I’d heard that the drugs we’re prescribing for mental health issues may very well be to blame for the veritable epidemic of mental health disorders (especially just plain depression and anxiety.) But I hadn’t heard this angle before, at least not in so many words: the problem is, we’re not getting the building blocks our bodies need in order to produce our neurotransmitters because our food is so adulterated. It’s definitely true that most of our food these days isn’t real food, but it’s fascinating to note that the explosion of processed and fast food occurred around the same time that the mood epidemic started gaining traction (…and also around the same time that Prozac and similar drugs hit the market, but that’s another issue).

Julia Ross discusses the biochemical basis for a lot of these imbalances… but it’s not genetic. It’s much simpler than that. Her solution: eat real, unprocessed food, with plenty of protein; cut out the sugar; and then maybe until you get yourself back to ground zero, supplement with the specific amino acid precursors you’re lacking.

My rating: *****