I recently reached out to my community to hear your diet-depression or diet-anxiety success stories in anticipation of the new SMILES diet depression trial, published last month and which I covered in a blog post last week. In that post I promised to share some real-life success stories on how diet changed people’s lives for the better!
I also shared that everyone who responded with success stories was following a more “evolved” diet than those who participated in the SMILES trial (the first randomized controlled diet depression study where ONE THIRD of the dietary intervention group saw improvements in their depression symptoms by switching from processed/junk food to real food with no specific dietary restrictions!).
What do I mean by a more evolved diet? Each of them was eating a real foods or traditional non-processed diet that was gluten-free, mostly or all grain-free and various permutations of the Paleo or cave-main diet.
The anxiety and depression success stories
Alice from Cape Town shared this about banting, a Paleo-type dietary approach that does include dairy products and has been popularized in South Africa by Professor Tim Noakes:
Three days after I stopped eating grains, my chronic depression lifted and has never returned (it’s three years later now). I had been a vegetarian most of my life, discovered in my early 50s that I was gluten intolerant, went off grains, started banting (Cape Town craze!) and have never felt better. Gut, mood, bones, energy, skin … all better!
Andrea shared this about her diet-mood results, also with a grain-free and high fat diet:
I happened upon a fat loss diet that had me cut out grains, most dairy, and sugar while focusing on mostly meat, fish, fats from nature such as butter, olive, and coconut oils. Nuts, seeds, and legumes were allowed too. These rules made it so I had to avoid processed foods. There was one day a week of eating anything.
Within 6 weeks I was shocked that I got much much more than fat loss. My depression, anxiety, mood swings, sleep issues and all but one pesky health symptom was left disappeared. I was stronger, faster, and felt energy I never remember having.
Holly shared how she healed severe depression and anxiety by changing her diet:
Over the course of a year and a half, I was given 10 different psychiatric diagnoses and cycled through 10 different medications. I discovered the healing power of diet completely by accident, and it changed my life. I now live with no diagnoses and no symptoms.
I started with the Whole30 (strict paleo), then went paleo, dabbled with a ketogenic approach, and now I eat a modified paleo diet, with some rice and goat dairy.
Krysti shared how diet reduced her severe mood swings and panic attacks:
I was dx with bipolar at 18 years old. Suffered panic attacks and the random severe mood swings that made absolutely no sense. I was sad for days to weeks only to be followed with unrealistic overly-exuberant highs where I had the energy of a toddler on sugar and the signature grandiose thoughts that I could simultaneously fly and conquer the world and do all the things! For a day. Then the next day felt numb. And resorted back to “cutting” just to feel something. I never cut for attention. In fact not even my closest friends knew I did it. It was for me and I hid it.
…my oldest sister introduced me to Paleo. I was soon dx celiac, cut out grains and have been med and *mostly* mood swing/manic free ever since. No panic attacks. I have never felt more emotionally stable. Even through the death of my youngest sister and big life events, my emotions have been that of a normal person. Explicable. Expected. Level. No extremes.
You can read their entire inspiring diet-depression stories and other ones in the comments on this blog.
Thanks to Alice, Andrea, Holly and Krysti for sharing your wonderful and very hopeful stories! It warms my heart and I know it inspires my community!
And here is my story again:
For me it was anxiety and panic attacks that resolved when I made dietary and other nutritional and lifestyle changes. I had been eating a vegetarian diet for a few years and I suspect the non-organic/GMO processed soy products (soy milk, soy yogurt, soy “butter” etc) were a big issue for me and damaged my gut. When I added back quality animal protein (grass-fed red meat, wild fish, pastured eggs and chicken), switched to organic produce, added healthy fats and removed gluten my mood improved dramatically. Now I eat a combination of a Paleo/SCD /low FODMAPS/low oxalate diet.
