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Say Goodbye to Overwhelming Depression, Anxiety, Exhaustion & Stress...at Any Age — Naturally
To listen to my radio interview, Say Good-Bye to Depression with host Ric Bratton on his national radio program This Week in America, please click HERE.
With the holidays rapidly approaching, this can be the time for many people when depression and anxiety set in and stress takes over, so what we eat and how we live are significant, if we want to avoid them. In this excerpt from one of the radio broadcasts linked above, I discuss what lifestyle choices and foods contribute to depression, and also what foods, herbs, spices and simple daily practices will help alleviate depression.
To help make it easier to follow, I'll keep it in the question and answer format. To listen to this interview, click on the link above.
1. Is there a tie-in between depression, stress, and anxiety?
When life's seemingly endless stressors feel like they're wearing you down, depression and anxiety may be close at hand. Research from the University of Michigan found that 90% of episodes of depression are attributable to stressful life events. One of the contributing factors may be elevated cortisol levels. Individuals suffering from depression exhibit higher than normal levels of cortisol along with lower than normal levels of brain chemicals that signal pleasure in the brain, including dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin. Anxiety disorders including panic attacks and obsessive compulsive disorder are also associated with the elevated cortisol levels of the chronic stress response.
Prolonged stress interferes not just with our emotional well-being but also with our cognitive functions like memory. Chances are you've experienced forgetfulness during periods of intensive stress (who hasn't misplaced their keys while rushing to get to an important meeting?), but over time chronic stress can lead to full-blown memory loss. Initially, the stress response may improve brain function as increased blood, oxygen, and glucose are funneled to the brain. However, eventually cortisol reduces brain cells' ability to take up glucose – their only nutrient source – and causes them to shrink. Stanford stress researcher Robert Sapolsky has demonstrated that chronic exposure to stress can actually change brain circuitry and kill brain cells, especially in the hippocampus, a part of the brain responsible for learning and memory. This can ultimately make it difficult for the brain to store new memories or recall old ones.
For detailed info on my Trio Set of books, all designed in full color with tips galore on how to create vibrant health and live your best life, click HERE.
2. Give us an overview of 5 of the several things that you mention in your latest books The Joy Factor: 10 Sacred Practices for Radiant Health and Walking on Air: Your 30-Day Inside and Out Rejuvenation Makeover that help alleviate depression before we go through these and more in detail.
It’s hard to limit it to only five, but these would definitely be non-negotiable in my healthy lifestyle, what I suggest to others and recommend in my book to help alleviate depression. These also help quell stress, boost immune function and energy, and bring a sense of empowerment and confidence. Sleep — strive to get a solid 7-8 hours of deep sleep nightly: Foods — Eat a diet of colorful, natural foods, as close to the way nature made them as possible. Include sprouts in your diet for their life-enhancing effect (refer to my website for information on growing sprouts). Water — keep your body hydrated with purified water. Dehydration suppresses immunity, saps energy, ages you quickly, and causes depression. Exercise — A regular exercise program does more than help you lose weight. It brightens your mood and boosts self-esteem and confidence. Meditation — Daily respites of meditation promote calmness, relaxation, and compassion and, if that were not enough, slows down the aging process. Forty years of disciplined meditation have shown me its powerful effects. It will have a positive impact on every aspect of your life.
3. What about healing practices like massage, visualization, deep breathing, yoga and music? Do these help quell depression?
Many age-old healing practices have been proven by modern research to effectively reduce the impact of stress on body and mind. In numerous studies, massage has been shown to reduce cortisol levels, blood pressure, and overall anxiety, and increase serotonin and immune system function. Yoga, when practiced regularly, leads to reduction in cortisol levels, blood pressure, and feelings of anger and exhaustion. In one study, those who practiced yoga reported better skill in coping with stress, elevated mood, and increased life and job satisfaction than counterparts who merely relaxed reading books. Meditation, deep breathing, and visualization have also been shown to slow heart and breathing rates, decrease nervous system activity, and bring calm to the mind. Other reflective practices to decrease cortisol levels include spirituality, prayer, and journaling.
