8 Simple Dietary Changes That Will Make You Less Depressed
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Your brain lives in your body—so if you want better mental health, you need a body routine that actually supports it. In this video I share eight high-leverage nutrition habits that reliably boost brain function when motivation and mood are low.
We’ll cover practical wins like smarter hydration, whole-food swaps, protein-first snacks, breakfast that turns the lights back on, omega-3s, and amino acids. I’ll also explain why dialing down alcohol and caffeine often stabilizes mood and sleep more than any “mindset” trick.
This is behavior activation you can do today: change what you do, so your thoughts and feelings can follow. Start with one habit, stack from there, and let your brain feel the difference.
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47 Comments
Greetings from Angola/Africa! 🌻🤍🥂
Greetings from Canada
Grüsse from Switzerland ❤
Yup! All I need was a doctor to tell me to drink water. 😢 sounds like you just like to hear yourself talk.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa?Yeah.There definitely is an upper limit.Okay, stop.You're canceled.This is the stupid…. You can literally die of water intoxication.You're really really being irresponsible now.
Guess I'm going to stay mentally unstable , chronic pain, grief, and trauma won't go away. I drink water all day. My pain doctor told me pain is on the same brainwave as depression 🫥 . I pee so much.
Drink more water, ug. But it works.
I drink water all the time and eat very few processed foods or sugar. It hasn't helped much.
The best situation I ever had for assisting in both my mental health and cognitive ability was when I was intermittent fasting… Which is contrary to this video. I only consumed calories within three hours a day and felt much better.
I am struggling to get back to doing that due to depression, and I suppose I'll need to do more research.
Thank you for the video despite.
Sometimes I go a whole day without drinking water. Because I ind it to be so difficult to consume.
Thank you Dr Scott for this content. I have gradually moved towards several of these changes over the last couple years and it does affect the quality of my mental health. I’m still hanging on to caffeine but my desire has decreased over time. Great content from one biochemist to another!
Regarding getting Omega 3 fats, nuts may be a good source for females but males need to get them from fish or krill. Imo, krill oil is far better since it has astaxanthin and far less mercury than fish, and krill are in no danger of going extinct like some fish.
Agree with you on every point, especially caffeine and alcohol
I always heard from my Dr to drink half your weight in ounces of water. Totally helps my chronic pain.
Hope you will research metobolic flexability… long term, we have to relearn ability to quickly go from glucose to fat(ketones). Weve lost this which causes numerous issues…
Drinking appr 2 liters of water, eating home cooked meals. Lately I found out that gluten free meals are good to my stomach and from there also on my mind. Sometimes, if I feel so full, I will do intermediate fasting and it has helped. In general, water and 2-3 regular meals are game changers😊😊
Great information about quitting caffiene and energy drinks, I am guilty of both!
Goldfish cracker farm 😁
Aw, man, I hate you. 🤣 Just kidding. Really, all great advice. I drink ONE cup of coffee early in the morning and NO caffeine at all the rest of the day. Water and herbal tea. Never any alcohol. Food in its natural state. Need to eat more fish. 🐟 Beyond diet, it’s vital to get morning sunlight. ☀️
To confirm that your behavior changes your brain here is an example. I was never a person that made my bed NEVER. I started a decluttering journey I have been decluttering my whole house for about 3 years and you really do develop strong decluttering muscles if you're in that space you have heard that expression a lot. A decluttered calm space definitely helps your mental health but That was only one of the results. As my brain started getting used to a declutter atmosphere in my house I started to notice that I couldn't stand looking at my unmade bed it felt like chaos. Now I have to make my bed everyday in order to feel that calmness in that space. Somewhere along the line my brain changed. I think that would be an example of a behavior outwardly changing your brain inwardly.
Caffeine has actually helped my mental health a bit, my therapist thinks a little is good for me
The breakfast/snack advice is peculiar, because some people make progress overcoming such issues through intermittent fasting. The low-energy state is something the body can adapt to, I would say. It learns to get into autophagy more easily.
And why talk about amino acids without mentioning proteins? Get enough protein with balanced profile (animal products, tofu) and you got it covered. Proteins > fats > carbs. And they're not just destroyed through processing AFAIK but are very stable sources.
Why is the advice always to avoid alcohol and caffeine but never is smoking mentioned? Isn't that burdening the body's health a lot, too?
DOC! YOJ ARE THE ONLY ONE that I follow re help with depression. I'm unusual in that my depression has a huge genetic component. My Gma shot herself and my dad drank himself nearly to total dysfunction. I have been treated for 25yrs. I always stick to my med cocktail and even, foolishly, had ECT. Depression has ruined my life. Thank you for always getting to the heart of it.❤
The recommandations are: 1.5 liter of water per day for women, 2 liters of water per day for men.
AND….you sold out for a buck…"I've only tried 2.*
Im very glad that you have ads, Doctor Scott! And the video was very helpful. Currently i working on medical university exams and doing side hustle to be alive in the meantime. At this moment all of my energy going to small pleasures, job and studying, but before this period of life i was doing sports, maintaining eating behaviors, sleep, supplements, water etc. and now, without it – im feeling terrible, but then something clicked. Im having only 1 dinner per day, and RedBull for snack. I know that im terrible human being but you're right! When i was doing good habits and routine my mood was pretty normal, despite life circumstances. So listen to Dr.Scott guys, healthy lifestyle could look boring, hard and frustrating at first but when you're in it, you're gonna improve. Believe that
I have to say it's refreshing in our social media dominated world to hear you set a boundary on the application of your advice. So many content creators try to sell their beliefs and course of actions as 100% workable. In other words, reminding us you're not a dietician nor a medical doctor is refreshingly ethical! I wish it wasn't so.
