The Powerful Relationship between Nutrition, Mental Health and Depression

If you are feeling stressed, tired and lethargic, uninspired, moody, scrambled, irritable, anxious, depressed (on or off medication) or mentally challenged in any way, it is time to review the foundation of mental health: your nutrition.

More than 1 in 6 people suffer from mental health challenges and depression? Depression is expected to be the second leading cause of disability for people of all ages by 2020. About 66 percent of all suicides are caused by this depressive disorder.

Depression is not simply “the blues” or a “bad hair day”. Depression is a whole-body illness—it involves the body, nervous system, moods, thoughts, and behaviour. It affects the way we eat and sleep, the way we feel about ourselves, and the way we react to and think about the people and things around us.

Symptoms of depression include fatigue, sleep disturbances (either insomnia or excessive sleeping), changes in appetite, headaches, backaches, digestive disorders, restlessness, irritability, mood swings, quickness to anger, loss of interest or pleasure in hobbies, and feelings of worthlessness and inadequacy.

Depression may be triggered by tension, stress, a traumatic life event, nutritional deficiencies, poor diet, the consumption of sugar and fat, lack of exercise, chemical imbalances in the brain, thyroid disorders, upset stomach, headache, any serious physical disorder, or allergies. One of the most common causes of depression is food allergies. Hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar) is another common cause of depression.

Life will always present us with many emotional challenges. We just need to understand how we can stay mentally and physically strong and survive them. Nutrition plays a foundational and powerful role in this regard.

Our quality of mental and physical health is an “Inside Story” and is nutrition based. We must understand how to nourish ourselves every day at a cellular level to help stabilise mental health issues.

Most people know “What” to do…drink water, eat fruits and veggies, cut out sugar, fat and junk food, exercise and relax etc But when it comes to the “why” should we do this and “how” to put it all together for their age, health issue and activity level etc, that is where they struggle.

The key is knowing how to put the right foods in, at the right time of the day, in the right amounts. It is the “how” and the “why” that makes the real difference to mental and physical health.

Through out her presentations Helen Frost presents the positive nutritional and lifestyle strategies that can help to lift the “dark cloud” on mental health issues and depression.

You will learn…

* Which liquid has the highest brain energy conducting power?

* How much protein you need each meal to help to stabilise brain chemicals,

sugar and mood levels?

* Which essential fats and oils help regulate moods and improve mental clarity?

* The role carbohydrates play in boosting brain function?

* How coffee, tea, soft drinks, diet foods, sugar, salt, fat, additives and processed

foods negatively affect the chemical balance of the brain?

* The damage that the free radicals from our diet and lifestyle do to brain cells?

* What happens to your brain and body if you don’t have good nutrition?

Acidity and Ageing: You Are What You Eat

A newborn baby is an alkaline little being. The baby’s body tissue is clean and fresh – the smell of an infant confirms that. As time goes by the cells in the baby’s body become more acid and start to show their age. The tissues, bones and every part of the baby’s body slowly become more acidic, and lose their newborn perfection. The body of an aged and sick person is highly polluted with toxic acid waste, both within the cells, and outside the cells in all organs, tissues, bones and fluids. You can smell them.

The buildup of acid body toxins is a characteristic of ageing: your cells produce waste products, your digestive system produces waste products and the environment leaches toxins into your body. Your health and ageing reflects how completely you are able to get rid of all these toxins, and what level remains in your cells and tissues. The process of ageing starts from the beginning of life, and takes place even if there is no pollution in your food or environment.

Even in a perfect world, the baby’s body still produces waste products that must be eliminated. For example, food, metabolism and the production of energy all produce waste products. If you can keep your skin and other organs, glands, muscles and all other body tissues at the same level of alkalinity they were when you were a child, you will not age. When a woman becomes pregnant, her fetus gets priority in the allocation of her alkaline salts. Particularly while she is sleeping, there can be a rapid reduction in the level of her alkaline minerals, and her blood can become slightly more acid. She can feel awful – this is called morning sickness.

