06.20.2015- misc thoughts.
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carimiller7391
Posts: 1,091 Member
Good morning ladies and gents!!!
Hope this finds everyone doing great and enjoying their weekend. I'm currently at work. (BOOOHISS), but I only work one weekend every 3 weeks and I get off a day during the week, which helps with appointments for doctors, dentist, and just a mental health break.... Sometimes you need that day off during the week to recoupe.....This was definitely one of those weeks for me. I sent one of my best friends an email, very short of saying I needed to be in the hospital for depression. I really thought/felt I was going to end up in there for depression. I see my Dr. and therapist this coming week and am going to discuss changing or uping my meds (wondering if since I had RNY if I am not absorbing all the anti-depressant the way I should)..... all I know is I've been down/sad/depressed for about 3 weeks and that is definitely not me. Normally when I have an "episode" due to my bipolar, I go manic although I cycle every 4-5 days normally. I've learned to live with the 4-5 day cycling as normal for me.....but being down and feeling like doing nothing but crying.... not me. It's also gotten to the point that it's scaring Reggie a bit. Not that he wants to leave, he keeps asking what he can do to make me "happy again"... I wish it was that easy.
I am starting to also learn that my food choices are affecting my moods in a very negative way.. both biologically and emotionally. I've kept a mood journal since Tuesday of the foods I've eaten and the way I've felt before and after eating. Junk, processed foods, sugar, refined flour, anything processed in general is giving me a false feeling of good for about 30 minutes. After that, I don't want to say I crash, but my body rebels. I feel horrible. My joints hurt, I get an instant headache, I feel tired and lethargic, (I end up popping caffiene pills to wake up, stay awake, get thru the afternoon after the processed food).... Boy was this an eye opener for me. I am wondering how much of my depression right now is food related.... Just my body retaliating to the junk I've digested all these years.
So with all that said, yesterday I tried something foreign to me. For breakfast, I had granola..(yes higher in carbs and processed but wanted to see reaction to it) with 1/4c of fat free milk. No true reaction to it, but did find it kept me feeling full and pretty decent for most of the morning. Lunch was a couple of hotdogs (beef) with cheese.... Both processed foods... immediate headache and body ache. WOW.... mid afternoon was fruit (watermelon, cantaloupe and pineapple)... I felt awesome afterwards. Bright eyed and bushy tailed....Higher in sugar and carbs than I'd like but wanted to see how I felt after having some **natural occuring sugars** Dinner was 6oz filet mignon on the grill with 1/4c green beans and 1/4c of rice a roni (only processed food at dinner)..... After dinner, I got a headache again, felt lethargic and basically did not feel like doing anything. Again, very eye opening for me.
I'm going to try each day doing something different and slowly getting anything (anything that doesn't NATURALLY come from a source) processed out of my life. I am truely starting to believe that food companies are tied into the pharmacutical companies and are using our foods to make and keep us sick. HUGE REVELATION HERE FOR ME!!!!
Hope this finds everyone doing great and enjoying their weekend. I'm currently at work. (BOOOHISS), but I only work one weekend every 3 weeks and I get off a day during the week, which helps with appointments for doctors, dentist, and just a mental health break.... Sometimes you need that day off during the week to recoupe.....This was definitely one of those weeks for me. I sent one of my best friends an email, very short of saying I needed to be in the hospital for depression. I really thought/felt I was going to end up in there for depression. I see my Dr. and therapist this coming week and am going to discuss changing or uping my meds (wondering if since I had RNY if I am not absorbing all the anti-depressant the way I should)..... all I know is I've been down/sad/depressed for about 3 weeks and that is definitely not me. Normally when I have an "episode" due to my bipolar, I go manic although I cycle every 4-5 days normally. I've learned to live with the 4-5 day cycling as normal for me.....but being down and feeling like doing nothing but crying.... not me. It's also gotten to the point that it's scaring Reggie a bit. Not that he wants to leave, he keeps asking what he can do to make me "happy again"... I wish it was that easy.
I am starting to also learn that my food choices are affecting my moods in a very negative way.. both biologically and emotionally. I've kept a mood journal since Tuesday of the foods I've eaten and the way I've felt before and after eating. Junk, processed foods, sugar, refined flour, anything processed in general is giving me a false feeling of good for about 30 minutes. After that, I don't want to say I crash, but my body rebels. I feel horrible. My joints hurt, I get an instant headache, I feel tired and lethargic, (I end up popping caffiene pills to wake up, stay awake, get thru the afternoon after the processed food).... Boy was this an eye opener for me. I am wondering how much of my depression right now is food related.... Just my body retaliating to the junk I've digested all these years.
