Lifestyle Principles for Treating Depression

Those who suffer from depression, and even those who are not depressed can decrease their risk of ever contracting depression as well as improve their own mood and outlook on life by following these principles.

Avoid Negative Thinking

This particular lifestyle measure cannot be over-emphasized. I have had many patients, including Amada, point to this particular lifestyle measure as perhaps the most important in leading them to success in depression-free living without the use of medications.

Researchers at Ohio State University in Columbus studies 224 middle-aged and older adults who were already dealing with significant stress in their lives. At one-year intervals for three years, participants reported their degree of optimism and pessimism, negative life events, depression, stress, anxiety, and other issues. The researchers found that optimism and pessimism, previously thought to be linked, are actually independent factors that individually influence stressed and non-stressed people. One factor is more influential than the other. Specifically, pessimism predicted anxiety, perceived stress, and self-rated lack of physical health for the next year. An optimistic attitude did not predict anything.ⁱ
This requires a retraining of the thought process. I have found that many depressed individuals have a tendency to look at the down side of life. We are all well aware that there always will be things in this imperfect world to complain about. We are helpless to personally do anything about many of these negative things or events.
In contrast, focusing the mind on enjoying the wonderful blessings of life is not only uplifting but also therapeutic. As soon as conscious awareness of unconstructive negative thought is realized, a positive thought should immediately replace it. This means that the person should plan ahead as to what positive thought to contemplate so that no delay in thought-shifting occurs. The human brain is both flexible and trainable and as positive thoughts become habitual, depression will likely become a thing of the past.
One religious author stated, “It is a positive duty to resist melancholy, discontented thoughts and feelings- as much a duty as it is to pray.”ⁱⁱ If negative-thinking people visited the setting portrayed in Figure 10 and saw the low clouds and dead leaves, they would complain that they did not choose another day to be there. Others would revel in seeing the grand mountains, the valley clothed with living green, and the beautiful flowers.
Incidentally, this may be one of the reasons that country music (now the most listened-to music in the U.S.) does not come out on top in uplifting the mood. Melancholic guitars accompanying voices and lyrics combine to complain about a wrecked pick-up, lost dog, or missed ex-spouse. Even though the rhythm may be classified as upbeat, the effect does not truly uplift the thoughts.

Make time for massage Therapy

Massage must be included in any list of depression treatments that can favourably influence the frontal lobe. The reason for this is that massage can balance frontal lobe function.

Recently, Jones and Field, of Florida Atlantic University, demonstrated that massage could help balance the greater relative right frontal lobe activation that characterizes depression.ⁱⁱⁱ These same researchers show similar effects for music therapy.
The mental health benefits of massage therapy are not limited to depression per se. Massage has been demonstrated to decrease other symptoms that often accompany depression, such as anxiety. University of Miami researchers, Field and colleagues found that 15-minute massages twice weekly for five weeks not only decreased anxiety levels, but also dropped levels of cortisol, the detrimental stress hormone.^iv Field’s group documented other brain performance benefits from this brief massage treatment, including enhanced alertness and increased speed and accuracy for math computations.

Daily Spiritual Exercises

An inner religious experience has been found to be effective in recovery from depression, according to several studies.
For just under a year, researchers from Duke University in North Carolina used diagnostic interviews to track the emotional well-being of 94 individuals, each of whom was more than 60 years of age. They all had been diagnosed as suffering from depression upon discharge from a hospital.^v
Some of their tests and questions focused on the study participant’s level of inner religiosity. To ascertain this level of inner faith, researchers used a ten-question evaluation test that had been developed with the help of a Christian ministers and Jewish rabbis. They also established the level of each participant’s external religious practice—activated such as service attendance and involvement in church-related clubs and activities. During the course of the study 54 percent of the participants recovered from their depression.