Many other aspects of life add to the toxic load on your body. Stress creates enormous levels of toxins, pollution in all its forms adds to the load, as does smoking, alcohol, tea, coffee, medications, drugs (both recreational and pharmaceutical).Initial signs of body tissue acidity include:

? skin problems such as acne, eczema, psoriasis and hives

? bad breath and a white coated tongue

? anxiety, depression, agitation, panic attacks, dizziness, headaches

? feeling tired, needing excessive sleep, weakness, low energy or hyperactivity

? general aches and pains, muscular and joint pains

? a feeling of nausea and malaise

? premenstrual or menstrual cramping

? loss of libido

? diarrhoea or constipation, heartburn, bloating, strong smelling or dark coloured urine

? rapid or irregular heartbeat, poor circulation and cold hands and feet, shortness of breath

? food and chemical allergiesAdvanced or long-term signs of body tissue acidity include:

? osteoporosis

? cancers

? heart and circulatory disease

? poor immunity resulting in fungal and bacterial infections

? baldness

? diabetes

? arthritis, gout, kidney diseases and stones in the liver or gall bladder

? chronic digestive problems

? eye diseases

? allergies and asthma

? severe mental disturbances, multiple sclerosis, migraines

A proven way of slowing ageing is to reduce the amount of food you eat. If you eat less food the total amount of toxins from your food will be lower as there is less excess food to be processed, stored and eliminated. You can correct body acidity (intra and extra cellular toxic acid waste) by eating a primarily alkaline diet, drinking alkaline water, and by following other alkaline forming life changes such as exercise, deep breathing, relaxation, meditation, and having an accepting, playful, thankful and positive attitude to life.

MEASURING YOUR BODY ACIDITY (PH)

It is difficult to measure the pH of most body tissues without taking a biopsy. If you look at a piece of aged, acid tissue under a microscope, you will see clumps of toxic fat, un-discarded metabolic wastes, brown pigments called lipofuscin, streaks of fibre and other degeneration. Ideally, your urine and saliva should have a pH of 6.4. Their pH can vary by the hour, depending on what you have just eaten, your general level of health, and previous buildups of acidity.

The pH of your urine, saliva and blood are not a good indicator of the acidity of your body’s tissues and their cells. pH (potential hydrogen) is a measure of acidity or alkalinity. Your body tissues, and in particular your blood, require a precise pH level for good health. If your blood varies even slightly from its normal pH level, you will rapidly become ill. Long-term acidity will result in a variety of degenerative diseases or even death.

FOODS

It is necessary to eat at least some acid-forming foods; in any case, it is virtually impossible to avoid all of them. The point to bear in mind is the net effect of your diet and lifestyle. If you live a busy, stressed life in a polluted city in a warm to hot climate, then a strongly alkaline-forming diet is essential to combat all these acid effects. If you eat a very acid food, you can counter its effect by eating a strongly alkaline food. For example, if you have some beef, cheese, eggs or refined bread, the acid can be neutralized with fresh vegetables.

You don’t necessarily have to eat the acid or alkaline foods together in the same meal. You can offset an acid meal hours later, after it has been digested, with a melon. If a meal consists of 10% concentrated protein and 90% vegetables, then overall it will be neutral to slightly alkaline. The most alkaline-forming food is enzyme rich and in its natural state. It is fresh, organic, raw, wild and ripe.

Conversely, your food will be more acid-forming if it is:

? cooked (especially fried or deep-fried). Burned or browned food is highly acid-forming, especially toasted crispy cheese

? preserved, canned, smoked or dried

? sweetened

? grown with chemicals (pesticides, herbicides, chemical fertilizers)

? old, rather than fresh

? refined or finely milled, with husks, kernels or other nutritious parts removed e.g. white flour and bread, pasta, biscuits, cakes and pastries etc

? unripe, especially if it was unripe when it was picked

? frozen

? contains manufactured chemicals such as preservatives, stabilizers, flavours enhancers, colours or emulsifiers

ACID / ALKALINE FORMING FOODS

VERY ALKALINE

- Raw, Fresh, Wild/Organic, Ripe picked.

The most alkalizing are lemons and melons, followed by dates, figs, limes, mangoes and pawpaw/papaya. The only acid-forming fruits are tomatoes, pomegranates, cranberries, plums and prunes.

- Slow-squeezed fresh fruit, vegetable and herb juices. Commercially produced bottled juices bought in the supermarket are acid-forming.

- Raw vegetables (except potato), seaweeds. The best are asparagus, parsley, all kinds of seaweed and watercress. Potatoes are acid-forming, but much less so when eaten with their skins.

SLIGHTLY ALKALINE

- Fresh herbs

- Raw fruit

- Beans, grains and seed- sprouted. Dried beans are mildly acid forming, but after they are sprouted, they are mildly alkaline-forming. Fresh beans and peas are alkaline- forming, especially if they are green.

