A Dietitian Who Wants to Hear from YOU (Food and Mental Health)

Deviette

mph323 wrote: »

Deviette wrote: »

From my anecdotal experience I would suggest that weight gain is more likely a symptom of mental illness than the other way around.

When I went through a serious bought of anxiety my weight went up. I had very low self esteem and I punished myself by not looking after myself and eating crap food that didn't even bring me joy. I stress ate. I stopped exercising.

When I got help for my mental health, these behaviours went. When my head space was better I was able to stop my weight gain and now I'm starting to lose again.

That's just me, but I know others who have experienced similar things. I am a strong believer in treating the mental health first, then dealing with physical issues afterwards

I agree with this in the sense that yes, mental health issues are sometimes the root cause of weight issues, but I also believe that there are many reasons not related to mental health that cause people to over-eat. I see a lot of comments that imply or state that obesity is always a mental health issue (this isn't how I read your comment, you were speaking to your own experience), and once that root cause is resolved weight loss will follow. I see social and financial issues as equally responsible for obesity, and in those cases social and financial solutions need to be applied in order to alleviate the problem.

I completely agree with you. I understand that my comment may have sounded like I was making sweeping statements that mental health issues are the cause of weight issues, and I very much did not mean that to be the case! Thank you for making that clear in your response. I personally do not think that (for example) weight will just fall off easily once mental health is managed, more that it may be much easier to address weight goals when in a better mental state.

What I was trying to address was that some people who have the perception that weight issues is a major contributing factor to mental health issues, and my argument is that, in my experience it was the other way around. I have seen people who genuinely believe that improving their diet and losing weight will 'cure' their clinical depression or anxiety and from stalking the 'things nobody tell you about weight loss' thread, time and time again I have seen people say that it didn't.

What I'm saying is: I don't think that (for example) eating poorly causes depression, more that someone might be eating poorly because they are depressed. And I am not oblivious to the fact that weight and diet may not help. I'm not saying that no one is unhappy about their weight and it might not be contributing in some way. But depression and anxiety is rarely caused by a single contributing factor and so weight and diet management shouldn't really be seen as some sort of a cure in absence of therapy and/or medication


PS:
I also am talking on a large scale. I understand that on a micro scale, diet and food management can be a tool to help manage mental health. For example, I know if I have more than a certain amount of coffee in a day, my anxiety is definitely heightened.

ahoy_m8

Has OP lost interest in the thread?