Religion helped in that recovery. “Depressed patients with higher intrinsic (inner) religiosity scores had more rapid remissions than patients with lower scores,” according to the study. In fact, patients recovered from depression 70 percent sooner with every ten-point increase in the religiosity evaluation test score. But the researchers found that external religious activity had much less of an impact.
The Duke team urges psychiatrists to initiate inquiries into a patient’s religious faith, especially when patients are depressed, since “these beliefs may bring comfort and facilitate coping.”
Other studies have found that strong religious faith is not only helpful in treating depression, but also in preventing it.^vi,vii,viii
Many studies have suggested that going through the forms of religion without firm belief does little, if any, good to overall metal health.^ix Thus, I do not emphasize a casual reading of the Bible, but a serious study that contemplates the themes of scripture. Reading and meditating on a chapter of the book of Proverbs each day (with the chapter number corresponding to the day of the month—there are 31 chapters) has been helpful for many of my depressed patients. Memorizing and reciting a text a week that summarizes or succinctly states a beautiful Scriptural idea is also very helpful. One new program that has met with wonderful worldwide success in accomplishing these objectives is called FAST.

Receiving Social Support

In animals and in humans, isolation leads to depression and withdrawal, while social support and a sense of belonging leads to improved mood and improved mental and physical health.^x The importance of strong social support should not be underestimated.
One study showed that good support of families and friends can be lifesaving. After suffering a heart attack, 887 patients were followed for a year.^xi Researchers evaluated the patients for depression soon after they were transferred out of intensive care units. The patients were asked questions about the support they receive from family, friends, or a “special person.”
Soon after having the heart attack, about a third of the patients were mildly or moderately depressed. Patients who were depressed were more than three times as likely to die during the year after having the heart attack. But the effect of depression on survival varied depending on a person’s perceived social support.

The odds of dying were highest in depressed people who felt that they did not get enough support from their friends, families, and loved ones. In contrast, the depressed patients who felt the strongest support by friends and family were not any more likely to die than non-depressed people. In addition, symptoms of depression were much more likely to improve in depressed patients who felt well supported.
Another study suggested that there is something even more important than perceived social support. This particular study sent questionnaires to 31 patients with major depression and to 379 community college students in Ann Arbor, Michigan.^xii Questions focused on issues such as a psychological sense of belonging, the extent of one’s social network and social activities, and feelings of conflict and loneliness.
The study showed that from all social factors considered, a sense of belonging is the best predictor of what an individual might experience in terms of depressive symptoms.^xiii The point is that many friends and a busy social life do not necessarily equate with a strong sense of belonging. An individual might have friends that he does not feel belong to him.
I recommend that individuals who do not have a close family or close friends, especially if they have a low sense of belonging, involve themselves in certain community or church projects that are consistent with their own goals. They will often form close relationships in the process, and with a sense of common purpose will soon feel truly “belonged.”

is it a sweet poison?

Like refined grains, Refined sugar is considered one of the most harmful foods consumed today. In 2006, Americans devoured 7.7 billion pounds of candy.ⁱ Consumption of processed foods, which are laced with sugar, costs the American public more than $54 billion in dental bills each year. The dental industry reaps huge profits from our addictions to sugar products.
In 1915, the national average of sugar consumption per year was 15 to 20 pounds per person. On average, we now consume our weight in sugar each year, plus over 20 pounds of corn syrup. Some people consume much less than the average figure, which means that there is a percentage of the population that consumes a great deal more refined sugar than their body weight each year. This large amount of refined carbohydrates causes considerable damage in the body.

A Damaging Ingredient

Refined sugar contains no fiber, no minerals, no proteins, no fats, and no enzymes—only empty calories. When we eat refined sugar, our bodies must borrow nutrients from healthy cells to metabolize the incomplete food. Calcium, sodium, potassium, and magnesium are used up in making the sugar useable. Many times, so much calcium is used to neutralize the effects of sugar that we can get osteoporosis. Decay also occurs in our teeth.
If our bodies lack the nutrients used to metabolize sugar, we cannot properly deal with poisonous waste. These wastes accumulate in our brains and nervous systems, which causes our cells to die faster. Our bloodstreams become overloaded with waste products, which often makes us sick.
Sugar also makes our blood very thick and sticky, inhibiting blood flow into the tiny capillaries that supply our gums and teeth with vital nutrients. Therefore, we wind up with diseased gums and starving teeth. America and England, the two largest sugar consumers, have horrendous dental problems.
GreenFacts Digest, an independent, non-profit organization that summarizes scientific reports on various topics for the general public and reports the consensus, says this about sugar:

