• 💖 [Donate To Keep MyPTSD Online] 💖 Every contribution, no matter how small, fuels our mission and helps us continue to provide peer-to-peer services. Your generosity keeps us independent and available freely to the world. MyPTSD closes if we can't reach our annual goal.

Diet and Mental Health

Status
Not open for further replies.
been exposed to two religions that teach diet change=mind change and it is hard to deny the evidence even though mind change is at best anecdotal data, and the acceptance of the new diet and new religion at the same time casts a huge shadow on anything like actual data to support the premise.
BUT, one group is well known for longevity, a city in california where they congregate is actually considered to be a “blue zone” on a world level with other well known centers of longevity like Japan and some areas in the mediterranean. And the other group is primarily made up of a nationality that is accepted as being long lived.
In traditional households within that community children are taught the value if cooking with spices in a holistic approach from an early age.
No doubt, eat better, live longer. And I want to believe that be happier=live longer, but how can you know?
So, eat better=live longer, and be happier= live longer, does it follow that therefor eat better= be happier?
I want to believe it does but this is not the logic that proves it, it is a falacious argument.
No better than eating badly=high rates of diabetes, groups with high rates of diabetes report higher rates of depression, therefore diabetes=depression.

Even though I want to believe it and i am definitely trying it, I am a long way from preaching it or even offering up any opinions on it other than saying it cant really be proven that eating good food has any affect on mental processes. If it was easily proven, Mcdonalds would sell more apples than burgers, right? Well, a higher percentage of healthy food would pass through grocery stores maybe? It all gets so murky when you have to accept subjective evidence to make a point valid. But, it doesnt have to be valid for me to at least try it and see. So far, it isnt killing me to eat better. Thats a fact I can state assuredly, I aint dead yet.
Yeah absolutely, hard to prove anything. The reason why McDonalds stays in business is because it’s fast and cheap, and junk food gives fast dopamine so you get high on “happiness” but it’s short term. No one eats McDonalds thinking it’s healthy. Just because something is better and healthier doesn’t mean people do it, lots of people don’t exercise for example.
 
That’s wild, it’s amazing how much of a long lasting affect it’s had on your body and just how much a person can survive.
IKR? Resilient as all hell, people.

No one eats McDonalds thinking it’s healthy.
Except sick people. Nothing healthier. No lie. The digestive system shuts off when the immune system turns on. The whole sympathetic v parasympathetic thing. Soup & FastFood (super concentrated and almost predigestd) are …literal, not figurative… life savers.
 
IKR? Resilient as all hell, people.


Except sick people. Nothing healthier. No lie. The digestive system shuts off when the immune system turns on. The whole sympathetic v parasympathetic thing. Soup & FastFood (super concentrated and almost predigestd) are …literal, not figurative… life savers.
Oh interesting idea
 
Yeah absolutely, hard to prove anything. The reason why McDonalds stays in business is because it’s fast and cheap, and junk food gives fast dopamine so you get high on “happiness” but it’s short term. No one eats McDonalds thinking it’s healthy. Just because something is better and healthier doesn’t mean people do it, lots of people don’t exercise for example.
yeah, mcdonalds food is kind of the extreme and I was probably wrong to use them as an example to illustrate the point. I guess I think of it more along the lines of a comparison to dressing warmly to avoid the cold because we all know and accept that cold is bad and that dressing warmly is how we survive it, and as a comparison to that if we all had the same level of belief that eating poorly makes us unhappy we would undoubtedly eat better to avoid depression just as we dress warmer to avoid cold. It's a tough comparison to make. Eating at Mcdonalds was a poor attempt.
Besides, I eat at Mcdonalds because it is like 99.9% for sure going to be exactly the same as the last time I ate there and sometimes, out on the road or in a hurry, I just don't want to take a chance on another place or take the time to stop at a grocery for an apple and a granola bar.
And the bathrooms are clean, usually, and that is hard to find. The golden arches is kind of a funny way to advertise a good place to stop to urinate but thats what it is, so it goes.
 
yeah, mcdonalds food is kind of the extreme and I was probably wrong to use them as an example to illustrate the point. I guess I think of it more along the lines of a comparison to dressing warmly to avoid the cold because we all know and accept that cold is bad and that dressing warmly is how we survive it, and as a comparison to that if we all had the same level of belief that eating poorly makes us unhappy we would undoubtedly eat better to avoid depression just as we dress warmer to avoid cold. It's a tough comparison to make. Eating at Mcdonalds was a poor attempt.
Besides, I eat at Mcdonalds because it is like 99.9% for sure going to be exactly the same as the last time I ate there and sometimes, out on the road or in a hurry, I just don't want to take a chance on another place or take the time to stop at a grocery for an apple and a granola bar.
And the bathrooms are clean, usually, and that is hard to find. The golden arches is kind of a funny way to advertise a good place to stop to urinate but thats what it is, so it goes.
Yeah makes sense. I think it’s the level of discomfort, generally cold makes you uncomfortable, junk food is “comfort food” just like how you said, for many people. Sorry to be nitpicking your examples, I’m doing it again 😂😂😂😂
 
