Vegetarian diet affects depression?

[Albalida]

So, I was diagnosed with depression and prescribed sertraline. Was warned about tremors, headaches, and soft stool as a side effect. Got past those, mental clarity returned, and dramatically increased emotional bounceback-ability thanks to seratonin neurotransmitter functions being corrected.

One side effect that I found bizarre, though, was that my sense of taste was beginning to be affected. I couldn't taste meat without spitting it out. Even milk gave me an upset stomach. To give an example how strange this is for me, my family lived in Indonesia for five years, which had some de facto dietary restrictions like it being very difficult to find a restaurant that served pork in predominantly Muslim Jakarta. My family learned to live without it, and even got dizzy and felt sick if they ate pork after so long. I still craved it and dug in with gusto at every pigmeat opportunity. I was raised by my sister's Seventeen magazines that had all these Dairy Queen and Got Milk? advertisements, that talked about growing taller with milk and preventing osteoperosis and how it's a complete food if you drink four glasses of it a day.

Now, though-- chicken, salami, corned beef, even liver (and I loved liver) just tastes bad. The cheese on pizzas still taste good, but they give me the most severe heartburn I've ever felt that makes it just not worth it. And plain water tastes metallic to me when nobody else tastes metal, so I just switched to juices. So, I thought, fine, I'll go vegetarian, was always curious what that would be like.

With just sertraline, I felt much more stable-- with sertraline and a vegetarian diet, I began to feel... ecstatic, blissful, and joyful for no discernable reason. And I kept skipping happily along, radiating love and light, prancing, frolicking up until the moment that I passed out in the middle of the street from what my physician later diagnosed as a Vitamin B (and some kind of fat or acid) deficiency. After that, I brought back fish into my diet along with supplements, but kept off the dairy and egg and land meats.

Sorry this is so long, but I present the point, now: later, my sister told me that she heard from the best friend of her ex-boyfriend that he (ex-boyfriend's best friend) had been nagging ex-boyfriend to eat more veggies (sister's ex-boyfriend was previously a carnivore-- he didn't even like most carbohydrates. Just meat, meat, and more meat).

Not for the fiber, or even the vitamins. But... because he'd picked up from somewhere that something in vegetables helps with depression. I've been googling like mad and can't find anything about this link, and I can't ask the source due to me wanting to stay out of some cold war between the boys and girls that sprung up shortly after this interesting tidbit was passed on.

So. Anyone else here heard abut it? Is it about adding vegetables to the diet, or lessening meat?

[ginkgo]

Never heard of that. That is a joke. It is humor therapy. Go to this webpage and see how what some would call a fad diet, heals people of depression. Depression Self Help. Natural Healing of Mental and Physical Issues Then see how a psychiatrist teaches people a similar diet to help cure depression, in his book. Also read about the connection of meat and depression from experts in the field.

Also read what a raw diet psychiatrist says about diet and depression. Also read what the psychiatrist that works at the Moscow Psychiatric Hospital has to say about depression and diet. Also this 'joker' has fasted and cured 10,000 people of depression. He got Alan Cott, MD into fasting. Dr Cott (he is also a psychiatrist and a vegetarian) wrote 2 best-selling books on fasting-- one is called Fasting: The Ultimate Diet. This is outrageous stuff! You have struck the mother load on what you are looking for. The raw diet psychiatrist mentioned above has also wrote books on diet. One is called Conscious Eating.

[Dimond]

Yes, milk and dairy can negatively affect you mentally. There's nothing healthy about either so if you can eliminate them, it would be best. As you and your family/friends have seen, it can cause all kinds of health issues, so why would you even want to eat them. And those are just the obvious effects. There are many other things they're doing to your body. Adding more fruits and vegetables is good, but it's also about what you cut out of your diet that's important.

[Albalida]

Thanks both for the perspectives.

[Aleksander Krstic]

Originally Posted by Albalida

Not for the fiber, or even the vitamins. But... because he'd picked up from somewhere that something in vegetables helps with depression. I've been googling like mad and can't find anything about this link, and I can't ask the source due to me wanting to stay out of some cold war between the boys and girls that sprung up shortly after this interesting tidbit was passed on.

So. Anyone else here heard abut it? Is it about adding vegetables to the diet, or lessening meat?