Sugars are the most important dietary factor in the development of dental caries. Worldwide studies on human populations show an association between sugar consumption and level of dental caries. Isolated communities that consume a small amount of sugar have a very low level of this disease. Groups of people with a high exposure to sugars have a higher level. A strong correlation exists between both the amount and frequency of sugar consumption and the development of caries, even in countries that use preventative measures such as water fluoridation. In addition to solid foods, consumption of sugary drinks also increases the risk of developing dental cavities. Studies have shown that starches are generally a much lower risk factor in developing dental caries than sugars. However, when starches are cooked or combined with sugars, the risk is greater. As part of a normal mixed diet, there is little evidence that fruit causes caries or diabetes. Animal studies have shown that when fruit is consumed in very high frequencies (e.g. 17 times a day) it may induce caries. The link between dietary sugars and dental caries is supported by a large body of evidence.ⁱⁱ

Diabetes is caused when our pancreases can't produce enough insulin when our blood sugar rises. We can literally wear out our pancreases by poor dietary choices, and diabetes will set in. Diets high in processed foods have high refined sugar and saturated or hydrolyzed fat content, and they usually are high in high glycemic foods. The latter are those which quickly are converted by the body into glucose, a form of sugar. Almost always, those foods are processed foods. A concentrated amount of high glycemic index foods introduced into the system shocks our bodies and overwhelms their capacity to deal with the influx. Over time, breakdown and disease results.
Hypoglycemia, another pancreatic problem, occurs when our pancreases overreact to all the sugar in our blood and release too much insulin. This leaves us feeling tired.
Refined sugar may also be a major factor in gallstone disease. The body’s efforts to digest or eliminate such an unnatural product can result in the upsetting of the mineral balance in our bodies. In an effort to rebalance itself, some minerals either form deposits somewhere in the body or are drawn from body parts where they’re needed. Calcium can deposit itself in our gallbladders and become toxic.ⁱⁱⁱ Gallstones may be the result; they are composed of fats and calcium.

The Sweet Drug

Some call refined sugar a drug, because in the refining process everything of food value has been removed except the carbohydrates. Refined sugar has no elements that make up food. Many nutrition experts say that white sugar is extremely harmful, possibly as harmful as drugs, especially in the quantities currently consumed in North America.
One of the keys to orderly brain function is glutamic acid, a compound is found in many vegetables. When sugar is consumed, the good bacteria in the intestines that manufacture B vitamin complexes begin to die. When the B vitamin complex level declines, the glutamic acid is not processed and sleepiness occurs. This also causes a decreased ability for short-term memory function and problem solving.
Dr. David Reuben, author of Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Nutrition, says, “White refined sugar is not a food. It is pure chemical extracted from plant sources, purer in fact than cocaine, which it resembles in many ways. Its true name is sucrose and its chemical formula is C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁. It has 12 carbon atoms, 22 hydrogen atoms, 11 oxygen atoms, and absolutely nothing else to offer.”
Compare sugar’s formula with cocaine’s: C₁₇H₂₁NO₄. For all practical purposes, the difference between the two is that sugar is missing the nitrogen atom.
Mental problems may also be caused by high sugar intake. Our brains are very sensitive and react to quick chemical changes in our bodies. As we consume sugar, our cells are robbed of their vitamins, and insulin production is inhibited. Low insulin production means a high sugar level in our bloodstreams, which can lead to a confused mental state. This has also been linked with juvenile criminal behavior. Many mental ward and prison inmates are “sugarholics.” Erratic emotional outbreaks often follow a sugar binge. Read about other foods that affect our minds

Where Does Refined Sugar Come From?

