In the early sixties, I got what I eventually recognized as “the blues”. I had a series of low level jobs, and at times had brief fantasies of sweeping everything off the tables and making a mess. These feelings surprised me, as they were new. I associated the feelings with the German expression “weltschmerz,” or “pain about the world.” Mostly, I felt sorry for myself and didn’t like how I felt. Life sucked, as we would say today. I ascribed it to the state of the world and my understanding of how people messed everything up.
As I recently looked back on those days, I realized that those feelings of nameless despair had long ago disappeared and never returned, regardless of my personal circumstances of trouble or happiness in the ensuing 40 years. What was it that had made the difference?
First of all, diet. Early on I found that the food most clearly associated with the “blues” is sugar. My late friend William Dufty, whom I knew well and saw often during the late ‘60's and early ‘70s, knew what he was talking about when he called his book Sugar Blues. About 8-10 days after I quit eating sugared breakfasts (coffee with sugar, donuts), as well as desserts, the gloomy feeling lifted completely. In other words, if you are sad, blue, mildly depressed, sighing about the miseries of your life - the first thing to do is to quit eating refined cane and other sugars. And I mean ZERO sugar. No sweetened cereals, no breads or bean salads with sugar in them, no muffins, no cookies, no jams, no desserts. This means careful label reading, as well as very conscious eating – none of this shoveling food into your mouth without noticing what it is.
After eliminating sugar, the next step for me was replacing all refined carbohydrates with whole grains: brown rice instead of white, steel cut oats instead of farina, wholegrain bread instead of white, even whole grains instead of potatoes. That made another big difference, as it gave me a sense of strength and groundedness. For many, that means also avoiding wheat products and dairy foods, as mild allergies often manifest in emotional states.
Insuring that I got enough protein was another step for mental health, and especially for avoiding sugar cravings. I found that some animal food in each meal (not much, one egg, 4 oz meat or fish) was a great help for insuring steady moods.
Eating only fresh, home cooked foods (instead of frozen meals or canned vegetables), was a major aspect. This is not a new idea, nor is it an airy-fairy notion of the counterculture. More than 30 years ago, in the 1977 report of the Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs of the US Senate, chaired by then senator George McGovern, there was an extensive discussion of the dangers of relying on frozen and highly processed foods. Mention was made of prisons where inmates stopped complaining about the food and throwing their meals against the wall when they were again fed properly cooked meals. Mary Goodwin, a Montgomery County public health nutritionist, was quoted as saying “if you eat enough precooked, frozen, reheated foil-and-plastic packed lunches out of machines, part of you will starve to death.” (Dietary Goals for the United States. Printed for the use of the Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs, United States Senate. US Government Printing Office, Washington: 1977)
So the dietary approach to getting out of mild depression includes the following:
- no cane sugar (white, brown, or organic); no corn syrup, molasses, high fructose corn syrup, regular fructose (refined), or artificial sweeteners (which confuse the blood sugar regulation system and so can affect moods)
- eating sufficient protein (meat, fish, organic chicken, organic eggs) daily
- choosing only freshly prepared foods (nothing canned or frozen)
And finally, if food is not enough, look into therapy, acupuncture, energy healing or soul retrieval. We humans are very complex beings.
Annemarie Colbin, Ph.D.
ANNEMARIE COLBIN, Ph.D., CHES, is an award-winning leader in the
field of natural health She founded Natural Gourmet Institute for
Health and Culinary Arts (TM) in New York City in 1977, and is adjunct
professor of nutrition at the city’s Empire State College. She is the
author of four books, including The Book of Whole Meals (Autumn Press, 1979; Ballantine Books, 1983), The Natural Gourmet (Ballantine Books, 1989, 1991), and Food and Healing (Ballantine Books, 1986, 1996). Her website is: www.foodandhealing.com