Banish the Blues Safely
Frank King
Feeling blue at any time of the year is unpleasant, but it's especially hard during the holidays. Everywhere you look, you will see festive images of people laughing, celebrating, and apparently having a great time. Those who are sad can feel even more isolated and lonely.
Well-meaning people often say, "Just snap out of it," which may make a sad person feel even worse. It's important not to ignore those feelings, and even more important to look for the deeper causes behind the symptoms.
Apart from circumstances in life that might make anyone feel temporarily sad, why do the blues1 occur? From a holistic doctor's point of view, feelings of sadness can stem from any num-
ber of core biochemical causes, such as toxicity, stress, Candida overgrowth, and poor digestion, to name a few.
In addition, each of these factors affects the others.
Is Diet the Answer?
Yes and no. Replacing a diet of refined sugar, junk food, and refined starches with a diet of whole, nutrient-dense foods with adequate calories, vitamins, minerals, protein, carbohydrates, and fat often provides a positive effect.
However, diet alone may not provide the whole answer. An ideal food for one person may be toxic for another. Allergies may play a role. I know this firsthand.
I was sickly as a child, and my mother took me to a natural doctor who discovered food allergies. After my mother eliminated those problem foods from my diet, my health (and life!) improved dramatically.
Science is only just beginning to discover how much the gut affects not only the body, but also the mind.
The Food-Mood Connection
Scientists are now calling the gut "the second brain" because its function so greatly impacts the brain and emotions. This fact is highlighted by the example of Candida overgrowth.
Candida albicans is a yeast-like fungus present in all humans. When it's in balance, it doesn't seem to cause any problems. However, when it's out of balance (after a round of antibiotics, for example), it can grow uncontrolled and cause lots of symptoms, from yeast infections, thrush, athlete's foot, and jock itch to indigestion, bloating, mental confusion, food cravings, and minor depression.
Natasha Campbell-McBride, MD, wrote a book titled Gut and Psychology Syndrome, which outlines the connection between a damaged gut and mental disorders. She designed a special diet to repair damaged gut function, and it also improved psychological issues, such as depression, schizophrenia, attention deficit disorder (ADD), autism,
She designed a special diet to repair damaged gut function, and it also improved psychological issues, such as depression, schizophrenia, attention deficit disorder
(ADD), autism, and more.99
and more. The diet, called GAPS for short, offers great hope in this new internal body-mind frontier.
Another author, Barbara Reed Stitt2, worked with thousands of hyperactive, depressed, angry, and criminally violent teens for 20 years as a chief probation officer in an Ohio municipal court. She didn't write these kids off as "hopeless" or "bad." She tried to figure out "why."
She observed that they lived on junk food, which distorted their minds and behaviors. She created a nutritional program to rescue them from this destructive cycle and it worked!
She had what I call the "heart of a healer." She took the whole-person view and changed lives for the better.
Homeopathy Also Helps
In 1979, I founded a multipractitioner, multidiscipline health clinic. Our focus was always the whole person. We were very successful in getting to the core causes behind health issues, and patients traveled long distances to see us.
We developed breakthroughs in the 200-year-old science of homeopathy, a natural form of health care. Homeopathic medicine has no negative side effects, is safe for all ages, and is safe to take with other medications.
Homeopathy is natural, but it's not the same as a nutritional supplementation. The FDA recognizes homeopathic medi-
cine as a pharmaceutical drug product. Therefore, homeopathic medicine is permitted to list health claims on the label for each HPUS3 ingredient.
For example, a few homeopathic ingredients that might help dispel the blues are:
• Agrimonia eupatoria, flos -oversensitivity, anxiety
• Aurum metallicum - feelings of self-doubt and worthlessness
• Calcarea carbónica - apathy, hopelessness
• Hypericum perforatum - irritability, depression
• Pulsatilla - sadness, tearfulness
• Sepia - mood swings, avoidance of loved ones
• Sinapis arvensis, flos - gloominess
Whole Person Health
For 40 years, my mission has been to teach people how to care for themselves and take back their health naturally. I call this movement "The Healing Revolution."
To truly help the whole person, physically and emotionally, the whole person must be assessed.
So, I developed a "Whole Person Appraisal," which will help you see aspects of yourself with a zoomed-out view in order to help you see the whole picture. This free tool available on our website is one you can use repeatedly to track your progress as you make positive changes in your lifestyle.
Print your results and share them with your chiropractor. We offer full support to partner doctors, and we'll be glad to answer any questions they may have. We are here to support them—and you.
By offering this type of care in our health clinic, our patients thrived, and you can too.
Enjoy the journey.
References:
1. This article refers to feelings of "the blues" and "temporary sadness," not clinical depression, which requires the advice of a medical doctor. Functional medical doctors look for nutritional keys to help the whole person.
2. Stitt, Barbara Reed, Food and Behavior, Natural Press, P.0. Box 730, Manitowoc, Wl, 2004
3. Homeopathic Pharmacopoeia of the United States, a list and guidelines for homeopathic medicine. Homeopathic ingredients are listed in Latin for accurate identification worldwide.
Dr. Frank King is a doctor of chiropractic and naturopathy, and the founder and president of King Bio, an FDAregistered natural pharmaceutical manufacturer that has produced more than 500 natural medicines without negative side effects. He is also a nationally recognized researcher, homeopath, lecturer, and the author of The Healing Revolution: Eight Essentials to Awaken Abundant Health, Naturally! For more than 20 years, Dr. King has provided continuing education training to chiropractors nationwide. To learn more, visit www.kingbio.com.
