Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

It's no surprise that dulling of the sense of taste is a common symptom of depression.

Some people,like you, react by losing their desire to eat, and others try to compensate by eating more.

My advice is to eat more highly seasoned and spicier foods.

Disclaimer: srhcb is not a licensed mental health care provider, not a professional chef, but he is a manic-depressive, a pretty good home cook, and of average weight for his age and height.

I get very bad seasonal depression in winter, and I always find myself wanting nothing but soft, easy-to-prepare foods that are easy on my stomach. My favorite meal of this type is eggs and rice - any type of eggs (over easy or scrambled are my favorite) over any rice, though I prefer to get white sticky rice from the Chinese place around the corner, with a bit of soy sauce (or, up that nutritional impact by using Bragg's). Eggs are very nutritionally dense and it's quite a comforting meal that takes almost no time to prepare.

It's beyond the scope of your question, but if you can afford a good food-based multivitamin, I can't recommend it enough. While you're not eating as regularly as you would normally do, you might put yourself at risk for a vitamin deficiency - many of which, I have been learning recently, can exacerbate the symptoms of depression and anxiety.

Here's something I wrote to someone else in a similar situation. It's been my experience that this works. :)

In a sense you are setting out to capture the wraith of something good, and it can be done.

A Trick to Capture the Wraith:

Decide that you want a salad. A small salad of dark leafy delicate greens. Salads are always good on any occasion and really, they are not cooking. Besides, all you want is a little salad. Not a big one, not a complex one, not one to serve anyone else but you.

When you get to the grocery store choose your greens for delicacy. Do not buy any salad greens that need to be washed. The best thing to do is to find some pre-washed mesclun mix that you can pick and choose from, but if there is none then bagged greens will do. Contrary to concerned whispers in some quarters, there is no ghetto in heaven where those who use bagged salad mixes are relegated to live. They mix right in with all the other good folk.

After your greens are in your cart, find the garlic. This is very important. This is the key. The garlic must be fresh. It cannot be in a jar, it can not be old, it can not be sprouting. Somehow when you look at it you will just know that this is fresh garlic, sweet, soft, juicy. One full head of beautiful garlic is what you need.

Besides that, at home you'll need some good olive oil and vinegar, some salt and pepper to grind onto the salad.

The usual boring things have to be done when you get home. Greens in a bowl, dressing stuff ready to dress it. Now comes the important part. Take the head of garlic and separate it till you get to the center where the tiny cloves are, the little moon slivers of creamy silver, the tiny dense bits of garlic heart. Choose the best one. It will tell you somehow that it is best - be sure to listen for this. Remove the papery skin with a small sharp knife then with a big shiny weapon of a knife, crush the clove into a soft mass on the chopping board. Do not cut it but mash it, till it is almost nothing, but it is a bit of tininess that you can scrape up with the edge of your big shiny weapon of a knife to toss into your waiting bowl of salad. Again, this is not cooking. You are merely making a quick salad for yourself, and salad is always a good thing.

Finish up with dresssing the salad. Nothing but oil, vinegar, salt, pepper. Toss and eat.

Do not clean up the cutting board or knife till later, when you feel like it.

This trick captures the wraith. Try it, you'll see.

Maybe this is silly advice, but maybe you could try forcing yourself to prepare a meal anyway. I know that sometimes I have no appetite but, when eating something tasty and low-prep, end up enjoying what I eat and eating anyway.

Karen Resta's tip of taking your time to slowly make something that you have a niggling desire for and making it well but simply, seems a good one, especially if that something is nutritionally dense.

My sincere best wishes, in any case.

When I suffered a really bad depression two years back first the doctor said get some excercise, which I had to be forced to do but I would assume the same about cooking don't force yourself to eat, that will come naturally but force yourself to cook. Nothing that will make you feel like you've failed and send you further into a depression but something easy that will satisfy your soul.Also go back to your favorite childhood food or when or what ever made you happiest. If that means McDonalds, eat it. It might not be the most nutritionally sound but it might trigger something to bring you back to feeling a little better. Kerosena is right keep in contact with your friends and family and I'm glad you have reached out for help because as I'm sure you know that's the hardest thing to do. As cliched as it sounds there are a lot of other people who have been through depression too. It took me a year just to admit to my family what I was going through. Keep well and make sure to talk to someone, anyone.

I identify -- some recent events have caused me depressed days in which my appetite seems to fall off. I too like softly scrambled eggs at times like that, and buttered toast, and other carbs. A plate of rice or fine egg noodles with butter, salt and pepper can almost always coax me into eating, as will a baked potato -- again, with butter, salt, pepper, and sometimes a dollop of sour cream.

When I went through a similar thing, the first food that really woke me up out of it was Cheerios. I'm so not kidding...once I could eat a bowl of Cheerios I was finally able to attempt real food.

After that, the first meal I had was a beautiful salad from Le Pain Quotidien in New York. It's very simple: arugula, pine nuts and aged goat cheese with olive oil, parmesan and lemon. I re-create this at home now whenever I lose my appetite. It is a great palate refresher and the perfect thing to get you back "on" food. Something about the freshness of the greens combined with the wonderful creaminess of the goat cheese just seems to wake me up appropriately.

