fat, depressed and battling cholesterol

[Guest Guest66881]

Fast food/fizzy drinks a lazier approach to the day to day/poor parenting all make for fatties, that and the dreaded microwave oven.

Cheap box wine doesn't help either:frown:

[caramac]

Look into the reasons why this may be so and address those.

 

 

I agree with you. Address the reasons, not the symptoms.

[LKC]

Maybe most people who are overweight don't want to be, but due to the bad advice they are given re what they should and shouldn't eat, they have become so, and as a result they are too tired, depressed and malnourished to exercise and take care of themselves properly. Maybe it is a vicious cycle of bad advice, poor food choices, malnutrition, tiredness and depression, lack of exercise or outdoor activity, not losing weight and bad advice, ad infinitum.

 

I am overweight. I had anorexia/bulimia in my late teens/early twenties, followed by binge drinking/eating, and consequently became overweight. I have followed low calorie, low fat, high exercise diets to the extreme, and not lost any weight at all. However, having switched to a HIGH fat, LOW carb primal/paleo diet with no grains, no sugar and lots of healthy natural fats from meat, butter, avocados and fish, I have lost weight, have more energy, and the depression that I have suffered with for 20+ years has gone.

 

Maybe we are just being given the wrong advice.

[caramac]

Maybe most people who are overweight don't want to be, but due to the bad advice they are given re what they should and shouldn't eat, they have become so, and as a result they are too tired, depressed and malnourished to exercise and take care of themselves properly. Maybe it is a vicious cycle of bad advice, poor food choices, malnutrition, tiredness and depression, lack of exercise or outdoor activity, not losing weight and bad advice, ad infinitum.

 

I am overweight. I had anorexia/bulimia in my late teens/early twenties, followed by binge drinking/eating, and consequently became overweight. I have followed low calorie, low fat, high exercise diets to the extreme, and not lost any weight at all. However, having switched to a HIGH fat, LOW carb primal/paleo diet with no grains, no sugar and lots of healthy natural fats from meat, butter, avocados and fish, I have lost weight, have more energy, and the depression that I have suffered with for 20+ years has gone.

 

Maybe we are just being given the wrong advice.

 

My friend has made the effect of diet on mental health her life's work and my daughter is researching it for her extended project for A level. It makes perfect sense that what you put into your body affects how it works.

[Guest littlesarah]

There is a fair bit of evidence to support the role of exercise in reducing depression - which I suspect relates to the release of endogenous endorphins as a result of exercising, and in those who have issues with their self-image any change in weight and/or change would also potentially improve self-esteem and thereby increase one's sense of wellbeing. Certainly, patients of mine in the UK who were put on the exercise referral program (in which they received 12 weeks of gym membership, personal training and a physio assessment for free, followed by discounted gym membership for a further 12 months) found it helped with their weight management and associated health issues, and with their mental health.

 

In terms of the over-prescription of antidepressants here, the two doctors I heard on the radio talking about the issue (one a former Australian of the year for his work in the field of mental health promotion and another a prominent researcher and clinician), both agreed that a review into how mental health problems are being treated (including the reduction of the number of non-drug intervention therapy sessions funded by the public health system) is important in order to ensure that drugs are not used when other methods may be more appropriate. My personal experience is that some individuals are being treated for 'anxiety and depression' when in actual fact they are anxious about a situation in which a certain degree of nervousness should be expected (I think it is quite normal to feel a bit anxious about a practical exam, especially if one is poorly-prepared). However, writing a script is a lot quicker than trying to explain the potential benefits of a psychologist or counselling referral, and we have to acknowledge that GPs are often very time-poor.

[LKC]

My friend has made the effect of diet on mental health her life's work and my daughter is researching it for her extended project for A level. It makes perfect sense that what you put into your body affects how it works.

 

I recently read a paper on magnesium and depression, which made for an interesting read. I wonder if these days our earth is so over farmed that the things that we eat don't contain the vitamins/minerals that they should?

 

Also Vitamin D. I was found to be deficient in Vitamin D, because I slathered myself with sunscreen. Incidentally, UVA which passes more deeply in to the skin, passes through glass, water and ozone, and which is implicated in melanoma, is highest in the early morning and late afternoon. It doesn't even burn you, so you have no idea as to whether you have had too much. UVB is less penetrating, but causes vitamin D production in the skin. It also burns, so warns the skin when it has had enough. It is present when the sun is at its highest at around noon. Of course I was told to obtain sunshine for my vitamin D needs in the early morning and late afternoon, and told to avoid the midday sun. Possibly why I had to have a pre-cancerous lesion removed from my chest last month.

 

Anecdotally, I have been taking magnesium citrate and chelate for about eight weeks, and I can honestly say that I have slept better than I have ever slept in my life, and the depression is gone. I have also been taking vitamin D, which I have found to be hugely beneficial.

 

It absolutely makes perfect sense that what we put in to (and do to) our bodies affects how it works. We have been evolving for millions of years, yet only recently have we been using chemicals, eating foods that we weren't supposed to eat, and spoiling the earth.

[paul1977]

You are what you eat....????

[Guest littlesarah]

What are these dreaded 'chemicals'? Are they somehow related to the mysterious group of substances collectively referred to as 'toxins'?! :tongue:

 

I find it interesting that most so-called 'organic' food is treated with a number of chemicals that are not usually considered part of the human diet, and a good proportion of which are completely non-selective and harm organisms all the way along the food chain. Additionally, the chemicals approved for use as 'organic' pesticides are not required to be tested, unlike those that are used in 'non-organic' food production. There are vested interests on all sides of the various food debates, and I remain highly skeptical of them all.

 

Our bodies are incredibly complex, and our lifestyles have evolved way faster than our biology has, so it's really little wonder that so many people have bodies that are poorly adapted to the way in which they are being used/treated. Having said that, I suspect that our bodies are actually pretty forgiving, and we forget that although we now behave differently from how we did as prehistoric beings, we also live a heck of a lot longer due to having the advantages of medicine, housing and hygiene.I don't subscribe to any particular diet theory, because by and large those that have been researched, haven't been researched adequately, and many of the new suggested diet/eating regimes have no peer-reviewed published research to support their assertions.

[wakeboard1980]

On the whole people need to take care of themselves. It's not someone else's responsibility, outside of you immediate family anyway, to make sure you aren't fat.