It's clear that making even minor modifications in our lifestyles (a hot bath, our favorite music) can fortify us against the upheavals of the stress response. The importance of good diet, regular exercise, adequate sleep, and stress-management practices in limiting the stress response cannot be overstated. However, since our stress-filled modern lives often don't allow us the flexibility to cook three healthful meals a day, hit the gym several times a week, and schedule weekly massages, we may need a helping hand from nature in the form of vitamins and herbal supplements. While supplements cannot fully substitute for sensible lifestyle choices, they can safely and effectively keep cortisol levels in an optimal range, making them an integral partner in stress management. Let’s talk about some safe and effective stress-relieving choices from nature's medicine chest – foods, herbs and spices.
4. What are some of your favorite herbs to reduce anxiety and depression?
Here are some of my favorite herbal remedies for stress and depression. I always get them from the Penn Herb Company.
5. How about any vitamins, minerals, or other supplements needed by the body to prevent or reduce depression, stress and anxiety?
6. Now that we’ve covered some herbs, spices, vitamins and minerals, let’s get specific about the foods that cause depression and which ones keep it in check.
Many of us make the wrong choices every day by consuming foods that were never intended for our miraculous bodies. In my books, The Joy Factor and Walking on Air, I discuss how to make the appropriate food choices to reduce our risks of depression, premature aging, heart disease, cancer, arthritis, diabetes, reduced vision and mental functions, and depression … and lose body fat at the same time.
Here’s a good way to think about a nutritious anti-depression/anti-stress diet: Produce is the most important health care your money can buy. As my grandmother used to tell me, look to nature for what to eat. In nature, we won’t find ice cream trees, donut vines, or potato chip bushes: We find superfoods. Foods rich in antioxidants, vitamins and minerals, enzymes and fiber are the foods that nourish the body and stave off depression. Colorful, natural foods like berries, melons, leafy greens, broccoli, oats, apples, beans, walnuts and almonds, bananas, tomatoes. If your plate looks like a fiesta in terms of the colors, you’re probably eating healthy foods. In other words, eschew foods made with white flour, white sugar, artificial colorings and flavorings, and foods that have a shelf life and, instead choose life-enhancing foods.
Eat every 3 hours so your blood sugar level doesn’t get too low, which affects your mood and causes depression. Grazing like this also helps lower cholesterol and reduces extra body fat. Put simply, it stokes metabolism and causes your body to burn more calories, even at rest.
RAW FOOD: If you eat a diet of entirely cooked foods, it will exacerbate depression. Raw foods give your body natural hydration, loads of nutrients (that are cooked away), and countless enzymes. Refer to my books The Joy Factor, Walking on Air, and The Healing Power of NatureFoods, Health Bliss, Vegetable Soup/The Fruit Bowl (for children ages 1-8), Recipes for Health Bliss, all described in detail on my website, for more information on the healing benefit of raw foods and natural, whole-foods in general.
7. I read in your book The Curative Kitchen & Lifestyle that there is a tie-in with constipation and depression. Please explain this to our listeners. Also, if you go to Susan's homepage of her website, you'll be able to get a FREE copy of this informative and helpful book.
Constipation can be caused by a number of factors, many of which are related to our modern diet and lifestyle:
Chronic constipation can cause all sorts of health complications, from hemorrhoids to fecal impaction. Many people also experience related symptoms such as headaches and back pain, which accompany the constipation. None of this is pleasant, but from the standpoint of detoxification, constipation is one of the largest barriers to the efficient elimination of accumulated toxins. If stool sits inside the colon too long without being eliminated, the toxins contained within may be circulated back into the blood. Furthermore, stools that are held up from being eliminated may generate even more toxins. The bacteria implicated in constipation emit their own wastes, which must be eliminated. With chronic constipation, good bacteria may die off as harmful bacteria flourishes and their toxins may damage the colon, causing further stagnancy. For more information on Colon Health, click HERE.
