Blog Action Day: Food

Today’s Blog Action Day topic is just the thing to get me blogging again. I do appreciate a good global conversation about food on any level.  Let me review why I came up with the blog and web site “Living on Purpose” in the first place.

  • As I added digital index tags to a wellness guide to create a secondary index in a 320 page manual, I counted hundreds of  health conditions which could be alleviated or cleared up entirely by adding proper nutritional supplements to the diet.
  • As I wrote research reports on nutritional supplements, I found the facts regarding the dearth of nutrition in today’s American diet.

After I couldn’t stop thinking about the link between mood and food, I researched and wrote the Sad for No Reason ebook (currently unavailable), and built this web site as a reference guide. You see, a lack of nutrition in the diet actually has close physiological ties to a low-grade depressed mood and irritability; leaving a person with no good clue as to why she feels depressed. She may find herself sad for no particular  reason when the cause is vitamin and mineral deficiencies. (I’m using “she” simply because I’m a woman and I don’t feel like writing he/she every single time. Men, this information applies to you, too.) Here is an excerpt from Sad for No Reason to illustrate:

False Moods
If you’ve spent your life complacently accepting your mood problems as part of who you are, get ready for a revelation. Think about it. Ladies, when you are angry and snap at your partner for some annoying habit, like when he chews his food too loudly, you probably explain your moods away as “PMS” or general irritability. Do you also cry too easily for unknown reasons? Men, if you are harsh with your children for forgetting to take out the garbage, or if you burst into a rage for a seemingly trivial thing, you may explain your anger away by saying, “That’s just who I am,” or cautioning your children: “Don’t make me angry.” Do you find fault with yourself every day and beat yourself up for minor mistakes?

As psychotherapist Julia Ross has explained in her book The Mood Cure, the previous situations are symptoms of false moods caused by nutrient deficiencies and chemical imbalances in the brain. These false moods can be treated with nutrient therapy, thereby making talk therapy easier and more productive. A false mood can be identified by its constant presence despite your attempts to heal or “get over it.” Ross calls it an “emotional impostor” and “meaningless biochemical error,” and she insists “you shouldn’t have to live with these kinds of distorted moods on a regular basis.”

The moral I learned as I wrote this ebook is ‘The food you put in your body affects your brain’s ability to work efficiently.’ Our normal western diet has been given the meaningful acronym SAD, for Standard American Diet. Empty calories, extreme amounts of fried foods, lack of essential fatty acids for brain health, and even nutrient-robbed soil are contributing factors to this SAD diet.

Excerpt:

RDA stands for “recommended dietary allowance.” The term was coined in 1941 to explain the healthy amounts of vitamins and minerals each person needs to ingest on a daily basis to avoid a severe deficiency in their diet. However, the RDA does not help us understand how much of any one vitamin or mineral we need to maintain excellent health. It only covers what your intake needs to be for sub-optimal health, just over deficiency.

Excerpt:

As noted, depression (as in grief and sadness) stemming from a life event such as death in the family, change in social life, injury, or long-term illness is a natural reaction. Sometimes dietary deficiency is secondary to a mental illness. But in many cases, a poor diet actually initiates mild depression and apathy. So the cause of a bout of the blues that came out of nowhere could be difficult to trace.

The ebook then goes on to list the 24 vitamins and minerals which, when deficient, can cause depression as a symptom. Twenty Four!!! Can our everyday diet provide enough nutrition? Can our everyday vitamin supplements be absorbed enough to provide the missing nutrients? Imagine if everybody actually had the means to fulfill their own bodies’ needs for these nutrients?

Having the power to positively affect my mood through my food choices gives me a one-up on my day. I can choose to eat a healthy breakfast containing a little carbohydrates and a little protein to set me up for stable moods and a better ability to handle stress. Let me tell you this works! Just last week I forgot to eat breakfast and felt the decreased ability to handle stressful situations or conversations.

I’ve been blessed with a body and the means to obtain food. It’s my job to sort through the grocery store choices to find which foods hinder me and which foods help me. Not all snack food manufacturers have my ultimate health in mind when they send a product to market. Don’t believe that just because a product is in a store, or even a health-food store, that it’s going to be healthy for you. Do your homework on what you put in your body; it gives you a competitive edge on…bettering yourself!

