Sending love. My name is Kristen Bowen. I’m the founder of Living the Good Life Naturally. If you’re listening to this recording about rising through depression and the supplements that make a difference, it means that you or someone you love struggles with depression. Please understand if there’s a little bit of laughing or if something comes across as I’m making light of this serious situation, it’s just so you and I can get through this conversation without feeling heavier and darker and twistier inside.


I’ve struggled with depression since I was a young girl, and I have put together layers that have made a difference for me. Before we go into those supplements, I want you to understand something. I want you to understand that part of the problem is in how we deal with whether the supplement works for us or not. Number one, it’s not going to work overnight. It’s not going to work in two weeks. It’s maybe not even going to work in a month. It is with long-term, a sustained dedication that we’re going to make a difference. Here’s what can happen for many people who struggle with depression, they try a supplement, maybe for a full two weeks, and then it doesn’t work. Then, they’re even more frustrated and more discouraged because what they tried didn’t work.


They start picking up patterns, sayings, and thoughts that go like this. “I’m never going to change”. “Nothing works for me”. “I’ve done everything”. In actuality, those are a lie. You haven’t done everything. Something’s going to work. You just have to keep moving forward. That’s why it’s so crucial that you build your board of directors. There is more about building a board of directors in part one of Rising Through Depression. Your mind is your greatest supplement, and I want to teach you how to take that supplement that you’ve been given and utilize it. That is that, if you’re trying something and it hasn’t worked, instead of becoming more discouraged, instead of telling yourself nothing ever works for me, I’ve done everything, instead of buying into those lies, I want you to celebrate. Yes, you heard me right. I want you to celebrate. I want you to put on some Bon Jovi or whoever you like to listen to and celebrate like there is no tomorrow.


Why would I want you to celebrate? Very simply, you’re one step closer to finding out what did work, and you will save yourself the agony of all of those lies that take us down into darker, twistier places. You won’t have to buy into the lie that nothing is going to work for you. You won’t have to buy into the lie that you’ve tried everything, because you are moving your body and celebrating. Get those hips going. Get those hands going. Dance with someone else. Dance for a full entire song. That’s usually about how long it takes to break through that feeling of being stuck, where you think that nothing works and where you think that you’ve tried everything. Remember, here’s the truth bomb, those are lies.


So let’s talk about foundational supplements that are the foundation because you’re a human being. They build the foundation for everything. Did you realize that the WHO organization, the World Health Organization, I’ll refer to it as WHO, the last study that they did, 300 million of us, you and I or maybe someone you love, struggles with depression? That’s an 18% increase since 2010. The numbers are going up. They’re not getting better. A recent study showed that inflammation and depression go hand-in-hand. If you or someone you love struggles with depression, getting a C-reactive protein blood panel done is crucial, because that’s your inflammation marker. Now, it is interesting. If your C-reactive protein is high, another study also shows that prescription drugs won’t make that much of a difference for you, because the depression is connected to the inflammation. More and more valued, valid research is coming out that depression and inflammation go hand-in-hand.


So let’s go to the two foundational things that every single person needs to add to get on top of depression. Now, you will notice that I didn’t say that it takes your depression away, because I am spot-on consistent about these two things. I do not miss them, and I still struggle with depression. It’s still a part of my hardwiring and my DNA. I’m not saying it cures it, it takes it away, that everything is going to be easy, and that you’ll never experience a dark and twisty spot. I am saying it makes the lows not as low and not as long. That’s pretty incredible.

After you get that C-reactive protein panel done, you know your inflammation marker. The next mandatory piece of blood work is your magnesium RBC, which is for someone who deals with depression and/or anxiety. That can be taken at walkinlabs.com. It’s a $49 test. Someone with depression or anxiety has higher cortisol levels. Higher cortisol levels mean your inflammation is going up, and magnesium is mandatory in bringing the inflammation down. That high cortisol means you’re losing your magnesium through your urine. So we’ve got to get the magnesium levels up to control the levels of inflammation. Then, here’s a current-day plague that’s happening. We’re walking around stressed out and depressed with low thyroid function. Eating sugar, that depletes magnesium. Having more stress, that depletes magnesium. Then, we take these supplements that contain synthetic calcium. Excess calcium not utilized by your body increases inflammation. Magnesium is what holds that in check. We need more magnesium and less synthetic calcium, but we’re doing just the opposite, the absolute opposite.