8. Can you be more specific on how exercise can make us feel less depressed, stressed, and anxious?
The ancient Athenians wisely adopted as their own the Roman motto: "Mens sana in corpore sano" which translates to "A sane mind in a sound body." Researchers are finding, however, that there’s much more to the adage than might first appear. It seems that our sense of happiness and well-being depends on how much exercise we get. Malcolm Carruthers, head of a British medical team, believes that “most people could ban the blues with a simple, vigorous ten-minute exercise session three times a week.” He came to this conclusion after spending four years studying the effect of norepinephrine on 200 people. Norepinephrine is a depression-destroying hormone, “The chemical key to happiness,” ac
cording to Carruthers. Ten minutes of exercise doubles the level of norepinephrine in the body.
Enkephalin is another spirit-lifting chemical produced in the brain during vigorous aerobic exercise. Enkephalins are the source of the feeling known as runner’s high among the long-distance runners that have been studied often. Enkephalin is a type of endorphin, morphine-like chemicals that serve as natural opiates, increasing pain tolerance and producing euphoric feelings. A study at Massachusetts General Hospital found a rise of more than 145% in endorphins during one hour of vigorous exercise. So you might want to remember to do this: Walk your dog every day, whether you have a dog or not.
Exercise can work in conjunction with psychotherapy to alleviate depression, according to work done at the Menninger Clinic in Topeka, Kansas. “It’s not a panacea, but it is a useful adjunct for treating depression,” says the clinic’s Robert Conroy. One of Conroy’s hypotheses is that exercise boosts self-image by changing an individual’s worldview from that of passive bystander to active participant. People who exercise believe they have control over their health and the quality of their lives.
9. Do you recommend stimulants like coffee and alcohol to help with depression?
Avoid stimulants like coffee and alcohol: When we're feeling stressed, depressed, and fatigued, many of us reach for a drink, whether it's a cocktail or a cup of coffee. But while alcohol may temporarily relax you and caffeine may temporarily boost energy and concentration, ultimately these two substances can exacerbate stress and depression. Both act as diuretics, which dehydrate the body (and dehydration causes depression, among other things), and this physiological stress increases cortisol levels. Both can disrupt sleep, with alcohol often causing nighttime awakening and caffeine making it difficult to fall asleep. Alcohol in particular can interrupt the body's daily cortisol rhythm, while caffeine can activate an already stimulated nervous system to the point of jittery anxiety.
While the caffeine in coffee and supplements like diet pills should be avoided, research suggests that the type of caffeine found in black tea and green tea can actually help you recover from stressful events more quickly and soothe depression. In one study, those who drank four cups of tea daily for 6 weeks reported feeling calmer and had lower levels of cortisol after stressful situations than those who drank a tea-like placebo.
10. Any thoughts you want to share in conclusion on how to lead a more upbeat, uplifted joyful life?
It may seem cliché to "stop and smell the roses" more, but research demonstrates time and again that simple pleasures can decrease our stress considerably. As I write about in my books The Joy Factor: 10 Sacred Practices for Radiant Health, Recipes for Health Bliss, and Walking on Air: Your 30 Day, Inside and Out Rejuvenation Makeover, reveling in life’s simple pleasures at least once a day will not only help keep stress and depression at bay, but will also will enrich your life immeasurably. Indulge in a relaxing hot bath – Japanese researchers found that among high-stress people, hot baths reduced cortisol levels. Go ahead and get away for that long weekend.
One study showed that after a three-day, two-night weekend away, subjects had a decrease in cortisol and overall stress markers and a boost in immune system function. Spend time with your pets, too – "dog therapy" has proven to reduce cortisol levels. Simply petting a dog or a cat lowers the pulse, blood pressure, and breathing rate. Listen to your favorite (preferably relaxing) music. Music, especially after a stressful event, has been shown to increase the relaxation response; decrease heart rate, blood pressure, and cortisol levels; and increase immunity. Finally, don't forget to LAUGH. Research shows that laughter improves mood after high levels of daily stress and even boosts immunity.
Take charge of your body today. Become the CEO and president of your health and life. Like a butterfly, you can climb out of your cocoon of depression and anxiety and transform your life into a great adventure filled with laughter, peace, balance, vitality, and success. And in no time, you will feel like you are walking on air again.
In times of stress, the best thing we can do for each other is to listen with our ears and our hearts and to be assured that our questions are just as important as our answers.
~ Fred Rogers
In times of great stress or adversity, it's always best to keep busy, to plow your anger and your energy into something positive.
~ Lee Iacoocca