...........and help others less fortunate. I'm of the opinion that if you tell others what you've done, you lose some of the benefits, but there are so many people of all ages who are sick, lonely, ignorant, heartbroken, homeless, broke, or overwhelmed and in need of help. I'll bet you could help in a million different ways. It can be exhausting, but there is nothing more rewarding and in helping others you help yourself even more than you can imagine.

One last thought.........the smell of cooking food gets my tummy rumbling. I don't know what foods you like, but say for instance you like beef stew or pot roast.....or, you know a down on their luck or super busy family, or shut-in who would enjoy a meal you also like. It only takes minutes to throw everything into the pot and by the time it's ready you are SO ready to eat! If you can also share it with someone who would really appreciate it, it might give you the impetus to make it in the first place.

Hi Lilly -

There's already so much good advice here -- I just wanted to wish you well, and commend you for posting your question. It takes a lot of courage to seek help, and I'm sure you've helped so many people just by putting this subject up for discussion.

I hope you're feeling better soon!

Lilly,
I just wanted to add my good wishes to all the others before me.
My college roommate struggled with depression for years before
finding the right mix of therapy and meds. She made it through
and so will you. Have faith in others when you can't find faith in
yourself.
I would send you food if I could. Instead I will send my best
wishes for you to be well.

lilly - I am just like you... when I get depressed, I completely loose my appetite. I completely understand the feeling of not wanting to eat or preapre anything at all.

What helped me - I made myself a lot of milkshakes, sometimes made with fruits, oatmeal, ice cream, milk, soy milk, yogurt, etc. That would at least keep me nourished and they're easy to make. I also took Boost or Ensure supplements. They helped with the protein intake and opened up my appetite. I also made myself hot cereals with milk - cream of wheat, oatmeal, cream of corn, cornstarch, etc. Try also making yourself sandwiches - peanut butter and jelly, ham and cheese... have them on whole grain breads. They seem simple, but they provide a good deal nutrition to at least keep you going.

What really helped me get through the depression was YOGA - yoga teachings and mantra yoga meditation really helped me get rid of the toxic feelings and attachments that made me feel awful at the time.

I really hope you feel better... and everything you're going thru will pass and make you stronger. Best to you.

I'd just like to thank all of you for your kind words and advice. It's nice to know that there are people out there who care enough to help a complete stranger, in such a personal way.

I have a suggestion that might sound odd but that has helped me in the past. Others have recommended eating whatever food is the simplest--consuming things that are nutritionally dense and also very low-effort. And there has been a suggestion that you get some new cookbooks and really get into cooking again. Here's my thought: depression often takes away not only appetite, but also curiosity. Why not teach yourself an entirely new-to-you cuisine? For instance, do you like Vietnamese food but don't know how to prepare it yourself? Learn. This kind of experiment could help both mentally and physically!

When I'm depressed, I eat like a pig. Nothing's safe from me. That said, total emotional devastation is another story entirely. I can barely get down an apple a day.

In one of MFK Fisher's books (can't remember which one), she wrote about how much she loved oranges, peeled and sectioned, and having sat out a bit on her windowsill in the sun so that the membrane over the sections developed a real bite when you bit into it. The way the juice burst in your mouth. She way she wrote about it made me want one so much, done just like her, sitting on the windowsill to rest. And that's what I did. And I had another, then another, and then moved on to real food. It's pretty amazing what such a bright clean flavor can do for you. @renzata, MFK Fisher was a great call. Anyhoo, that's pretty much my goto to food when I plumb major emotional depths. It's my kick-start and has, thus far, always worked for me.

Lilly, take care of yourself. I know that there are times that it feels as though the effort of eating just isn't worth it, but you honestly, really, truly will feel better if you do.

Lily,

Like so many others, I just wanted to wish you well and to let you know there are people who care and who understand what you are going through. I also suffer from depression and my advice is to try to do the complete opposite of whatever your inner voice is telling you to do. It took me a very long time to understand that the very thing I thought was making me feel better was actually making me more sick. At those darker moments, my instinct was to sleep, not eat, not get dressed, hide from the world and I thought that was "protecting" me, when in fact, it was doing the opposite. The simple act of getting showered, dressed, leaving the house (even if it's only for a walk) will usually change that chemical make up in your brain. Helping others and reaching out was my key to getting better. You will also be helping others by reaching out. It does wonders on both sides and I really want to cheer for you for reaching out to us here. It's a hard thing to do, but you did it and if you follow this way of thinking, you will get past this.
I also agree with trying to cook, even if you don't want to eat it at first. Make it simple and perhaps the act itself will start your appetite to perk up.
Also, try to do one thing a day that makes you happy. It doesn't have to be a big thing (my treat was to go to a book store and browse as long as I wanted to!) but treat yourself with kindness and keep reaching out.
I wish you all the best and hope this passes for you soon.