I have noticed the beneficial effects of water on my sleep. It made sense when I realized that during sleep, our bodies are flushing the waste out of our brains. If we're dehydrated, this flushing seems like it would be far less effective. Then I thought perhaps my tiredness is a bodily response to build up of waste in my brain? I'm not sure if this is true or not. As in the waste build up triggers a sleep or nap response so that my body can 'clean up'.
If you haven’t already, can you do a video or even series on derealization and how to overcome this? I’ve been trapped in a cycle of on and off derealization for the last decade, with the last 6 or 7 years having experienced no let up. What can be done about this?
I wish you could be my psychologist. 😊
I think 4 out of 8 is what you are correct about for me.
You shouldn’t recommend nuts as a good source of omega-3. First of all, walnuts are the only popular nut thah are actually a good source of omega-3s. All the other ones (peanuts, almonds, cashews etc) are very low in omega-3s. But walnuts aren’t a very good source either, because they have much more omega-6 than omega-3, so they’ll further throw off your ratio even if they do provide some omega-3. (The other nuts are much lower in both omega-3 and omega-6 than walnuts, containing mostly monounsaturated fat). Finally, plants don’t provide the most useful omega-3s (EPA and DHA), so even a plant source rich in omega-3 can’t compete with fish or even pastured beef/eggs.
Thank you, Doctor Eilers! This info is very informative, useful, and helpful. Thank u! Thank u! My item to cut down would be coffee. I love black coffee in the morning.
I have recently added vitamin B12 and vitamin D3 to my regime. I was doing some Google research on natural vitamins for depression, fatigue, low mood. I’m hoping it helps. 🙏🏻🤞🏻
You are so handsome that it hurts 🙈
Nice one Doc👍
I do limit my alcohol significantly due to taking antidepressants. Basically I don’t want them to stop working.
I just took a minute to reflect if it improved my mental health.
1) YES , because my antidepressants work
2) NO, because I never had an alcohol problem & I don’t have before / after Rubicon experience. I can’t say my mind became healthier just because I stopped drinking alcohol.
3) YES, because I have a sober mind momentum
4) NO, because I don’t have that instant mind relaxing experience that alcohol used to give me when I was consumed with bad thoughts. Now I have to use mental health or somatic tools instead & they don’t always work. So I stay in a negative thoughts/ emotions loop which affects my sleep, physical & mental health. And this loop can last up to 2 weeks. Couple of drinks could’ve easily fixed it within 30 minutes.
Take it for what it is. Overall I don’t regret almost completely giving up alcohol. I don’t really think about it tbh. I’m just happy my antidepressants work.
Damn, I did the opposite of this video. Fasted for 3 days but had 200 cal in caffeine and alcoholic drinks.
The is absolutely 100% an upper limit for water and it is nowhere close to the 5 gallons you threw out there.
If you drink too much water your sodium becomes diluted rapidly, which causes your cells – including the ones in your brain – to retain fluid and swell. The worst outcomes of this are brain damage, coma, and death.
Even 2 gallons of liquid – NOT just water – per day is too much for most people.
4c water is approximately 1 liter
3.75 (approximately) liters is one gallon
So approximately 15 cups or 120 ounces of liquid is in ONE gallon. That’s already more than the typical daily recommended amounts.
I love your videos doc but this one really needs to be taken down in my opinion – that information you gave on water is dangerous.
Sincerely,
30 year MSN RN
Love it all…. what you shared, thank you. Very informative and lots to think on, to have a chance to change…. I like having numbers of action steps. BTW…. I still like and appreciate you, A LOT! Lol…. don't mind the last two. I mean, after all, always our choices and good ones are welcomed with explanations, which you did give alongside. You are Still and continue to be a help, an encourager, and a great co-peer in this deep, often dark, struggle. Thanks again 🌹
I used to be a food processing engineer.. i wouldn't recommend promoting processed food with added flavours or sorbates or mono sodium glutamine they cause depression and severe neural issues
Informative video. You make some really good points. I almost finished a bottle of water listening to you. 😁 Thank you so much for talking about nutrition and mental health. I plan on listening to this a few more times.
Actually, exercise has many more benefits beyond burning calories, so it's wrong to say that eating sweets after going for a run out cancels the later.
For decades I've had a liter of hot water every morning. In a cute thermos, just sip it. With a teabag for caffeine before retiring, without it now. And another glass or two during the day. Lots of benefits. And avoid processed foods and especially SUGAR, in any form. In any amount. Even fruit. And carbs.
Works for me, it doesn't fix it but sure helps. Not doing this makes things worse.
Hey Scott, awesome video as always. Re: water intake upper limit, just wanted to leave a comment so you could look into it: water intoxication. It can be really serious — my ex-girlfriend got hospitalized over it!
Cheers man keep up the amazing content. This vid is super actionable and helpful for a broad range of folks. Appreciate you!
Edit: for context, she had about 16 bottles of water in a single evening
Dr. Scott, you are the only mental health channel I follow. Every video carries multiple golden nuggets of truth and encouragement. Side note: when I am experiencing profound depression and don't feel like cooking or consuming nutritious food, at minimum, I try to ensure I have at least a loaf of bread and peanut butter & jelly on hand.
I assume that THC should be treated in the same way as alcohol?
I don't drink alcohol or coffee.
But I choke on any type of nut. It gets lodged in my throat.
What I have weakness in is sugar. I don't eat potato chips at all. But you mentioned brownies. I can't give them up. I get pleasure from them. I don't eat 3 usually. Maybe 2. Not every day.
I am on the thin side. I exercise a lot.