(2018-04-02, 03:59 PM)Sciborg_S_Patel Wrote: [ -> ]The Diet That Might Cure Depression
Interestingly, I have changed my diet quite radically in the past few months and am feeling the benefit. Several months ago I developed the heart condition, Atrial Fibrillation - a scary but quite common problem among people of my age especially those with existing heart disease such as I have. My consultant adjusted my prescription medicines to help control the AF and suggested a healthier regime to lose weight and take more exercise. Coincidentally I had suffered repeated attacks of gout around the same time so I had been stuck at home taking very little exercise and my weight had consequently increased alarmingly.
As the gout subsided, I started to take more exercise including a mild form of yoga, playing lawn bowls, swimming and walking. In addition I read about heart-health and gout avoiding diets and decided to limit my meat and sugar intake. I cut out sweet snacks, sugar, white bread and red meat. I limited my meat to a very occasional lean, free-range chicken meal and occasional white fish. Otherwise, I have been eating lots of fruit and vegetables, making vegetable soups, etc. I am not even close to being a vegan in that I eat dairy (milk, cheese and eggs), fish and, as I said, chicken occasionally.
So how did I fare? I have lost 8KG (about 18 lbs), have not had a sign of gout in those 3 months and no AF events for the past two months. My mood has improved and depression (a life-long curse) has not featured. I feel generally fitter and healthier than I have for years.
It is possible to increase serotonin levels in the brain by
controlling your diet:
Quote:Eating carbohydrates causes the body to produce insulin which increases tryptophan uptake by the brain. Tryptophan is released when protein is digested and as more tryptophan is taken in by the brain serotonin production increases. By waiting 20-40 minutes after eating carbohydrates before you eat protein, you give the body time to produce insulin before you give it protein.
...
A simple way to do this is to eat the carbohydrate portion of your meal first then wait 20 minutes before eating the protein portion.
The link above (from my blog) has links to articles written by Judith Wurtman, the scientists who studied this phemomenon.
I use this technique everyday because it enhances the effects of
meditation. After a while you can feel when your insulin levels are up and you don't have to time it. I also used to feel really horrible if I did too much physical exercise so I had to limit activities I liked to do. Since I started eating this way, I still feel a small effect from a lot of exercise but by using this technique I don't have to limit the amount of exercise I do. It definitely works.
(2018-04-24, 10:29 AM)Jim_Smith Wrote: [ -> ]It is possible to increase serotonin levels in the brain by controlling your diet
I just gave this a go, Jim. No luck this time - I felt better even before the carbs - but it could be because I've had a fair bit of caffeine today, or maybe I ate the wrong relative/absolute amounts of carbs and protein. Might give it another go another time.
Alright, so I have yet another diet. I probably have a better understanding of biochemistry than a lay person (around 10 years in bio related fields), but I am not a physician.
My personal avoid as much as possible (people in general know these, but I provided some rationale):
Sweetened beverages - you're asking for an insulin spike if it has fruit sugar or high fructose corn syrup, since there's no fiber. So, this includes juice, in addition to soda, etc. It will make you feel like crap. Fruit is good, juice is not.
Junk food - Manufactured to hit all of your brains pleasure sensors. It will also likely cause an insulin spike. When your blood sugar drops after the insulin spike, you will feel tired, and possibly hungry again, causing you to overeat, consume, and buy more junk food.
Food with aspartame - people generally focus on the metabolite of methanol from the aspartame. I actually don't care much about that, there's trace methanol in fruit. Its the phenylalanine. (I don't know how rigorous the following is, but my anecdotal evidence led me to the conclusion. Some of the foods to eat is also based on this (sources of tryptophan)). Phenylalanine, along with tyrosine and tryptophan compete for the neutral amino acid transporter for the brain. If you eat something with aspartame, it is quickly broken down, with a little more than 50% of its mass as phenylalaine. But proteins, likely take longer to break down, and a small portion of protein is tryptophan. You need tryptophan to make important brain chemicals, but most of it is already uptaken in the gut.
Thus, (it is possible) that the large amount of free phenylalanine could disrupt the amount of tryptophan in your meal that reaches the brain.
Has worked well in my diet:
I aimed my diet at good brain health, since I have to analyze data for my full time job. This has improved my brain energy, even when I am sick. I hope that some of these findings are universal, but much inherent variability in biology.
Since I am hoping to improve brain health, I focused on good sources of fat. The brain has a lot of fat. Another note, it may take a bit to feel the effects, since (I think) it takes a while to replenish fat type tissues. If left to my own devices, I would eat a carb heavy diet that is heavy in certain fats that are probably fried, refined, and of only certain specific kinds that are economically cheap for food manufacturers. So, this has been a heavy shift, but my brain feels a lot more agile.
Eggs - great source of tryptophan, everything nature needs for growth is in an egg. I don't worry about dietary cholesterol.
Nuts - good sources of fat, great to replace for your snacking desires, I like unsalted mixed nuts to get a variety of nutrition. Just watch the calories
Mixed greens with olive oil and balsamic vinegar
Fish oil / omega 3 source - one of my most respected professors emphasized if theres one thing hes learned to take, its fish oil. Especially in america, our dietary fat balance of omega 6 to omega 3 is out of balance due to the prevalent crops / feed given to the animal. Supplementing omega 3 is definitely a good idea. Not sure how much eating fish that is farmed would help, but wild salmon is definitely good (but pricy).
I'm not sure how much it helps, but I like to drink pigmented beverages. Green tea, turmeric with black pepper tea, snow chrysanthemum, rooibos. Its fun to change them up, and hopefully has some good stuff as well. (again, definitely don't add sugar) This also goes into making sure to hydrate well, and get enough sleep. Both very important.
Lastly, supplements, in general, I think its better to get from natural sources, as you get a balance of compounds, as opposed to a large amount of only one type of chemical. A good example of this is people oversupplementing certain vitamins actually having worse prognoses. Of course, there are exceptions based on individual chemistry.
Thanks for reading, and I hope to pick up some more good ideas in this thread.
(2018-04-24, 02:36 PM)Laird Wrote: [ -> ]Might give it another go another time.
It seems to have worked this time. Happy Laird.
Edit: admittedly, it's hard to know whether this was a genuine effect (it was minor) or just a random (again, minor) fluctuation in mood.