Beating Depression

The link between gut health and brain health is indisputable. We're going to rebalance both.

Eliminate highly processed foods ... bread, flour, biscuits, pizza, take away foods, sugar, sweets and alcohol.

Eliminate red and processed meats ... beef, lamb, pork and sausages etc ... until you're back to normal and even then, eat only occasionally.

Eat:

1.   whole foods and natural fats

2.   lots of salad greens and fresh vegetables - 70-80% of your meal 

3.   fermented foods - Greek yoghurt, kimchi, sauerkraut etc

4.   eggs for breakfast

5.   introduce chicken, turkey, salmon, tuna and ocean fish into your lunchtime salad

6.   nuts, beans, pulses and home-made hommus (no canola oil)

7.   olive oil, avocado oil and butter.  No rice-bran, canola, peanut or vegetable oils. 

No coffee or tea after 9am.

Establish a routine ... every morning and evening.

Sunrise

1.   go for a 20-30 min walk

2.   build up to a brisk walk and then a jog or a bike ride

3.   lift some weights to raise your testosterone levels

Noon

4.   hit a tennis ball rhythmically against a wall outside in bright daylight for 15-20mins

Sunset

5.   go for an easy 20-30min walk

6.   eat a light dinner of rolled-oats 

7.   go to bed at a regular time and read a good book - ideally, fiction

8.   set your morning alarm for the same time every day.
   
   

Reset your body clock  ...

1.   head outside at sunrise in bare feet and soak up some morning light

2.   go to bed at a regular time

3.   leave your phone outside the bedroom and read a good book - ideally, fiction

4.   invest in good quality sleep and reduce ghrelin production

5.   create a dark, quiet bedroom - cover the windows

6.   sleep cool, not hot, and change the air if you wake during the night

7.   set your alarm for the same time every morning

Mental fitness takes a little bit of extra effort during depressive episodes.  It's not easy and our mood can keep dragging us down.  The steps presented here are geared to breaking emotional thinking patterns in your limbic system and stepping you back into your logical, pre-frontal cortex.  It takes time and practice to break bad thinking habits ... but it can be done with tools like Mel Robbin's 5 second rule.

5 Second Rule

When faced with a conundrum ... or a blockage ... or even a fit of rage or despair:

1.   stop

2.   inhale once and top-up even more with a second inhale

3.   breath out slowly through your nose counting backwards from 5

4.   then ask "what is the very best outcome here?"

and you will move back into your pre-frontal cortex and come up with a constructive course of action.

Clean out the circular thinking ...

1.   buy an A5 or A4 notebook and start writing

2.   get all that circular thinking out of your head and onto the page

3.   when the circular thinking returns, remind yourself that the thinking is done; it's finished. I don't have to think about that stuff any more.

Learn to manage stress through breathing

4.   Box breathing through your nose
     -  count in for five, hold for five, exhale for five ... or ...

5.   Double-breath breathing through your nose
     -  breath in once, breath in twice, hold for 3 and exhale slowly

Start a plan 

6.   write a plan to address the stress and run it past a good friend

7.   write a plan for the future and pray it through

Don't watching ANY screens after 6pm

8.   computers, phones and TVs

9.   stop watching pornography at any time

Read

10.   a good novel in bed with an incandescent light globe

11.   Norman Vincent Peale's - The Power of Positive Thinking
      - one chapter per day and take notes
    
    

God can seem miles away when we're going through depressive episodes.  Trust me, He's not.  That feeling of isolation and aloneness is a lie. 

Spiritual fitness has multiple levels.

At a superficial level you can adopt the spiritual practices of the new-age ... meditation, affirmation, manifestation and visualisation.  Meditation is useful if we want to explore and compartmentalise the sources of stress in our lives.

Unfortunately, inner-focused meditation has no objective truth and is subject to exogenous spiritual influences.  Paul makes it clear in Ephesians 6:12, that we could be messing with princes, powers, principalities and demons that openly lie and seek to lead us away from a relationship with God.  It's quite common for those demons to tie us up in obsessive, circular thinking. 

At a deeper level you can step outside your own self-proclaimed deity (strongly recommended) and claim the promises that the God The Father (El Elyon) offers in the Bible.  You can hold Him to His word (in a monotheistic relationship) and He will deliver.  I promise.

