Fighting Depression, With Food?

I think we all, if we're forced to fess up about it, have some sort of sense of what is better for us to eat, depressed or not depressed, and what is generally--how to put this delicately--junk?

I mean, if the foods you see below make up, say, 87% of your diet, we all have a sense that that's less than ideal, right?

But now there's real, solid research that indicates that staying away from processed foods has preventative measures, when it comes to depression.

Entitled "Dietary Pattern and Depressive Symptoms in Middle Age" (and I see no reason why I can't count myself among the middle aged, so no comments, please), published by Dr. Tasmine N. Akbaraly et al in the British Journal of Psychiatry, the article concludes that a diet rich in processed food--in contrast to a diet rich in whole foods--is actually a risk factor for depression. They conclude:

"Our results suggest a protective effect of an overall diet rich in fruits, vegetables and fish, whereas an overall diet rich in processed meat, chocolates, sweetened desserts, fried food, refined cereals and high-fat dairy products seems to be deleterious for depression."

Now, that's unpleasant, I admit, particularly to those of us who think a chocolate omellette, then a Nutella sandwich, and, finally, salmon in white chocolate sauce, comprise a satisfying breakfast, lunch and dinner menu-provided the salmon meal is topped up with Hershey Kisses.

[Frankly, I think the word 'chocolates' just snuck itself in there by mistake, and when I read it I assume it's just a typo.]

But, as one of my friends, a real southerner with a perfect drawl, once informed my adolescent daughter, complaining about some nonsense: "There's a lot of things you're going to find out about in this life, my dear--and most of them ain't pleasant."

Do it for yourself--start cutting down on those empty caloried, high-processed foods, and add unprocessed foods, add fish, fruits, nuts and veggies. So maybe you'd never have been prone to depression in the first place, and thus wouldn't need this kind of diet. Well, looking it over--it really can't hurt you much anyway, can it?