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Whole Foods vs. Supplements Is there a quick fix to healing depression? Or, for that matter, to creating health? If you look around you at in the health food store, you might think the answer is supplements. Don't get me wrong. Supplements can be a important part of filling in gaps in our diet. With regard to whole food vs supplements there are some supplements that are whole-food based, which are good to use to fill in the gaps, especially with vitamin B12 deficiency. However, the reason that supplements have become so popular today is that WE'VE COMPLETELY LOST OUR CONNECTION WITH FOOD and are using supplements to give our bodies the very basics. But supplementation is a very slippery slope. For one, they are often very difficult to absorb. Many contain toxins that we shouldn't be putting into our bodies. Often they are synthetic analogs to vitamins that some think may cause negative effects in the body. On the other hand, food is the perfect source of nourishment for our bodies. REAL food, that is. It's what nature has created for this purpose. Think about this for a moment. Human beings have lived for millenia eating particular foods -- foods like raw milk, and seafood, or meat from pastured animals -- and today, we eat a tremendous amount of processed foods like protein powders and processed soy. Our bodies are not designed to digest these "foods." Our disconnection to food is related to depressionFood is one of the greatest pleasures in life. Since we've begun recording history food has been an important component to mark the important passages of life.Food is sensual, creates opportunity for socialization, and importantly, it provides a strong connection to nature. When we lose access to real, natural foods -- we lose this connection, and I think it is natural to become depressed as a result. In other places on this website I discuss the physiological, nutritional reasons for depression. But I believe that there is a spiritual aspect to food, as well. To begin viewing food as a source of spiritual sustenance is part of the healing process that is crucial to healing depression.We've been so conditioned by our government's warnings against saturated fat that we avoid foods like butter, eggs, and natural meats.However, eating butter makes me happy! It is far superior to synthetic margarines in terms of flavor, texture, and fragrance.
The smell of butter melting in a pan to sautee vegetables can actually lift the mood of our home.My infant son becomes excited at this smell, waving his hands and yelling, demanding whatever I'm cooking!Perhaps our bodies know on some level that butter contains cholesterol, which works to support neurotransmitters naturally, and fight depression? Perhaps our natural desires for fats are part of our bodies' innate wisdom? By denying our bodies fats, we begin craving foods like sugars, and eat more processed, instant-gratification foods, that only fuel the emotional roller-coaster of low-blood sugar as opposed to the steady, even flow of energy that fats provide us. Perhaps on some level our bodies know that butter is a rich source of vitamins A and D, crucial to calcium absorption, thereby supporting bones.
But, perhaps, most importantly:
Butter is a satisfying food, allowing us to feel full, and thereby crave less sweets.Butter is a source of medium-chain fatty acids, which are utilized by the body for energy, and NOT retained in fatty tissue -- fat stores in the body are made of longer chain fatty acids found in polyunsaturated fats like corn oil and made from carbohydrates.Additionally, if we don't eat fat, then we generally fill up on carbohydrates, which converts to fat on the body.
Digestion is Key"All diseases begin in the gut." --Hippocrates, (460-270 B.C.)"The primary seat of insanity generally is in the region of the stomach and intestines." -- Phillipe Pinel (1745-1828) the father of modern psychiatry. Gut health -- the balance of both good to bad bacteria in our intestinal tract, is crucial to our health. Our immune system -- the system by which we rid our body of toxins and destroy bad bacteria with the good -- is primarily located in this region. When we are unable to process out toxins in our bodies through the intended method -- our digestive tract -- we use other means of exit like our skin or lungs. This is why it is so common to see children with leaky gut syndrome with asthma and eczema. Traditional foods like raw milk and lactofermented vegetables contain adequate enzymes and good bacteria so that they replenish our intestinal tract on a daily basis. Foods like real bone broths contain valuable gelatin that soothes and strenthens the intestinal wall, also supporting our immunity. Processed foods and refined grains deplete our intestinal supply, and also are difficult to digest. They work against us. Refined white flour products are deleterious to our health. Grains have been consumed for centuries, but prepared in similar ways in order to pre-digest difficult proteins like gluten through souring, or fermentation. It is important to look to our past in order to heal our future.
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