Conquering Giant Despair
Depression is multi-faceted in cause, so you must take multiple avenues of intervention to break free from it. Plus 2 great resources you can reach out to for help.
Perhaps you identify with Christian and Hopeful in Doubting Castle. We know we ought to be happy, cheerful, and hopeful. But maybe you aren’t. You’ve already dealt with many spiritual and emotional aspects of your depression, but something is still missing. Out of ignorance and despair more and more Christians are turning to anti-depressant medications to fill the gap. Maybe you aren’t taking anti-depressants, but you probably know 2 or 3 people close to you who are. I know several people who have turned to drugs for mental relief. Anti-depressants are way too common. Traces of anti-depressants have been found in streams in Texas. This means a lot of people are taking these drugs.
I’d like to ask you a question. Do you think that the Living God, who created you, designed you with a requirement for selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs)? Even if they did work, which we now know was a lie the whole time they were sold as wonder drugs to the gullible public, you would like a more natural way to achieve chemical balance, wouldn’t you? I believe we have overlooked an important part of God’s Key of Promise to beat Giant Despair.
“Let Thy Food be Thy Medicine”
In the rush for profit and the easy life we have destroyed our food supply and concept of what food is. We have taken God’s concept of food and imitated it, “refined” it, and tried to make it convenient. But we find ourselves paying for our imitation food twice—once at the grocers and again at the doctor’s office and pharmacy. Could it be that our modern mental diseases are due to our modern foods?
In the beginning God created man and told him what his diet was. It was the fruits, vegetables, nuts and seeds. Then the flood changed the landscape drastically, so allowance for survival in these new climates was made. But our basic physiological needs are still the same as they were in the beginning. We haven’t changed that much genetically. The basis of our diet must still be the fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds. And we still need to work physically. We still need to have cycles of rest. We still need to take time to know deeply the people around us, to really be family. When we ignore God’s design for how to live we malfunction physically, emotionally, and mentally.
Fruits, Vegetables and Vegetable Juice
Nutritionally speaking, what do we need most to get us out of depression? I believe it is fresh fruits and vegetables. They are the most important and significant food source of vitamins and minerals that you can eat. This is the basis of a healthy diet that gives the body the building blocks it needs to build health. Low folic acid (excellent sources are leafy greens and legumes) has been linked to depression in several studies. Low magnesium intake, of which fruits and vegetables are an important source, has been associated with depression in a large nationally representative population study of 17,000 adults. Vitamin C, which comes exclusively from fruits and vegetables, can be helpful for mental health, including depression. A meta-analysis and review indicates there is evidence for a benefit of taking vitamin C for sub-clinical depression, and another review presents evidence for a role of vitamin C in several mental illnesses.
Carrot juice, or carrot juice blends are very important here. Why? First, you can easily get more vegetables into your diet this way. It’s possible to get the nutrients from 2 pounds of carrots a day with a couple glasses of juice, but impossible to eat that many carrots. Second, you get more nutrients out of vegetables that are juiced because the vegetable cells are broken open, making the nutrients ready to be assimilated. Even with all of the other supplements on the market, fresh vegetable juice has been and still is a nutritional home run. Most of those supplements are just singles, doubles, or even fly outs. Vegetable juice is a home run. Cooked or pasteurized juice is not nearly as good because of the loss of vitality, as marked by the deactivation of the enzymes in the juice.
Omega 3 Fats
After the fruits and vegetables come the omega 3 fats. Omega 3 fats modulate the fluidity of cellular membranes, especially in the central nervous system, which has a direct effect on cell signaling and neurotransmitter binding (4) (simple version—chemical balancing). Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) is also an inhibitor of proinflammatory cytokines IL-1 β and TNFα (from omega 6 fats) which are associated with severity of depression.
Post-partum depression had been directly linked to lack of omega 3 fats. During the last trimester of pregnancy the infant’s brain develops rapidly and requires a lot of omega 3 fats from mom. If mom doesn’t have a surplus, she will run a deficit for her baby, which contributes to depression after the baby is born. So supplementing with DHA during pregnancy and after birth will not only make your child smarter, but it can help make mom happier, too.