During the severe anxiety and panic attacks I also needed additional support in the way of the targeted amino acids GABA (this was a life-saver and stopped the panic attacks in a few days) and tryptophan, plus zinc, vitamin B6, evening primrose oil, a good multi and B complex and adrenal support. I still continue with some of these basic nutrients today.
My health issues have been complex as I’ve also had to deal with heavy metals, poor gut health and much more so I had what I call “a perfect storm” and yet diet has had such a huge impact for me!
Getting off medications
Lead researcher Professor Felice Jacka was quoted in an ABC article saying this in response to the SMILES trial:
people suffering from depression should not replace therapy and drug treatments with the Mediterranean diet.
Based on my experience working with clients and feedback I receive on the blog, finding the ideal diet and addressing all nutritional deficiencies often allows my clients to work with their doctors on eliminating all their depression and antianxiety medications. Other medications also go by the wayside: pain meds, high blood pressure meds, allergy meds, reflux meds etc.
What is Paleo?
I had the pleasure of hearing Australian Chef Pete Evans at an all-day Sydney event earlier this year, in celebration of the launch of his new book The Complete Gut Health Cookbook, with co-author Dr. Helen Padarin. He is a big time Paleo advocate and this is what he said on stage at the start of his presentation and wonderful day of cooking demos:
Paleo is basically a meat and 3 vegetables – it’s that simple!
To expand on this a bit…this means quality animal proteins like grass-fed red meat, wild fish, pastured eggs and chickens, organic vegetables (typically lower carb) and fruit, soaked nuts (if tolerated), bone broths, fermented vegetables and broths, and health fats like coconut and avocado. Many in the Paleo community say no to dairy and butter but I do find that some of my clients do fine with small amounts and some people do better with fermented dairy like kefir and yogurt or goat/sheep and even camel milk rather than cow’s milk.
I also got to meet both Pete and Helen at the book signing – they are both wonderful and very down-to-earth!
Can you imagine my surprise when Pete invited me on to stage to welcome me to Australia and share a bit about my work with diet and anxiety!?
Here is a 5 minute clip of me on stage with Pete and Helen where we talk about:
- How what we eat has a direct impact on our brains and how we feel
- How our gut bacteria make some of our brain chemicals like serotonin and GABA when we consume fermented foods [and other foods rich in amino acids and organic produce]
- The term “psychobiotics” coined by Dr. Ted Dinan ie. good bacteria that improve our mood
- Kelly Brogan’s wonderful work around depression and diet and medication tapering, and her great book A Mind of Your Own
- How quickly can diet lead to anxiety and depression symptoms improving and allowing you to get off medications? …biochemical individuality, diet alone, addressing gut health, adding fermented foods, addressing low zinc and other root causes, looking at gene defects
- Real food, liver, rooibos tea, herbs
- My story of anxiety and panic attacks and changing from a vegetarian diet to a modified Paleo diet
- The Anxiety Summit and my book The Antianxiety Food Solution as resources
As you’ve read with these success stories and heard me say on Pete’s stage, many people can do it with diet alone (even if their anxiety is very severe), many need additional nutritional support, and many need the targeted individual amino acids to get immediate relief from their anxiety or depression while they are looking for all their root causes. Many also need the amino acids to break their gluten and sugar addictions. But making the dietary changes are the foundation!
Stay tuned for more about Pete Evans, some of his recipes and gut healing protocols and the unfortunate grilling he’s been getting in the Australian media for advocating a Paleo diet! In the meantime, I will say that all his books come highly recommended!
