If the pharmaceutical industry had its way, we’d all be popping an anti-depressant at the first sign of a dark cloud on the horizon. This is not to say that anti-depressants are not good and necessary for those with biologically induced depression (only about 10 percent of all sufferers). Unfortunately, although anti-depressants may give us a sense of control over our symptoms, they do not cure depression. Instead they mask the underlying emotions rather than resolve them.

Diet is Important

It’s important to realize that there are other approaches to the treatment of depression. One of these is food. If you suffer from depression you will benefit if you eat whole foods with a low GI and GL diet. Fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, legumes, lean meat and chicken, fish and eggs. Switch from white bread, white rice and white pasta to whole grain varieties.

Avoid Caffeine

Caffeine or reduce caffeine intake. Caffeine can increase anxiety and anxiety can lead to depression. Instead, enjoy herbal teas, such as chamomile and peppermint. Lavender tea has a wonderful aromatic scent and is used as a calming tea to relieve stress. Passionflower has long been used as a folk remedy to treat anxiety. Studies confirm that passionflower extracts have anti-anxiety properties. Ashwagandha tea can be taken to relieve nervous exhaustion and stress and is a good tea for calming.

Avoid or Reduce Alcohol Intake

While often used as an emotional crutch, alcohol can severely exacerbate depression and anxiety and can delete important nutrients, including B vitamins, that are vital in maintaining a sense of wellbeing. An occasional glass of wine with meals or with friends is fine, but keep it to a minimum. The last thing you need if you are depressed is a hangover.

Reduce Saturated Fats

Avoid deep fried food and fast food. Turn instead to home cooked lean meats and vegetables. Snack on seeds and nuts rather than fast-food treats.

Specific Nutrients

Finally, here are some specific nutrients that are recommended for alleviating anxiety and depression. B vitamins – take a good multiple B vitamin Inositol – effective in combating panic attacks. Fish oil – high in omega-3 fatty acids. Sam-e – particularly good for post natal depression. St. John’s Wort – natural anti-depressant and tonic for the nervous system. Oats – long used to combat nervous exhaustion, debility and depression. Valerian – induces calming sleep and doesn’t leave you feeling groggy in the morning. Zizyphus – eases anxiety naturally. In Chinese medicine, zizyphus is thought to nourish the heart and calm the spirit.

Energy. We need it in order to live our lives, every day. What is energy? Where do we find it and how do we make it? It’s simple, really. Food acts as fuel and is transformed into energy by a series of chemical reactions dependent on key vitamins and minerals. And yet, lack of energy is one of the commonest complaints heard in recent years.

Chronic Exhaustion

The reason so many of us have difficulty fulfilling our daily energy quota is usually due to lifestyle factors and stress. Persistent tiredness that is not caused by an underlying illness is most often the result of poor choices such as an unhealthy diet and unwise habits. Combine a diet chock full of carbohydrates and stimulants with a generous amount of emotional stress and you have a perfect recipe for chronic exhaustion.

Back to Basics

Fortunately, unhealthy eating habits can be changed and emotional stress effectively reduced so that we can life an energetic and satisfying life.

Major Energy Zappers

Let’s take a look at the major energy zappers.

• Poor Diet
  Poor diet choices can rob us of essential nutrients. Alcohol, tea, coffee and sugar-loaded soft drinks deplete our bodies of precious B vitamins, magnesium and potassium. When we’re fatigued we may try to give ourselves a bit of a boost with refined carbohydrates and caffeine. But whatever boost we may get from this regimen is only temporary. Not only does this type of diet contribute to fatigue, but it contains almost nothing in the way of nutrition. Further, stimulants such as caffeine and alcohol both rob us of key nutrients through their diuretic action, and contribute to liver damage, thus hindering the detoxification process.

• Inadequate Water Intake
  Water is essential in the manufacture of energy. Your body cannot make energy without it. Remember, two thirds of your body’s weight is water. Simple dehydration is a major cause of energy depletion. Many of us simply do not drink enough water. And we pay the price. Water is extremely important. Water should be high on your list of essential nutrients. One approach to water intake is the “8 x 8 rule” — drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day (about 1.9 liters). The Institute of Medicine advises that men consume roughly 3 liters (about 13 cups) of total beverages a day and women consume 2.2 liters (about 9 cups) of total beverages a day. If you drink enough fluid so that you rarely feel thirsty and produce 1.5 liters (6.3 cups) or more of colorless or slightly yellow urine a day, your fluid intake is probably adequate.

• Stress
  Stress is a major energy zapper. As we said earlier, magnesium is a key factor in energy production, and stress greatly depletes magnesium. Stress stimulates an increased production of adrenaline, which in turn depletes magnesium. Four major organs have been found to be adversely affected by stress. The adrenal glands become enlarged and bloodshot, the thymus and lymph glands, which are responsible for immune response, atrophy, and finally, the stomach lining becomes spotted with bleeding ulcers. Stress can also wear away the intestinal lining, resulting in the condition called leaky gut, accompanied by food sensitivities, discomfort and bloating, as well as muscle pain, headache and skin eruptions.

• Poor Sleep
  Improper sleep patterns impact our energy reserves and our ability to greet each new day with something like enthusiasm. It is impossible to maintain optimal energy without adequate sleep, period. For most of us, this means eight hours per night. Every night without adequate sleep results in a foggy, dreary day, but many inadequate sleep nights add up to chronic fatigue. Good sleeping habits are an indicator of sound health. If you fall asleep within ten minutes of lying down, you’re off to a good start. But even if falling asleep is not difficult, insufficient sleep appears to be a nationwide problem. Today most working Americans average six to seven hours of sleep per night. Compare this with the situation 100 years ago when many families lived on farms and garnered eight to nine hours of sleep every night, and we can see that many of us are simply not taking he time to recuperate properly through good, sound sleep.

