Restoring your
emotional balance
TRANSITIONS IN LIFE can affect your mood and emotional well-being.
Whether it is a major life change or a stressful period of time, these situations can make you feel moody and overwhelmed. Supplements such as
SAM-e (S-adenosyl-methionine) may help to restore a healthy emotional
balance in your life.
Richard Brown, M.D., a practicing psychopharmacologist and an associate professor of clinical psychiatry at Columbia University, is a leading clinical
expert on SAM-e and emotional well-being, and co-author of Stop Depression
Now. In the following interview, he provides practical tips for improving mood
and reviews the benefits of SAM-e.
Q : Doesn’t everyone get in a bad mood every once in a while?
D r. Brown: Sure they do. Getting down in the dumps every so often is an
e ssential part of the normal range of human emotion. But for many people, the
d oldrums never seem to let up; it’s not something they can just “snap out of” or
“ get over.” If you’re one of these people who find it difficult to feel happy on a
c onsistent basis, there are things you can do to cope with setbacks.
Q : What can I do to restore a healthy mood?
D r. Brown: By making minor changes to diet, exercise and social regimens,
f eelings of sadness and constant anxiety can be curbed and reduced, creating
positive experiences that lead to a more positive, optimistic outlook on life.
Q : How can I alter my diet to help restore a healthy mood?
D r. Brown: Many of us are out of balance. We eat too much of the wrong
foods and not enough of the right ones. To maintain a more balanced mood,
go for the “good” or complex carbohydrates such as fruits and vegetables, as
well as whole-grain unrefined products such as multigrain breads and cereals.
Stay away from the “bad” (or simple) carbohydrates found in refined flour,
cakes, cookies, soda, chips and other foods with high sugar content.
Eating too many bad carbohydrates can result in a sugar crash, leaving
you hungry, depleted and feeling down. Also, be sure to eat the right amounts
of healthy proteins such as fish and poultry, as well as the right fats (
unsaturated versus saturated). I also recommend taking a daily multivitamin that
contains folate and important B vitamins such as B , B and thiamine.
6 12
This article sponsored by Nature Made.
For more than 35 years, Nature Made
has earned and maintained the trust of
pharmacists, consumers and retailers by
manufacturing high-quality vitamins, miner-
als, herbs and other dietary supplements
that are safe, effective and science-based.
Nature Made products are made with only
the finest of ingredients, and most are for-
mulated for easy absorption. As an industry
leader, Nature Made adheres to the strict
manufacturing standards recommended
by the United States Pharmacopoeia, the
o rganization that sets pharmaceutical and
d ietary supplement quality standards.