So with all that said, yesterday I tried something foreign to me. For breakfast, I had granola..(yes higher in carbs and processed but wanted to see reaction to it) with 1/4c of fat free milk. No true reaction to it, but did find it kept me feeling full and pretty decent for most of the morning. Lunch was a couple of hotdogs (beef) with cheese.... Both processed foods... immediate headache and body ache. WOW.... mid afternoon was fruit (watermelon, cantaloupe and pineapple)... I felt awesome afterwards. Bright eyed and bushy tailed....Higher in sugar and carbs than I'd like but wanted to see how I felt after having some **natural occuring sugars** Dinner was 6oz filet mignon on the grill with 1/4c green beans and 1/4c of rice a roni (only processed food at dinner)..... After dinner, I got a headache again, felt lethargic and basically did not feel like doing anything. Again, very eye opening for me.
I'm going to try each day doing something different and slowly getting anything (anything that doesn't NATURALLY come from a source) processed out of my life. I am truely starting to believe that food companies are tied into the pharmacutical companies and are using our foods to make and keep us sick. HUGE REVELATION HERE FOR ME!!!!
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Replies
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Cari, I'm so sorry you're struggling with depression, and I can't even imagine how difficult it must be to have such a short bi-polar cycle. Two of my dear friends also have bi-polar, so I'm familiar with it but can't truly know how it feels.
Right now Jim, my partner of 17 years, is trying to lose weight with me, and for the first time in his life he is trying to eat "clean," which to us means no processed food/low carb. What's amazing to him, like you, is how once his body has detoxed from the junk, if he eats any again, his body's response is like an illness--headaches, stomach ache, lethargy, depression--exactly what you're talking about. I'm the same way. With the sleeve, my body now does me the favor of "ejecting" crappy food very quickly. The sleeve cured my ice cream addiction by giving me diarrhea and horrible cramps every time I eat more than a small scoop.
Eating clean is tough in this country of overprocessed food! There were three times in my life when I felt healthy and energetic and the weight just melted off without effort---a year I spent as a student in Belgium, another year I spent backpacking and hitchhiking all over Europe, and 2 years I spent teaching in Bulgaria. In all three situations, my diet was very basic, very fresh, with almost nothing processed.
I've been thinking about this a lot too, and one of my goals for summer is to find affordable sources of locally produced, grass-fed beef, local eggs, and local, organic, free-range chicken. A friend of mine was raising beef until this spring, when she sold her farm, and we still have some of her steaks in the freezer. They are wonderful, and fuel our bodies and digest completely different from grain-fed beef.
Please keep posting on your discoveries! I love that we're all on this journey together!
Hey Nancy, what is the food situation like in KSA? I would be in trouble there, I think, because I could eat a pound of medjool dates every day!
Xxoo
K.0 -
gosh, I just saw this post...sorry I missed it!! Well as far as food here...yep the dates are tempting. I found a box from a friend who has a huge date farm, that I had stashed in my freezer!! Oh well...at least they are not processed! lol just full of 'natural ' sugar!!
They do have organic products both here and in Bahrain...just more expensive. Loads of fresh fruits and veggies from all over the world. Nothing on the free range chicken here or grass fed beef. I don't eat much beef (never eat it here coz i don't like the taste of UK, Irish , or New Zealand beef). I just need to learn to make salad dressings as I use only processed ones (and i am trying to stay clear of any expired/exploding/volcanic salad dressings Karen!).
So if I really put my mind to it, I could do well eating non-processed food. I just need to keep my bloody hands out of the cookie jar!!
I am making my own Almonds...getting the raw ones and soaking them in Sea Salted water and then bake them, instead of buying those roasted one from the store with a lot of salt on them....I would rather them 'soak' up the salt!! lol
xxoo
Nancy0 -
Nancy, have you tried making your own almond butter? I've made one delicious "ice cream" using just a frozen banana and almond butter. I'll dig up the recipe for you.0
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Oh please dig up that recipe!! Banana and almond butter 'ice cream'! Anything frozen / cold for this weather is wonderful!!!0
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SOOOOOO easy! Peel ripe bananas and chop into chunks. Freeze overnight. Put frozen bananas and almond butter into food processor (approx. 1 tablespoon almond butter for each banana). Process until smooth and creamy. Eat immediately or freeze for later.
You can do this with any kind of nut butter.
If you Google "making almond butter," there are tons of websites with directions for this.0
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