Rebuild from Depression Blog

In my quest to "appreciate," I carry the camera with me and have caught some incredible moments.

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Beef liver is my "food of recovery," a food that replenishes me of nutrients when I have been through a rough patch. It is absolutely loaded with vitamins, minerals, and fats and, by chance, loaded with the nutrients that help keep our brains healthy.

Depression is complex with many causes, but some folks (like me) have had diet deficiencies that have aggregated their depression. We need good food to be healthy. Our brain needs good food for it to be healthy. It might catch up to us in our older years in the form of Alzheimer's or we might get some early warning signs (as I did) that things like low-fat diets are a real bad idea. We need healthy fats, particularly Omega 3 fatty acids, but some of the foods we shunned in the low-fat diet crazes of the 80s and 90s are foods that have other key nutrients: beef, for instance, is an exceptional source of iron. Most plant-based foods and low-fat foods in general are not. Low iron has been linked to postpartum depression.

It is worth a try if you want a boost. I wrote about my liver regimen in liver and vitamins and minerals and describe its Omega 3 content in Liver and Omega 3s, particularly liver from cattle on a grass-based diet (see figure below).

If you are stumped on how to cook it, check out Mom's recipe for flash-cooked liver. She descibes her process in our own kitchen via a YouTube video. I've got another interesting liver recipe video waiting in the wings.

Technorati Tags: B vitamins, beef, depression, fat, foods that fight depression, grass fed beef, liver, Omega 3, postpartum depression

I was looking through old posts and found this one posted over a year ago that made me laugh. It makes reference to the Chino slaughter house case and discusses one of my favorite foods: beef. But as was the case over one year ago, the whole reason for the post is the picture at the end.

So I was talking about beef...

***
Apparently you shouldn't buy beef from Chino and you probably want to make sure any surface area is cooked real good, but those issues aside, there is nothing like a good serving of beef. ;)

It is a good source of B vitamins and minerals. If it has been grass finished it even has a bit of Omega 3 as well. It still doesn't come anywhere near salmon in the Omega-3 department but, last I checked, there is no such thing as a salmon hamburger. (I've had salmon burgers mind you and they just aren't the same.) Mom's Moroccan beef recipe is also a winner around here.

But the real reason for posting about beef in addition to meeting my daily obligation, is to post this picture. I have tried to get a picture of this bad boy for four years but have never had the camera at the right moment. Last year, he was right near the fence as I drove by with my camera. I stopped the car, found a great position for the photo, and the camera failed. For the last year I have talked about him as my "nemesis." It should always be this easy to win against your adversaries. In this case it just took a working camera and some new grass.

And just as an aside, maybe it's because I am not really into showy types, but seeing a bull like this makes me wonder how this particular herd manages to reproduce itself year after year. For me, those horns would be enough to inspire chastity.

I was strolling through some of the old content on this blog and discovered that I have apparently blogged about a good number of food science tidbits. The book Rebuild from Depression (coming this summer, really) has several chapters discussing food science. Here on this blog you can find a sampling. One great thing about a blog instead of a book is that I can include pictures more easily. Pictures of course mean graphs (or visualizations if you want to get fancy).

You will find a number of tidbits on the effects of grass feeding on meat and dairy:
Grass fed beef: An Omega 3 super food? (Two graphs!)
Beef liver and Omega-3s in grass fed beef (Graph included!)
CLA in dairy products (as a function of time on pasture) (Graph included!)

There is some good wisdom on Omega 3 and seafood:
Best Omega 3 food sources: Fish and seafood (Two graphs!)
Wild fish: Benefits and what to look for
Grass fed beef: An Omega 3 super food? (Two graphs! One graph on the Omega 3 content of fish)

Read about Omega 3 eggs and the ratios of Omega 6s to 3s in vegetable oils (Graph!)
Read the whole Omega 3 roundup: Omega 3 and depression.

There are a number of profiles of specific foods, but be careful, most came from a crazy contest:
Beef (Graph!)
Beef liver (Graph!)
Squirrel (Graph! Yes, a graph for squirrel!)
Blackeyed Peas (Graph!)
High iron foods (Graph! It includes caterpillar! Yum!)

Check out soy and phytic acid. Graph!

