Are you Blue?
The Nutritional Basis of Depression
I once met a man who bathed every day in a barrel of azure dye. The barrel sat at the edge of his fields, deep and glittering like rainwater. In fact, he didn’t know it was blue dye. He thought it was rainwater. “Why are you blue?” I asked the man when we first met. He shrugged his blue shoulders, “It’s just the way I am.”
—Anonymous, Folk Tale
Every day I meet people like the man who bathed in blue dye. Except they don’t look blue. They feel blue. They’re often recovering addicts like me, and by the time we meet, they’ve suffered from so many years of depression, that just like the man who bathed in blue dye, they tell me, “It’s just who I am.” But I, too, once bathed in blue dye. And I know better.
“Self-Medication” and Depression
—A Vicious Cycle
You probably already know that drinking and drugs and even bingeing on sugar are forms of “self-medication.” For every beginning addict, some troubled voice in the soul whispers, “Use, and you will feel better”. But, if you’re an addict or recovering addict, you also know that using eventually makes you feel bad--not just as bad as you felt before you started using, but much, much worse. I was always a nervous kid. Before I started drinking, I felt anxious every day. But I was never really depressed. And, at first, drinking made me feel great: self-confident, extroverted, funny. But the longer I drank, the worse I felt, to the point that I attempted suicide.
Alcohol and drug abuse wreak havoc on the body and the brain. The same substances that rush our body’s mood-regulating systems with a chemical high eventually deplete our biological reserves, using up the neurotransmitters and hormone precursors that make us feel good and leaving us in even greater agony than the suffering we tried to medicate away with drugs. By the time a person has been using for years, alcohol, drugs, and refined foods have pulled all the nutrient resources from the organs and bones and we have no reserves left.
During my early sobriety, when I was no longer drinking and had started taking good care of myself, I was still depressed every single day. I didn’t know it was because of nutritional deficiencies, hypoglycemia, and even food allergies. I accepted that something was off with me and that I just needed more counseling, meditation, yoga --whatever “self-care” I could use to cure me. But without intensive bio-repair, it becomes impossible to feel good. No amount of therapy, AA, yoga, meditation or even anti-depressants can make up for the building blocks we need to cure physiological depression. And, if this physiological depression goes on long enough, if we try to fight it hard enough without success, we decide, “It’s just how I am.”
But it isn’t how you are. It’s your biochemistry. And you can fix it.
Fix Your Body, Fix Your Brain
If there’s one thing I want you to know about your depression, it’s this: Physiological depression and psychological depression are not the same.
Almost everyone experiences some depression of both types. But biologically based depression causes situational depression to spiral out of control and seem totally unmanageable. Except that physiological depression is biological and treatable. Once you treat it, you will be able to tell the difference between the “way you are” and temporary stresses.
Physiological depression feels like psychological depression, but if you pay close attention, you can begin to identify some triggers. For example, a few days of eating pizza for every meal can make me feel like crap. I don’t really know it’s the food. I just feel horrible. I can’t sleep; I feel mean; I hate everyone! Not having any life-stress reason to feel bad is one of the clues that it’s rooted in the body. And, when nutritional changes help alleviate the terrible feeling --because it turns out that, like many people, I have sensitivities to dairy and wheat!--, we know that there’s a path to the other side. Really, whether your depression is physiological or psychological, with a healing diet and supplements you have nothing to lose.
During nutrition therapy, we focus on relieving physiological depression by restoring key nutrients, including:
Essential Fatty Acids like omega-3s and GLA
B vitamins
Vitamin C
Magnesium and calcium
Amino acids L-tryptophan, L-tyrosine, and L-phenylalanine which are precursors to feel-good hormones and neurotransmitters serotonin (good mood and sleep promoter) and norepinephrine (natural energizer and mental focuser)
Studies have shown that depression can be caused by one deficiency or several. By identifying symptoms and asking the right questions, I help my clients determine the dosage of specific nutrients they need to start feeling better right away.
