My diet is like my depression, pretty bad so I used to be a vegan but now I'm a fast food eater so do you think eating only raw foods would help depression?

i think that you to need to idendify with whats depressing you ... food is for nutrition ..and even tho it can play a huge role in your emotional state you need to identify and deal with issues that are depressing you ...

what are your thoughts on that?

do i think it may help .. yes maybe no ..it depends on you really .. and what you do to deal with whatever it is thats depressing .. you!

and more importantly would it hurt you to try an see where it takes you?



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 11/01/2008 07:06AM by Jgunn.

there is this thing
that a lot of people seem to be all hyped about
wheel of life

that has different areas of your life
like

1. work
2. finance
3. relationships
4. love ( same as relationships i guess maybe different)
5. family
6. community

something like that.. didn't memorize the plastic wheel chart

but anyhow.. it is said that if even ONE area of the wheel is not functioning the way you would like it to

it could make your ride kind of "bumpy"

and if its TOO bumpy

it leads to depression

if you are unable to change your attitude about it
or take steps to improve it while keeping up your faith and enthusiasm

and food is a good BASIC underlying foundation

but i have to tell you straight up

that food will not solve your

work, financial, relationship, family, community problems


it will just help you to be in the most optimal position to

roll up ones sleeves and actually do something about it

that's all

i laugh at the idea that food is going to solve depression

like jaygunn says

find out the CAUSE of it

food is just fuel

that's all

if there is a broken part in the car

like if the engine or transmission in a car is broken

you can put all the greatest premium fuel in the gas tank

but its NOT GONNA RUN!!!

putting the best fuel in the car
will help all the other parts

GO

but you have to pay attention to ALL the parts

i don't care what ANYONE says

there is ALWAYS

a REASON

to feeling depressed

every time i am honest with myself

i know why i feel a certain way

sometimes there are more than one reasons

raw vegan diet is a piece of cake compared to
attending to all the PARTS in ones life

seriously

giving car good fuel

is a lot easier than tending to each and every PART

of the car

but that is what life teaches one to do

to always and constantly tend to each and every area of ones life

bummer

so hard

or

geeez

so exciting

golden--

Hi! Here's a suggestion that may help you: can you discern whether your depression is caused mainly by general current conditions in your life (like LaV said--

A) things related to....
1. work
2. finance
3. relationships
4. love ( same as relationships i guess maybe different)
5. family
6. community....

or

trauma from the past (abuse, extreme suffering or very traumatic events)?

The reason I ask is that these are two very different kinds of depression. The first is very amenable to things like meditation, changing one's habits, eating a better diet (especially raw food), getting more sleep, keeping good company, and all the rest.

If you feel that your depression is caused by some sort of trauma, you might want to look into something like redirecting self-therapy (it's free-- you can find out about it online) to help you not just deal with the emotional pain, but clear its effects from your biological system.

Sharrhan:


[www.facebook.com]

My personal point of view is different that most:

If you feel sad because of a "chemical imbalance" in your brain, you can either try to artificially re-balance those chemicals by swallowing pills, or you can quit eating the substances that cause the imbalance in the first place and instead provide your brain with excellent nutrition.

If your life is complicated and hard, you can either try to "deal with it" by making it more and more complicated, fighting fire with fire, or you can simplify your life, for example by eating simpler foods, getting or staying out of debt, etc.

To answer your question directly, from my own experience: If I eat no refined sugar, high fructose corn syrup, or cereal products for a few weeks, my mood improves. If I swallow vitamin B supplements for about a week, I feel much more optimistic about my life. If I eat nothing but fruit and seeds for a few months, with heavy emphasis on oranges and bananas, I start getting an overwhelming feeling of joy in my stomach area about once a day.

When I was in school one of the students named Shirley was frequently depressed and one day Shirley told the teacher she was depressed and wanted to talk about it. The teacher was a good man and was a people helper and he said "If you want to be happy then be happy". It sounds kinda simplistic but it says a lot.

I agree with LaV, Kwan....and the other great posts. You have obviously identified eating healthy as a way to show love and respect to yourself. That is a GREAT first step! Try it out for a weekend....or a week...and SEE how you feel! Try eating just fruit or fresh orange juice in the morning and evening for a week. See how YOU feel! Heh...heh.

-So: the answer to your question is yes. I'm sure that eating well will help ameliorate your depression - while identifying, allowing, and showing kindness to the underlying causes/people will be most beneficial. Don't you think?

-David Z. Mason

WWW.RawFoodFarm.com

Quote

so do you think eating only raw foods would help depression?

No, probably not. It would further isolate you from others. And a healthy social life is one of the keys to happiness.

Veronique said it well.

I think raw foods will help the depression,provided that your SAD way of eating now is what is causing it.Otherwise,take a look at all the other areas of life like the others has suggested here.

Brian

Ways going raw could help:
-give you more energy to deal with emotional stuff
-you wouldn't feel guilty about what you are eating (i'm not saying you should, but most people do think along these lines)
-you would have a goal and a sense of accomplishment, which help with depression
-most cooked/high fat foods are depressing in the literal sense... they slow your body down and make many people feel sluggish.


ways going raw might not help:
-many people say the go through an emotional detox as well as a physical one
-cook foods help to numb out some feelings that are hard to deal with.... so you might be feeling those feelings more (i hear wheat contains opioids!)

maybe it had nothing to do with going raw, and just what personal circumstances i found myself in, but when i first went raw, i found myself much more emotional (both happy and sad), but i also felt much more equipped to deal with things. it was a tremendously challenging year, but i gained so much.

anyway, just my 2 cents. good luck!

it is very difficult to be depressed while eating fresh and raw.

second suggestion is byron katie.

byron katie's books are pretty good
i agree

i mean on the surface the stuff she says is pretty simple
but to actually WORK it ( more than intellectually)

is a lot of WORK

i guess that is why its called " THE WORK"

anyhow...
another suggestion i have is

falling in love



maybe that is just another drug

i don't care

its still the greatest thing on planet earth

to be in love

and if you aren't in love with someone else

well..

hmmm.. ( now this may be a lot harder)

maybe u can try and ffall in l ovee with yourself ( that is what byron katie says)

i personally find it easier to fall in love with someone else

maybe one day i will graduate and know how to fall in love with myself

sounds corny

but i thinnk it would definetely be a step up

but right now

i feel pretty happy

despite the unbelievable and incessant ( and exciting) challenges that life has
for me

for anyone

i suppose