Depression: A Radical View

A radical view on depression means that we’re going to be taking a deep dive and looking into the root causes of this affliction that affects far too many of us. I’ll be sharing some of my own experiences and investigating some of the physiological, biological, energetic, and emotional elements that go into making up a holistic view of a person, not just components. This is a delicate topic to discuss, but I hope you learn a thing or two and we can begin to truly address the roots causes of depression.

In this article, we’ll be unpacking the extremely delicate topics of depression and suicide. Let me start by explaining why I titled the article “A Radical View.” Radical comes from the Latin word “radix” which means “root,” so when I say this I mean that I’m looking for the root cause of the issue. This is the kind of work that I do in my practice and with my patients. I try to peel everything back and look at the root causes of disease and poor health.

More often than not, in western medicine, a medical doctor or psychiatrist will only look at their patient in compartments to address one particular facet, but this is not necessarily taking care of the person as a whole. As a holistic practitioner, I want to look at the whole person and all of the factors at play in their life.

To begin, I’d like to share some personal history about myself. This is very sensitive and something that I’ve never spoken about in a video, online, or anywhere. I attempted to kill myself when I was 14 years old and then for a second time when I was 21 years old. During those times in my life, I was experiencing what would’ve been diagnosed as clinical depression nowadays. However, 35 to 40 years ago, when this all took place in my life, I did not get diagnosed and instead began therapy and was seeing a Freudian psychologist / therapist. The therapy was not successful in helping me deal with my depression.

I mention all of this to look back on my own history and reflect on where these feelings came from. I am also able to compare that personal experience with what some of my contemporary classmates have felt. Why are some peoples experience so much more significant than others? Some experience feeling extremely sensitive and anxious, while others not so much. This is an issue that deserves some unpacking because depression is especially prevalent among teenagers and their suicide rate has been increasing. What are some factors that we can trace back to my childhood that may reflect some of the root causes at play for my depression?

There’s a couple of things I’d like to mention from the top. First off, I wasn’t breast as an infant and I got sick roughly a month after being born. For my sickness, I was fed a bunch of antibiotics, which are high in tetracycline. I’m simply saying all of this to establish that I was consuming a high dose of antibiotics at a very early age. Subsequently, in early childhood, I also began to get a lot of cavities and had a number of fillings as my permanent teeth came in. And you can be sure they were mercury fillings.

Now that I’ve set the stage, we can get into dive into the first element that should be considered. Sustained use of antibiotics, even for a couple of months, can really do some damage to your gut flora. This resulted in my impaired gut, microbiome, and gut flora. In some of the latest research being done, we’ve discovered more and more that the connection to our gut is direct to our brain and our microbiome is responsible for a lot of the proper functioning of our brain. The integrity of our gut flora, our gut bacteria, has a lot to do with our mental stability. Companies like BIOM have extensively tested microbiome and they’re proving that the different kinds of microbiome and flora will influence the ability of the brain to function and will also cause your brain chemicals to fluctuate especially serotonin.

The other element to consider is the heavy metal toxicity due to the metals in my mouth that were slowly leaching into my body. We now know that heavy metals are related to Candida overgrowth in the gut, especially mercury. Heavy metals can also leach into your brain past the blood-brain barrier and get stored in the fatty tissues of your brain causing long-term damage and affect cognitive abilities. This alone could have been a major cause of me having a hard time coping with reality as a teenager.

Of course, we’re all different and have different levels of sensitivity. I just so happen to be a very sensitive person, and that’s on top of the physiological, biological, energetic, and emotional elements that go into making up the whole of a person. Everyone is multifaceted and all of the elements must be considered when searching for a proper solution. We can never really separate all of the different aspects that make up a whole person. If you only deal with certain compartments of the issue, then you won’t get the full solution.

In large part, this is how I approach the work in my practice with my patients. With my patients, especially with women, we must take into account more than just diet and lifestyle. We’re ruled by our emotions and hormones just as much as anything else. There’s a wide range of a number of physiological reasons that can be at play influencing depression. I want to mention them here because I find that a lot of them are actually easily solvable or at least can be addressed by incorporating a ketogenic diet and a nutrient-dense keno-paleo diet.

Blood sugar and in particular blood sugar imbalances and insulin resistance are important to consider. When we are insulin resistant the brain has a hard time getting the steady supply of nutrients it needs to function properly. The glucose in the brain is fluctuating rapidly and so is the glucose in the brain. It’s very unstable which in turn makes our thought processes very unstable. When sugar is too high, we may experience anxiety, and then when sugar is too low, we may experience lethargy or many of the other facets of depression. A Keto Paleo diet can help by stabilizing blood sugars and then also provide the proper fuel needed for your brain.

We absolutely need integrity in our gut in order to absorb vitamins and minerals. Lack of Vitamin B is also connected with the lack of energy, lack of motivation, and depression. These vitamins and minerals must come from whole foods because supplementing with chemical isolates can help in the short term but will not in the long-term as it will deplete the body of other essential nutrients, enzymes, and other components that we need to properly absorb vitamins naturally.

I’d also like to mention inflammation. When we eat a diet that is high in inflammatory foods, inflammation can penetrate into the brain and cause chemical imbalances that can also lead to depression.

To sum it up. Pretty much all of these issues can be alleviated by consuming a nutrient-dense therapeutic ketogenic diet, which I call keto-paleo.

The last thing I’d like to mention on this topic involves life purpose. Life purpose is another major factor that can cause depression and limit lack of motivation. When a person is not aligned with their life purpose they can struggle with overcoming depression. Find what makes you happy and filled with joy and make a commitment to have that thing be an impactful part of your life. This was particularly evident to me as I began studying nutrition and found my calling.

I’d love to keep the conversation going and welcome all of your comments. The only way we can begin to truly deal with this issue is through open conversation and dialogue. You’re welcome to engage with me on this topic through any of my social media channels and website. I hope you learned something from this article and I look forward to learning from you as well!

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