Sorry I took a bit to get back to you. I've been busy elsewhere.

So, to interpret your mood characteristics, I'd say you have excellent mood reactivity (you respond to circumstances), but you have rather extreme mood lability (your mood response is rapid and excessive). The piece of the puzzle you didn't mention is if your mood swings occur without outside influence, i.e. they just happen. Have you ever discussed that with your doctor? The most reasonable thing to consider is a mood stabilizer, on top of an antidepressant, IMHO. Lithium, Depakote, or Lamictal, say.

The food thing is perhaps more of a long term influence. You're not going to make yourself well by just changing your diet. On the other hand, a diet which fails to provide you with the nutrients your body needs will leave it vulnerable to stressful influences.

Are you malnourished? I don't even have to know what you eat, but I can assert the answer is yes. I did a study of the USDA food database, which lists the concentration of nutrients in a vast array of food. I wanted to find out how best to meet all the RDAs (Recommended Daily Allowance) for all the important nutrients. I was shocked to discover that it can't be done. You cannot devise a diet that works for even a single day (I'm worried about monotony as well) that meets the RDAs for the 18 nutrients in the database for which RDAs have been set. (Aside: There are now 29 RDAs the last time I looked, but the USDA database has not been updated.) So, you physically cannot meet your nutritional needs from diet alone. At least, not from foods available in the U.S.

Another important point. The RDA itself is defined only to make deficiency disease unlikely, not to prevent it altogether. In other words, you could be getting the RDA, but still have overt deficiency symptoms. The definition is that 97.5% of normal healthy individuals will not show overt deficiency symptoms. 1 out of 40 people getting the RDA will be sick. Moreover, we're not normal and healthy. Surely the requirement for nutrients is increased under the influence of mental health stress.

The food pyramid is a hoax. The idea that a varied diet based on those food groups can meet your nutritional needs is false. The food pyramid is adapted from a marketing tool created by an agricultural product (grain) lobbying group.

Also, there are a number of key nutrients which are not even mentioned in most medical circles. Omega-3 fatty acids have gotten a bit of press, but there are many nutrients which are destroyed by food processing, just like the omega-3 polyunsaturates.

I don't want to get into essay mode here. I'm struggling with how to put this to you without sounding ......like a geek (too much). I am a geek, but....

By the time somebody reaches an age roughly similar to yours, the effects of years of nutritional deficiencies start to come to the surface. Emotional lability like you're experiencing might entirely be due to a diet which does not meet your individual needs. I say might. Even if it's so, you're not going to fix it overnight.

If you're interested, I'll get into some recommendations. Just remember, your mind is dependent entirely on the biochemistry taking place in your body. And, your body's biochemistry depends on what you eat. You are what you eat.

If you put crappy gas in a car, it won't run well. If you don't do routine maintenance (supply and replace expendable parts), same thing. Your car won't have power. It'll act up. It might overheat, or stall. Or worse.

Time for a tune-up?

Lar