Refining means to make pure by a process of extraction or separation. Sugar is commonly made from sugar cane or sugar beets. Through heating and mechanical and chemical processing, every nutrient is removed until only the sugar remains. The sugar cane and sugar beets are first harvested and then chopped into small pieces. Then the juice is squeezing out and mixed with water. This liquid is then heated, and lime is added. Moisture is boiled away, and the remaining fluid is pumped into vacuum pans to concentrate the juice. By this time, the liquid is starting to crystallize and is ready to be placed into a centrifuge machine where any remaining residues or byproducts, like molasses, are spun away. The crystals are then boiled and passed through charcoal filters. After the crystals condense, they are bleached—usually by the use of pork or cattle bones.
During the refining process, 64 food elements are destroyed. All the potassium, magnesium, calcium, iron, manganese, phosphate, and sulfate are removed. The A, D, and B vitamins are destroyed. Amino acids, vital enzymes, unsaturated fats, and all fiber are gone.
All refined sweeteners such as syrups undergo similar destructive process. Corn syrup has even been found to contain mercury residues from processing.
Sugar manufacturers are aggressive in defending their product. They have a strong political lobby, allowing them to sell a deadly food item that, by all reason, should not be allowed in the American diet.

The Final Word

Studies show that sugar is just as habit-forming as any narcotic. The average healthy digestive system can digest and eliminate from two to four teaspoons of sugar daily without noticeable problems. However, one can of cola contains 11 teaspoons of sugar. Sugar gives us brief increases in energy due to the rise of the blood sugar level, but the body quickly releases a rush of insulin, which rapidly lowers the blood sugar and causes a significant drop in energy and endurance.
If you have any doubts about the harmful nature of refined sugar, take it out of your diet for several weeks and see if it makes a difference! You may also notice you have acquired an addiction and experience some withdrawal symptoms.
Read about two other addictive substances: coffee and nicotine

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i www.candyusa.com
ii www.greenfacts.org/en/diet-nutrition/l-2/9-dental-caries.htm#3
iii Nancy Appleton, Lick The Sugar Habit (New York: Warner Books, 1985): 73-74

My fountain of youth

'My fountain of youth': Incredible 70-year-old who defies ageing process with vegan diet of home-grown vegetables and rainwater

When Annette Larkins goes out with her husband of 54 years, people assume she is his daughter.

The image of health, vitality and youth with a petite size four frame and a line-free face, Mrs Larkins is in fact 70 years old.
The resident of Miami-Dade County, Florida, attributes her youthful looks to her raw vegan diet and grows almost everything she eats in the garden she refers to as her 'fountain of youth'.

Fountain of youth: Annette Larkin looks at least 20 years younger than her 70 years which she credits to eating a completely raw, vegan diet and growing all the food in her garden

During a visit to her home, ABC News reporters explored the back yard, every of inch of which is covered in plants and trees that grow the fruits and vegetables Mrs Larkins eats.

She told reporters: 'My diet consists of fruits, nuts, vegetables and seeds. I do a lot of sprouting of seeds and as you can see from my garden and of course, these are the raw foods that I eat.'

The sprightly septuagenarian did not always eat this way. Husband of 54 years, Amos, owned a meat factory in the 1960's and it was around this time that his wife decided to go vegetarian.

27 years ago she went one step further by turning vegan and now everything she eats is raw. Nothing cooked or processed every passes her lips.

Home grown: The Miami-Dade resident grows all her own food and collects rainwater that she drinks and water the plants with. She also juices all the fruits and vegetables she grows

Mrs Larkins also juices her fruits and vegetables and collects rain water to drink and to water her garden.

For his part, Mr Larkins wishes he had followed his wife's example. Looking considerably older, he also takes prescription medicine for diabetes and high blood pressure while Mrs Larkins won't even take an aspirin.

When they walk down the street together, he admitted: 'They'll ask me what am I doing with this young girl.'

Age ain't nothin' but a number: Amos Larkins says when he walks down the street people think his wife is his daughter because she looks so young

Recognising how positively she could influence others, the formidable 70-year-old has already written two booklets titled: Journey to Health and produced a DVD about her nutritional regime.

'I am very vibrant, I have lots of energy, as I told you before, I am up no later than 5:30 in the morning as a rule, and I am ready to go' she told ABC.

Her husband agreed, gushing: 'She's an amazing person though. Oh man, I mean really. She does everything- build computers, make all her own clothes, grow her own food, speaks three languages. It's amazing.'