What Are The Foods That Can Trigger Depression?

Foods are essential nourishment for the body. But, with how foods are produced and processed these days, many of them don’t provide nutrients anymore. In fact, they deliver nothing useful, only components that can be harmful to the body and overall health. While there are foods that can increase your energy and boost your mood, there are also those that offset chemicals in the brain, resulting in depression and exhaustion. Basically, it’s not that hard to avoid consumption of foods that may trigger depression and focus on the ones that can make you feel good. For people with depressive symptoms, it is better to buy organic food products and be more conscious of what’s written on nutrition labels. Having knowledge of what to avoid and what to focus on having will alleviate the effects of food on your mood and push you to be more proactive when it comes to the sustenance of your physical and mental health.

Below are foods that can cause depressive symptoms:

Foods high on pesticide

Foods that are grown with the prolific use of pesticide can aggravate mood and health. These usually are fruits and vegetables sold in supermarkets. Sadly, these foods become less nutritious because of how they’re grown. Aside from the fact that their nutrients are bled dry by such chemicals, they end up harming the body instead of flourishing it. To make sure that the nutrients of the fruits and veggies are still intact, opt for the organic kinds.

Foods high in sugar

The foods we consume have something to do with how the blood glucose reacts. Foods high in sugar may be regarded as comfort foods, but at the same time, they also cause blood glucose levels to take a plunge. This leaves you even more tired and makes you feel worse than you did before you gave in to your cravings. A high quantity of sugar in the blood results in insulin flooding the blood in order to clear glucose. It also leads to the body’s energy supply to be used up. Too much insulin in the body is associated with sleeping problems, nausea, hostility, and other multiple symptoms that are linked to depression.

Foods which are fat-free but high in sodium

You might think fat-free foods are ideal especially because you’re on a weight management plan, but these foods can also be filled with high amounts of sodium for the preservation of their freshness. Too much sodium in the body results in the retention of fluids, particularly in the extremities. Moderate amount of sodium is essential to sustain health. Some sodium is also crucial to make sure that no nutritional and neurological imbalances occur. However, too much of it can be detrimental, such as that it can trigger depression or worsen depressive symptoms linked to chronic disease, caused by a weak immune system and general exhaustion. Instead of going for fat-free food items, it’s healthier to eat low-fat foods in smaller portions.

Alcoholic drinks

Alcohol is recognized as a central nervous system depressant. This means you can have clinical depression regardless of your good health if you regularly indulge in late-night partying with unlimited booze. Alcohol intake brings out two issues as it activates depressive symptoms in people while also being used as means of self-medication. As you establish your tolerance, you also increase the need for a higher intake in order to feel the numbing effects of alcohol. Hence, it is important that you keep your alcohol intake to a minimum.

Foods with gluten

In some cases, depression is attributed to celiac disease, which is triggered by the consumption of gluten found in whey, barley, and rye. Celiac disease, as well as gluten sensitivity, is complex gastrointestinal problems that are recognized to affect your mood. There are two separate conditions at play here. One is malabsorption and the other is an immune system response malfunction. The latter happens when the body treats gluten like it would to foreign bacteria. This signals the immune system to subdue it in order to get back to its previous condition prior to being exposed. Moreover, several people suffer from gluten sensitivity or gastrointestinal upset with mental health problems that continue to be undetermined by medical professionals. It is also tough to diagnose especially when the correlation isn’t apparent. For this reason, it is crucial to be evaluated for this condition. In the case of diagnosis, patients are generally recommended to get rid of gluten from their diet as a way of curing this condition.