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Depression by Mary-Ann Shearer |
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For most of my life I suffered from depression, although as a child I was not aware that it was depression as such, but rather used to be filled with sad and morbid thoughts. I remember always feeling left out and telling my mother that no one wanted to play with me, I would cry for seemingly no real reason and always felt sadness inside. My family used to call me “sad sack”. As a teenager I started having thoughts of suicide and at times planned to take my own life in great detail. The only thing that stopped me was that I remember my Methodist Sunday School teacher telling me that I would go to hell if took my own life – I now believe that only God knows how desperate people can become and am sure He will deal with each individual according to their circumstances. I have not found any scriptural foundation for this teaching, other than “Thou shall not kill” , but do we interpret that as only other people or include ourselves and animals? Anyway, I met a wonderful man, Mark nearly 30 years ago and we married a few years later. He is an exceptional husband, very supportive and loving at all times, yet my depression became worse, to the point where I collapsed and was in bed for some time and became barely functional and unable to really care about anything or feel anything. I just wanted to die. This sounds pretty mild, but in between the depression I would some days feel quite hyped and want to take on the world other days I had the most awful mood swings and break things like crockery by just flinging it to the floor. I just thought I had inherited my father’s mood swings. My husband thought I had lost my mind, but some how he just hung in there. (For which I am eternally grateful.) Anyway, when the doctor came, she basically said I had a chemical imbalance of the brain called manic depression (now referred to as Bi-polar syndrome or depression) and that I needed to go on medication for the rest of my life. This was something I refused to do as I believed that my body would correct itself if I found out the reason it was chemically out of balance. Having had an interest in health most of my life, I started looking at my diet and got hold of a book called “Sugar Blues” by William Dufty (Warner Books). Overnight my whole life changed. I had been using brown sugar to make my fudge, kept preservatives out of my diet and trying to eat unprocessed foods, but then I removed all processed sugar and replaced it with fresh and dried fruit. Besides the days of withdrawal - extreme tiredness, headaches, irritability, which was nothing really new as I suffered from this most of the time I began to notice a lightness to my mind, it was hope, I had began to feel hopeful, like I had meaning and purpose to my life. This was something I had always wanted but it seemed to evade me. As a committed Christian I found this very frustrating as I believed that once my spiritual life was in order everything else would fall into place. Well being able to pray and talk to God made a huge difference and on many occasions I cried out for wisdom to make the right choices in life. I believe that God led me to read certain books and move in certain direction. This is what I have found Refined sugar and alcohol are on a par when it comes to causing depression. Both substances affect the Central Nervous system including the brain in a variety of ways. There seems to be a connection between alcoholism in families and depression. My personal belief is that some people require a lot more glucose than others to function optimally. They will get this from either alcohol of sugar although fresh fruit would be the best option. When consuming refined sugar and alcohol, they also upset the endocrine system and in turn the blood sugar. One of the know symptoms of low blood sugar is depression. Others are Fatigue, Irritability, Indigestion, Headaches, Overweight, alcoholism, pre- menstrual tension, numbness, joint pains, nightmares, epilepsy, hyperactivity, anxiety, forgetfulness, breathlessness, migraines, food carvings, Vertigo, Muscular stiffness, blurred vision, fainting and black outs, lack of sex drive, angina, stomach cramps, neuralgia, narcolepsy, depression, poor concentration, panic feelings, asthma, excessive smoking, sweating, phobias, cold hands and feet, convulsions, allergies, suicidal tendencies, stomach ulcers, fear of wide open spaces, ringing in the ears (tinnitus). Most of these symptoms can affect they way you feel and think about life and yourself. This in turn can affect your relationships, your work, in fact everything in your life. Taking antidepressants is not the answer, these are just some of the side effects;
For more on the side effects of specific drugs go to the following links and.. Other causes of depression that are controllable by you are lack of essential fatty acids. These fatty acids are needed for just about every function and the best sources are from raw plants foods that are high in fat such as avocado, raw nuts and seeds, olives, sweet corn on the cob, dark green leafy vegetables (barley leaves are the most nutritious and I find Barleylife to be the best available), and flax seed oil. Then working under artificial lights and not getting daily natural light out doors and lack of exercise are just some of the factors affecting and possibly causing depression. Exercise release natural endorphins which give you a wonderful sense of well being. Sunlight helps produce neurotransmitters that make you feel good and sleep well. There are of course numerous other factors beyond our control such as sever trauma, but I have found in people that even have depression as a result of this benefit from a change in diet and lifestyle, I suggest an immediate change to The Natural Way 5 steps (see video, tape, Healthy Kids and recipe books 1 & 2) Inclusion of the basic Natural Way principles as found in my book The Natural Way, in particular the chapter on Nutrition and the mind, (chapter 5), Exercise and Sunlight and removal of all refined sugar (white or brown) alcohol (which can also be formed in the stomach from badly combined meals - see chapter 3) will go a long way to preventing and reversing depression. Make sure you are eating at least 6 pieces of fresh fruit daily to start with, either in between meals, as a meal or 30 minutes before meals. Other books that you may find helpful are... SAD (seasonal affective disorders) by Angela Smyth published by Unwin New Low Blood Sugar & You by Carlton Fredericks published by Pedigree
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