Action (ways to do your homework on food)

Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution home page.  Sign Jamie’s petition.

Food Matters home page for the movie. Food Matters’  Take Action Guide.

 The Mood Cure. I learned a lot about the mood-food connection from this book.

UltraMind Solution. Lifestyle-changing book, “Do you have a broken brain?”

King Corn documentary on the overuse of corn in all types of food, including as a filler food for cows at the end of their life cycle, which tends to destroy the nutritional value of the resulting beef.

 

*Sorry, I cannot find out how to re-enable commenting on this post/blog. You can comment on Twitter if you feel inclined. My Twitter feed is in the upper left column.

Hiatus, On Purpose

This blog will be on hiatus for a bit more time. I have undergone major life changes since October 2010 and have been unable to focus on writing new material.  Here are a few of my favorite LOP blog posts.

Purpose in our work

I am not my thoughts

Emotional connections

What to do with anger

To four leaf clovers

Affected by suicide?

Friday night I heard a presentation about suicide facts by Katie Ford, a licensed psychotherapist who works as a credentialed provider for The Second Wind Fund of Metro Denver.  In order to pass on this important information, I took a few notes. Before the age of 20, half of all people have suicidal thoughts. Sixty to seventy percent of those who die by suicide have a drug or alcohol addiction, leaving, of course, 40% of people who die by suicide without any drug or alcohol addictions. More people die from suicide than auto accidents. Colorado ranks 6th in the nation for suicide rate.

Most people who attempt suicide don’t really want to die. They want to be free of their suffering. The people who survived jumping off the golden gate bridge have all been interviewed and a common thread found between them is that they regretted jumping just after they did it.

There are many risk factors for suicide. A very big risk factor is a feeling of hopelessness in a person’s life. Silence and secrets are toxic to people and they lead to a higher risk for suicide, too. When people start mentioning that the world would be better off without them, or that they’d like to end it all, no matter how flippantly, they need someone to listen to them. If you can’t personally hear their story, refer them to one of the national suicide help telephone lines like 1-800-SUICIDE. The speaker Katie Ford mentioned how important it is to refrain from judging or threatening a suicidal person. An incorrect way to speak to a depressed and/or suicidal person goes like this: “One more comment like that young lady and we’ll have you committed.” The correct way to address a depressed and/or suicidal person is with open ended questions, paraphrasing, and validating feelings. (NOT discounting feelings).

I really resonated with the speaker Katie Ford from Second Wind Fund when she began describing how in today’s society, dysfunctions of the brain are separated and marginalized in favor of body dysfunctions. For instance, if someone has a heart murmur, they can easily get proper medical attention and supplements or medications to correct the problem or keep it in check. However, if someone is suffering from moderate depression, or a brain dysfunction like a neurotransmitter imbalance, they are more likely to be told to “get over it” than to get appropriate help. In this way, mental health has been separated and stigmatized from the rest of the health care field. Dysfunctions of the brain, when left unchecked, lead to mild, then moderate, then severe depression and even suicide.

Don’t be ashamed to seek help for yourself or a loved one if you’re affected by suicidal thoughts or depression. The Second Wind Fund helps get affordable mental health care to uninsured teens at risk for suicide. http://www.thesecondwindfund.org/

With today’s dietary influences of prepackaged convenience foods, high fat foods, foods fried in rancid oils, and non-foods offering no nutritive value, a large percentage of people are unknowingly suffering from brain dysfunction. Often, outside events perceived as negative are triggers to the underlying brain dysfunction. These can be hard to diagnose. I personally found some great books that offer personality quizzes to help you: Food & Mood by Elizabeth Somer, The Mood Cure by Julia Ross, and The UltraMind Solution by Mark Hyman.

P.S. Sept 9- Look what I found as I was browsing my local PBS chapter web site: an article about Second Wind and their upcoming fundraiser: Rocky Mountain PBS, Teen Suicide Prevention.

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