Rebuild from Depression: A Nutrient Guide Including Depression in Pregnancy and Postpartum [Paperback]

Amanda Rose Ph.D. (Author), Annell Adams M.D. (with) (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 17, 2009

In Rebuild from Depression: A Nutrient Guide, Including Depression in Pregnancy and Postpartum, Amanda Rose, Ph.D. and Annell Adams, M.D. identify the seven nutrients most commonly associated with depression in the medical literature, including Omega 3 in fish oil, B vitamins, vitamin D, iron, magnesium, and zinc. They provide readers with tools to: (1) Identify a nutrient deficiency, (2) Locate the best supplements / vitamins for depression, and (3) Select and prepare foods to maximize those nutrients in their diets.

The depression book opens with Rose's biography of depression and psychosis. She makes a compelling claim: My grandmother died at the age of sixty-one from complications of postpartum depression. Rose argues that her grandmother showed signs of nutrient deficiencies in her twenties, did not correct them, and suffered a life of depression, diabetes, and heart disease, all of which share a common nutrient deficiency: Omega 3 fatty acids.

The book describes the research basis for the nutrient-depression link, highlighting the nutrients with the strongest basis in research. With seven specific nutrients in mind, the authors review each of the food groups, recommending how to improve one's diet for the long-term. Which meats are highest in Omega 3 fatty acids? How do you select oils to improve your Omega 3 status? Should you trim your steak?

In a unique contribution published depression books, the authors present "depression buster foods": those foods for depression, highest in the seven focus nutrients. The Rebuild book is the only depression book of its kind to identify criteria for depression-fighting foods and apply those criteria systematically to the USDA's database of over 5,000 foods.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Oh, but you're not depressed? Every woman should read this book. Every pregnant woman will wish she had. --Nina Plank, author of Real Food: What to Eat and Why

Rebuild from Depression provides real answers for reversing depression caused by common nutritional deficiencies. By giving you powerful information and practical steps to boost your awareness, it empowers you to live a happier, healthier life! --Jan DeCourtney, CMT; Co-author, Recapture Your Health

Rebuild from Depression is going to be a very important book. Its dissection of the role of diet and nutrition is well-researched and an eye-opener. Medical science is beginning to give more value to the study of diet and particularly the role of nutrients in maintaining that delicate bodily balance called health. It may be that increases in depression can be tied to our deteriorating eating habits in which "manufactured" food is progressively displacing "grown food." The medical community is trying to correct the ravages of diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity and yet these diseases may represent the end-result of dietary manipulation by industry. We need to address the cause of these diseases: the food we are consuming is nutrient-shallow. Rebuild from Depression helps us do just that. Dr. Amanda Rose needs to be heard by the medical professionals as well as laymen. --Robert Kotler, MD, FACS; Clinical Instructor, UCLA

About the Author

Amanda Rose, Ph.D., is a social science researcher, food politics writer, and a third-generation sufferer of postpartum depression. She writes on the Rebuild from Depression blog regularly about her efforts to stay out of the abyss.

Annell Adams, MD, is a board certified psychiatrist with a special interest in women's mental health and alternative treatments in psychiatry. She practices at the Gunderson Lutheran Medical Center in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

Product Details

• Paperback: 203 pages
• Publisher: Purple Oak Press; First edition (August 17, 2009)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1934712108
• ISBN-13: 978-1934712108
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (18 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #330,738 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

I live in the Sequoia National Forest in California, in an historic brothel designed by architect Irving Gill. I have an organic garden and orchard and a small flock of laying hens.

I write about the link between depression and food/nutrients and blog in general about lifestyle approaches to conquering depression. After severe depression with psychotic episodes in my pregnancy in 2002, I had a second baby in 2008 and was able to avoid major depression.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Grateful for this book March 22, 2010

By Ela Harrison Gordon

Format:Paperback

As a person who has suffered from anorexia, depression, and food allergies, and has long been aware of the relationship between food and mental health and frustrated by mainstream healthcare's general refusal to acknowledge this, I am delighted that Amanda Rose has written this book. As a person who 'opted out' of mainstream healthcare for a long time and made several bad decisions about my health 'going it alone' and too sick to make proper decisions for myself, I am full of awestruck admiration for her singleminded quest to improve her health, even in the grip of depression. As someone who loves to see true facts uncovered in an accessible way that will not put people off, or come across as 'quackery' or magical thinking, I am enthused by the rigor, thoroughness and general user-friendliness of her book.

It is a fairly short and very readable book (just over 200 pages including helpful appendices, references and basic index), that is part memoir of Dr Rose's own recovery process and lifestyle changes implemented, and part how-to and sharing of what she learned along the way. So, it reads like a journey of discovery of all the nutrients/deficiencies implicated in depression, and all the lifestyle changes one can undertake to help not only to cure the depression but to keep it gone.

In her discussions of culturing foods to enhance nutrient availability and seeking out wild game rather than farmed meat, she echoes - perhaps unwittingly - the recommendations of the Weston Price Foundation (cf. 'Nourishing Traditions' by Fallon and Enig). Some people have been put off by the ideological background to this Foundation's approach.... It is thought-provoking indeed that Rose has arrived somewhere similar from such an experiential path, with such thorough scientific investigation and self-experimentation. She also shows both sides of a picture, especially in her discussions of soy and phytates. For these reasons as well as others, I would be far rather to introduce skeptical folks to some of these concepts with her book than with the Weston Price literature. In fact, there are several friends with whom I am sharing this book, none of them 'post partum' (and nor am I)!

