When you are under intense stress and plunging into depression, you rarely think about changing your diet. Indeed, therapists - whether psychiatrists or medical doctors - often opt for anxiolytic-type medications, depending on the case. Naturopaths, on the other hand, will adopt herbal remedies while adapting their lifestyle.
These solutions are not bad but let's not forget that the plate is a priority when suffering from an imbalance of the nervous system.

Nutritherapy is a very important health field whose effectiveness is often forgotten. First of all, let's look for the solution in our diet in order to regulate the current problems.

Amino acids essential for metabolic processes

Amino acids are the building blocks of most body tissues and are involved in the synthesis of neurotransmitters. They are therefore essential for all metabolic processes.

Our body, through its homeostasis process, will constantly try to maintain the perfect balance of our amino acid reserves. Unfortunately, our lifestyles and health disruptive factors prevent the proper assimilation and manufacture of these.

Note that there are 24 amino acids, 8 of which are essential:

• Isoleucine
• Valine
• Leucine
• Lysine
• Methionine
• Threonine
• Phenylalanine
• Tryptophan

The amino acid - phenylalanine - is involved in the synthesis of dopamine

They are said to be essential because they cannot be manufactured by the body and must be provided by the diet. Some of them are very important for the nervous balance and for the fight against depression. These are, first, phenylalanine which is a precursor to tyrosine. It contributes to the optimal functioning of the depressive state. It participates in the synthesis of dopamine (L-dopa), adrenaline and noradrenaline which are 3 substances essential to the good nervous transmission.

It is found in the following foods:

• cereals and cereal products
• Legumes
• Meat and poultry
• The vegetables
• Cheeses and other dairy products
• Oats
• Wheat germ
• Nuts and seeds
• Seaweed
• The fruits

If the needs are important, they will be brought via food supplements. However, they are not recommended for pregnant and breastfeeding women, people suffering from diabetes, hypertension or psychosis. Be careful if you are being treated for depression, as interactions with IMA (monoamine oxidase) antidepressants are possible.

Tryptophan acts against depression

The second is tryptophan, used for its action in depression by the English psychiatrist Coppen in 1963. It is biologically active in its L levogyre form. It is also found in our daily diet since the body does not manufacture it, so its source is only in food form. However, the deficiencies are very numerous due to the impoverishment of our foodstuffs; consequently the food complements are essential for the people in suffering.
The tryptophan is used by our body to manufacture the serotonin, a neurotransmitter which a very important role in the disorders of the mood but also in the disorders of the food behavior (mainly the compulsions and the dependences), among other things.
One will use consequently this amino acid to stabilize the mood.

It is found in the following foods:

• The almonds
• Peanuts
• Brown rice
• Soybeans
• Cheeses
• The eggs
• The fish

Let us also note that the two amino acids mentioned are also very interesting for all the people who are in cure of thinning because they decrease the feeling of hunger. Studies show that people whose serotonin level is too low are easily attracted by fast sugars like sweets for example, which make you fat quickly.
Therefore, in addition to the action on the nervous system, these amino acids have a very important role in our plate too.

A nutritherapy assessment is sometimes very interesting because it allows us to solve many problems, simply by modifying our meals or by adopting an adapted food supplement. These are sometimes essential simply when the diet is not optimal or the quality of food is not perfect.