If you ever wonder what to eat to beat depression, you probably already know that ice cream by the gallon is not going to make the list. Some folks find depression takes away any desire to eat at all. Either way, eating foods high in essential nutrients gives you your best defense against depression, and gives a little comfort to your soul as well.

To beat grey moods, eat Technicolor foods. Nature has been giving us easy clues for millennia. When foods are brightly colored and attractive, they are probably good for you, and they can be eaten like snacks. An easy trick to remember is that darker and richer the color, the more nutritious they are.

Some people feel better when they cook. Messing about in the kitchen certainly gives you lots of healthy food options, and is a rare opportunity to attack stress with a big, sharp knife. But if the mere idea of cooking makes you more depressed, there are plenty of foods to beat depression that work fine both in recipes or right out off the tree, bush or vine.

• Blueberries might be one of the healthiest foods on the planet. They are a powerful source of anti-oxidants and flavonoids, and have shown to benefit both your brain and circulation. Strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries share similar high nutrient value, and taste great. Raw berries have Vitamin C, and are a perfect finger food. If you can’t get fresh berries, frozen ones are good to have on hand, though better eaten with a spoon.
• Cherries have been used for centuries to treat inflammation, which can help ease some of the achiness of depression. Bing cherries are usually the sweetest, and are a treat for your senses.
• Raisins and other dried fruits pack a nutritional wallop. In fact, prunes rate highest on the riboflavonoid scale. Dried berries, cherries, and apricots are easy to store and easy to eat. Just be sure to drink plenty of water as well, so you don’t dry out yourself.
• Tomatoes, Carrots, Greens and more. If you are not well acquainted with your local produce department, it is time to make friends. Just follow your tastes and the bright color rule, and you can’t go far wrong. Deep green vegetables are an excellent source of B6, B12 and Folate, which are especially important to eat to beat depression.

Eat fish, flaxseed, or hummus for vital Omega3s. Research has shown a link between depression and a deficit of Omega3 fatty acids. Omega3 is also known to benefit heart health, circulation, and eye health, so adding more to your diet can help you in many ways.

Excellent sources of Omega3 are wild salmon, tuna, and flax seeds, and even chia seeds. If you are not a fan of fish, try hummus on whole grain crackers, or as a vegetable dip.

Turkey sandwiches for protein, carbs and tryptophan.  Turkey has long since moved away from just a holiday food, and that’s especially good if you are trying to beat depression. Turkey is a wonderful source of the amino acid tryptophan, which transforms into the feel good chemical serotonin in the brain.

The carbohydrates in whole grain bread help conduct the tryptophan to your brain, and provide B vitamins, and fiber. Turkey is also a low fat source of protein, which is important when you’re depressed. Use hummus instead of mayonnaise, add some tomato slices and dark fresh greens like spinach leaves, and you have a powerhouse anti-depression sandwich.

Dark chocolate is a mood lifter. In case you hadn’t heard, chocolate is good for you. Note I did not say “chocolates.” We are not talking bonbons or gooey candy bars here, which merely increase sugar cravings and create sugar crashes.

Dark chocolate by itself contains phenylethylamine, which has been shown to raise endorphin levels, and some compare to being in love. Chocolate with a cacao percentage of 60% works best, is lower in sugar, and if pared with nuts adds some protein and B vitamins. Melting some and dipping strawberries or dried apricots in it can make you feel truly indulgent.

Healthy comfort foods can make you feel cared for. When you were a child, did someone fix you special foods to make you feel better? Foods like chicken soup, eggnog, or custard? When you treat yourself to some of these foods, your body remembers what it felt like when someone else took care of you, and it relives those feelings of security and love.

Plus, some of our favorite comfort foods are truly good for us. Eggnog and custard, for example, contain protein from both milk and eggs, vitamins A, D, and B complex, calcium, iron, and lutein. Egg yolks also contain choline, which research links to a healthy brain.

Nature is abundant with what to eat to beat depression. And as long as you get the good things you need first, curling up with a little ice cream won’t hurt.

For further reading:

Foods That Harm, Foods That Heal, (2004), Reader’s Digest Books, Pleasantville, New York.

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In earlier articles, we looked at how to deal with the stress of unemployment. But how do you beat depression when you become unemployed? What you do when first lose your job can make a big difference in how you feel later. A large part of beating depression happens if you can head it off before it starts.

Write down every good thing about yourself that you can think of. You probably have a lot of good work experience, but you also have talents and inner qualities that go far beyond your resume. As soon as you have gotten over the shock of being unemployed, start a list of all the great things that make you who you are. It is important to do this at the onset, before job hunting starts taking bites out of your self esteem.

You don’t have to do this all in one day. Keep the list open, and whenever you remember some success you had, or a time when you made someone’s day, jot it down. Ask friends and family what they consider your best qualities. You might be astonished at how much good they see.

Get up and get dressed every day. You don’t have to wear a business suit, but prepare yourself to face the day like a person with things to do. The action of dressing is like putting on armor against depression before it can hit you. It also defends you against the lure of the sofa and mindless TV.

If you are looking through job listings in a newspaper or online, being dressed makes you feel more serious about your endeavors, and reinforces that you are a person worth paying attention to.

