Mental Depression and Nutritional Deficiency

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Your mental depression may be related to your diet, in particular, your nutritional deficiency.

Mental depression and many autoimmune problems are chemically and environmentally related. Specifically, your mental depression may be due to the chemicals in your foods and the environment, which upset the normal functioning of neurotransmitters, resulting in imbalance of brain chemicals.

Unfortunately, many people with mild depression simply ignore their mental disorder, thinking their depressive episodes are no more than "seasonal blues"; while those with major depression are more likely to look upon medications as their "magic bullet."

Of course, mental depression, which is a complex mental illness, may be due to many factors. However, one common cause of mental depression is diet. Nutritional deficiency may play a pivotal role in manipulating the chemicals in your brain, which are implicated in different types of depression.

To illustrate, magnesium deficiency is prevalent among the Americans. Why is that? Due to lack of funding to support studies in this seemingly unprofitable area of research, there have not been many studies on the impact of magnesium deficiency on the American health.

Magnesium deficiency is responsible for many health problems, including allergies, panic attacks, cardiovascular disease, hypertension in children, and premenstrual syndrome. In particular, those individuals who are low in magnesium tend to be more likely to have emotional problems. If your brain chemistry is balanced, you can handle almost any type of stress. If not, then stress can exacerbate your emotional problems to the breaking point.

Physical symptoms of magnesium deficiency include twitches, cramps, muscle tension, muscle soreness, backaches, neck pain, constipation, urinary spasms, menstrual cramps, and difficulty in swallowing. Other common mental symptoms are insomnia, anxiety, hyperactivity and restlessness with constant movement, panic attacks, and premenstrual irritability. If you sigh a great deal, or have frequent headaches, you may be deficient in magnesium too.

Magnesium deficiency plays a critical role in mental depression. All chemical reactions in the body require an enzyme system to initiate the biochemical reaction, and magnesium is a critical co-factor in more than 300 enzymatic reactions in the human body. In addition, magnesium is responsible for neurotransmission abnormalities - the precursors of different types of mental disorders.

To reverse magnesium or nutritional deficiency, you need to change your diet. Magnesium is a youth-preserving mineral. As you age, your magnesium level declines due to poor absorption and inadequate diet. Two-thirds of elderly Americans eat less than 75 percent of the RDA for magnesium, and only 25 percent of Americans meet the RDA for magnesium.

Magnesium is found in whole grains, nuts, seeds, and legumes.

If necessary, take a supplement of 200-300 milligrams of magnesium. Given that you are living in a highly polluted environment, you should take a high dose of multi-vitamins and multi-minerals, and large doses of omega 3 fatty acids, if you are not consuming a great deal lot of fish, such as salmon.

Dr. James D. Gordon of Georgetown University School of Medicine recommends:

"Eliminate foods that are heavily processed and have been adulterated in any way with any kind of food additive, preservative, coloring, artificial flavoring, artificial sweetener. Aspartame has been shown to cause serious brain damage in animal. . ."

The rule of thumb, according to Dr. James Gordon, is simple: Eat whole foods. You were created to eat whole foods, not pop tarts.

If you think you can eat a whole food, and then a processed food occasionally, you will still be getting the nutrients from you whole food, think again! The chemicals, hormones, and antibiotics from a processed food may have significant long-term biological effects on your intestinal functioning, and thus preventing you from taking in nutrients from you whole food.

According to Dr. James Gordon, you should eliminate all types of sugar, except honey or rice syrup. Look at the concentrated sugar content in every Coke and other carbonated beverages that flood the consumer market. Remember, food manufacturers have everything to gain, and you have everything to lose, except your weight.

Your mental depression may be a diet-related mental disorder.

Copyright (c) 2007 Stephen Lau

Article Source: http://depositarticles.com/

Stephen Lau is a researcher, writing synopses of medical research for scientists. His publications include "NO MIRACLE CURES" a book on healing and wellness. He has also created several websites, including "Longevity For You" , "A Healthy Lifestyle Is The Way Of Zen" and "Chinese Natural Healing For Health Rejuvenation." www.longevityforyou.com www.zenhealthylifestyle.com www.chinesenaturalhealing.com

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