At the deepest level you can walk daily in the Holy Spirit.  God gives His Spirit to indwell us and guide us into a healthy relationship with Him and the people he gives us to serve.

Walking in the Spirit will involve:

1.  being open to the Word of God

2.  being open to the Spirit's correction

3.  being open to the Spirit's indwelling

4.  being open to the Spirit's healing

5.  walking daily in prayer

To embark on a level 3 relationship, I'd book some time with the healing rooms at Tolga Community Church and start to clean out your psychological and spiritual demons.  There could be both.

I'd start by using the A5 notebook from the "Mental fitness" section above and write on a clean page: "Father, please guide me into a deeper walk with you" and see what the Spirit touches in your life.

It is very important to understand that you and you alone are responsible for your relationship with God.   No-one else is to blame for you not walking in God's healing love.

Our hormones and neurotransmitters are thrown out by diet, stress, trauma, computer screens, alcohol and subcutaneous body fat.

Briefly ...

1.   invest in good quality sleep and reduce ghrelin production

2.   reduce cortisol through vitamin C, exercise AND learning to breath

3.   diet and/or fast to reduce your belly fat

4.   rebuild your testosterone levels with AM weights

5.   reset your serotonin and dopamine levels with fasting

6.   introduce food high in tryptophan to increase serotonin production.
     - eggs, salmon, cheese, pineapple, tofu, nuts and seeds, and turkey.

7.   snack on tasty cheese occasionally; it contains casein, a casomorphin, that triggers dopamine production.

and slowly rebuild your serotonin and dopamine baseline with all of the above.

Going Deeper ... 

Conditions like advancing age, exposure to constant stress, unresolved grief and certain environmental factors can inhibit production of these essential hormones and neurotransmitters.

Low dopamine levels can cause depression, loss of motor control, loss of satisfaction, addictions, cravings, compulsions, low sex drive, distracted attention and poor focus.

The primary foods for triggering the neurotransmitters are proteins like tyrosine. Increased consumption of fish, eggs, chicken, turkey and reduce red meat will help increase tyrosine levels. Dairy products, like cheese and cottage cheese are also high in protein and help raise dopamine levels

Food sources rich in dopamine-increasing tyrosine include almonds, avocados, bananas, dairy products, lima beans, pumpkin seeds, and sesame seeds.

As well as ...

• Apples

• Almonds, Walnuts

• Beets

• Blue-green algae

• Capsicum

• Celery

• Cheese (low fat)

• Chicken

• Cottage cheese, 

• Cucumber

• Fish

• Ginseng

• Green leafy vegetables

• Honey

• Tofu

• Watermelon

• Yoghurt - Greek, unsweetened

Foods such as sugar, saturated fats, cholesterol, and refined foods interfere with proper brain function and can cause low dopamine. Consumption of saturated fats and cholesterol should also be reduced because they can clog the arteries to the brain, heart, and other organs.

Alcohol, caffeine, and sugar all decrease dopamine activity in the brain.

Aspartame (found in Diet Coke and Pepsi Max etc) also depletes dopamine production.
  

There are lots of opinions out there on nutritional supplements, vitamins and trace elements. Please note, in the long term, NOTHING beats a diversified diet rich in vegetables, salads, fruits and quality protein like eggs, fish, chicken and turkey - assuming they're organic/chemical free. 

In the short term, the most important thing to focus on is your gut flora ... your microbiome ... followed by good food, good exercise and good sleep.

Take a multi-flora probiotic and eat lots of plain Greek yoghurt, kimchi and sauerkraut.

If you're tempted to take magnesium, be aware there are lots of magnesium compounds.  Some compounds will speed you up, others will slow you down.

1.  Mornings - Magnesium aspartate dihydrate taken in the morning will improve cognition and metabolism. eg.  Caruso's Super Magnesium
   
   

2.  Evenings - Magnesium glycinate dihydrate taken at night will produce a deeper sleep.
   eg. Ethical Nutrients - Mega Magnesium Night
   
   

Omega 3s, from fish oil capsules, are good;  eating fresh salmon is better - assuming it's from a clean source.