• Sluggish Liver Function and Poor Elimination
  A stomach, bowel and liver in excellent working order are absolutely necessary to extract, process and absorb nutrients from our meals. A liver in good working order is also vital for effective elimination.

• Food Allergies
  Food allergies can be debilitating. Symptoms of food allergies include bloating, abdominal pain, joint pain, eczema, fluid retention, frequent urination and excessive thirst. The foods most commonly known to elicit an adverse response are wheat and dairy products.

• The Overactive Mind
  Incessant mental chatter can deplete energy reserves and wreak havoc with one’s emotions. A quiet mind, on the other hand, provides an optimum environment for the achievement of good health and a proliferation of cellular energy. So how do we achieve this quiet space? Stilling the mind is not an easy task, but a even a few minutes spent in meditation at the end of a busy day will accomplish wonders. Books on meditation, tapes, classes—all these can help.

Your Prescription for Energy

Eat a good breakfast composed of complex carbohydrates to provide a slow, even release of sugar into the bloodstream. For lunch, have a large salad or a generous serving of vegetables and a small amount of protein. Try to concentrate on raw foods as much as possible. Optimum dinner choices include a wide range of vegetables and again, a small serving of protein. Take a high-potency B complex daily, along with vitamin C and magnesium. Stay active. Instead of heading for the coffee machine on your break, take a brisk 10-minute walk around the block. Follow these simple rules and you’ll soon be brimming over with energy.

Dementia is a devastating disease. A person with dementia experiences a gradual loss of the ability to think, remember and perform everyday chores. Ultimately, the person becomes entirely reliant on a caregiver or caregivers. Consequently, dementia places a tremendous strain on interpersonal relationships, such as parent and child or spouse and spouse.

Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease is the major cause of dementia, accounting for more than 60 percent of dementia cases. Alzheimer’s is not, however, the only culprit. The other three major causes of dementia are vascular dementia, accounting for about 20 percent of cases, dementia with lewy bodies, 10-15 percent, and fronto-temporal dementia, up to 10 percent.

Vascular Dementia

Vascular dementia occurs when disease affects the blood vessels of the brain. Stroke victims are particularly prone to vascular dementia.

Dementia with lewy bodies

Lewy bodies are accumulations of a protein called alpha-synuclein. They accumulate in neurons, ultimately causing the vital neurons to malfunction or die.

Fronto-temporal Dementia

Like Alzheimer’s disease, fronto-temporal dementia is cause by the accumulation of abnormal tau protein in the brain neurons. Fronto-temporal dementia attacks mainly the frontal and temporal lobes of the brain, centers that control speech, memory and social behavior.

What you can do to prevent dementia

1. Exercise your brain. Stay mentally active. Studies show that adults with hobbies are two-and-a-half times less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease.
2. Exercise your body. Physical activity increases the flow of blood to the brain. You don’t need a lot of fancy equipment. Walking, swimming and bicycling (be sure to wear a helmet) are perfect.
3. Follow a brain-healthy diet. Eat fish at least twice a week. Salmon, mackerel and sardines are highest in all-important omega-3. Eat foods rich in antioxidants—citrus fruits, watermelon, cauliflower and broccoli. Increase fiber, reduce salt. Drink plenty of water.

Follow these 3 simple rules and dramatically increase your chances of avoiding dementia and its devastating consequences.

Your bowel movements are excellent indicators of your overall health. Since food provides the fuel for energy production, it follows that a fully functional gastrointestinal tract is crucial. Your stomach, bowel and liver need to be in tiptop working order in order to do their job, which is extracting, processing and absorbing nutrients from your meals.

The process

Food as it is consumed is not in a state to provide energy to the body. First it must be broken down into particles small enough to cross the plasma membrane of your cells. Enzymes manufactured in the small intestine, combined with pancreatic enzymes and bile from the liver, aid in digesting proteins, carbohydrates and fats. The mix is absorbed through the intestinal wall and transported to the liver, where it is further metabolized and made available as an energy source.

The large intestine

The large intestine, which processes the residue from this procedure, is host to “good” intestinal flora such as acidophilus which help to move everything along to the rectum, stimulating defecation.

The importance of regular bowel movements

A complete and satisfying morning bowel movement is essential for optimum energy levels. A sluggish bowel creates a sluggish body, while optimal colon function prevents toxic buildup and ensures energy and vitality.

Shape and size

As we mentioned earlier, your bowel movements are excellent indicators of your overall health.. If you have small, marble-sized movements, for example, that
could mean you are dehydrated. Bowel movements need sufficient water, oil and. Sufficient water and roughage produce soft but formed bowel movements, about the size and shape of small bananas. Oil (olive oil is ideal because it helps the body in other ways, too) aids with frequency and helps prevent constipation.

Three keys to a healthy bowel

While it is beyond the scope of this article to go into specific foods that are good to eat for optimal bowel function, here are three items you should consume every day to ensure normal movements.

• Water – eight to ten glasses a day
• Fiber – bran cereals, whole grain products
• Oil – olive oil on salads

In a future article, we will discuss bowel-friendly foods in more detail.