I personally do not take any supplement that has synthetic calcium in it. It is so easy to get calcium from our foods, where we should be getting our nutrients from. It is not easy to get magnesium from your food. I get calcium from my food, and I get magnesium from soaking. Now, they can make synthetic magnesium in the lab. It won’t get you the cell saturation as fast. You can take magnesium pills, but that will decrease your body’s ability to uptake nutrients from food, and we need better nutrients from food to battle the problem of depression and anxiety, so that’s not a good fit. Soaking in magnesium chloride from the Zechstein Sea will help bring those magnesium levels up without costing you your ability to digest food and without bringing in more excess calcium. Calcium ratios should be one to one, so simple to get from foods. We get calcium from greens. We get calcium from good, clean dairy, and we get calcium from chia seeds. Very, very simple to get your calcium from foods. So I want you to go look at your supplements and determine how much excess calcium am I getting? When you have that synthetic calcium, it is increasing inflammation, we simply must bring it down.


The next mandatory layer I want to talk about are omega-3s. Now, ideally, we would have three omega-3s to one omega-6. That’s the ideal omega-3 fatty acid ratio. You can have a test done to test your omega-3-6 fatty acid profile so you can know where yours are. I’ll let you in on a little secret. I love eating out with my husband. That’s one of our favorite things to do, to go discover some fun little restaurant and have a date. When you’re eating out, you’re taking in an excess of omega-6s. Vegetable oils, corn oils, trans fats, and canola oil, those are all high in omega-6s. We need to be bringing in more foods with omega-3. When I share that with people, their first response is, “Oh, I take  fish oil capsules from a big box store.” Well, guess what? That fish oil capsule that you take, the fish oil breaks through the capsules, so the manufacturer has to make those capsules so thick, that they won’t burst, which means they are very hard for your body to digest. The fish oil now is testing very high in heavy metals. When you have high heavy metals, it aggravates the depression. So you think you’re doing something really fabulous when, in actuality, you’re really not.


So taking omega-3s in the proper form is crucial. You want to take it in liquid form. My favorite is cod liver oil. Cod liver oil is loaded with omega-3s. I want you to start thinking of your omega-3 fatty acid profile like building a bridge in your body. Omega-3s build this beautiful bridge, and your neurotransmitters walk across that bridge and communicate with each other. Your hormones walk across that bridge and communicate with each other, so brain function gets better. Sleep gets better and inflammation goes down. When omega-6 and omega-3s are in their proper balance, inflammation is dropped. Depression is aggravated by inflammation. Anxiety is aggravated by inflammation. Now, do you take a week’s worth of cod liver oil and all of a sudden your depression and anxiety are gone? Absolutely not. So we have to be realistic. We need omega-3s every day. We need magnesium every day. Building two foundational pieces can make such a difference for you in managing your depression and anxiety.


Now, here’s a little tip on the cod liver oil. We love the Carlson’s cod liver. Currently, right now, it’s the cleanest one that I can find when it comes to heavy metal toxicity. Sometimes when people take cod liver oil, they get what’s commonly referred to as fish burps, and they’ll say, “Oh, this stuff is making me sick.” No, it’s not. It’s actually shining the light that you don’t have enough hydrochloric acid to break it down. It takes a lot of hydrochloric acid to break down cod liver oil. That is another reason that you’re struggling with depression and anxiety, because you’re not creating the neurotransmitters that you need, to keep your body functional and your brain functioning at peak performance.


If you have that problem after you take cod liver oil … Remember, you never take more than a teaspoon of cod liver oil, because it’s loaded with vitamin A. Vitamin A is a fat-soluble vitamin, and if we get too much of it, our bodies start storing it in our fat, and that’s not good. Now, for children, a half a teaspoon. You would never take cod liver oil if you were allergic to fish. If you do get what we call fish burps, that is your body saying, “Hey, I don’t have enough hydrochloric acid to break this down.” Now, we’ll do another podcast on how to deal with hydrochloric acid, but recognize that’s another layer that is aggravating the depression and anxiety. We’re all about building a strong foundation. We don’t want to chase symptoms. Chasing symptoms is exhausting. You do all of these things, and you try all of these things, and you give up, then you start your research. It’s such a waste of time and energy.


Instead of chasing symptoms, start building a strong foundation. In doing so, you’ll start noticing that your lows aren’t as low and that they don’t come as often, and that is a reason for celebration.

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