Amanda Rose also maintains a blog with ongoing research and lifestyle notes, but the book is worth reading for all the detailed discussions, references, sources and comprehensive coverage of the material.

I am grateful for the book's having been written and for Amanda Rose's healing journey! Read more ›

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The missing link to dealing with depression March 18, 2010

By P. Groom

Format:Paperback

Amanda's book was the missing ingredient that I needed to help manage my depression. Her web site is fantastic and I was so pleased when her book finally came out. Yep, those extra nutrients helped me. If I neglect my diet and taking the supplements that she suggests than I don't do nearly as well. As it is, I sometimes feel I can cope better with life's stresses than the average person since I am conscious of my diet now. My depression has been a very arduous struggle, starting in my teens and still a force to be dealt with today at age 38. My case is a severe one, but with meds and diet I am a walking success story. Thanks Amanda! God used you to make me a vessel ready for His service!
Pam

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Good information September 20, 2011

By KP27

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This was a very sad story, and I can totally relate. It brought back many memories of my own birthing experience and pregnancy. I was vegan prior to getting pregnant and vegetarian in pregnancy, then went back to vegan until I started to have some major health problems including depression. I think my depression was a result of many factors, but I know my diet made it worse or was part of the problem. Just like Amanda mentions in the beginning when she was nearly vegan, she thought she was super healthy. Wrong. I personally ended up with very large purple bruises all over my legs just from sitting in a chair or kneeling, extreme fatigue, dizziness, the list goes on. I was consuming maybe 1/20 to 1/10 the iron I needed, and almost no zinc or magnesium for probably over a year. And I was still taking a vegan multivitamin! I read a lot of her info in her blog about phytic acid and thank goodness she posted all the studies on that, because it seems like no one I have ever met even knows about it. Certainly no vegan forums, blogs, or discussions I have ever read (and I have probably read hundreds) ever even mentioned it. I am horrified that I didn't know about it sooner, because I feel confident that the tiny amounts of those nutrients I was getting were being passed right through my body thanks to the lovely phytic acid I was eating. Some days probably in the 1000s of milligrams, around 2000-3000mg. I would feel like lying down on the side of the road, the worst exhaustion I ever felt...and this was as my diet got "healthier", consisting of all whole grains, nuts and beans that were not properly prepared (not to mention soy). It all makes sense to me now.

This book is especially relevant if you are vegan, or even vegetarian and of childbearing age.... Very helpful techniques to reduce phytic acid in plant foods if you choose to remain vegan/veg. I did not, and I feel much more confident about my diet and decision. Read more ›

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Conflicted about this book October 12, 2011

By Catriona White

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I really wasn't sure whether to give this book three or four stars, but there is enough in here that may be helpful to many that I went for four, but to five I could not go. The most interesting part was the author's own story, and that of her mother and grandmother. I don't doubt that she is absolutely correct in her theory that they suffered all their lives from depression and other problems induced by deficient diets aggravated by pregnancy. I believe that my mother too suffered from probably devastating post-partum depression, most likely due to nutritional deficits. She had her children in the 1940s and 50s, and similar to many of that generation, assumed that mental problems were something to be ashamed of, so she didn't talk about it much (she may not ever have even heard of the concept of post-partum depression). But several things in her history and that of myself and my siblings, suggest strongly that that was so. So I applaud Ms. Rose for bringing forward the connection between diet and post-partum depression and sharing her experience. A few problems though....first, there is some sloppy editing. For example, on page 1 of the introduction, she states that her grandmother developed Type 1 diabetes at the age of fifty, but on page 65 she says that her grandmother developed Type 2 diabetes at a young age...? Also, her story just sort of 'stops' at one point, without seemingly having reached a conclusion--I wasn't really sure whether she really felt she had adequately dealt with her depression. The second half of the book is her recommendations for diet and supplementation. In most respects she's on a good path, but I think there is a lot of information out there now that goes way beyond this in a more clear manner. I would say readers would be better served by delving into the Weston A.... Price Foundation (WAPF) website, which has tons of information on prenatal and pregnancy nutrition(presented with greater clarity and accuracy), and nourishing homemade formulas for babies who cannot breastfeed. In fact, I think that Ms. Rose would have been helped enormously had she had their information when she was trying to nurse her first child. (And to the reviewer who suggests that WAPF is "ideological", I don't know what she means, and I have been a member for eleven years). Also there are many "paleo" websites with very similar information; I would highly recommend the Evolutionary Psychiatry blog. I would also say that Ms. Rose is confused about the role of fats including good animal fats such as butter, cream, lard, etc., in the diet. The final thing that disturbed me is that she never mentioned the incredible body of work done by Dr. Weston A. Price in Nutrition and Physical Degeneration that directly relates to the problems of inadequate nutrition and it's effects on pregnancy and children's health. She does list the book in the bibliography, but that work is so hugely important that I cannot imagine not mentioning it in the text. Ditto for the work of Sally Fallon for bringing his work to present day readers, and emphasizing it's relevance in particular to parents (fathers too!) and children today. But, I am only being hard on this book because the topic is SO very important. It is well worth reading, especially for anyone with depression, or considering pregnancy and childbirth. Read more ›