In this newsletter…

• Introduction
• Depression Risks from Expansive Sugar and Expansive Credit
• Specific Food Strategies for Combating Depression
• Drugs and the Wisdom of Depression
• Chinese 5-Phase Theory and the Sugar-Depression Feedback Loop
• Winter Recipes: Cooking with Fire
• Recommended Reading & Resources

Winter is the season for the cyclical contraction of energy throughout plant and animal life.  Like a tree in the fall/winter season, whose energy contracts from its leaves and branches to be consolidated at its central core, it is meant as a time of physical rest and renewal for all forms of life.   On short cold days, energy naturally moves inward, a necessary step in its preservation and consolidation in advance of spring/summer’s cyclical awakening.

Chinese healers long ago saw, in their great wisdom, that the season winter was linked to the bones, the adrenals and kidneys, and “kidney essence.”  “Kidney essence,” the natural, finite core energy people receive from their parents at conception/birth was to be guarded and preserved.  The Chinese understood (see the 5-Phase diagram, below) that this core energy within the body was linked to our centered mind/spirit and to the core structure of our bones.  Intuitively, and often without much thought, we also recognize this link when we say such things as “I feel it deep in my bones;” “I am bone-weary;” or “I feel chilled to the bone.”

The Chinese, through their intuitive understanding, also appreciated the connection between the season winter, the most contractive of all seasons, and the element water, the most contractive of all elements. How fascinating!  We cannot squeeze water.  Water expands when heated, to form steam, and it expands when it is frozen, forming ice.

Before electricity and the light bulb, cultures generally lived in harmony with the seasons.  In the dead of winter, people in the Northern Hemisphere often slept as many as 10 to 14 hours a night.  In early New England Cape houses, for example, heat came only from the “keeping room” fire.  Inside, natural light was limited, with rooms lit by sun from a only few small panes since glass was expensive and windows allowed cold to penetrate.  People retired early and slept through the long nights.  To try to fight the nighttime frigid chill as well as darkness with a few mere candles simply required too much energy.  Anyone today struggling in winter through a power outage can well appreciate this.  What sound strategy for our ancestors to sleep long hours.  During the coldest months of the year, sleep helped to bolster their immune systems and body chemistry¹ when the “silver bullets” of antibiotics and modern drugs were not available.

Interestingly, our forebears’ formula for winter survival also incorporated lifestyle factors to fight depression and anxiety.  Family members each played a vital role in the survival and well-being of the household.  Members enjoyed a sense of their own positive contribution and connection to family.  Chronic stress, fast-paced living, habitual daily pressures, rapid change, technological “overload,” and financial uncertainties as we know them today did not exist then.  It was a time of simple pleasures and a comforting barter-based model of balance and moderation, with people living within their means.

The diet of our ancestors, based on locally-grown whole foods, as well as protein and natural fats from grass-fed animals (perhaps, too, some cod liver oil for its fat-soluble vitamins A and D) also supported good physical and mental health.  Healthy fats from grass-fed animals provided warmth while helping to keep hormones in good balance and promoting neurological health and emotional well-being.

Prepared, packaged, and fast food did not exist.  This fact alone helped preserve their physical and mental health:  It meant our ancestors ingested neither chemical food additives and preservatives nor excessive amounts of inflammatory omega-6 fats and trans fats, nor excessive quantities of sugar and refined flour.  Their traditional diet, based on whole foods and animal products from grass-fed² livestock, easily satisfied two of what we believe to be the most critical dietary rules for good physical and mental health:

• to obtain enough healthy fats, balancing omega-3and omega-6 fats in a ratio close to 1,1; and
• to maintain stable blood sugar levels.

Healthy fats, important for the building of permeable “smart” cell membranes for the proper functioning of cells and for intercellular communication, play a key role in neurological health.³. In addition, stable blood sugar aids memory⁴ and helps in the prevention of depression and mood swings. Healthy fats, whole grains, adequate and quality protein are all a part of good physical health and the depression/anxiety picture. Continue reading »

1. See December ’07 for discussion. [↩]
2. Meat from grass-fed animals provides a natural 1: 1 ratio of omega-3s:-6s.  Recall the general rule that omega-3s are the product of animals that eat leaves, while omega-6s are derived from the products of animals that ingest seeds.  Perhaps we have made red meat “unhealthy” simply by the way we raise cattle today, in crowded feed lots, sustained by antibiotics as they are fattened on GMO corn/soy  rather than the grass that is their natural food and to which  their digestion is geared.  When we eat commercial beef we are really eating GMO corn and soy. [↩]
3. Just think, since most cells in our body are replaced within a two year period and since the fats (especially the omega-3:omega-6 mix) that we eat every day directly translate into the composition of our cell membranes, we really have the ability to “reprogram” the way our body functions and the way cells communicate with each other just through the foods that we choose [↩]
4. New York Times, January 6, 2009:  “Elevated Blood Sugar Found Bad for Memory.” [↩]