Congratulations on your great breaktrough!

It's definitely lessening meat(if that's grammatically correct...), adding vegetables is good, but not essential compared to removing meat from the diet.

From your post I thought you were interested in learning more about this, so here are a few links about it:
Why Vegan?
Returning to Raw Foods
Raw Food Diet

In general you should search thru Steve's blog to find more info about it.

[Nathalie]

I've definitely felt a more positive outlook on life after introducing more raw vegan foods into my diet. I think these foods are just lighter, they don't weigh you down as much. Think of as a way of getting the nutrition you need without the added emotional stuff from eating animal flesh or the milk of another mammal.

Plus, you're more likely to be eating a greater variety of vegetables and fruits when you reduce your meat/dairy intake. And that can't be a bad thing.

[Albalida]

Ohh, I dunno... raw seems too extreme for my bodily needs still (see above, how I had to bring Fish back into the fold after fainting in the middle of the street?) besides, I like cooking because I like fire. (^_~) But thanks! I'll read up on it.

[rawxstasy]

I lived in Indonesia too - 12 years!!

I totally agree that raw can help with depression. I have been trying to go raw for a year now. I've decided to work my way into it slowly. Right now I have removed dairy from my diet and I am feeling better. Next to go will be wheat. Eventually I'll get there.

Sertraline has some weird side effects. When I first started, I had strange electrical sensations going through my body. Once I stopped the med, it took 3 -4 months for those electrical sensations to go away.

[aelle]

Apart from the purely nutritional effects of a veg*n diet, it helped me tremendously to put some sense into my life and take actions that aligned with my ethics... and giving up animal products is part of it.

[MmeIntentional]

Originally Posted by Albalida

So. Anyone else here heard abut it? Is it about adding vegetables to the diet, or lessening meat?

Yes someone that I used to work with years ago had depression and she changed her diet to a raw foods diet and she came out of her depression. She also went to the gym and done some other forms of exercise which played a huge part in her coming out of depression.

For me what got me out of my major depression was doing exercise (jogging) 3 times a week! I decided to come of my anti depressants in April and I feel a lot better after having those brain zapps etc. Anyway I'm not telling you to come of your meds because I am not a Dr. All I am saying is that you may want to do some sports activities to help with your depression.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4610998.stm

[CroMagna]

Vegetarian and vegan diets have many health benefits. Veganism can cure menstrual cramps by eliminating them, and can even eliminate blood flow.

These diets are obviously also conducive to weight loss.

They can also keep you from aging too quickly.

They can help with other sickness from the common cold to cancer.

Meat is really not healthy. It helped the species Homo Robustus develop brains that wiped out a vegetarian offshoot and gave birth to Homo Sapiens. But now are brains are already fully developed (and that was also raw meat). Like that website recommended in the first post says, there's no such thing as a person who doesn't like meat but eats it because it's healthy. But there are plenty of people who don't like vegetables but eat them because they're healthy (ask any kid). So that's one way to know if something is healthy. Fruits are healthier than vegetables.

The way one guy healed his severe depression was sunshine (notice you're happier in the sun), walking, exercise, yoga, 85% raw vegan, 15% cooked vegan as a reward for eating raw all day. Then he no longer needed his meds.

I started my vegan diet and taking herbal supplements and so far so good.

[ginkgo]

Originally Posted by CroMagna

Vegetarian and vegan diets have many health benefits. Veganism can cure menstrual cramps by eliminating them, and can even eliminate blood flow.

Since the above is hard to believe, here is a link to a site explaining it:Diet and Menstruation

[funchy]

Originally Posted by Albalida

So, I was diagnosed with depression and prescribed sertraline.
One side effect that I found bizarre, though, was that my sense of taste was beginning to be affected. I couldn't taste meat without spitting it out. Even milk gave me an upset stomach.

I'm a big advocate for a low-to-no animal product diet. However, that being said, I am not aware of any known connection between taking the very common antidepressant Zoloft (sertraline) and the rejection of meat. I'd be interested to hear, if you do find others having the same experience.

I was raised by my sister's Seventeen magazines that had all these Dairy Queen and Got Milk? advertisements, that talked about growing taller with milk and preventing osteoperosis and how it's a complete food if you drink four glasses of it a day.