There are some general articles on "nutrient loss" as well. The most fascinating is "Nutrient Loss in the Food Supply" on the decline of nutrients in fresh produce over the last half-century. You can also read about all of the nutrient loss in your own kitchen due to cooking techniques.

Enjoy the tidbits. Feel free to re-post the graphs on your website if you have one attributing this blog.

Technorati Tags: B vitamins, beef, CLA, dairy, depression busters, eggs, fat, fish, foods that fight depression, grass fed beef, iron, liver, Omega 3, seafood

My first clue about the importance of the last twenty-four hours was Thursday at a doctor's office in Fresno. I saw the headline:

"Outreach efforts have been used to help region prepare for Friday."

I was reading below the fold, below the main headline, with a picture of a clerk in Best Buy.

"Oh my goodness," was my first thought, "have I missed the news of a massive storm coming to the region? Has Best Buy run out of flashlights? Will I get home on time? Am I ready?"

Add this new life stress to the really important projected crash of all things Twitter.

A major regional storm AND the Twitpocalypse?

How would I survive?

A flood of anxiety rushed over me in that doctors office. I took a breath and turned the newspaper to reveal the headline:

"Are you ready? The move to digital TV."

There would be no tornado, no major earthquake, no tsunami. The world is going digital. How would we get by?

As I lay down to sleep last night I did wonder what this morning would bring: television and twitter-land chaos might leave me out of touch with the world.

I woke this morning and stumbled to the television set, blurry-eyed. I pressed the power button. Blue snow appeared on the screen. Could it be a sign of the Apocalypse? Could it be that we have no reception at all here in the Sequoia National Forest?

I wondered if I should Tweet just to try my luck. With a total of fourteen followers as of this morning, you have to wonder If a tweet falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, would it sound anything like the Twitpocalyse?

In the meantime, I opened Facebook and realized that in my Apocalyptic concerns I forgot about what was really important: the run on Facebook usernames.

Facebook.com/ Amanda.Rose could have been mine, but I missed it. By this morning in my post-Apocalyptic household, I could have been "Amanda.Rose2" or "Amanda.Rose3." I settled for my long-time email handle, amgrose, an anachronistic monument to 8-character email addresses given to me nearly two decades ago.

Technorati Tags: Digital TV, Facebook, Amanda Rose, Twitpocalypse, Twitter

This is my view from the hammock. Last summer my view included a growing belly, this summer those blue eyes. (Yes, he's nursing in the picture. Please children, avert your eyes.)

I do not relax nearly enough even with this great view. Relaxation reduces inflammation in your body. Inflammation may contribute to depression. There are, of course, food avenues to reduce inflammation: B vitamins and Omega 3 fatty acids are the two most notable. Rest and relaxation may be even better.

Technorati Tags: B vitamins, depression, foods that fight depression, hammock, Omega 3, photo, postpartum depression, pregnancy

Here in California in this unseasonably mild June, I have finally found the time to ask a very nice guy named John to makeover the banner for this blog. Rather than featuring a 60-year-old woman from stock photography, I have included pictures of us here on our property. You may note from the banner that chickens can sure be a lot of fun for children. The eggs are pretty good too. That is me and my second-chance do-over and avoid postpartum depression baby in the banner as well.

I didn't put the "D" word in the blog banner. Who wants to read the "D" word all the time anyway? Not me.

Some other changes are coming down the pike. It should soon be more easy to comment and you should be able to make your own profile page so that we can learn more about you and follow your comments. I've also got a few cases of B vitamins, Omega 3s, and magnesium to give away. I'll post more about this today or tomorrow, but I plan to give some pretty cool packages away twice a week or so through the summer. In other news, the book is weaving its way to paper about now.

Technorati Tags: B vitamins, chickens, eggs, Omega 3, photo, postpartum depression, magnesium

Our friend Jennifer prepared this incredible (and simple) grilled salmon for us when she was part of the family a few years back. I can still remember that meal: it was bursting with scent and flavor. We have repeated it many times since. If you have a barbeque grill, this way of cooking salmon is a must. Salmon is a notable for its high Omega 3 content. Watch mom's video below. Written instructions follow.

