I suffer from depression and i take antidepressants for it. I don't feel depressed all the time but, I've just emerged from a bout of it. I think, but can't be sure, that starting to take a daily multivitamin might have helped. Given how bad my diet was for a few months, i think it could be significant.
During this last bout of depression, (which was fairly mild) i have been very inactive, and eaten shitloads of bad food such as icecream, chocolate and sweets. When i eat these foods i go off healthy foods altogether. Partly because i am too full or satisfied to want to eat anything sensible and partly because I just lose the taste for simple healthy food. I also have a strong aversion to cooking and food preparation when i'm depressed. I often think if someone would just cook for me, i'd be happy to eat a decent meal. When in this phase, getting up to make a sandwich feels like too much effort. Unless its toast with butter and piles of sweet jam.
So i've been living on lots of coffee, lots of weetbix with milk and honey, toast (wholegrain at least) with butter and jam, icecream, chocolate, kool mints, and lots of other bad food. I don't tend to buy a lot of savoury junk foods like chips but i have some of that sort of thing. I've been consuming huge amounts of dairy though and i started to wonder what might be going on in my arteries since i prefer full cream milk. And of course i've put on quite a lot of weight very quickly.
Anyway the first step i took back to health was to start with a multivitamin pill, triggered by worrying about my health. I am not a big vitamin person. I don't feel it necessary to take them when i am eating normally. I am not the sort to go for alternative therapies or goji berries or wheatgrass juice. I only take these pills because there've been almost no fruit and vegies in my diet for quite a while.
It occurred to me that my diet and lack of nutrients in it, might be perpetuating my depression so i decided to start taking these vitamins in case. (Last year i took them on a cycling journey when I knew i would be unable to eat fruit and vegies for long periods.)
I went to the doctor to have a chat and soon after i started a new diary here with the resolve to get my nutrition and health back on track. I think i've been on vitamins about two weeks and today i feel great and think the depression has left me. Its been gradually lifting since i went to see my gp.
So if your situation is at all like mine. If you are eating badly - a lot of comfort foods, if you stuck in the rut of inactivity, if you are feeling miserable about life and yourself, or if you dieting efforts are up and down, try taking a multivitamin. Of course if you feel very depressed about things, you should also see your doctor and start treatment with councelling and maybe antidepressants as well.
During this last bout of depression, (which was fairly mild) i have been very inactive, and eaten shitloads of bad food such as icecream, chocolate and sweets. When i eat these foods i go off healthy foods altogether. Partly because i am too full or satisfied to want to eat anything sensible and partly because I just lose the taste for simple healthy food. I also have a strong aversion to cooking and food preparation when i'm depressed. I often think if someone would just cook for me, i'd be happy to eat a decent meal. When in this phase, getting up to make a sandwich feels like too much effort. Unless its toast with butter and piles of sweet jam.
So i've been living on lots of coffee, lots of weetbix with milk and honey, toast (wholegrain at least) with butter and jam, icecream, chocolate, kool mints, and lots of other bad food. I don't tend to buy a lot of savoury junk foods like chips but i have some of that sort of thing. I've been consuming huge amounts of dairy though and i started to wonder what might be going on in my arteries since i prefer full cream milk. And of course i've put on quite a lot of weight very quickly.
Anyway the first step i took back to health was to start with a multivitamin pill, triggered by worrying about my health. I am not a big vitamin person. I don't feel it necessary to take them when i am eating normally. I am not the sort to go for alternative therapies or goji berries or wheatgrass juice. I only take these pills because there've been almost no fruit and vegies in my diet for quite a while.
It occurred to me that my diet and lack of nutrients in it, might be perpetuating my depression so i decided to start taking these vitamins in case. (Last year i took them on a cycling journey when I knew i would be unable to eat fruit and vegies for long periods.)
I went to the doctor to have a chat and soon after i started a new diary here with the resolve to get my nutrition and health back on track. I think i've been on vitamins about two weeks and today i feel great and think the depression has left me. Its been gradually lifting since i went to see my gp.
So if your situation is at all like mine. If you are eating badly - a lot of comfort foods, if you stuck in the rut of inactivity, if you are feeling miserable about life and yourself, or if you dieting efforts are up and down, try taking a multivitamin. Of course if you feel very depressed about things, you should also see your doctor and start treatment with councelling and maybe antidepressants as well.