LOL what a load of manure. I've seen the ads, too. They're put there by the dairy industry to increase sales of dairy. Yet some feel excessive dairy intake is correlated with higher osteoporosis rates
Strong Bones / a Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine (PCRM) Site

I passed out in the middle of the street from what my physician later diagnosed as a Vitamin B (and some kind of fat or acid) deficiency. After that, I brought back fish into my diet along with supplements, but kept off the dairy and egg and land meats.

Do you know if it's a lack of b12 in the diet or if it's your body not absorbing/metabolizing it properly? Do you recall if he used the phrase "pernicious anemia"? B12 and fatty acids can both be obtained without fish.
Also, simply adding fish isn't guaranteed to meet your b vitamin needs.

You may find this page helpful:
PCRM >> Questions About Vegetarian Diets >> What are Essential Fatty Acids?

Not for the fiber, or even the vitamins. But... because he'd picked up from somewhere that something in vegetables helps with depression. I've been googling like mad and can't find anything about this link, and I can't ask the source due to me wanting to stay out of some cold war between the boys and girls that sprung up shortly after this interesting tidbit was passed on.

Depends on what kind of depression. Are we talking feeling depressed from having a generally poor diet? Or clinical chemical depression from a brain chemistry imbalance? For example, people lacking in serotonin may feel better with a high carb meal (such as a huge pasta serving). Or is it more of a cognitive depression, simply a symptom of a bigger issue?

Anyone else here heard abut it? Is it about adding vegetables to the diet, or lessening meat?

It could be one of many aspects of the high meat diet that are making more sensitive people feel lethargic, depressed, or just plain not-so-good. For example, a vast majority of adults are lactose intolerant, and it's draining to keep forcing the body to deal with something we no longer produce enzymes for. Some people are sensitive to chemical contaminants, and meat tends to concentrate environmental contaminants to much higher levels (plus all the added contamination from farmers use of drugs, bgh/steroids, etc). Meat is a higher fat protein source, and the excess fat can make some people feel sluggish or blah.

Overall, I think the bigger picture is that anything that is shifting the person towards good physical health can only do good things for their mental well being.

[jamesbiz]

Originally Posted by Dimond

Yes, milk and dairy can negatively affect you mentally. There's nothing healthy about either so if you can eliminate them, it would be best. As you and your family/friends have seen, it can cause all kinds of health issues, so why would you even want to eat them. And those are just the obvious effects. There are many other things they're doing to your body. Adding more fruits and vegetables is good, but it's also about what you cut out of your diet that's important.

How is there nothing healthy about milk and dairy? Milk and dairy has never effected me negatively mental or otherwise. Stop throwing out blanket statements like that. I hate this freaken green movement craze trying to tell people that it's good for EVERYONE. Well it's not. My taste buds are too sensitive for raw veggies. 25% of the planet are considered super tasters. I gag if I bite down on a piece of lettuce. I've been like that since I was a little kid. Enough with this " you are either unethical and cruel to animals or completely unhealthy". I'm getting sick of it. It all depends on the person. Some people can live with only eating meat and be healthier then you. Some people can eat only veggies and also be healthy. There is no norm for anyone. It's all genetics and how the family line of genes has evolved over time.

You wanna argue about mass produced milk and dairy and meat, fine, but that's not the milk, dairy, or meats fault. There is a reason that babies who ween on their mothers are healthy then babies who didn't.


Oh yeah and lets not forget. Us meat eaters are now the cause of global warming

[IntheHotSpot]

I have to agree with MmeIntentional. Exercise is the best cure from depression and will boost your serotonin levels in ways that diet cannot. Failing that there are always the prescribed drugs but for anyone with mild to medium depression I'd recommend daily walking as the first thing to try. Walking is a great way to start an exercise program and get you out and about.

Good luck kicking the blues!

[QUOTE=MmeIntentional;380719]Yes someone that I used to work with years ago had depression and she changed her diet to a raw foods diet and she came out of her depression. She also went to the gym and done some other forms of exercise which played a huge part in her coming out of depression.

For me what got me out of my major depression was doing exercise (jogging) 3 times a week! I decided to come of my anti depressants in April and I feel a lot better after having those brain zapps etc. Anyway I'm not telling you to come of your meds because I am not a Dr. All I am saying is that you may want to do some sports activities to help with your depression.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/4610998