It's easy and tasty. Mom says:

My exposure to tartar sauce had always been in a restaurant. Ugh! I'm picky about mayonnaise and restaurant mayo is obnoxious. So when Jennifer made tartar sauce to go with her grilled salmon, I only took a bit to be polite. Wow! What a difference a good mayonnaise can make. Make your own or try a good bottled one. When you make up this recipe, don't be afraid to double or triple it. This sauce is super for tuna, crab, or salmon salad. Thin it a bit with kefir and use it on a crab Louie.

Watch the video and read the instructions below.

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Just over one year ago I announced here on this blog that I was expecting a baby in December. “I don’t know if I am feeling more fear or excitement, but it’s definitely a combination of the two,” I wrote in 95% excitement and 5% fear. We did not plan to have a second child, though I do admit now that we really did want a second one more than just anything else.

This week was baby Alastair's first "half-birthday." He is six months old and I realize that perhaps my greatest achievement (ever) is making it this far healthy and sane. With my first son Frederick, the depression began in pregnancy. I had some psychotic episodes just before the birth and in the first few months postpartum. Major down cycles continued for years. For two years I was pretty much incapacitated. From there, my mental health improved each year. In this second pregnancy and postpartum period I had one bad episode that I wrote about, surrounding a surgery for Alastair, but I weathered the surgery well with some focus and tools. I stayed out of "the pit" as I call it here.

At this six month milestone I reflect the tools that got me here.

Technorati Tags: Amanda Rose, B vitamins, iron, magnesium, Omega 3, postpartum depression, pregnancy, Rebuild from Depression, zinc

This website contains a good bit of information on improving your status if you struggle with depression in pregnancy or postpartum. In the article on depression in pregnancy, learn about potential underlying nutritional causes:

Depression is complicated, but one key reason depression hits some of us in pregnancy is biological: it takes a whole lot of nutrients and fats to grow a baby. As baby uses our nutrients to grow, we are sometimes left short and one possible consequence is major depression.

I review the nutrient intake of U.S. women and suggest a key reason for depression is diet deficiencies, particularly in the third trimester when the growing baby needs high levels of nutrients to grow. I describe this information in detail in the book Rebuild from Depression.

In the postpartum period we have the same story: our bodies are depleted from the job of having grown the baby and, if we are breastfeeding, we continue to give of our nutrient stores. If you are not sure if you have postpartum depression, read about postpartum depression symptoms.

Many people find this website looking for an alternative to prescription anti-depressants. Some people do successfully avoid them, but the do work well for some. I say, work hard to find whatever works for you and let's call that a success. I discuss Zoloft and breastfeeding elsewhere.

Read the chronicle of my second pregnancy here on this blog in the pregnancy and postpartum archives. You can also find a recap article here on this blog written at six months postpartum.

Best of luck.

Technorati Tags: depression, postpartum depression, pregnancy, Rebuild from Depression

-->We are having giveaways throughout the summer. Check for our latest giveaway post to enter. (See the "latest posts" in the navigation bar.) <--

The Rebuild from Depression book is coming this summer, long put off by a surprising and exciting discovery that I would be having another baby. In celebration of the much belated birth of the book and (more importantlly) in celebration of the fact that it is possible to have a second baby and not end up psychotic and in years of down-cycles, I will be having twice-weekly give-aways (and maybe more) all summer until this second baby (the book) is born.

There is some serious stuff in these give-aways and with everyone running around on summer break, your chances of winning are that much greater if you are around to find this giveaway.

In many of the give-aways you will win a supplement package of a high-EPA Omega 3 from Ascenta with a purity guarantee unlike any other company, a highly-absorbed B-complex supplement, and a highly-absorbed and fizzy magnesium product (Peter Gilliam's Calm). These three supplements are nutrients most of us are deficient in and so I am just taking a guess here that all three will be of general interest. This bundle is in the first give-away. While supplies last, you will have your choice of capsules or liquid for the fish oil and whether you want a higher DHA (which you will if you are pregnant or breast feeding).

It's worth about $75 retail,

You can also expect moving forward a really great desiccated liver product. I also hope to give away a liquid multi-vitamin that I could actually palate in my pregnancy. (Imagine that.)

