Foods to relieve depression and anxiety

The current consensus in the field of nutritional psychiatry is that natural foods rich in Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, serotonin precursor tryptophan, B vitamins (B6, B12, folic acid), and magnesium can indeed be used as an auxiliary means of intervention for depression and anxiety. However, there is no "just eat it" special food, and all dietary adjustments cannot replace standard drug treatment and psychological intervention.

To be honest, I have met too many clients with emotional problems in the past few years when I have been doing nutrition consultation. They asked "Is there anything I can eat to make them less anxious immediately?" and asked me to buy supplements. In fact, there is really no need. The effect of food is slow, but it is gentle and there is almost no additional burden. Last year, a young girl who was preparing to take the postgraduate entrance examination came to me and said that she had to study at 3 a.m. every day. She was so anxious that she couldn't eat, so she could only rely on instant noodles and energy drinks to hang on. The anxiety scale had reached moderate. She was also receiving psychological consultation and asked me if she could adjust her diet. I didn't prescribe any complicated recipes for her, but just asked her to add a handful of almonds and a 10g piece of 70% black chocolate every afternoon, eat steamed salmon twice a week, even if it's a takeaway, try to choose dark green vegetables, and don't eat instant noodles every day. She persisted for more than two months, and later she sent me a message saying that it is now rare to stare at a book for an hour without reading a word. The number of times she breaks down and cries has dropped from three or four times a week to only once every half month, and her scale score has also dropped a lot.

Of course, if you want to talk about the role of food, it is not without controversy in the academic community. Traditional nutrition has always believed that the main function of food is to provide energy and has minimal impact on mood. Some studies even believe that people feel that eating something makes their mood better, which is completely a placebo effect. However, a large number of cohort studies in nutritional psychiatry in the past few years have confirmed that long-term adherence to a dietary pattern that is anti-inflammatory and rich in the above-mentioned nutrients can reduce the risk of depression and anxiety by 25% to 35%. This data has been verified by large samples and is not nonsense.

For example, the most commonly mentioned Omega-3, the most convenient source of obtaining it is deep-sea fish, such as salmon, saury, and mackerel. You don’t need to buy the expensive imported salmon. The frozen domestic saury in the supermarket costs a few yuan a piece. You can steam it for 10 minutes and eat it twice a week. About 100g each time is enough. Some people say that if I don’t eat fish, am I unable to make up for it? No, there are also Omega-3s in chia seeds and flaxseeds. However, it should be mentioned that plant-derived Omega-3s are ALA. To be converted into EPA and DHA that can be used by the brain, the conversion rate is only 0.5% to 5%. Therefore, if vegetarians rely on this supplement, they may have to take additional algae DHA supplements, otherwise the amount may not be enough. I once had a vegetarian visitor who added 10g of chia seeds to sugar-free yogurt every day for three months. He said that he was easily irritated by trivial things before, but now his temper has stabilized a lot. Of course, some vegetarian friends said that they didn’t feel anything at all after eating it for more than half a year. This is an individual difference and there is no need to force it.

Omega-3 alone is not enough. The brain must have enough B vitamins as coenzymes to synthesize serotonin - the neurotransmitter responsible for happy emotions. When many people lose weight, they only eat egg whites and boiled vegetables, and even throw away the egg yolks. Not long after eating, they start to feel depressed and want to cry. In fact, there is a high probability that they are lacking B group. B6, B12, and folic acid are found in high amounts in dark green vegetables, animal liver, egg yolks, and whole grains. There is no need to buy additional supplements. It is basically enough to eat one pound of dark green vegetables and one whole egg every day, and replace the staple food with one-third of cereals. Here is a different point of view: Many studies have found that taking B-complex supplements alone has little effect on improving mood. They can only work synergistically with other nutrients in food, so don’t buy hundreds of dollars of B-complex supplements. Eating well is better than anything else.

Oh, by the way, there is also magnesium, which many people don’t know about. It is also nicknamed the “relaxation mineral”, which can help us relax our nerves and improve our sleep. If we sleep well, our mood will naturally be stable. Magnesium content is very high in almonds, pumpkin seeds, avocados, and more than 70% of dark chocolate. When you are stressed, picking out two almonds and taking a bite of dark chocolate is really more useful than pouring a cup of ice milk tea. Speaking of which, many people want to eat sweets when they are stressed. Drinking milk tea will indeed make you feel happy when your blood sugar spikes in the short term, but if your blood sugar drops within two hours, you will feel more tired and depressed. Long-term high-sugar diet will also aggravate the body's inflammatory response, which will increase the risk of depression and anxiety. It is really not worth the gain.

There are also several types of foods that are really recommended for people with sensitive emotions to avoid: high-caffeine energy drinks, large amounts of coffee (if your heart beats faster and you have insomnia after drinking it, don’t drink it), chocolate that replaces cocoa butter, and puffed foods with high trans fatty acid content. These foods are good to eat in the short term, but they will hinder your mood in the long term.

Finally, I have to stress it again. I have met many people who feel depressed and anxious. They don’t want to take medicine, so they just want to eat some food to get better. This really doesn’t work. If you have reached moderate or above levels of depression and anxiety, you must take medicine and undergo psychotherapy as directed by your doctor. Dietary adjustment is only an auxiliary to help you get better faster, and cannot replace treatment. In fact, to put it bluntly, in many cases, the effect of food on mood is not just nutrition itself. You are willing to spend ten minutes steaming a fish and mixing a bowl of yogurt with chia seeds for yourself instead of nibbling a cold burger while rushing to work. This state of being willing to treat yourself well is a good medicine for relieving anxiety.