My Review of “Eat to Beat Depression & Anxiety” by Dr. Drew Ramsey
Depression is not an unknown stranger to me. I started struggling with it massively when I was a teenager. A few months or so ago, I came across a brilliant psychiatrist named Dr Drew Ramsey.
Long story short: his book changed my life!
Backtrack to My Depressed Days
When I was a teenager, I struggled with anxiety, depression, and a lot of fatigue. I was tired… all the time. I was on the hunt for answers.
I was insecure, eating an unhealthy diet, and addicted to sugar. By the grace of God, I discovered a book called “The Maker’s Diet” by Jordan Rubin and also discovered Dr. Josh Axe on YouTube.
While I didn’t find a lot of specific correlations with mental health and nutrition, intuitively, I knew there was a big link between the two.
I noticed that when I ate crappy food, I felt more negative emotions.
Vice versa, I noticed that healthy food made me feel light, happy, and energetic.
I knew that there was a huge link between mood disorders and nutrition, but I wanted to find out why exactly.
The Depression Cure by Dr. Stephen Ilardi
In my early 20’s, I was recommended a book by my life coach, Stefan James from Project life Mastery.
The book is a smorgasbord of practical, easy-to-implement strategies for beating depression.
In a nutshell, here’s his program:
- Eat brain food
- Aerobic Exercise
- Stop ruminating
- Light therapy
- High-quality socialization
It was a great book! However, I wanted to know more about nutrition in the brain food section of the book.
His main focus was supplementation, which is great, but I believe that a person’s overall diet should be the main factor in nutrition. Supplements are called SUPPLEMENTS for a reason.
Finally, I Discovered Dr. Drew Ramsey’s Book
After reaping a ton of benefits from The Depression Cure, I found Dr Drew Ramsey on YouTube.
What he said made so much sense, I bought his book faster than a cheetah on Red Bull.
Easy, Delicious, & Simple
What I love about Dr. Drew Ramsey is that he’s so freak’in practical. There’s no fads, difficult protocols, or any of that garbage.
There’s way to many people out there recommending difficult diets.
Look, let’s be honest. Life gets in the way. When you have mental health problems, sometimes you stop caring about your health and grab a box of donuts. Heck, I can gobble up a box of donuts in one sitting.
Dr. Ramsey’s “diet” isn’t even a diet. It’s just adding it more foods that are healthy for your brain and create this little thing called “happiness”.
His recipes are affordable, tasty, and easy-to-make.
You’ll not only give your body the raw construction materials to build new brain cells, but you’ll be eating better than ever and you’ll wonder how you ever ate crappy pro-depression foods to begin with.
The Six-Week Plan
Eat to Beat Depression and Anxiety comes with a 6-week plan. It’s mind boggling easy to get started and you won’t have to overhaul your entire diet. It’s just small changes that compound overtime.
Week 1: Leafy Greens (and other colors)
The first week started off with leafy greens. I’ll admit, I was never a natural vegetable lover. I often fell of the wagon with eating healthy because I didn’t want to eat a bunch of boring salads.
During week 1, I implemented some of the recipes and found it very easy to add in leafy greens into a smoothie or inside of my grass fed burger.
Week 2: Rainbows
The leafy greens became second nature to me! At the very least, I could just throw in a scoop of food-based greens powder into my smoothie.
Adding in my rainbows was a cinch. I started adding in colorful bell peppers, onions, and mushrooms into my scrambled eggs. Casseroles and baked veggies are my other favorite ways to add in rainbow veggies.
Week 3: Seafood
I’m a natural fish lover, but I can sympathize with people that don’t like fish. I’ve met a lot of people that can’t stand even the smell of fish.
Nevertheless, seafood provides some of the healthiest brain nutrients on the planet.
Here’s how I added seafood: I made delicious salmon burgers from the book and my favorite — sardines in olive oil.
I hate clams and oysters with a passion, but it may be something that you like. Add in a seafood that taste good to you.
If any kind of seafood tastes disgusting to you, Dr. Ramsey recommends a fish oil supplement. It’s a cheap and easy way to get in valuable brain nutrients.
Week 4: Nuts, Beans, and Seeds
This section was pretty easy. I throw the nuts and seeds into my berry smoothie every day.
As for the beans, I have chicken tacos for lunch nearly every day and have a serving of pinto beans inside of the tacos. Never gets old!
Try whatever works for you. I personally recommend having a super food smoothie every day that makes it easy to sneak in whatever brain food that you need.
Week 5: Good Microbiome Bugs
In Eat to Beat Depression and Anxiety, I gained a tremendous wealth of knowledge about the microbiome.
There’s a huge link between mental health and gut health. I knew a little bit about it before, but it really hit me when I read this book.
The gut is your second brain and communicates to your brain via the microbiome. If you have poor digestive health, your gut’s ability to provide your brain with serotonin (your natural happy drug) is kinked up.
Anyway, adding in healthy bugs was easy and tasty. I started drinking probiotic soda-alternatives that tastes just like soda, but they’re healthy and contain benefical microorganisms.
Finally, I added kefir to my daily smoothie (instead of coconut or almond milk).
Week 6: Growing Your Food Roots
I’ll admit, this one I’m still working on. This week focuses on getting involved in your food community, such as the farmers market or a healthy pot luck at your church.
Human beings are social creatures that are not designed for the modern world. Thousands of years ago, we were actively involved in gathering food and making meals together.
This is a common theme in The Blue Zones, such as Sardinia. Families and communities come together to make food.
I’d never really considered this idea until I read Eat to Beat Depression and Anxiety.
Improve Your Mental Health One Bite At a Time
I hope you enjoyed my review of Eat to Beat Depression and Anxiety by the incredible psychiatrist Dr Drew Ramsey.
The book changed my life in so many ways and it made such a difference in my mental health, energy levels, self-esteem, and overall well being. Check out the book here to learn more!
If you enjoyed this review, please leave a nice loud clap and comment on your favorite brain foods.
