Unfortunately, there’s no specific diet that’s been proven to relieve depression. Still, while certain eating plans or foods may not ease your symptoms or put you instantly in a better mood, a healthy diet may help as part of your overall treatment.
Antioxidants Prevent Cell Damage
Our bodies normally make molecules called free radicals, but these can lead to cell damage, aging, and other problems.
Studies show that your brain is particularly at risk. Although there’s no way to stop free radicals completely, you can be able to lessen their destructive effect by eating foods rich in antioxidants, including:
Beta-carotene: apricots, broccoli, cantaloupe, carrots, collards, peaches, pumpkin, spinach, sweet potato
Vitamin C: blueberries, broccoli, grapefruit, kiwi, oranges, peppers, potatoes, strawberries, tomato
Vitamin E: margarine, nuts and seeds, vegetable oils, wheat germ
“Smart” Carbs Can Have a Calming Effect
Carbohydrates are linked to the mood-boosting brain chemical, serotonin. Experts aren’t sure, but carb cravings sometimes may be related to low serotonin activity.
Choose your carbs wisely. Limit sugary foods and opt for smart or “complex” carbs (such as whole grains) rather than simple carbs (such as cakes and cookies). Fruits, vegetables, and legumes also have healthy carbs and fiber.
A Spanish study found that rates of depression tended to rise in men — especially smokers — as they got less folate. The same thing happened for women — especially those who smoked or didn’t exercise — but when they got less vitamin B12.
This wasn’t the first study to find a link between these vitamins and depression. Researchers aren’t sure which way the influence goes: do poor nutrient levels lead to depression, or does depression lead people to eat poorly?
In either case, you can get both of these B vitamins from foods in a Mediterranean diet. Legumes, nuts, many fruits, and dark green vegetables have folate. Vitamin B12 can be found in all lean and low-fat animal products, such as fish and low-fat dairy products.
Vitamin D receptors are located throughout the body, including your brain.
A recent national study found that the likelihood of having depression is higher in people with low levels of vitamin D. In another study, researchers from the University of Toronto noticed that people who had symptoms of depression, particularly those with seasonal affective disorder, tended to get better when the amount of vitamin D in their bodies went up as you’d expect it to during the spring and summer.
Researchers don’t know how much vitamin D is ideal, although too much can cause problems with calcium levels and how well your kidneys work.
Select Selenium-Rich Foods
Studies have reported a link between low selenium and poor moods. The recommended amount for selenium is 55 micrograms a day for adults.
Evidence isn’t clear that taking supplements can help. And it’s possible to get too much selenium. So it’s probably best to focus on foods:
Beans and legumes
Lean meat (lean pork and beef, skinless chicken and turkey)
Low-fat dairy products
Nuts and seeds (particularly brazil nuts – but do not eat these regularly or more than a couple at a time because they can cause selenium toxicity.
Seafood (oysters, clams, sardines, crab, saltwater fish, and freshwater fish)
Whole grains (whole-grain pasta, brown rice, oatmeal, etc.)
lthough clearly not identical emotional states, mental health research suggests that depression and anxiety often coexist because they can be caused by the same or similar factors. According to an article published May 2020 in the American Journal of Psychiatry, those overlapping causes can include:
Genetic Factors Genetic factors contribute to 40 percent of the predisposition to depressive and anxious symptoms, with 60 percent being attributed to environmental, noninherited factors.” “Especially with anxiety, more so than depression, there often is some family history, and so therefore we think that there may be some genetic predisposition to this,” Connolly explains.
Environmental Factors Also referred to as social factors, these include experiences like trauma or neglect in early childhood, and current stressorssuch as relationship difficulties, unemployment, social isolation, and physical illness. People who have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), an anxiety disorder, are particularly likely to also develop depression, according to the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH).
Pain Chronic pain, and particularly disabling pain syndromes such as fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), low back pain, headaches, and nerve pain, are closely linked to psychological distress, including both anxiety and depression, notes Harvard Health. In fact, they say, research suggests that “pain shares some biological mechanisms with anxiety and depression.”
Ultimately, the core of the double disorder is “a cycle,” says Connolly. “When you get anxious, you tend to have this pervasive thinking about some worry or some problem and you feel bad about it. Then you feel like you’ve failed, and you move to depression.” Similarly, she adds, “people who are depressed often feel anxious and worried, so one can trigger the other.”
