Alternative Health Blog

If you slice the United States in half horizontally, as if our country were a cantaloupe, then you can assume anyone who lives in the upper half is at higher risk for seasonal affective disorder or SAD. This “winter depression” is caused by lack of exposure to daylight and marked by feelings of low energy, anxiety and diminished joy.

While we all know that lightbox therapy and noontime walks are recommended, there are also effective strategies for your eating plan and which dietary supplements to take. One recommendation on the food side is to make sure your meals include lean proteins and even healthy fats to offset the increased SAD cravings for carbohydrates. A great dinner to eat once or twice a week would be a portion of wild salmon (you can broil it rubbed with olive oil, then sprinkled with tamari, lime juice and a couple smidges of sea salt), brown rice and some dark leafy greens. The salmon is a brain and mood booster, while brown rice is a whole grain with B6 and B12 vitamins, both key to emotional health. The leafy greens bring you folic acid for further mental balance.

Adding quinoa, nutritional yeast, turkey and soybeans (go with edamame, steaming them in the pods, lightly sprinkling with sea salt, then pulling the pod through your teeth to eat the beans, get a bit of salt, then discard the pods) can all enhance your SAD-challenged mood by providing tryptophans.

Items to avoid: Processed foods and too many “simple” carbs; as for caffeine, it is tempting to drink more during winter months when in fact less is better for SAD symptoms. You can try switching to green tea after 12 noon.

Your eating habits can make a difference. Eat smaller meals and snacks so that you get some “fuel” every two to three years; avoid long breaks without food. Plus, you’ve heard this before, but drinking enough water each day (emphasis on “each”) can help more than you think.

Dr. John Hibbs, a naturopathic physician at Bastyr University in Seattle, where risk for SAD is high, says supplementing with 400 IU of vitamin D is effective of his patients. He says it works to ease depressive symptoms.

Hibbs says another idea is taking a melatonin supplement before bed. He says “small amounts are quite safe.” Start with no more than three milligrams, the most common dose for supplement products. If you feel groggy upon waking up or during the morning, reduce your dose to as little as one milligram. Hibbs says melatonin helps his SAD patients who encounter sleeping problems during the winter/low-light months.

And taking a noontime walk can provide some vitamin D while clearing the mind. Take a friend with you. S/he might be feeling the same as you.

Bob Condor blogs for Alternative Health Journal every Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.