- Dried herbs, herbal teas

- Lightly cooked vegetables

- Raw nuts. Almonds are slightly alkaline-forming, but all other nuts are acid-forming. Roasting them makes them more acid, and harder to digest. Soaking nuts for a few hours makes them more alkaline-forming

- Fresh spices -Most spices (especially ginger) are slightly alkaline-forming

- the fresher they are the better.

- Honey, natural fruit sugars

- Natural sugars, such as brown rice syrup, honey and dried sugar cane juice are slightly alkaline-forming. Any form of processing makes them acid-forming.

NEUTRAL

- Vegetable oils. Vegetable oils are all neutral, with olive oil being slightly alkaline-forming. Fresh cold pressed seed oils that have never been heated are slightly alkaline.

- Soybean products- soy milk, tofu, soy cheese. The fermented soy products miso and tamari are alkaline- forming, but soy sauce is acid.

- Boiled beans

- Roasted nuts

- Apple cider or brown rice vinegar is slightly alkaline-forming and is a good digestive aid.

SLIGHTLY ACID

- Whole grains, raw seeds, brown rice

- Grains and seeds are acid forming, with the exception of amaranth, millet and quinoa, which are neutral. When they are sprouted, they all become alkaline-forming. Bleached, refined white flours, and fluffy short grain white rice are extremely acid forming. Arrowroot flour is a good alkaline-forming substitute for other flours and thickeners.

- Wholegrain breads, whole cereals, heavy pasta

- Fish and shellfish. All meat fish and poultry is very acid forming. Of these, fish and shellfish are the least acid, followed by organic or wild birds and small animals.

- Poultry

MORE ACID

- Butter, cheese, cream, milk, eggs

- Fine wine, hand made beers

- Tea, coffee

- Supermarket bottled fruit juices – reconstituted

- Refined breads, cakes, biscuits, white rice, light pasta, potato

- all grains in the form of breads, cereals and pastas are very acid-forming. Wheat is the worst. If the grains have been sprouted before cooking, or are whole and unrefined, this reduces their acidity.

- Salt (refined), white vinegar, tomato sauce, supermarket mayonnaise

- White household vinegar is strongly acid-forming and should be avoided.

- Red meat

- White sugar, artificial sweeteners, drugs, cheap alcoholic drinks. White table sugar is very acid, a poison if taken in quantity. Artificial sweeteners are much worse – stay away from them! The most acid alcoholic drinks are the cheap, strong, mass produced spirits, beers and wines. Fine wines, beers and brews hand made with organic ingredients are better, but still very acid-forming.

- Soft drinks, both sugared and diet.

- Sports drinks

- Caffeinated or carbonated soft drinks (sodas) are the worst of all. They contain sugars or artificial sweeteners in concentration, phosphoric acid and a variety of other toxic chemicals. They leave a complex acid waste after being ‘digested’, and rob your body of oxygen. A typical glass of cola has a highly acid pH of 2.5.

VERY ACID

-Cooked, unripe, sweetened, preserved, canned, frozen, smoked, dried.

-Grown with, or contains any kind of manufactured chemicals colours, flavours, preservatives etc

-Old, Refined, Burned, Deep-fried, Browned

OTHER FACTORS

Your mental state and emotions have an important effect on your body’s acidity or alkalinity. You are an electrochemical, energy based being. Stress and strong, particularly negative, emotions increase your body’s acidity, and the acidity of your urine. A physical trauma or injury or an accident are very acid producing, as are emotional loss, conflict and excessive burdens.

Mental stress can be more damaging than physical stress, because there is no rest from it. The ongoing stress creates severe body acidity, which makes you feel even worse, and further adds to the stress. It is a vicious cycle which can be broken by rest, meditation, an alkaline diet, and drinking alkaline water.

If you live in a cold climate, you need more warming, yang, acid foods, according to the Taoists. In contrast, if you live in a hot climate take special care to eat an alkaline diet. The same applies to the foods you eat in winter and summer, especially if there is a wide variation in temperature.

Eating light salads and dates on a hot day is a good idea. Most fresh fruits and vegetables, and sprouted beans and grains are yin, cooling and alkaline-forming. Strong sunlight is acid-forming, and you should take care to avoid excessive exposure. Living or working in a central city is very acid-forming, mainly because of the vehicle exhaust, noise and electrical pollution. Tobacco products are acid-forming, as are virtually all prescription drugs and over the counter medicines. Smoking or exposure to a smoky atmosphere robs your body of oxygen, lowering its pH.