All of these products helped me through my pregnancy and postpartum period. These products are not for sale here because, frankly, I do not have time to sell products, but there is no time like a major economic slow-down to get free nutritional supplements. We may well need them now more than ever and they are free with quite a few opportunities to win throughout the season.

How to win one of the many give-aways

There are going to be a lot of give-aways, all centered around the same sorts of supplements. In each give-away, you need to leave a comment to express your interest in winning that item and you need to put your email in the comment system here so I can find you when you win. Your email will not appear to everyone else.

Of course, you can also increase your chances of winning in a number of ways which I outline below. The great thing about increasing your chances is that it is cumulative through the month of June. In each give-away I will keep a record of your "points" and those will carry over to the next contest. Add some more points for the next round, and you will have a growing point total and a growing chance to win these really good supplements.

To enter: Leave a comment here including your email (1 point). That's all. Your email will not appear to the public but it is how I will find you when you win. The comments have to be approved so it won't appear right away. (I need to work on that problem.)

Increase your chances:

• Friend me or follow me on Facebook(here) or Twitter(here): 1 point each
• Stumble this entry, one of the food science pages, or anything that has caught your fancy.: 1 point.
• In Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, or LinkedIn provide a link to some of the content here (see the recent food science post for a lot of ideas): 1 point
• Provide a link to this contest from your blog: 2 points (but gosh, this just increases your competition, LOL)
• Blog about some of the content on this website (see the recent food science post for a lot of ideas): 3 points

Comment below on what you've done or send a trackback.

Remember, these are all points for future give-aways too. In the future, you need to leave a comment to express interest and your accumulated points will follow.

More ideas for your blog or tweets:

Nutrients and brain health: Omega 3 round-up, Magnesium and depression, Omega 3 and B vitamins, Omega 3 and Alzheimers, ZInc and depression.

Mom's videos. Popular ones are the deviled egg/how to peel an egg (25K views!) and flash fried liver. The recent one on grilled salmon is easy and tasty. It's high in Omega 3 fatty acids.

Depression in pregnancy and postpartum: Depression in pregnancy, Second baby second chance (the story I recently posted).

Heck, you could even write about the book (though if you have a blog and want to review it, contact me for a copy).

I will close the comments for this contest Wednesday June 24 at noon PST, announce a winner shortly thereafter and start a new contest at the same time.

Good luck! Leave a comment to get started.

Technorati Tags: B vitamins, depression, economy, magnesium, Omega 3

In our resolve to consume more liver I have been on the hunt for varying ways to prepare it. The traditional liver and onions is fine now and then (check out Mom's flash cooked liver). But if you will eat liver regularly, the old standby gets old pretty quickly. We like liver around here because it is packed with vitamins and minerals. It even has a good amount of Omega 3 fatty acids if that animal dined on grass.

Here is a liver rendition for the adventuring heart: it is tender and bursting with exotic flavor. You will find written instructions below the jump.

I was truly overwhelmed by how many people entered the giveaway. I was deeply touched by the supportive comments that people left there. Thank you very much. Such support gives me such a boost today.

I may well need a boost too because I have spent a goodly bit of time just trying to get this raffle set up. Ninety people? Tweets and Facebook feeds? "Be careful what you ask for" comes to mind right now. I still haven't gotten to the email on this account. Sorry.

Early in the comments, Pilar expressed her dismay that she and the rest of the people who didn't Tweet or link to the contest would not have a chance. It turns out that just over a dozen of the ninety people found me on Twitter or Facebook, so Pilar had a lot of company in just leaving a comment. Pilar got an extra point for being on my email list, as did a whole lot of people who commented.

I thought it would be interesting to test Pilar's concern. I entered everyone in the contest the old-fashioned way: tickets in a kitchen colander. On your ticket I wrote how you won the point. (I am now realizing why this contest has taken me so long.) The winner in sheer point value is easily Diane at Peaceful Acres (who has pictures on her blog of the cleanest cow udder I have ever seen). Look for Diane to win one of these packages with her high odds. I didn't calculate the odds of someone winning who just left a comment, but figure it is fairly even money. (Many people left only a comment.)

