The scientific research on how the physiological effects of dietary sugar and refined carbs contribute to depression and greatly influence whether a person can recover successfully over the long term without dependence on medications.
You’ve no doubt seen the television ads warning “this is your brain on drugs”.
These public service announcements are designed to be visually shocking, thereby discouraging drug abuse by comparing the brain to an egg and a fried egg in a pan to a brain on drugs.
The same can be said about the effects of sugar and refined carbs on the brain.
Most people do not realize that a diet high in sugar and refined carbs runs a high risk of long-term mental illness, including depression.
Depression is at epidemic proportions today.
Even children are not immune!
Some experts estimate that 1 in every 8 teenagers is clinically depressed, especially young girls.
What’s more, major depression is on track to become the #2 disability in the United States.
This is roughly one-quarter of the population who will suffer its devastating impact sometime during their lives.
Why Antidepressants Aren’t the Answer
When the sobering diagnosis of depression is given, the typical remedy given by doctors is a script for antidepressant drugs.
According to Nora Gedgaudas, author of Primal Body Primal Mind, antidepressants only have about a 13% effectiveness rate, just slightly better than placebo!
Moreover, for the small minority of people for whom antidepressants actually help, 30-40% of them will not find antidepressant drugs effective over the long term.
The bottom line is…if you are depressed, don’t look to drugs as the long-term solution, especially if you want to maintain balanced hormones.
Antidepressants are well known to significantly dampen or even completely eliminate libido!
Instead of drugs, look to your diet as the best long-term solution whether it be a mild case of the blues or full-blown depression.
Are You A Carbovore?
Diet has a tremendous impact on the development of depression and whether or not the sufferer successfully recovers long term.
For some unknown reason, this basic truth is consistently ignored by most conventional medical authorities other than the possible suggestion of a doctor’s office recommended supplement of industrialized (toxic) fish oil capsules!
Imbalanced, unstable blood sugar is a common source of depression.
It is also a trigger for irritability and violent tendencies, according to Ms. Gedguadas, a board-certified Nutritional Therapist and Clinical Neurofeedback Specialist.
Doubt that blood sugar plays a huge role in brain health?
Consider that Alzheimer’s patients are notorious for having a voracious sweet tooth (particularly ice cream).
Eating sweets on a frequent basis with the accompanying blood sugar surges depletes magnesium in the body at a rapid rate.
This physiological state leaves the brain vulnerable to the ravages of aluminum.
A high aluminum level in the brain is, of course, a hallmark symptom of Alzheimer’s Disease.
An aluminum detox for the brain can often prove very helpful in those cases, in addition to dietary modifications.
Sugar and The Brain
Blood sugar surges destabilize the brain via the deadly process of glycation.
In layman’s terms, glycation is the chemical process in the body whereby glucose, proteins, and certain fats become tangled together, making all manner of body tissues stiff and inflexible – including the brain.
Glycation is a big free radical problem in the body causing rapid aging.
In neurological terms, glycation has the very real potential of actually shrinking brain tissue.
Absolutely nothing is more destabilizing to the brain than surging blood sugar, which triggers widespread glycation in the body.
Case in point: Have you ever noticed how your temper gets really short after that mid-afternoon candy bar?
Similarly, this is why kids get so moody and disruptive when a teacher ironically and misguidedly gives them candy as a reward for good attention.
Ms. Gedgaudas maintains that blood sugar issues are the #1 influencing factor in mental health, with depression being one of the most prominent.
Avoiding the devastating effects of glycation on the brain, which can cause mental illness like depression, anxiety, and other mood disorders, requires stable, steady blood sugar as much as possible.
Healthy Fats Stabilize Insulin
Surging blood sugar levels caused by overconsumption of grain-based foods, processed sugars, and even alcohol in the diet is the most destabilizing force the brain can experience.
In fact, sugar can cause liver cirrhosis just the same as booze.
Conversely, natural dietary fats are the most stabilizing neurological force giving way to clear thinking and stable emotions.
The best dietary fats for blood sugar control are those consumed liberally by Traditional Societies which experienced vibrant health and suffered little to no mental illness or degenerative disease.
These are the very same fats that are typically shunned by most people in favor of factory fats, aka “seed oils”.
These processed fats, such as canola, soy, sunflower, and safflower (among others), are not favorable to brain function.
Avoid them as much as possible!
Here’s the catch.
Traditional fats must be consumed liberally in the diet to achieve mental stability.
Let’s look at this a bit more in depth.
Lowfat Diet = Neurological Instability
Think about the makeup of the brain.
Consider that 60-80% of the brain is fat, a full 50% of which is saturated fat!
11% of the brain is arachidonic acid. This nutrient is best found in egg yolks.
25% of the brain is DHA, an omega-3 fat best found in oily fish or virgin, raw cod liver oil (NOT industrialized fish oil).
Note to vegetarians. Flax oil is a poor substitute as it converts very inefficiently to true DHA.
