Posted by dmlvt on September 12, 2006, at 14:48:20
As an athlete, someone who suffers from depression and anxiety, someone who works in healthcare, and someone who is overweight, I read a lot about these topics. (I'm not a doctor, but rather a clinical number cruncher for doctors).
So, I'm curious what people think would be the ultimate diet if curing depression was the primary goal. I doubt that it would be inconsistent with my athletic goals or contrary to my desire to lose weight.
Here are the basic things I'm doing right now. These aren't necessarily things I do all the time, but for the past three weeks, I've been very strict in what follows:
No alcohol
Very limited sugar intake (in coffee and that's it)
No dairy except for some milk or half and half in bad coffee.
(Perhaps if I ditched coffee, I could get rid of sugar and dairy completely)
No flour at all, even whole wheat flour.
No eggs
No cheese or really any dairy fat other than in coffee.
No soda, no artificial sweeteners
Vitamins and fish oil supplements. I use a number of products from a company that specializes in supplements for endurance athletes.
No meat from mammals
Some organic poultry
Some cold-water, wild fish
No farm-raised fish
Nothing fried
Nothing from a box
No trans fatsA typical day might look like this:
Coffee when I get up
4 servings of fruit after my morning workout
Salad for lunch with a variety of veggies, flax seeds, beans, walnuts, and a homemade dressing that includes olive oil and vinegar
Dinner might be a stir-fry with tofu with brown rice, or maybe a black bean/brown rice dish with salsa and guacomole. Last night was a chicken breast, salad, and roasted zucchini. The night before was grilled salmon, corn on the cob (no salt, no butter), salad, chard, and broccoli.Overall, lots of fruits and veggies, brown rice, beans, tofu and lean meats for protein, low salt, etc. I'm not fanatically anti-fat and I eat avocadoes, olive oil and nuts.
If you read books like "Eat to Live" by Joel Fuhrman or follow the McDougall "plan", these docs will tell you that we can cure depression and many psychiatric disorders through diet.
Is it a dream? What should we eat if we want to optimize our mental health?
Just something I've been thinking about a lot recently, wondering if I can get rid of these drugs that overwhelm me at times.
dml
poster:dmlvt
thread:685328
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/health/20060818/msgs/685328.html