The impact of protein on my mood

A few years ago I had a horrific relapse of depression. It was brought on by a difficult relationship that ended badly. My mood swings were huge and some days I feared for my life. Even worse, all the things that normally worked to stabilise my mood had no impact. It took me quite a few months to work out that maybe the hormonal instability that comes with menopause was part of the problem. Even when I did, the treatment options seemed limited. I didn’t want to do Hormone Replacement Therapy even if I could have found a doctor to prescribe it.

Luckily I stumbled on something that helped quite by accident, looking for a book on how to lose weight (again!) The book I picked up recommended a diet very low in sugar and pointed out that the body processes any refined carbohydrate (such as flour) as if it’s white sugar. The author put forward evidence that this not only affects blood sugar levels but also serotonin levels in the brain, making it a double whammy for sending mood sky high and then dropping it through the basement again. This is particularly a problem for people who are very sensitive to sugar.

I did the sugar sensitivity test and found I scored very highly. Figuring I had nothing to lose I started the diet. Some aspects of it were not so helpful, but gradually my moods started to stabilise. I was also doing a lot of other things (see my post yesterday for details of the whole list) but the change in diet made a real difference. Finally I worked out that I didn’t need to do the whole, complicated diet – all I really needed was to eat protein as part of every snack and meal. The acid test was when I forgot and just had carbs on their own. I usually realised I’d done this when my mood plummeted for no apparent reason and I could trace it back to the moment I last ate something. Now I’m religiously careful about eating protein with everything. I can’t provide any stunning scientific evidence to support it but for me it really seems to work. As an added bonus not only did I get more emotionally stable and less depressed, but on this diet I feel calmer and get angry far less often than I used to.