JULIE WARD
Plant-Based Nutritionist, Fresh Food Alchemy, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Abstract

This is a personal story about healing depression with food and the subsequent research being done showing that food plays a major role in mental health. Depression can occur based on a combination of both internal and external factors. However, a change in diet can produce a reduction in the occurrence of depression. Part 1 of this topic will discuss my personal story as an unhappy child, the research linking the serotonin produced in the gut with mood; and gut inflammation with depression.  Part 2 will discuss the foods to avoid and include in one’s diet to positively affect mood.

THIS IS MY STORY

I was a happy young child. As I became an adolescent, I became unhappy. I had moments of happiness and fun, but my general disposition was to always feel bad, insecure, “down in the dumps”, afraid to socialize, lonely, and generally not interested in life or others around me.

During my adolescent years it didn’t help that I had pig tails, glasses, braces and was about a foot taller than everyone. 

I was often teased. Around 5th grade I noticed a real difference in my mood. I became more withdrawn, wary of people, didn’t want to socialize, and wasn’t really interested in anything. I developed a fear that everyone would pick on me, everywhere I went and they normally did. There were days, weeks and summers I spent in the house reading, drawing and playing alone. I believed I bothered people, and something was wrong with me. I believed I was born in the wrong place at the wrong time on the wrong planet and that no one understood me.

I had moments of happiness, that expressed themselves through creativity, but my general disposition was moody/sa ...