What You Can Do Today to Lift Biochemical Depression
Without extreme long-term commitment, food alone cannot cure physiological depression. Most people in recovery don’t have the time or energy for that. We need to feel better right away. The good news is that the right combination of food and supplements together can turn your life around. Here are some things you can do right now to start feeling better:
Eat high-quality animal- and plant-based protein
Eat high-quality protein every three hours to control blood sugar:
Eggs (organic and pasture-raised)
Chicken
Beef
Lamb
Fish (wild and sustainably farmed)
Legumes
Quinoa
Tempeh
Alternate between these to get the full spectrum of nutrients and amino acids necessary for the formation of happy neurotransmitters. High-protein foods also provide an abundance of minerals and certain vitamins. In my early recovery, I used to carry in my backpack hard-boiled eggs, nuts, avocados, and almond butter (the last three are high-protein healthy fats) with complementary veggies and fruits like carrots and apples.
Eat more whole foods
Whole foods calm the mind by stabilizing blood sugar, repairing the depletion of nutrients, and healing digestion. Acids and vitamins in plant-based whole foods help break down animal fats and protein. Packed with B vitamins, essential amino acids like tryptophan, and minerals like magnesium, whole foods don’t deplete us when we eat them.
Make at least one meal a day entirely of whole foods. Include dark leafy or cruciferous greens and either whole grains or roots in addition to your protein:
Greens (kale, collards, broccoli, asparagus, cabbage, Brussels sprouts)
Whole grains (brown rice, wild rice, amaranth, millet, steel-cut oats, teff)
Root vegetables (winter squash, sweet potato, carrots, beets)
Add apple cider vinegar to your drinking water
Add apple cider vinegar to your drinking water, a tablespoon in 16 oz. And have a green drink every morning. Both help detoxify the liver, reduce inflammation and its associated depression symptoms.
Include supplements
Include supplements listed in my article Complete Guide to Supplements and Vitamins for Recovering Alcoholics to reload the missing nutrients lost through addiction. The formula in the article can also be used by sugar lovers who are experiencing frequent biochemical southbound moods.
Avoid/Eat less of:
refined sugar
white flour
caffeine
dairy
drugs & alcohol
We all know we need to consume less of all of it, though dairy can be hard to let go of for many people. I encourage you to eliminate it completely, or at least reduce it for two weeks and see how you feel. I’ve never met anyone who went off dairy and didn’t feel better.
O2 therapy:
practice mindful breathing
go outside
exercise regularly
Oxygen helps to purify, detox, and eliminate waste from our bodies. Addiction-related disorders such as nutritional deficiencies can cause an insufficient supply of oxygen in the brain. We need more oxygen during the healing process, and it greatly benefits people post addiction.
One-on-one support:
Schedule a free chat with me to tell me your story and see if I can help.
We’re Not Perfect. But We’re Not “Just This Way.”
It’s very important to get all the help you need for both types of depression, including working with a therapist or other professional to complement your nutritional healing. Healing biologically based depression makes it much easier to treat psychological depression. I used to go to therapy and cry uncontrollably. I couldn’t progress with my therapist. I didn’t even know what was happening to me! Addressing my nutritional deficiencies changed everything. I still have childhood feelings of low-self esteem and sadness, but now that my physiological depression is gone, I can actually cope with them. Together with the tools I’ve gotten from AA and therapy, meditation and yoga, I’m able to recover when things get me down. I still have worries about relationships, money, work, and what’s happening in the world, but these worries don’t spiral out of control. Because I no longer accept that depression is “who I am.”
I don’t think depression is who you are, either. I think it’s what you’re suffering, and that together we can make it better.
References:
Seven Weeks to Sobriety and Depression-Free, Naturally by Dr. Joan Mathews-Larson, author of books on recovery, depression, and nutrition; founder of the Health Recovery Center (HRC) and her unique psychobiological model for treating addictions and emotional disorders in 1981. After more than 40 years, the success rates of HRC is unparalleled by conventional approaches.
The Chemistry of Depression
Biochemical Causes of Depression: Find the Cure by Finding the Cause
Burden and Nutritional Deficiencies in Opiate Addiction- Systematic Review Article
Enjoy!
I’m Elena Singh, founder of the Sweet Science wellness program. I’m a certified nutrition counselor, science-based health coach, and addiction survivor. I help people in recovery heal their bodies and minds so they can learn to love sober life—not just survive it.