Flax seed oil or Udo’s Oil, or ground chia seeds or flax seeds will provide a sufficient source of EPA from the precursor α-linoleic acid. This has had major positive effects on depression in many studies. Preformed DHA from fish oil will also be beneficial in many cases. It is important to also eliminate omega 6 oils (especially refined sunflower, safflower, corn, soy, and cottonseed oils), because they interfere and compete with omega 3 fats. Omega 6 oils are the source of the proinflammatory cytokines mentioned above.
Vitamin D
Vitamin D expert Dr. Michael Holick says that sunshine deficiency is also a big problem with depression, seasonal affective disorder, and mental health. Bright light is part of this, but vitamin D is also the major hormone we get from sunshine. Getting a sunburn is not good, but anything short of that is great and very healthy. Vitamin D supplements are helpful, and many people need 5,000 IU a day or more to keep their 25(OH)D levels in the optimal range of 40-80 ng/ml. Sunshine is the best, but testing your vitamin D levels is a great idea to see if your strategy is working.
Vitamin B-12
Vitamin B-12 is necessary for replication of cells, for homocysteine metabolism (along with folate and vitamin B-6), and for production of the myelin sheath surrounding nerves. Low vitamin B-12 and folate are both associated with depression. The safest and best way to get B-12 is using a sublingual tablet. Many older people have trouble assimilating B-12 from their food because of the complicated digestive and absorption process of vitamin B-12. A study of the Framingham Offspring cohort showed as many as 39% of the whole adult cohort had suboptimal levels of B-12, regardless of age.
Exercise
Exercise, though mentioned last, is not least in your array of natural helps to beat depression. Regular exercise makes you feel better mentally. Many studies have confirmed this scientifically and many people personally know this is true. A report from the Cooper Institute found that a 12-week exercise program (supervised and home-based) helped participants who hadn’t gotten better using antidepressant medications to improve significantly. The take home point here is that all of the nutritional support is good by itself, but it will work even better when you get moving at the same time. Exercise and an excellent diet are the two most important steps to beating depression.
Putting It All Together
This article is not an all inclusive discussion of overcoming depression with nutrition. I’ve covered the foundation, the basis for anything else you might add to help you out of the pit of despair. If you do these things consistently (exercise, sunshine, the vegetable juice, the raw fruits and vegetables, the omega 3 oil, the B-12) you will find you don’t need so many other supplements to feel good. Any one of these substances by themselves may not have a large impact. Nutrition works as a team, as a whole, not as superstars. Just like sports teams need every individual performing at his or her personal best effort to get overall maximum performance as a team, so your body needs all of the nutrients present in optimal amounts to build a strong, resilient brain and body.
One place that has been doing this consistently over time is the Nedley Health company, founded by Neil Medley in 2002. They take into account the many root causes of depression to help people get free, including diet. They have a 10-day residential program, community-based programs, and online programs to help people get free from depression. They come from a Seventh-Day Adventist perspective, which may or may not be to your liking. Their 10-day residential program boasts some amazing results, with the group from May 2022 showing 11 of 18 participants entering with severe depression and 8 of those 11 leaving with no depression at all.
Dr. Daniel Amen, MD the founder of BrainMD.com and Amen Clinics has done over 210,000 brain SPECT imaging studies of people with his team. How do people treat the brain if they never measure what is going on inside? “Change your brain, change your life,” is one of his lines, and he has a book by that title as well. So Dr. Amen does the measurements to see what people need to heal their brains. Dr. Amen is working on taking the stigma out of mental health by showing us all that when damaged brains get healing the mental health issues go away.
So, there are a couple of excellent resources to look into if you are struggling with depression, in addition to your own interventions. You don’t have to overcome depression alone.
A lot of this article deals with food because many people overlook the food and depression connection. You still have to deal with emotional and spiritual issues that contribute to your mood. Eating better won’t make you more spiritual, but if your body is a prison for your mind, upgrading your diet could enable you to find freedom at last and with your freedom and gratitude you have a reason to really worship and praise God and focus on Him, not yourself. You will experience the Key of Promise that is in Scripture, “I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly.” And “You shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free… if the Son therefore makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”