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Dr. Bob is Robert Hsiung, MD,
bob@dr-bob.orgShown: posts 1 to 4 of 4. This is the beginning of the thread.
Posted by Simon Peak on June 16, 2001, at 18:04:36
Hi everyone,
I posted here a while back because I was experiencing serious depression problems whilst studying at university. I had tried Prozac and Moclobemide but neither of them provided any long term relief. To increase my chances of beating the depression, I also embarked on some serious lifestyle changes such as diet improvement, regular meditation, etc. Basically I was willing to try everything.
For the last six or so weeks, I've been trying a completely different diet. As difficult as it was, I have managed to cut out all dairy products, most processed food. I have started eating a lot more organically grown fruit and vegetables, and also organic eggs and meat.
Basically I have tried to make my diet very similar to what the human body has evolved to eat, and found that this had a significant effect on my depression and general health.
There is a good free guideline to what you should eat at http://www.mercola.com/diet.htm
I am just wondering if anyone else has had success by diet modification? If anyone would like to know more info please ask.
Posted by Maisy on June 17, 2001, at 8:43:57
In reply to Diet and depression, posted by Simon Peak on June 16, 2001, at 18:04:36
This certainly sounds like a sensible diet to me.
I think I'd like to give it a try since my eating
habits have been poor -too many nutritionally
deficient carbohydrates. Since my latest relapse
I have an aversion to vegetables but I am willing
to suck it up and give it a try. Did you have more
info? Thanks!!
Posted by dave_fox on June 17, 2001, at 10:34:39
In reply to Diet and depression, posted by Simon Peak on June 16, 2001, at 18:04:36
The British mental health charity MIND released some info not that long ago on the importance of certain dietary nutrients. They even went as far as making meal suggestions. This used to be on their Web site.
Posted by Simon Peak on June 17, 2001, at 17:48:58
In reply to Re: Diet and depression, posted by Maisy on June 17, 2001, at 8:43:57
Hi Maisy (and anyone else who wants more info),
My diet before now was pretty shocking really, even though I thought I was eating quite sensibly. I didn't have a weight problem or anything - but when you see a diet such as the one on the Mercola page, it becomes clear how poor the 'standard' diet is.
I was eating quite a lot of junk food, fast food, not many vegetables/fruit and not a lot of fish. Now I am eating no junk food at all, mostly vegetables with some fruit, and a fair amount of fish/meat.
When I searched for an optimal diet for a human species, all sorts of results came back. Some people would say that a 100% vegan raw food diet consisting of vegetables, fruits and minimum grains was the best idea. I don't believe this works in the long term however, and think that including meat is beneficial, as all the primative humans were omnivores. The idea is to mimic the diet that a primative human being ate (basically provide the right fuel for the engine).
The hard bits of a healthy diet is that you should not eat any dairy, or grains in theory. The reason for this is that they are responsible for quite a lot of diseases these days. Human beings didn't have access to such products in quantity until quite recently (time wise), and the human body hasn't really evolved to eat such products in large quantities.
Be warned that if you choose to do this it will take a lot of will power and time. I found it hard to do and have only recently cut out the grains (just to see how I feel without them). It is difficult work, and you pretty much have to eat a very 'strange' diet (in other people's views).
If you want to give it a go, I'd say read up on advice as much as you can before trying anything new. There are a lot of diet ideas out there which aren't so good in the long run. Also, if you try to do it too fast, you may give up (it IS hard at first). I think the Mercola diet that I provided a link in my first post to, is the best one I've seen. He has lots of reasons for the recommendations he makes on his site, so you can see why you are cutting those foods out.
My depression has been aleviated significantly by changing my diet. For a while I thought there was no correlation between what I ate and how I felt, but it is clear now that there is. I feel better every day and pretty much can say I am symptom free. My physical health is so much better too, and it really is amazing how much better the human body can be when it gets the foods it is genetically designed to eat.
Good luck, and let me know if you want more info.
Simon,
This is the end of the thread.
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