These factors add to the toxic acid-forming load that decreases our energy, ages our bodies, and eventually causes a range of degenerative diseases. Getting obsessively serious about following the rules is the worst thing you can do. Relax and enjoy your life. If you make time for your health, you will gain many additional youthful years.

If you have no time to spare, your ill health will take that time.

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day

When you wake up your body needs replenishing with a healthy breakfast (‘break’ the ‘fast’). Eating nourishing food in the morning ensures that your blood sugar remains stable. Studies show that overweight and obese people often skip breakfast, but if you starve yourself in the morning, you are more likely to make bad food choices or binge-eat.

A healthy breakfast energizes your mind and body, keeps your moods stable and helps you focus on your daily tasks, whether you’re at school, playing sport or working.

Eggs are a popular high-protein breakfast food. One egg contains two thirds of the body’s daily recommended fat intake, of which half are good fats or low density lipoproteins. The dietary cholesterol in an egg only has a small effect on blood cholesterol levels, so it’s safe for healthy people to eat an egg every day. Chicken eggs are a great source of protein, most vitamins and especially vitamin B12. Most nutrition comes from the yolk while the proteins are found in the whites.

There are many healthy ways to prepare eggs: poached, boiled, scrambled or in an omelette. This delicious vegie-filled omelette serves one person. For two people, just double the ingredients (and use a bigger frypan).

One-Person Vegie Omelette

Ingredients
½ medium zucchini, grated
2 medium mushrooms. sliced
2 small cherry tomatoes, quartered
2 medium eggs
50 ml water
Olive oil

Sea salt and pepper to taste

Method
1. Place the egg in a small bowl and beat with a fork.
2. Use a small non-stick fry pan with a smear of oil. Add the prepared vegetables and cook for 3 minutes on medium heat until they have softened.
3. Pour in the beaten egg. As it cooks, use a spatula to loosen the cooked egg at the edge of the fry pan to allow uncooked egg to run underneath. Repeat until all the egg is cooked.
To Serve: Add two slices of whole meal or wholegrain bread for a well rounded, filling and nutritional start to your day.

The “Gift of Life”

I’d like to thank you personally for the fantastic presentation on POWERFUL NUTRITION at our school last week. In my sixteen years of teaching, of all the Mothers day presents, Fathers day gifts, Christmas goodies, portfolios etc, that I have given to the parents, I have never received so many thank yous from the parents. Certainly changing attitudes in young children begins with the parents. I can already see changes being made in the children’s lunch boxes.

I think your presentation should be renamed to the “Gift of Life’. Anyone who is prepared to make important changes based on realistic and easy to understand information will be given that – an extended happier & healthier life.

Shelly Coleman, Coogee Primary School

‘I have lost 9kg’

All I can say is WOW!!!!  Thank you for being so sensibly normal about diet/lifestyle.

The first seminar I was attending to support my wife. Here we go another person telling people about some fad diet” Well I was very wrong. Let me tell you a little bit about me.

I am 49 years old 6ft tall with high blood pressure. I have a very physical job & am very active. I was one of those people who could eat almost anything & not gain weight, but that has changed in the last 8 or so years. So I was watching what I ate but my weight was slowly going up not drastically but it was bothering me and I was losing my strength. I was looking around at other 40 something guys with massive bellies & thinking I don’t want to look like that.

I came home from your seminar, my wife & I went through the pantry & threw stuff in the bin. We made the changes. I have lost 9kg I have more energy, am stronger & I feel fantastic. Thank you, keep up the great work.

Philip Kilgallon

‘I feel less cloudy’

Thanks for a really interesting and powerful talk a couple of weeks ago. While I always had a concept of what is ‘healthy’, learning the actual amount of what we need to eat (fruit, veg, protein etc) was really beneficial. Since your seminar we’ve aimed to implement your plan of how much we should be eating and when, how much protein we should be eating and when, and making breakfast our largest meal of the day (and dinner the smallest).

Even these simple changes have had a huge impact on how I’m feeling. I feel like I have more energy, and I feel less ‘cloudy’ I suppose, it’s hard to describe. Our running training has been noticeably easier, and in only a week I’ve lost a kilo without trying.
We had a long weekend in Sydney recently which involved a lot of eating out and a birthday party, and we didn’t get nearly enough veg in, had too much booze and I’ve been feeling sluggish ever since. So I’ve been reminded how I used to feel most of the time.
I found that thinking about what I need to eat, rather than what I need to avoid has been good too. It’s not a mental state of deprivation, it’s one of abundance, and it’s great to be excited about wanting to eat what is going to make me feel energised and good.

