Does a vegan diet help with depression?

My answer is yes.  The type of depression that I suffer from is linked to hormonal changes in my body (the actual diagnosis is Major Depressive Disorder, severe).  I am fortunate that I don't suffer from depression all of the time, only about 1 week every 4-5 weeks.  I currently take 3 different medications to manage my depression and they are working very well for me (yes, for some people antidepressants are a lifesaver!).

But taking the medications is not enough for me, I also have to be careful with my diet.  I started being vegan about 2 years ago as a desperate measure to help with my illness.  If you have suffered from mental illness, you know that you will try anything to make it better!  I noticed differences right away.  I also noticed that consuming refined carbohydrates and sugar make my depression/anxiety a lot worse.  That was sad news for me because I loved desserts and baking!

At first I didn't understand why my diet helped.  Then I read a book by John McDougall which explained a lot of the scientific reasons why a vegan diet helps with hormone-dependent depression (or even just regular PMS).  Here is a somewhat simple explanation taken from www.drmcdougall.com/med_hormone.html.  

First, the blood levels of our reproductive hormones (estrogen, progesterone, prolactin) are determined by what we eat.  A high fat diet will increase the levels of these hormones.  A vegan diet is very low-fat.  

Second, our body has a hard time getting rid of excess hormones when we eat too much fat, especially meat fats.  The liver produces a non-absorbable substance to attach to the estrogen so it isn't reabsorbed in the intestines.  But, a high fat diet causes enzymes to grow in the intestines that uncouple the estrogen from the non-absorbable substance, which causes the "free" estrogen to recirculate back through the blood.  Higher levels of free estrogen have been linked to breast cancer.  Fiber from vegetable foods helps to block the absorption of any free estrogen.

This explains why my depression is better when I eat a low-fat diet that is plants-based.  My hormone levels are lower, which causes my depression to be less severe.  Lower estrogen levels and the amount of time we are exposed to these levels impact our risk of breast cancer.  This is the reason why some people in Asian countries who eat a plants-based diet have a very low incidence of breast cancer.  Their diets aren't dependent on animal protein which is high in fat (even poultry and low-fat dairy products still raise the risk of cancer.  But more on that later).

Will a vegan diet help with depression that is not linked to hormone levels?  Again, I am not a doctor, but I think it would.  It's definitely worth trying, I started out thinking I would eat this way for 30 days and now it has been over 700.  For more information read "The China Study" by TC Campbell.

Baked Mexican Rice Casserole

This weekend I made this casserole recipe from the "Everything Vegan Cookbook" and I was reminded of its easiness and versatility.  You can eat it as is, or use it as taco or burrito filling, or make a salad with it.  Most of the ingredients are probably already in your pantry.

Baked Mexican Rice Casserole

Ingredients:

1 15-oz can black beans

3/4 cup salsa

2 teaspoons chili powder

1 teaspoon cumin

1/2 cup corn kernels

2 cups rice, cooked

1/2 cup grated vegan cheese (optional)*

1/3 cup sliced black olives

Directions:

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2.  Combine the beans, salsa, chili powder, and cumin in a large pot over low heat, and partially mash beans with a large fork.

3.  Remove from heat and stir in corn and cooked rice.  Transfer to a casserole dish.

4.  Top with vegan cheese and olives and bake for 20 minutes.

*a lot of vegan cheeses actually contain dairy in them!  Look for casein or whey in the ingredients list.  The soy cheeses I have tried haven't been that great, I usually prefer to put more salsa or guacamole on top of this dish.

* brown rice has more nutrients, fiber, and protein than white rice.  My favorite is brown basmati rice.  My kids though love jasmine rice which is white.  If you've never cooked rice before from the bag, here are simple directions:  

Bring 1 3/4 cup of water to boil in a saucepan.  Once it's boiling, add 1 cup of rice.  Cover and simmer for 20 minutes.  Turn off heat and let stand 5-10 minutes until all the water is absorbed.

MSG/Taco Seasoning Recipe

MSG

MSG is sneaky because it doesn't always say "monosodium glutamate" on the ingredients list for foods that contain it.  There are several other names that it goes by, and once you realize this, you will notice that a ton of foods contain it!  And it seems to be particularly common in the foods that I can't stop eating (Pringles, Doritos).  I guess that is why food manufacturers use it so often!