The Winner

Kimi at The Nourishing Gourmet has been discussing how to get by in tough economic times and still eat well. She has asked bloggers to contribute ideas in her Pennywise Platter blog carnival. You will want to check out the many ideas to find some that suit your cooking style and taste.

Here in this house, one of my favorite meals for convenience, flavor, and price is a green salad topped with some sort of protein (usually a nutrient-packed depression-fighting food). In the depression-fighting department, there are few foods better than wild salmon, high in Omega 3 fatty acids and in minerals. I find it regularly at a discount store for one buck. It is canned, but hey, the price is right.

It may be the beginning of a large archive, the graphs at FoodGraphs.net. You may recognize many of them -- most made their appearance first here on the Rebuild Blog. My business specialty is graphic display of data and this food graph archive ties my two interests together nicely. Bloggers should feel free to use the graphs with attribution.

FoodGraphs.net

This hen lays nearly an egg a day. When she's able to get out and scratch for bugs and seeds, she makes eggs high in Omega 3 fatty acids. She is even a babysitter on occasion, as she is in this picture.

Technorati Tags: chickens, eggs, Omega 3, photo

Our summer garden has gotten a late start and we are an hour away from a produce market. Earlier this week we ran out of produce and stood around scratching our heads about what to eat. Salmon sounded good and we have some frozen, but salmon with what? Scallops sounded real good too. We could put on rice but since I am passing up the grains this season, I would just be chasing garlic and butter on a plate with each tender scallop.

What to eat?

The garden did have a solution: It is an abundant producer of the high Omega 3 weed edible plant purslane (which I wrote about last summer in a similar predicament).

The little "leaves" on the succulent-like plants make a great stir-fry and are particularly good in scrambled eggs.

Technorati Tags: eggs, Omega 3, scallops, salmon

Future contest alert: Check this blog to see if you have won. You have a week to claim your prize. I'll keep all names in the colander through July but you can increase your chances my leaving more comments on the blog and via the list of suggestions below.


I have an old aluminum kitchen colander here with somewhere over 100 people in it, in some cases multiple times. Diane earned extra points for pasting information about the website across the Internet, to the sad exclusion of StumbleUpon, which may well be why Marjorie won instead last time. Pilar is sure that only leaving a comment means that you don't have a check to win since all entrants are able to earn points doing any of the following:

• Friend me or follow me on Facebook(here) or Twitter(here): 1 point each
• Stumble this entry, one of the food science pages, or anything that has caught your fancy.: 1 point.
• In Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, or LinkedIn provide a link to some of the content here (see the recent food science post for a lot of ideas): 1 point
• Provide a link to this contest from your blog: 2 points (but gosh, this just increases your competition, LOL)
• Blog about some of the content on this website (see the recent food science post for a lot of ideas): 3 points

I had to copy that list from the old post because the list itself is no inane there is no way I can remember it.

Gentle e-mail messages to me have suggested the same:

"I have to do *what* to enter the contest?"

Technorati Tags: B vitamins, giveaway, liver, magnesium, Omega 3

While I was pregnant and not paying any attention at all to our videos on YouTube, Mom became a celebrity. I have yet to find the traffic sources, but someone out there likes mom too. Check this out:

• Over 25,000 people have watched Mom describe how to make deviled eggs and, more importantly, how to peel the egg in the first place.
• Nearly 12,000 have watched her grilled vegetable technique.
• 5,000 each have viewed "Marinated Tomato Salad," "Minced Garlic," and "Flash cooked liver."
• 3,000 watched her describe uses for overgrown zucchini, a seasonal favorite.
• Nearly 2,000 have watched "Roasted Peppers" and over 1,000 have watched the also seasonably relevant "How to freeze peppers."

All of these were filmed with a very old camera. I apologize. The new ones are a lot better in picture and sound quality. They are all filmed right here in our kitchen.

In the year of pregnancy while my mom was becoming appreciated for her culinary arts, I got a number of emails asking me to put the videos on various other video sites. I paid no attention because I was busy being pregnant. Sorry Mom for not appreciating your celebrity status better than I did. You probably need a different agent.

When she's not cooking or gardening, Mom is working on her scripture prayer CDs on her website.

Technorati Tags: eggs, garlic, liver, peppers, grill, tomato, zucchini