Food Connection: Can We Eat Ourselves Into Depression?
(Note: I have lost the link to the original article; you can find information on these authors’ hypotheses via the web links in this article.)
Can food be linked to depression? I don’t mean feeling bad about gaining weight because of a daily junk food habit. Rather, dietary habit and brain chemistry. You’re probably not new to the concepts of altering our dietary lifestyles to change the way we look and feel, although how diet and our feelings connect together may not be so clearly discussed. An article by Ron Hoggan (M.A) and James Braly (M.D) discussed the effect of diet on the depression profile of brain biochemistry.
The article cites examples of how what we eat and drink may affect how our brain neurotransmitter levels are balanced. As a result, our moods are affected. We are aware of how sugary foods energize us in short bursts, for which we pay later with sluggishness and lethargy. As our social pace accelerates, our dietary habits change. This means we are potentially seeing trends and relationships between food and mood that we may not have noticed before.
The Serotonin Connection
The authors cite how an important neurotransmitter, serotonin, becomes elevated in our brain after we eat. You may be familiar with medications that change serotonin levels in our brains: antidepressants in the class of SSRI or Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Inhibitors. SSRI medications prevent serotonin breakdown, thereby maintaining an elevated serotonin level in our brain. Theoretically, we may increase serotonin levels in the brain by eating a protein-rich meal followed by a dose of carbohydrates. This manipulates the levels of tryptophan (an amino acid used to make serotonin) and insulin (a hormone that regulates glucose uptake). The potential result is an increase in the amount of tryptophan transported to the brain.
Food Breakdown To Mind Breakdown
Some foods that are incompletely broken down to yield “morphine-like substances”. These substances can lead to depression. These foods include gluten and milk, although the exact break-down substances were not stated in the article. Based on this premise, we may be tempted to associate a “digestive tract” profile of a person to how vulnerable that person is to depression. If a person was unable to completely digest a certain food, this can lead to the accumulation of partially digested proteins. These partially digested proteins can act as depressants. This person’s depression can then be linked to his or her body’s sensitivity to certain foods.
In our fast-paced, highly stressful way of life, are we selecting foods that are causing us to become more prone to depression, bipolar disorder, or other mental illnesses? This hypothesis is intriguing, because it suggests a therapeutic potential for patients who have become resistant to conventional therapies.
Mind Over Matter or Matter over Mind
Reading this article has prompted a “chicken-or-the-egg” question: which triggers depression first, the mind or the body?
If your body is nutritionally deficient, it may build up chemicals that causes a neurochemical imbalance. If the neurochemical imbalance already exists and leads to craving for a certain kind of food, the imbalance may be activated and “fed” by these foods. Is it possible to suggest that it is “matter” directing the “mind” where food is concerned?
Where Do I Begin?
Finding out you have a mental illness is very frightening even when you probably have been living with it long enough to know something is wrong. You have talked to your friends and family members and nothing seems to be getting better. You suspect this may be more than just “psychological” or an occasional case of the blues. What do you do? Based on personal experience, here are important steps I’ve found that helped:
Write down a list
Write a list of what has been going on with you that puts you at the current point you are in. The reason why you’ll want to write this down (ex. “losing productivity at work, not eating, trouble sleeping”) is because you will have to recount them on the spot when you call a doctor. Answering questions can put you in an uncomfortable spot, so it will be easier to have things written down. When I first made the phone calls, I was embarrassed and nervous. I almost changed my mind and hung up the phone!
Here’s a short list to get you started; the list is actually based on a few of the criteria for diagnosis of major depression. For bipolar disorder, you may want to also include any extremes in behavior such as sexual indiscretion, spending sprees, incomprehensible and racing thoughts, or extreme euphoria.
You’ll probably need only a few items here for the initial phone call to make an appointment. Bring the entire list with any new information you can think of with you to the actual doctor’s appointment:
* How long have I felt this way?
* Have I lost sleep or slept more than usual?
* Have I gained weight or lost a weight in the past few weeks?
* Have I felt like doing nothing, including things I used to enjoy doing?
* Do I feel like if I were to disappear from the world no one would notice or care?
* Have I begun to try alcohol or painkillers (or any other drugs or substances) to try to “dull” the pain?
* Have I felt constantly irritated or aggravated for the past several weeks?
Call your insurance company
Find out who may be participating providers under your insurance. This is so you know what will be covered and what the policies are. The insurance companies will ask you for the symptoms and this is where your list comes in. When you are speaking with an insurance representative, remember to ask about coverage on medications and numbers of visits. Most health plans only cover a number of therapy sessions - after that you may have to pay a large percentage of the doctor’s fees. Medications may also have a copay.
Call the doctor
The receptionist will ask you why you believe you need help. Tell them what’s on the list.
Now you have a doctor’s appointment. Unless you got lucky (I didn’t!) and could see the doctor THAT AFTERNOON, you have to wait a few days - maybe even a week. What do you do till then?
Take control by learning
Educate yourself on what you may be facing. Chances are, you have a clue to what may be wrong (for example, “I feel more than just blue” or “My mood swings seem to be getting out of hand”). Even if you aren’t sure, there are places where you can browse to start homing in on what might be going on with your moods.
There are many shades of depression or bipolar disorder or traumatic disorder - you may learn which category you may fit in. Don’t be tempted to look at all the disorders and think that you have all of them! I want to emphasize that it is important NOT to make a self diagnosis. Many disorders have overlapping symptoms. If you make up your mind before speaking with a professional, you may cloud the presentation of the clinical symptoms by emphasizing what you believe should be emphasized.
Try to remain objective about the severity of the symptoms. Losing a few nights of sleep because you’re blue is not the same as losing 2 months of sleep because your mind is racing constantly.
Get support
The fastest means of support may come from a newsgroup. Newsgroups are also a wonderful resource for support. Why would you want to do that? Because one of the best things you can do for yourself right now is to seek support and know that you are NOT alone. Ask for email support if that is what you need. People posting there are likely to be going through what you may be going through and will be very glad to communicate because they have been where you are.
Getting support from news groups has been a tremendous help for me. One of the “common” characteristics of people who are depressed is a feeling of isolation and loneliness: “I’m the only weird nut feeling this way and no one else is as crazy as I am.” Getting in touch with people who understood how I was feeling was a big relief.
Remind yourself that it’s all right to “feel bad” then go through the motions of daily life. Sometimes people invalidate their feelings by telling themselves that they shouldn’t be feeling bad. They end up being angry with themselves, which makes them feel worse. Allow yourself to feel bad, but keep doing the boring everyday stuff. Even if you only get one thing done today, you did it, and it wasn’t easy.