Start your day with some exercise. Exercise will help you feel stronger and more confident, and help you order your thoughts. Without a regular work routine, it can be easy for your thinking to become disorganized, which adds to any depression you may feel. A brisk walk or workout gets your can-do attitude in line, and gives you a better chance at organizing your day.

Skip the all at once approach.  It is not uncommon to hear of someone who sent out 200 resumes and then became thoroughly depressed when they got no response. So don’t set yourself up for a major fall. You’ll usually get better results if you research companies and approach a few at a time, with a targeted message based on what each of them needs.

Don’t become discouraged if you are screened by a machine. If you held the same job for a long time, it can be a shock to learn how the job application process has changed. Where once we might have dressed up and knocked on doors, now we may find we have to be cleared by a computer before a live person ever sees our application or resume…even if the person behind the door already wants to hire us.

Rejection by a computer can be horribly depressing, and make you feel like you’ll never catch a break. To beat the depression, take out your list of good qualities, read and re-read how super you are. Breathe deeply, stand up straight, and try again.

Do everything you can to take care of yourself.  Job hunting is no easy task, and it is far too easy to jump from feeling simply unemployed to feeling worthless. You need to feel worthy of care and love, and you can help by giving yourself good food, rest, and simple treats like long hot baths to keep your health and your spirits up.

Take steps not to get isolated.  The more you feel rejected, the more depressed you can start to be, and the less likely you want to go out and be involved in life. Consider asking a friend to phone you if they don’t hear from you for a while. If you are on a downward slide, someone who cares for you can do a lot to pull you back into the world.

Meditate or pray, and picture a brighter future. It can be hard to understand, but the reason you are unemployed may have nothing to do with you and who you are. I have a whole resume listing names of companies who bit the dust, taking me and sometimes hundreds of others down with them.

Spending time with whatever you picture as your source of abundance will help you rise above the challenges you face, and be your greatest weapon to beat depression when unemployed.

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When you are wondering what is the best way to beat depression, it helps to understand that no one solution stands alone. Some methods work better for some people than others, but all of the most effective treatments offer a multi-point approach. With a solid five part framework, you can design a plan that works the best for you.

1. Get Up.

The first step may sound simplistic, but if you’ve been hiding out in bed or wrapped up in a cocoon on the couch, you must get on your feet before change can happen. When depression first hits, you may need some quiet time to regroup and maybe just rest. But you should reach a point when your body instinctively knows that it has huddled up too long. Listen to your body and make a decision to get better.

Getting up is not easy. It may even be the hardest part of beating depression, because all you want to do is hide out and be left alone. But getting up is also your best weapon against the black hole that seems to be dragging you under. Your same mind that seems to have you trapped can also be your most powerful champion, if you give it the task of defeating how you feel.

2. Eat.

If you had a grandmother from “old country” it wouldn’t really matter what the problem was. The answer is always “eat”. There is real wisdom here, because if you’ve been in immobile for a while, chances are you are hungry and dehydrated, and your body and mind are both crying out for nutrients. Some turkey or tuna, some fruit, whole grains, and plenty of water will at least get you started. Find a good nutrition book for more details and check our earlier articles on what to eat when you’re depressed. The right foods play a key role in beating depression.

3. Move for 22 minutes.

Depression makes you achy and lethargic, feeling like you don’t even have the strength to stand. But if you can keep moving steadily, such as walking, after a while your body will release the same endorphins that give runners their “high”, and automatically relieve much of your pain.

I can’t say exactly how long it will take you to feel better, shoot for 20 to 30 minutes. It takes me about 22 minutes on a treadmill to go from “I can hardly take a step,” to “I could walk all day”.

Research has shown exercise to be as beneficial as anti-depressants in many cases, and without any side effects. As well as the endorphins, you replenish your oxygen stores, help your blood flow, and feel stronger every day.

4. Think better thoughts.

You may not realize it, but you if you are depressed, you probably already know how to meditate. Unfortunately, you keep meditating on your problems, and simply replaying how bad you feel. Guided meditation recordings can really help here. They take away the need for you to come up with your own more positive thoughts, and they redirect your mind to a better state.

There are often chemical imbalances involved in depression, but still to a large part thinking gets you down, and thinking can get you out. Yes, life may have dealt you a hard blow, but how you decide to react to it is up to you. Change how you think and you can change how you feel.

5. Forgive.

It is easy when we’re depressed to vacillate between blaming the world for our problems and blaming ourselves for the state of the world. Whatever it is that is beating you down, forgive it. Forgive yourself for not being perfect, and forgive everyone who ever expected you to be. Forgive life for its disappointments, and forgive yourself for disappointing others and yourself.

The more we can forgive, the easier we can breathe, and the more joy we can see. We can relax, we can appreciate all our life experiences, and we can be grateful just to be alive.

Beyond the Framework.

The five parts of this framework are only an outline of what needs to be in any strategy to beat depression. You can adapt it and fill it out as best suits your personality and individual strengths.

Some people are helped by herbal supplements such as St. John’s Wort or Sam-E, for short term depression. But check first with a medical professional. Serious, long term or debilitating depression may require a doctor’s care. Even medical treatment will be enhanced if you Get up, Eat, Move, Think, and Forgive.

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