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  |  What's cooking?  |  Healthy eating   |  The Depression Relief Diet
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The Depression Relief Diet

by Sue Gilbert
It's comfort eating without the weight gain: Sue Gilbert explains how the Depression Relief Diet can help you beat the blues

If it sometimes seems that food is the only thing that will make you feel better when you're feeling down, it's not just in your head. Food does affect your mood and what and when you eat can have an impact on depression. Here's how the Depression Relief Diet can help:

  • Sugar and caffeine give you a quick lift but can leave you feeling down when their effects wear off. This meal plan reduces sugar and caffeine intake because feelings of depression often improve when their consumption is minimised.
  • Because deficient levels of omega-3 fatty acids in the nervous system make you more vulnerable to depression, this meal plan includes plenty of fish and other rich sources of omega-3s.
  • Even marginal vitamin deficiencies that don't result in clinical symptoms can negatively affect your mood. This diet, when paired with a daily multivitamin and mineral supplement, will help ensure adequate intake of essential vitamins and minerals (especially the B vitamins and folic acid, vitamin D, iron, magnesium, selenium, zinc and calcium).
  • Steady blood sugar levels help keep you on an even keel. This meal plan includes complex carbohydrates in every meal and encourages eating small meals spaced evenly throughout the day to help keep your blood sugar levels balanced.

    Breakfast
    Option 1
    2 slices wholemeal toast topped with peanut butter and banana
    St. John's Wort tea
    Multivitamin

    Option 2
    Calcium-fortified orange juice
    Cherry vanilla muesli (see recipe below)
    Soya milk fortified with calcium and vitamin D
    Multivitamin

    Cherry vanilla muesli
    150g rolled oats (`old fashioned?, not instant)
    60g dried cherries, chopped
    30g chopped toasted almonds
    340ml water
    2tbsp fresh lemon juice
    3tbsp maple syrup
    1tsp vanilla extract or vanilla powder

    Directions:
    1. The night before combine all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Stir well until thoroughly combined. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
    2. Before serving, stir in a small pot of vanilla yoghurt.

    Option 3
    Small potion of scrambled egg
    1 slice of wholewheat toast
    Peach slices
    St. John's Wort tea
    Multivitamin

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