If you feel like you need Vitamin D ... then go outside for 15 minutes and get some sunlight while hitting a ball against the wall.

IF you need an energy boost ... take half a Coles B+C effervescent multi-vitamin.

That's it ... nothing else ... unless you're under medical orders.

Fasting resets all your hormones and neurotransmitters

  2 x 36 hour fasts  or 
1 x 72 hour fast every week,
will reset your serotonin, dopamine and testosterone.

Earthing/grounding declutters your blood cells.

Step outside every day in bare feet and walk on soil or sand for five minutes.

Box breathing reduces anxiety and cortisol

In for five, hold for five, out for five, rest for five
-  nice and slow
-  through the nose
will reduce anxiety attacks and cortisol production.

A PM serotonin fix from complex carbs will improve your sleep and tomorrows mood: 

•  eat some 100% natural ice cream eg. Bulla, or even better, Mungalli Creek biodynamic ice cream before going to bed.

•  eat some rolled oats for dinner

•  eat dark chocolate

(pick one)

Take quality time out every week ...

•   go for a long walk in a green forest

•   sit beside a babbling stream

•   repeat positive bible verses

•   listen to classical music

Expand your horizons  ...

•   find a cause that 's bigger than you, and commit

•   take up a creative hobby like gardening, piano, guitar or even golf

•   grow your own chemical-free fruit and vegetables
   

Connect with good people - family and friends ...

•   maintain your family connections

•   invest in a men's action group
    

And remember to ...

•   journal your inner thoughts/doubts/fears

•   hand your concerns to God in prayer

•   periodically review your journal and thank God for His answers.

If you are feeling genuinely suicidal, then it's time to reach out to family, friends, LifeBlood, Life-Line or Beyond Blue.  Don't be embarrassed. You are not alone.
 

Objective ...

Re-balance brain chemistry

 - increase serotonin naturally 

 - increase dopamine naturally

Develop better, longer, deep sleep to clean the brain

Starve bad gut flora ...

No sugar 

No alcohol

No flour - bread, toast, cakes, pizza, pies etc
No breakfast cereals - they're rubbish - vitamins and minerals are sprayed on after baking.

Reduce gluten

Avoid antibiotics

Grow good gut flora ...

Eat Greek yoghurt

Eat fermented foods - kimchi, sauerkraut, kombucha, kefir

Include prebiotic foods - onion, garlic, bananas, artichokes

Reduce, even eliminate, red meat

Eat good food ...

Start your day with eggs - any eggs - barn laid or free range

Fresh whole foods - vegetables, salads, legumes, beans, lentils

Alliums - garlic, onions, leaks, spring onions

Nuts - almonds, walnuts, cashews, pumpkin seeds, pistachios

Polyphenols - dark chocolate, rooibos tea, red grapes, dark plums

Dairy - cheese, cottage cheese, yoghurt

Fish - salmon, tuna, ocean fish

Organic chicken, turkey (tryptophan for sleep)

Carbs - whole potatoes, sweet potatoes.

Fruit in the afternoon - stone fruit, apples, watermelon, blueberries,

Build physical fitness ...

Use sunrise and sunset to improve mood and sleep regulators

 - go for a walk early morning AND late afternoon 

Build up to longer rhythmic exercise like swimming, cycling, jogging

Eliminate subcutaneous (toxic belly) fat.

Increase testosterone production with weights
-  3x5 sets of reps using heavy weights to about 90% fail-level

Build mental fitness ...

Stop procrastinating.

Do the most important things each day first.

Read the Power of Positive Thinking

Repeat positive bible verses or affirmations

Overcome every excuse in your mind and connect with one or two people

Stop watching porn ...

Just stop

It's a trap

Don't go there 

Use the time to get out and exercise or garden or do weights

AND in time, invest in healthy, real, relationships.

Reduce cortisol ...

Morning (AM) vitamin C

Morning (AM) aerobic exercise

Lots of hugs

Develop good sleep ... 

10-15 mins in bright sunlight each morning - no sun glasses

Leave your phone outside the bedroom.

No screens (TV, PC or phone) after 6pm 

No caffeine after 10am including tea, coffee, coke, red-bull etc

Read a good book with a steady warm incandescent light (no white CFLs or LEDs)