To put things in perspective – I am very much a devotee of hot chips and a glass (or three) of wine, so I’m not by any means a health extremist. But now I just don’t want to eat all that other stuff – it’s weird, in all the years I’ve spent reading about nutrition and weight loss, I’ve never felt so compelled so easily to follow something. Not only do I carry in my head ‘live food and dead food’ all the time now, I am very much reminded of why we should be eating this way, and have tangible results that tell me my body is happier for it.

Emma

Freelance journalist and copywriter

‘I was blown away’

My 2 Primary age children attended your school sessions and I attended your Seminar with the teachers and parents.

Although consciously aware, I was blown away by the home truths you confirmed to us all in attendance. Whilst being amazed, feeling a bit (a lot) guilty and blatantly educated, I embraced your wisdom and emotion and though very serious, your humour.

My children, also astonished though enthusiastic, are willing to make big changes in our daily habitual motions to continue living and sharing more happy healthy happy lives.  I was generally a very health conscious person, till somewhere in the last few years, convenience and haste meant junk became more frequent in our lifestyle, cupboard and fridge…..guilt….. and I guess, we began slowly killing ourselves thinking the other kids have these things but my kids don’t and all that jazz.

Having attended your incredible slap-in-the-face awakening, I really wish my partner could have joined me yesterday to fully understand what the kids and I do.  He is hearing us yet your presentation was so powerful and direct I don’t think his eyes, ears and mind, see what we did. FANTASTIC!!!!!!

I believe in so much of what you levered out to those who were willing to listen and you have the ability to catch the attention of even those who were not.  Truly an amazing experience and I thank you for the opportunity to embrace the reality of the world we live in and your pursuit in changing bad habits of ultimately a sad painful life to death, into an excitable healthy happy bouncy sharing existence……of course that’s what we want!!!!! Hell yeah!!!

Proud Home Mum

‘Graphic Presentation’

I am 100% pleased I attended your seminar. What I found particularly useful was the explanation behind why and what we should eat. It was information I already knew but your graphic presentation made it hit home for me.

I know what foods make me feel good and feel bad. However, I still make bad choices, and I eat dead food with no consideration of the consequences. There seems to be a disconnect with my brain and body…. My brain knows it’s all bad but my body goes for it. However, your graphic explanation of food entering your mouth and then what happens from there was ideal.

You have managed to take me to the next level, where I am now putting my knowledge into practice rather than just storing it on the shelf at the back of my mind.

In a nutshell, your presentation was simple but very effective.  I dragged my boyfriend along and he was pleased he went. He too is making the right choices and taking more care. It’s great!  Men don’t seem to have the same concern for what they consume.

Anika

Enzymes

The ENZYMES in Juice Plus+ Complete are plant derived and are the Proteases, Lipase and Amylase that support Digestion of Protein, Fat and Starch. They ensure proper utilization and absorption of the other ingredients in the drink. As we get older, our Enzyme Systems become less efficient and our absorption of the Nutrients in our food is compromised.

Suggested uses of JP+ Complete:

1.  As a Smoothie – blend with Milk (if tolerated), Soymilk (preferable choice due to it’s

vegetable origin and it’s  more absorbable and alkaline  nature) and your favorite Fruit

eg strawberries, mango, banana etc

1. As a Smoothie – blend with water or soymilk, yogurt or tofu, rice milk or oat milk and add olive oil or flax seed oil or ground linseed for Essential Fatty Acids. Include a small amount of raw nuts and seeds as a Complete Meal or Snack.
2. Blend with soy or biodynamic yogurt and freeze as a Popsicle.
3. Use chocolate Complete in your favorite muffin recipe in place of cocoa.
4. Add 1 or 2 scoops to bowl of Fruit or Cereal along with milk and LSA (linseed, sunflower and almond blend) for a Nutritious start to the day.
5. Carry it everywhere in a shaker or container for an instant meal at any time of day!

Friendly Bacteria

The FRIENDLY BACTERIA in Juice Plus+ Complete are the Lactobacilli. They improve the balance of Micro flora in the intestine and they act as a protective barrier to prevent absorption of toxic compounds. They produce Vitamins, Immune – Enhancing compounds and Natural Antibiotic substances called Bacteriocins, which prevent the overgrowth of Yeasts and Pathogenic Bacteria. They also produce Lactic Acid, which lowers the pH of the Colon and helps Prevent Cancer.

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