Lethargic? Depressed? Pepita!

4.27.11 Add pumpkin seeds to your diet to increase both your energy level and mood. Pumpkin seeds contain tryptophan, a compound that naturally helps fight feelings of depression, and half a cup provides about 50% of your recommended daily intake of iron. Read more about the benefits of pumpkin seeds here.

Fish to choose from to avoid high mercury levels

4.25.11 So we learned that fish consumption helps with depression. But when taking into consideration the toxicity levels of certain species of fish I wasn't sure which ones to choose from at the supermarket. Until I bumped into this helpful list prepared by Dr. Miller; "Safe to eat 2-3 times (or 12 ounces) per week" Farmed Abalone, Arctic Char, Anchovies, Catfish (U.S. farmed), Caviar (U.S. or French farmed), Farmed Clams, Crawfish, Herring, Hoki, Farmed Rainbow Trout, Wild Alaskan or California Salmon, Sardines, Squid, Farmed Striped Bass, Farmed Sturgeon, Pacific Flounder, King Crab, Scallops, Pacific Sole, Tilapia, Sand Dabs, Shrimp. This means we should have Eel, Tuna, Sea Bass, Atlantic-Farmed Salmon etc. less frequently. Which are of course sushi favorites!

Feeling gloomy & depressed?

4.22.11 "...Finland, for example, researchers have compared Finns who are not depressed with those who are in order to learn about differences in their diets. What they found was that it all boiled down to fish. Non-depressed people ate fish more often than their depressed counterparts. The studies concluded that eating fish two or more times a week was linked to a 50% lower rate of depression!" from the best selling book The Jungle Effect by Daphne Miller.