Depression & Nutrition

There are strong connections between nutrition and symptoms of depression. Psychology Today speaks to the important link between nutrition and depression including nutrient deficiency associated with the highest risk of depression. Please find below 5 considerations in supporting your nutrition and reducing risk of depressive symptoms:

1. Water. Similar to last week’s blog post on anxiety and nutrition, water is also essential to manage symptoms of depression. Solar Mental Health shares three key connections between dehydration leading to depression including: dehydration sapping energy, dehydration impeding the brain’s serotonin reproduction, and dehydration increasing stress on the body.
2. Mediterranean Diet. There is a growing body of research supporting the Mediterranean diet having positive outcomes on overall physical and mental health, including reducing symptoms of depression. Harvard Health has a guide for integrating a Mediterranean diet and what to consider.
3. Fermented Foods. NIH research shared numerous studies finding probiotic and prebiotic foods having a positive effect on alleviating symptoms of anxiety and depression, and consuming fermented foods being linked to lowering depressive and anxious symptoms.
4. Protein. Protein is an essential nutrient for supporting energy. WebMD shared that foods like turkey, tuna, and chicken have an amino acid called tryptophan, which helps produce serotonin.
5. Gut Health. There is a lot of research and information about the importance of gut health on mood including for depression. An article from Harvard Health speaks to the connections between gut and mood, with 90% of our serotonin receptors located in our gut, and serotonin playing the important role of mood regulation - what we put in our gut really matters..

 
If you have questions or are looking for more information, I would be happy to provide you a referral to a Naturopath or Nutritionist specializing in supporting depression. I am Nicole Levy, and I am here as your helping hand. My email is [email protected]