Most times doctors tell you that a well-balanced diet is the key to staying healthy. Although this is good advice for most people, individuals with bipolar disorder (or manic-depression) need to be careful.

WebMD states that “there isn’t a miracle diet for bipolar disorder.”  In general, they recommend avoiding fad diets and sticking to the basics, like eating lots of fruits, vegetables, and grains and sticking to fewer foods loaded with fats and sugar.

This concept is all well and good, but there is a more valuable point that you need to know, and few sources out there discuss this.

Nobel Prize winner Linus Pauling, who spent his life studying and working in the sciences, founded the new field of Orthomolecular Psychiatry in 1968. Pauling proposed that “mental abnormalities might be successfully treated by correcting imbalances or deficiencies among naturally occurring biochemical constituents of the brain, notably vitamins and other micronutrients, as an alternative to the administration of potent synthetic psychoactive drugs.”

In laymen’s terms, this means that there are certain foods that can greatly affect your moods if you are swinging on either end of the pendulum of bipolar disorder.

For example, when someone feels emotionally balanced, potatoes are okay to eat. They are also okay to eat when that same person swings to the lows of depression. However they should be avoided if that person is having a bout with the manic side of bipolar. Milk and other dairy products are okay when balanced, but they should be avoided when on a manic high, and yet they can help when on a depressed low. Fish, (tuna in particular), pork, carrots, spinach, oranges, brown rice and many other foods are okay no matter what level a person is at.

What a person with bipolar needs to be careful of is when a particular food is a key ingredient of another food product. For example, tomatoes are okay for when they feel balanced and or the depressed end of bipolar, but they need to be avoided when swinging to the manic side – so no tomato-based products like ketchup or tomato sauce on pizza.

Why Does Eating or Avoiding Certain Foods Matter?

Everyone’s brain has three neurotransmitter chemicals that are affected by food; dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin.  Neurotransmitters relay signals between neurons and other brain cells. In a well-functioning brain, the proportion of these chemicals works properly, however, in bipolar disorder, there is a chemical imbalance between these.

Any foods that are ingested break down into a chemically-based composition of their own that can have an impact on any one of these neurotransmitters or any combination of them. So if the chemicals in the person’s brain are running one way, adding the wrong set of chemicals through food intake can further press the brain to react in a negative manner.

How to Learn More

To learn more about how certain foods can be used to manage bipolar symptoms (and other types of depression), “The Brain Chemistry Diet” by Michael Lesser, M.D. (Putnam Books, 2002) may be helpful. Lesser was one of the founders (along with the late Linus Pauling, Ph.D.) of the Orthomolecular Psychiatry Movement. 

Originally posted on Yahoo Health

​On Janaury 21 it was announced that Chris Noth, star of Sex and the City and best known by his character name of "Mr. Big", has finally become a father. According to E! Online, Noth and his longtime girlfriend Tara Wilson welcomed their 7 pound, 10 ounce son Orion Christopher into the world on Friday, January 18th. The couple's rep has said that "Chris and Tara are thrilled and all are doing well."
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The birth of their child comes right on the heels of a smattering of other celebrity births, including that of Nicole Ritchie and Joel Madden's 6 pound, 7 ounce baby girl on Friday, January 11th according to People Magazine. The couple have named their healthy newborn Harlow Winter Kate Madden .

Courtney Thorne-Smith and her husband Roger Fishman became parents with the birth of their son, Jacob "Jake" Emerson on Friday as well. This is the first child for the According to Jim star.

Christina Aguilera and Jordan Bratman, announced the birth of a son, Max Liron Bratman on Saturday, January 12th at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles according to the Associated Press. Their baby weighed 6 pounds, 2 ounces. 

On the pregnancy watch list are some very hot celebrity names. Most recently, news broke that Matthew McConaughey and girlfriend, Brazilian model Camila Alves, are expecting their first child. According to a posting on McConaughey's website the baby is "3 months growin' in her womb and all looks healthy and lively so far."

Jennifer Lopez and husband Marc Anthony are expecting their first child in the spring (rumors swirl that it may be a double blessing). Halle Berry and her partner Gabriel Aubry are due to welcome a new edition to their lives sometime in March. 

Despite some initial confusion, it has been confirmed by Reuters that Nicole Kidman and her husband, country music artist Keith Urban, are expecting a child in the middle of 2008. And, according to PageSix.com, Brazilian beauty and Victoria's Secret model Alessandra Ambrosio is pregnant. She and her boyfriend, Jamie Mazur, made their announcement earlier this week with insiders saying that Ambrosio is several months along.
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Originally posted on Yahoo Entertainment January 21, 2008