6 Foods to Avoid If Battling Depression

When fighting depression, simple food choices can make a huge difference between feeling worse and feeling more stable. Although burgers and ice cream don’t make us feel anxious or suicidal, too much of these junk foods can cause unfavorable effects to your body’s natural chemistry that might affect your coping mechanism from depression.
If you are someone diagnosed with depression, here’s a list of foods you’re better off avoiding.

1. Alcohol
Alcohol is a central nervous system depressant. If you’re managing mood disorder, better avoid any form of alcoholic drink. Since the central nervous system controls the thinking, reasoning and understanding functions of the brain, it’s a guarantee that it can control your emotions as well. If you drink too much alcohol, it slows down the function of the system, triggering symptoms of depression.

2. Refined Sugar
A bar of chocolate tastes good and provides us that spike of energy. But after 20 minutes, your blood sugar levels plummet, resulting to sugar hangover that depletes your energy, negatively affects your mood and possibly causes sleep disorder, which can further trigger depression.

3. Caffeine
If you are fully dedicated to managing your depression, keep in mind that even moderate amount of coffee can contribute to anxiety and depression. Caffeine is known to disrupt sleeping patterns, making it difficult for you to feel sleepy and stay asleep. It can also cause tremors, nervousness and agitation, which can affect your mood.

4. Hydrogenated Oil
Foods rich in hydrogenated oil are those that are deep fried, such as fried chicken, calamari, cheese sticks and your favorite French fries. Anything deep fried in oil and contains high amount of trans fat can potentially trigger symptoms of depression. Similarly, watch out for foods high in saturated fats, such as butter, regular dairy products and deli meats, as they can trigger the same effects as deep fried foods.

5. Processed Foods
Consuming foods with processed or refined carbohydrates, like cereals, donuts, white bread and pasta, will have the same impact as eating an entire bar of chocolate. After the short time of insulin boost, you will end up feeling irritated, tired and blue.

6. Soy
Tofu and soy milk may be good for the health, but not for someone coping with depression. Although soy is packed with protein, it is also rich in trypsin and protease inhibitors, which are enzymes that make digestion of protein difficult. Also, soy is high in copper, a mineral that’s said to contribute to anxious behavior. If you must include soy to your diet, stick to fermented varieties like miso and tempeh for easier digestion.

Whether you’re fighting depression or just on a diet, remember that feeding with crap will make your feel like crap. If you feed your body with the right food, it will return the favor of making you feel good inside and out.