In case you’re wondering about the research on the Paleo diet, while we don’t have a study that’s looking directly at anxiety and depression, we do have these papers on the overall benefits of a Paleolithic diet:
- January 2017: Benefits of a Paleolithic diet with and without supervised exercise on fat mass, insulin sensitivity, and glycemic control: a randomized controlled trial in individuals with type 2 diabetes
- June 2016: Paleolithic and Mediterranean Diet Pattern Scores Are Inversely Associated with Biomarkers of Inflammation and Oxidative Balance in Adults
- January 2016: Cutting through the Paleo hype: The evidence for the Palaeolithic diet
And in this paper co-authored by Professor Felice Jacka – Nutritional psychiatry research: an emerging discipline and its intersection with global urbanization, environmental challenges and the evolutionary mismatch, they mention
a potential evolutionary mismatch between our ancestral past (Paleolithic, Neolithic) and the contemporary nutritional environment.
We do, of course, have many studies supporting a diet-mood connection:
- Anxiety and Hypoglycemia Symptoms Improve with Diet Modification
- Western diet is associated with a smaller left hippocampus and anxiety
-
Integrative Medicine Approach to Pediatric Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder and Anxiety
-
Reduced anxiety in forensic inpatients – long-term intervention with Atlantic salmon
And Professor Felice Jacka shared this during our interview on The Anxiety Summit: The Research – Food to prevent and treat anxiety and depression?
One of the hypotheses that I had during the Ph.D. was that increased intake of animal foods would be toxic and would be associated with more mental disorders.
This did not turn out to be the case: In our study, out of every single dietary food grouping that I looked at including vegetables, fruits, salads, beans, etc the strongest correlate of mental health was red meat intake [grass-fed red meat of course.]
Consistently, women who have less than the recommended intake of red meat seem to be in an increased risk for common mental disorders [like anxiety and depression] and bipolar disorder.
She was referring to the results of her Ph.D. paper that was published in the American Journal of Psychiatry in 2010: “Association of Western and Traditional Diets with Depression and Anxiety in Women.”
Have you changed your diet to a Paleo way of eating and observed a reduction or elimination of anxiety or depression? Was a dietary change enough or did you need to address brain chemical imbalances and other nutritional deficiencies too?
If you’re a practitioner, have you seen results like this with your clients or patients?
I always thought diet was important. I actually cared about what I fed my family and made our family meals. I took great pride in this contribution to my family’s wellbeing.
Lo and behold – as my daughter entered high school, we discovered that she had been dealing with depression, anxiety and was self-harming – for several years without us knowing. After 2 years of trying to help my daughter through standard therapy and even neuro-feedback, in my desperate search to find relief for my daughter, I stumbled upon Trudy’s book. I took the chance of working with her based on her work (I loved that her book is so concise and easy to read).
This was the BEST thing I could have ever done for our family. Let me repeat, working with Trudy was the best thing I could have ever done and it made a huge, positive impact on my family’s well-being. Inspired by working with Trudy, I did my own extensive reading at the same time about Paleo, GAPS diet, and other books about the brain and diet. I had to eat a bit of humble pie about the whole vegetarian leaning diet my family had been on. Going gluten-free and eating more animal meats, well, this was a huge change. It took flexibility and courage to make new choices.
It has been so worth it. Yes, diet makes a big difference, even when you have been eating “healthy” before. My daughter is now in college and does not suffer from depression or debilitating anxiety. My husband’s health (which wasn’t even the target) made a complete 180 and he also has a calmer nervous system.
So grateful to every professional who writes books and blogs on the subject. Thank you, Trudy, for your amazing work! Blessings to you!!
Susan
Thank you for your very kind words – it’s wonderful to hear from you via the blog! I really do appreciate you sharing here! (and sending love to you and your family!)
Firstly it makes me so happy for your daughter, you and your family – even now that’s it’s been awhile since we worked together. Secondly I know how important it is for others to hear stories like this first-hand from mom’s like you who are doing their best and doing what they feel/think is right and then discovering there is more they can do. Your family is fortunate that you have an open and curious mind, searching for answers, being an avid reader and researcher and being willing to change. And yes to also eat humble pie – I hear you on the vegetarian part as I went in that direction too! We live and we learn.