Worse, those who depend on flax for omega-3 fats risk hormonal disruption or even precancerous breasts down the line.
How much of the brain, under healthy, normal circumstances, is composed of polyunsaturated vegetable fats (seed oils), the primary fat in the Western diet?
How about none!
Brain-Building Fats (consume liberally)
If you want to adopt the wise and time-tested strategy of eating properly for your brain’s sake, then you must eat the type of fats that actually comprise the make-up of the brain.
Doesn’t this seem like common sense?
These brain-building fats include:
- Butter
- Cream
- Store-bought or homemade ghee
- Coconut oil
- High vitamin cod liver oil
- Tallow/Lard
- Egg Yolks
Interestingly, these are the very same fats demonized by politically correct nutrition.
These nourishing, traditional fats are the ones to seek and consume liberally if you wish to put depression behind you for good.
For more details on the healthiest fats to consume and the ones you absolutely can’t do without if you want peak mental fitness, please see this article about five healthy fats to stock in your kitchen.
By slaying the sugar monster, you can save your brain…and possibly even your life!
References
Primal Body Primal Mind by Nora Gedgaudas
Wise Traditions Conference, lecture by Nora Gedgaudas
More Information
Natural Remedies for Panic Attacks
Fix Childhood Anxiety with Simple Dietary Changes
I met a wonderfully, interesting woman recently who is a lawyer and is very adament about her observations concerning her son’s diet. He has autism and celiac. By her own investigation, she has come to an almost completely traditional diet like WAPF and states unequivocally that when her son sticks to his diet, there are hardly ANY problems. When he doesn’t…different child. I told her about this website and she is excited to find some like-minded folks who also have “seen” it for themselves!! Thanks Sarah!
Thanks to Lee Supercharged for sharing this… Some very sobering thoughts about sugar’s link to depression… http://t.co/fiLWeNH9
AMAZING POST! I just read this today: “THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION states that depression is the leading cause of disability, affecting more than 120 million people worldwide.” So, I guess we don’t have to wait until 2020… from: http://chriskresser.com/depression
Oh, my! How shocking!
Day 15 of the sugar detox – refined sugar is linked to depression…. http://t.co/2q2KhPTK
Sarah, what a wonderful post! My husband and I started our family on traditional foods only several years ago, but we kept in a lot of natural sugar: mainly raw honey and real maple syrup–as well as lots and lots of fruit. We got healthier, but over this past spring and summer, I had a really long lasting bout of depression.
Somewhere in there, I decided to cut out the carbs and guess what? Out went the depression. I was literally bouncing with energy, even through difficult times. And even though he hadn’t felt specifically depressed before, my husband also saw dramatic improvement in mental state.
When people question why we eat so weird–weird as in lots of quality saturated fat, pastured meat, and homegrown low-carb veggies, but leaveing off (or seriously restricting) things other people feel are healthy like whole grains, potatos, and fruits–we always talk about the other health benefits, but my husband sums it up best when he says, “AND…” (It’s always a dramatic AND) “It’s almost impossible to be depressed eating this way. You just can’t stay depressed eating low carb.”
I’m always happier when eating butter!
I mean, really, who isn’t? 😀
neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s appear to exhibit membrane loss of fatty acids. “Thus it may be that an optimal diet with a balance of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids may help to delay their onset or reduce the insult to brain functions which these diseases elicit.” A woman I took care of in the nursing home was thought to have alzheimers, and when they did an autopsy, they found that it was her low to no fat diet for DECADES that cause her disease, she barely had any ridges or crevices.
My grandma died of Alzheimer’s 3 months ago and I believe she was a healthy woman til her doctors started telling her she had to lower salt and fat and cholesterol. Prior to this, she used butter, evoo, lard, salt, eggs.
Exactly. The anti-saturated fat campaign remains in full swing while omega-6 industrial seed oils are being virtually ignored. http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/evolutionary-psychiatry/201103/your-brain-omega-3
http://articles.orlandosentinel.com/2003-09-28/news/0309270148_1_overweight-or-obese-women-were-overweight-south-africa
I have Jesus guys, but the truth is if I’m not taking care of the body He gave me by quitting sugar and including good fats….my health will still suffer, including my mental health.
Also an important point! Honner the marvelous gift from G-d that is your body! It is your temple. Trash your temple, your safe haven, what do you have left?
Jennifer, you’re right. Christians get depressed, and it doesn’t mean they don’t have an active faith. Depression is a physical illness sometimes caused by emotional stimulus. I fully believe that faith is of utmost importance but like you said, we’ve been given the gift of our body, we need to take care of it. For some reason, with all of its judging, christianity doesn’t seem to have a problem with people trashing their bodies.
God has given us many weapons in this war against depression. Using them does not make us faithless, it makes us wise.
Diet and exercise are two of the most effective of the many weapons against depression. God designed our bodies and he knows that we need healthy diets and moderate exercise. “Having Jesus” should make us want to operated in compliance with how we were designed.
Ain’t it the truth!