Exercise, for example, is often prescribed for people suffering from depression, but diet can also play a part.
The NHS explains: “Exercise and a healthy diet can make a significant difference to how quickly you recover from depression. Both will improve your general health as well.
“A healthy diet can help lift your mood. In fact, eating healthily seems to be just as important for maintaining your mental health as it is for preventing physical health problems.”
Mental health charity Mind advise on their website: “A poor diet and lack of sleep and exercise can affect your mood, and make it harder for you to cope with difficult things going on in your life.
“Although a poor diet cannot directly cause depression, it can make you more vulnerable to developing it.”
But one food in particular is bad for those suffering from depression - and quitting it could have a positive effect on symptoms.
Naturopathic nutritionist Julie Haigh explained to Express.co.uk that sugar is best avoided for better mental health.
This is because of the candida overgrowth it causes in the gut - one of the outward signs of which is depression.
Good gut health is linked to a positive mental health - Mind explained: “Your state of mind is closely connected to your gut, not just because of your physical comfort, but also because your gut uses many of the same chemicals as your brain, and communicates with it.”
Julie explained: “Not only can a diet rich in sugars have detrimental effects on our heart, it can also be devastating for our gut, as sugary diets can cause an overgrowth of candida in the gut, which in turn leads to health issues.
“It is true that candida can be found in healthy guts, but the presence of excess sugar can feed candida and cause it to grow out of control.
“This overgrowth can in turn penetrate the walls of the small intestine, which can allow food and toxins to enter the blood stream, leading to an autoimmune response by your body.
“Outwards signs of this can include depression but also fatigue, brain fog, headaches, and IBS.
“So even if your symptoms do not appear to be directly linked to the gut, it could be a sign that your sugary diet is impacting your health. To combat this, it is essential to tweak your diet to reduce your sugar intake.”
Julie recommended www.candidadietfoods.co.uk for those looking to reduce candida overgrowth.
For help and more information on depression, visit www.mind.org.uk
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