The Fundamentals

Nutrition
Exercise
Spiritual Renewal

NUTRITION

Good nutrition, exercise, and a renewed spirit are the keys to a fulfilling and healthy life. They are also fundamental to maximizing the benefits of antidepressant medications and reducing their side effects.

Think of nutrition, exercise, and spiritual renewal as the three legs of the stool that supports and sustains your wellness. If any one leg is unstable, the stool is likely to collapse. Working together, they create an efficient metabolism and a mind and body in balance. The more balanced you are, the better you'll feel - and the better you'll be able to absorb the destabilizing effects of antidepressants on your weight, your vitality, and your sexuality.

Antidepressants require the right nutrients to enable them to do their job in your brain and body. Meanwhile, antidepressants can create unhealthy food cravings that lead to mood swings, energy depletion, and weight gain.

EXERCISE

In concert with good nutrition, exercise will normalize your brainbody functions in a myriad of ways. Exercise releases mood-elevating neurochemicals and circulates more oxygen to your brain, supporting the therapeutic action of antidepressants. When you're exercising regularly, you'll have more energy and your body can reclaim its youthful proportions. And by building your physical strength, you'll feel stronger and less vulnerable in both body and mind.

SPIRITUAL RENEWAL

Anyone who's recovering from depression or any other chronic ailment needs to take special care to nurture the spirit as well as the body. My prescription for spiritual renewal offers creative ways to restore your ability to experience pleasure by introducing stress relief, play, and spirituality into your life. If you're too stressed to enjoy yourself, you will never truly recover from depression. Play is an important ingredient in spiritual renewal because it increases access to pleasure by reinforcing dopamine pathways that may have become underactive during depression. And countless studies have affirmed the medical and psychological benefits of making some kind of spiritual practice - whether secular or religious - part of your daily routine.

The Fundamentals are the do-it-yourself part of my program, but please take note of places where I encourage you to enlist a coach or support person. Nutrition and exercise are areas you may want to explore in consultation with your physician, and a trainer or workout buddy can be an invaluable ally when you're trying to build exercise into your life. Spiritual pursuits are highly personal, but, again, the support of a community of people who share your beliefs or values can only increase the strength you draw from those wells.