It’s unfortunate how common it is that mom’s discover what what you did: “we discovered that she had been dealing with depression, anxiety and was self-harming – for several years without us knowing.”
What wonderful success stories from people! This is so important to share. I see this all of the time in my nutrition practice for children with autism. Diet can make a huge difference in their mental health: anxiety, sociability, aggression… and most people don’t know. The changes I have seen from grain-free diets has been very significant. If people want they can see autism diet success at: http://nourishinghope.com/category/stories-of-healing/. Keep up the good work – all of you!! Pete and Helen are awesome!! I love them! Wish I were there in Australia with you all.
Julie
Thanks for sharing about your work with diet in the autism community! So powerful and so inspiring! and yes nourishing hope too!
Hope you’ll come and visit us here in Australia in the not too distant future! I’d love to do a live event with you and Helen and Pete!
Hi Trudy,
Thank you for writing your book The Antianxiety Food Solution. It has brought me much clarity in the last few days!
I have done some research online and I have come across the condition of salicylate intolerance. Do you ever have patients that exhibit this intolerance? I have noticed that olive oil and avocados seem to make me light headed / tired and berries do somewhat of the same. Can it contribute to anxiety? I really haven’t looked into it much so it could be related to gluten or dairy as well, and I’ve only started the no-gluten diet a day ago. Is there a good way of telling whether you have this condition definitively?
I would love to hear any insight you have. Oh, I forgot to mention, I’m a 22 year old male.
Thanks!
Anson
So glad to hear my book is bringing you clarity!
While the Paleo and grain free diets are a wonderful starting point many people do have sensitivities with specific types of foods that are part of this way of eating: salicylates (fruits etc), oxalates (greens, berries, nuts etc), high histamine foods (broths etc), FODMAPs foods (certain starchy veggies, onions for some people etc) so these would also need to be considered for each individual. With suspect foods doing an elimination of one group one at a time is the best way to figure this out – logging carefully. Removing gluten is a good first step.
Trudy, I’m so happy you compiled all of these wonderful stories! It was an honor to contribute. I would also like to thank the others who shared. When people see firsthand accounts of success, it motivates them to try and to believe in themselves. The more we share, the more the food-mood solution goes mainstream! It changed my life completely.
Holly
A big thanks to YOU for sharing your inspiring and motivating story. I agree with you about how important it is to share and I appreciate you and everyone who has contributed here! Keep up the great work you’re doing!
I do want to be completely open and share with other blog readers that it was not only food changes that have had such an impact on your anxiety and depression. Since your initial comments on the SMILES blog in January (https://www.everywomanover29.com/blog/smiles-study/) you have written about how food changes got you to 70% and how much reiki (energy medicine) has helped you even further. I know you also used nutritional support for your adrenals and used some amino acids too. It’s seldom one aspect that we need to address but diet is the foundation as you’ve discovered.
Hi Trudy.
I was diagnosed with Pyroluria in 2012 and take KPU compounded prescription since then. My current prescription is 100mg of Zinc (all elemental by the way) from Picolinate, 75 mg of B6, 15 mg of P5P, Selenium 50mcg and Magnesium from Citrate 200mg. I take half on waking (empty stomach no problems) and half at lunch time. i also take 15 mg zinc at diner time and 160mg of Mag citrate at diner. 2 x EP0 Capsules (1300mg each) and Thorne manganese Bisglycinate (15mg) and some other things like 1g of Vit C, chaste tree x 2 caps per day, Some extra selenium (thorne) 4 times per week, some vitamin D 5000IU twice per week and some probiotics plus Thorne Basic B Complex once per day.
