What does food and exercise have to do with anti-depressant use? 

Food is the most widely abused anti-anxiety drug in America, and exercise is the most potent and underutilized antidepressant. ~ Bill Phillips.

The Ashley Madison's affair hookup site being hacked and the fact that the states with the highest infidelity were also the states with the highest antidepressant use wasn't surprising to me. National Center for Health Statistics (NCHS), says the rate of antidepressant use in this country among teens and adults (people ages 12 and older) increased by almost 400% between 1988–1994 and 2005–2008. So what about today? 


An article in the Indian Journal of Psychiatry starts with: "Few people are aware of the connection between nutrition and depression while they easily understand the connection between nutritional deficiencies and physical illness."

I know that the state with the number four slot, Utah, for use of the Ashley Madison website also has not only the highest use rates of antidepressant use in the country, but the highest depression index, according to a National Mental Health Survey in 2007. And from my days in restaurant operations I know one of the most popular restaurants in the chain industry has the highest amount of cheesecake sold at their Utah location. 

So what is the answer for lowering the use of antidepressants... I have no clinical answer other than the more real foods we eat, and the more we make it a practice to move and breathe vigorously daily, the better off I think we'll be.