Anti-Inflammatory Diet

Q: I was just wondering if you knew of any cook books or websites specifically aimed toward correct vegetarian diets? I am trying to avoid processed foods as much as possible as well as all meats, but due to the fact that I am so picky and don't eat a wide variety of foods, I'm concerned about getting and maintaining my correct nutrition levels.

A: Thanks for the question! I think your new nutritional efforts are great! Here is the best way I know to eat healthy and add to a very healthy lifestyle: The Anti-inflammatory Diet.

A very helpful link is noted below. It is quite technical talking about ratios of different food categories to provide a nutritionally balanced diet. The basic tenets: Eat two servings of fresh or frozen vegetables and/or fruit for each meal. Try to eat more vegetables than fruit and of varying colors. Eat low-fat protein with each meal. Cook foods and eat bread with extra-virgin olive oil or canola oil. Try to eat at least 2 servings of fish per week; if not, take a fish-oil supplement or a plant-based (algae) omega-3-fatty acid supplement.

Here is the helpful link:
http://www.drweil.com/drw/u/ART02012/anti-inflammatory-diet

Hope that helps!

Processed and Fatty Foods Linked to Depression

Published on Yahoo! News: Mon Nov 2, 10:41 am ET

LONDON (AFP) – A diet heavy in processed and fatty foods increases the risk of depression, according to British research published on Monday.

Researchers at University College London also found that a diet including plenty of fresh vegetables, fruit and fish could help prevent the onset of depression.

They compared participants -- all civil servants -- who ate a diet largely based on "whole" foods with a second group who mainly ate fried food, processed meat, high-fat dairy products and sweetened desserts.

Taking into account other indicators of a healthy lifestyle such as not smoking and taking physical exercise, those who ate the whole foods had a 26 percent lower risk of depression than those who ate mainly processed foods.

People with a diet heavy in processed food had a 58 percent higher risk of depression.

The researchers put forward several explanations for the findings, which are published in the British Journal of Psychiatry.

Firstly, the high level of antioxidants in fruits and vegetables could have a protective effect, as previous studies have shown higher antioxidant levels to be associated with a lower risk of depression.

Secondly, eating lots of fish may protect against depression because it contains high levels of the sort of polyunsaturated fatty acids which stimulate brain activity.

And they said it was possible that a "whole food" diet protects against depression because of the combined effect of consuming nutrients from lots of different types of food, rather than the effect of one single nutrient.

The researchers concluded: "Our research suggests that healthy eating policies will generate additional benefits to health and well-being, and that improving people's diet should be considered as a potential target for preventing depressive disorders."

The study was carried out on 3,486 people with an average age of 55, who worked for the civil service in London.

Each participant completed a questionnaire about their eating habits, and a self-assessment for depression.