can raise your serotonin level too high which puts you at risk for a potentially dangerous condition known as serotonin syndrome.


DOCUMENTARIES TO WATCH:

  • What The Health

  • What’s With Wheat

  • The Magic Pill

  • Genetic Roulette

  • Fed Up

  • Rotten

  • In Organic We Trust

  • Forks Over Knives

  • Fat, Sick, and Nearly Dead

  • Food, INC.

  • Hungry For Change

  • Eating You Alive

  • Food Choices

References

  • https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/serotonin-syndrome/symptoms-causes/syc-20354758

  • https://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12916-017-0791-y

  • https://bebrainfit.com/serotonin-supplements/

  • https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3636120/

  • https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3848350/

  • https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25524365

  • https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24074470

  • https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/nutritional-psychiatry-your-brain-on-food-201511168626

Kelsey Ruffing, MA, MS, LCPC

I created Kelsey Ruffing Counseling because I saw a great need for counseling services that were specifically tailored towards helping individuals with chronic health conditions, as well as athletes dealing with sports injuries. My clinical experience in health and sports psychology and my own personal experiences with sports injury has fueled a passion for helping individuals thrive despite their physical circumstances.

https://www.kelseyruffingcounseling.com/
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