Other Names:

glutamic acid

yeast extract

any hydrolyzed protein

anything hydrolyzed

calcium  or sodium caseinate

autolyzed yeast

gelatin

soy protein, soy protein isolate, or soy protein concentrate

whey protein, whey protein isolate, or whey protein concentrate

There are actually 40 different names for MSG.  This website contains a lot more information, plus the side effects that MSG can cause:

http://www.realfoodwholehealth.com/2011/05/excitotoxins-msg-and-hidden-names/

I love questions, comments, and recipe requests!  Below is the recipe I use for taco seasoning.  It makes enough for several batches and I store it in an airtight container.  The flavor is much better than the store bought kind, and it contains no MSG.

TACO SEASONING with no MSG

INGREDIENTS:
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 teaspoon paprika

1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon black pepper

DIRECTIONS:

1.  In a small bowl, mix together chili powder, garlic powder, onion powder, red pepper flakes, oregano, paprika, cumin, salt and pepper. Store in an airtight container.


Note: I omit the red pepper flakes because it is too spicy for my kids. Also, spices bought in bulk at natural foods stores give it the best flavor instead of the little containers that have been in my pantry for years. 

So...what do you eat?

The first question I get when I tell someone I'm vegan is, "So what do you eat?"  It's usually followed by, "Where do you get your protein? What about calcium?"  but more on that later.  Switching to vegan was tricky at first, it was a whole new world with foods that I had never heard of before.  At first it's easy to concentrate on what you can't eat:  beef, chicken, pork, eggs, milk, cheese, ice cream (the hardest one!) and yogurt.  But after awhile you start to learn that you aren't just dropping these foods, you are switching them for other foods that you start to enjoy.  One thing that's way too easy to do is to become a "junk food vegan".  Oreos are vegan, along with potato chips and a lot of other snack foods out there that also contain msg, food dyes, and harmful additives.  I guess the proper explanation could be, "I eat a vegan plant-based diet which consists of whole foods and natural ingredients".  But try to fit that on a name tag :)

Here is a short list of foods that I eat on a regular basis.  

oatmeal (not instant)          

whole-grain cereals       

whole wheat bread   

natural peanut butter

jelly/jam with real sugar

soy milk

tofu

brown basmati rice

peppers/onions/garlic

broccoli/carrots/cauliflower

green leaf lettuce

tomatoes

seitan (made from vital wheat gluten)

veggie burritos/enchiladas/tacos

homemade refried beans

whole wheat spaghetti

black bean soup

pinto/kidney/black/garbanzo beans

homemade pizza with tomatoes and onions

homemade vegan muffins

all kinds of fruit

The items above are what we usually have for meals.  It seems that when cooking vegan, there is a list of things that you need to start out with, especially spices. But most recipes use these same ingredients so you don't have to spend a ton of money at the store.  I do love trying new recipes though and I hope to do that more often.  

One of the hardest things is making sure that I am preparing foods without msg (and its alternative names), high fructose corn syrup, food dyes, and the long list of other harmful additives that are in processed foods.  It means I have to make more things, like taco seasoning, enchilada sauce, pizza crust, spaghetti sauce, refried beans, etc.  It was hard at first but once I found good recipes that I liked, it got a lot easier.  It's also less expensive.  

I hope to post some good recipes soon!

And as a side note, my kids do

 not eat vegan all of the time.  They still have cheese and yogurt, but soy milk instead of cow's milk.  We are working on it slowly.  One thing they do love is tofu!

Welcome!

I always have a lot to say about nutrition and now I can post it here along with some of my favorite recipes.  I often try new things that work out great, and some that do not.  I devour books about nutrition and diets and now I can post my comments.  I'm pretty sure that only my sister will read this blog, but at least I will have my recipes organized and I can point people to my blog when they ask the question, "So what do you eat?"

I started this journey almost two years ago when a friend recommended that I read the "China Study" by TI Campbell.  She didn't tell me it was about a vegan diet.  If she had, I probably wouldn't have read it!  But I did, and I was amazed at the findings of this large-scale nutrition study and I wanted to see if a vegan diet would work for me.  I have been suffering from intermittent clinical depression and I was willing to do anything to help.  I decided to try it for 30 days and it really, truly helped my depression and anxiety.  I will post later about the science behind it all, but I have noticed that when I stick to my diet I have more energy, less depression, clearer skin, better lab results, and my clothes fit better.