Nutrition and Mood Support

Any restrictive diet can cause depression sometime called diet blues. For people on a low fat diet a quick fix can be a carbohydrate-containing snack – a fruit or a hard candy.

For people on the initial stages of low carbohydrate diets a quick fix is completely different. Turkey and chicken contain a good source of mood-enhancer tryptophan, an amino acid which is a raw material for serotonin - which can be low in people suffering from depression. Poorly eating and sleep habits can negatively influence otherwise normal serotonin levels.

A low-fat diet may be good for your body, but not necessarily for your mind. In a study at Wake Forest University, researchers found that monkeys on a low-fat diet were more hostile than monkeys that were fed foods high in fat. It is though that lower cholesterol decreases levels of serotonin and weakens emotional control.

Low fat diets can make you depressed. Research has linked diets that drastically cut down on all types of fat with an increase in symptoms of depression.

There is plenty of anecdotal evidence that after about one week on a low carbohydrate diet, mood and energy levels go through the roof. Researchers speculate that this can be explained by interplay of brain chemicals after the brain stops running on glucose and switches on ketons for fuel.

The brain is the organ most sensitive to a change in blood glucose level – too little produces fatigue, confusion, irritability and aggression. Decreased glucose sensitivity often develops due to excessive consumption of refined sugar and simple carbohydrates, like in white flour. When the brain adapts to the use of ketones instead glucose, these symptoms disappears.

Study conducted by University of Sheffield, demonstrated that meals rich in fat, significantly reduced pain perception in healthy human subjects.( Physiology & Behavior. 65(4-5):643-8, 1999)