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Alter Your Diet and Improve Your Mood
Winter Blues? Try These Food Tips to Help Ease Symptoms
Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a type of depression that’s believed to be caused by the changing seasons. Typically, symptoms begin to worsen around fall and peak during the winter months. Symptoms of SAD are similar to other forms of depression, including feelings of hopelessness, lack of concentration, social withdrawal, and fatigue.
Treatments for SAD include medication, talk therapy, exercise, and eating a healthy diet. Use the mood-boosting recipes and meal ideas here to help you fight off SAD with your fork:
- Lean proteins- They carry plenty of amino acids, which may positively affect your mood. Lean proteins are also a great source of energy, which is something you’ll need to help beat fatigue.
- Omega-3 Fatty Acids- Omega-3 fatty acids have been praised for their health benefits, including possibly influencing your mood. Sources that contain the highest levels of omega-3 fatty acids include flax seeds, walnuts, and salmon.
- Berries- Stress aggravates depression symptoms and exhausts your body. Blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries may help prevent the release of cortisol, a hormone produced by the adrenal gland.
- Limit Sugar Intake- If you start looking at the ingredients on food labels, you’ll notice various forms of sugar. They’ll appear as syrups or words that end in “-ose.” Sugar may give you a little happy boost at first, but research from UCLA suggests that too much sugar and too few omega-3 fatty acids can functionally change your brain and slow it down.
- Folic Acid- Some research on folic acid’s effect on the brain has given insight into how it can boost your mood. You can get high amounts of folic acid in leafy greens, oatmeal, sunflower seeds, oranges, fortified cereals, lentils, black-eyed peas, and soybeans.
- Vitamin B-12- Like folic acid, low levels of vitamin B-12 in the blood are associated with depression. Food sources of vitamin B-12 include lean beef, clams, oysters, crab, wild salmon, eggs, cottage cheese, yogurt, milk, and fortified cereals.
- Vitamin D- It’s known as the “sunshine vitamin” because your body can make it by using cholesterol and absorbing natural sunshine. Your mood may improve with as little as 10 minutes of sun exposure. Food sources of vitamin D include milk, egg yolks, mushrooms, and fish that have bones.
- Turkey- It contains the amino acids tryptophan and melatonin, which are the calming and relaxing chemicals that make you tired after Thanksgiving dinner.
- Bananas- Like turkey, bananas contain tryptophan. Besides that, the carbohydrates from natural sugars and potassium in bananas help fuel your brain. Magnesium, also found in bananas, may improve sleep and reduce anxiety — two symptoms of seasonal depression.
Dietary changes should never be a replacement for medication or therapy, but they can supplement your current treatments. Discuss these or any other therapies with your doctor and see which are best for you.
To access the full article about seasonal depression and nutrition, click here. .