Wednesday, October 3, 2007

Mental Depression and Nutritional Deficiency

Mental Depression and Nutritional Deficiency
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.


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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."
http://www.longevityforyou.com
http://www.zenhealthylifestyle.com
http://www.chinesenaturalhealing.com

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