I’ve been lower carb paleo (no grains, no dairy, low carb), did the Gaps diet and have been on it for a while now, exercise daily (swimming, gym, cycling around and yoga regularly). I recently did the 23 and me test and still trying to analyse the results but see very clearly that I have one of the MTHFR red flag on one of the variants. That said I recently came across a man with Chrohns who swore by doing amino acid testing with Organix (Genova I think) and said it changed his life and he takes MAP amino pattern (https://www.vitamart.ca/map-master-amino-acid-pattern.html) will show you the ingredients and some red sea algae and they totally changed everything. I was unable to do the test at present but chose to try taking some amino acids. Notice the ones he recommended only had perhaps 8-10 amino acids but I found something locally called True Hope Freeminos. In looking back it’s quite different in the way it has 23 amino acids and also a few vitamins in the mix. Again the best went to show you is this link: (https://www.vitamart.ca/truehope-freeminos.html). I thought I’ll try it and probably I won’t see any difference but within a very short period of time I found myself so calm, dealing with everything without any worry and feeling like everything will always work out. Believe me at the moment I have every reason to be anxious. All the external things are there to trigger me as I’m about to return to Australia and don’t even have accommodation lined up and thinking of just packing my things and moving to Perth in the 1 week I have on arrival in the house I used to live in. Anyway, there is such a difference that surely I must be deficient in some of these amino acids. One worry I have if that the Freeminos I”m taking list Folic acid at 75mcg and I know that folic acid is a no no especially if you have a MTHFR variant (mine is RS1801133 MTHFR C677T +/+ AA)
So wondering if you could give me your thoughts on this. I mean I feel fabulous with taking 2 caps at lunch and 2 caps with diner of Freeminos. I’m wondering if the folic acid would be an issue and also whether I might try the MAP instead (no vitamin and no folate in there) but also whether the fact it has less of the various amino acids may make it less potent.
Thank you so much
Anne
Hi Anne
I’m afraid I can’t offer specific advice here on the blog. Many of my clients do very well on a blend of free form amino acids, other do better on individual amino acids like tryrptophan, GABA, DPA, glutamine and tyrosine. With any product I’d always make sure it contains folate and not folic acid. You are wise to be cautious about folic acid/folate and MTHFR as too much can increase anxiety as Dr. Ben Lynch shared here https://www.everywomanover29.com/blog/anxiety-summit-methylfolate-anxiety/
Hello Trudy.
Thanks for your comments. They help a lot. I wanted to mention to you because I know you talk a lot about individual amino acids. Doing the tests with Genova yearly is expensive and with the 23 and me and also getting a hair analysis done (results not in yet) for heavy metals I thought i would skip the testing and just try the freeminos. I will try something without Folic acid (although in this case I can really say this is not causing me any anxiety ). Can you recommend a supplement that has free from amino acids? I know Now Foods has one. The MAP one is expensive but I will try it if it’s the right thing.
Thanks for the link to the Ben lynch interview.
Have a lovely day/evening/night depending where you are. I’m in Vancouver right now but will be returning to Australia by early November (the rains are starting here so time to migrate south!).
Bye for now
Anne
How is one supposed to afford being on this diet?? Grass-fed meat? Salmon? Seafood? Every day? Coconut oil? Ghee? Organic Vegs and fruit? Supplements? Yeah, right. Only the upper middle class or above can afford to be healthy.
Rachel
Thanks for raising this question – it’s a good one! Surprisingly eating a quality nutrient-dense diet like this is not as expensive as you assume. Once folks stop purchasing soda, coffee, hot-chocolate, fast-food, jam, boxed meals, restaurant meals, boxes of cereal, bread, cookies and crackers etc there is actually extra money for purchasing real whole food. Felice Jacka actually reported this fact in one of her nutritional psychiatry papers.
Some other tips to help: join a good co-op, shop at farmers markets, buying veggies and fruit from a CSA (they deliver a box each week), growing your own veggies (at home) or in a community garden, finding a local beef/chicken/egg farmer.
Once we are healthier less will be spent on headache and pain OTC medications, doctor’s and dentist visits too.
We also need to make food expenses a priority in our lives and spend less on cars, cell phones and other gadgets.
It can be done! really!