Hey, so I've seen a few posts about Keto and it's affect on mood. I wanted to recommend a book. It's called "This is Your Brain on Food - an Indispensible Guide to the Food that Fight Depression, Anxiety, PTSD, OCD, ADHD, and More" by Uma Naidoo. It goes through several disorders and suggests a diet for it, at the end lists recipes. It's loosely based on scientific studies. The writer is a psychiatrist, cook, and has studied nutritional psychiatry. Here's the goodreads link so you can read more about it if you're interested This Is Your Brain on Food: An Indispensable Guide to t…

But anyways, for PTSD, some of the studies said yogurt lowers cortisol, which is something I've heard before. Another was blueberries (anti-inflammatory for hippocampus, and prefrontal cortex), and omega-3 fatty acids (salmon, tuna, sardines, etc) reduce PTSD symptoms. Vitamin E can help prevent further brain damage (sunflower seeds, peanuts, almonds, spinach, broccoli, etc).

It also was repetitively said fast carbs, sugar, too much caffeine/alcohol, msg, are bad. Obviously, we already knew that unhealthy foods were unhealthy, but the book hit home the moderation in all things. A lot of us get stressed out so we eat out or turn to comfort foods, we could be seriously aiding our brain's restoration process through our diets.

But anyways, has anyone else found this to be true? What else has worked for you, or how do you use diet to help yourself? Have you heard the information I listed? Have you heard other things?
Diet is HUGE for me.

I really watch my caffeine intake, hey I love coffee but it's bad for me to have it regularly. I've cut it down to usually twice a week and I find I am calmer. I substitute it with green or white tea.

I also have a sweet tooth but try to consume natural sugars (e.g., honey or agave.) I also don't eat meat where I can't verify it's sustainable and ethical (so largely don't eat it) and I limit dairy.

I find if I don't have vegetables in the morning, I feel off balance. Vegetables really help me be calmer, less reactive, and more positive thinking.
 
Diet is HUGE for me.

I really watch my caffeine intake, hey I love coffee but it's bad for me to have it regularly. I've cut it down to usually twice a week and I find I am calmer. I substitute it with green or white tea.

I also have a sweet tooth but try to consume natural sugars (e.g., honey or agave.) I also don't eat meat where I can't verify it's sustainable and ethical (so largely don't eat it) and I limit dairy.

I find if I don't have vegetables in the morning, I feel off balance. Vegetables really help me be calmer, less reactive, and more positive thinking.
Wow, so you must eat a lot of fruits and vegetables and grains, since you limit everything else. What about nuts?
 
I think everyone needs to find what works for them. At this point, I follow a Mediterranean diet and avoid sugar and highly processed foods. Still have treats every now and then, but focus on balanced diet, hydration, proper rest, and exercise. When I miss out in one of those areas for more than a couple of days, I can feel the effects mentally, physically and emotionally.

Right now I'm working on gaining weight so I don't worry about fats and carb loading is my friend.
 
water.
My generation only thought about water and hydration when a coach pushed it on us during a sports season in high school. It wasnt a part of life after the end of the season and definitely not after high school. We drank when we got thirsty. I can hardly remember thirsty now, it is just a habit to drain my bottles 6 to 8 times a day, more on weekends, more in summer. Less arthritis pain, fewer headaches, better tolerance for medications, better digestion, on and on. Anecdotally, less pain, clearer thought. water makes us work better as beings. Forehead Slap.
 
water.
My generation only thought about water and hydration when a coach pushed it on us during a sports season in high school. It wasnt a part of life after the end of the season and definitely not after high school. We drank when we got thirsty. I can hardly remember thirsty now, it is just a habit to drain my bottles 6 to 8 times a day, more on weekends, more in summer. Less arthritis pain, fewer headaches, better tolerance for medications, better digestion, on and on. Anecdotally, less pain, clearer thought. water makes us work better as beings. Forehead Slap.
Military teaches water & ibuprofen cures cancer & amputation.
 
water.
My generation only thought about water and hydration when a coach pushed it on us during a sports season in high school. It wasnt a part of life after the end of the season and definitely not after high school. We drank when we got thirsty. I can hardly remember thirsty now, it is just a habit to drain my bottles 6 to 8 times a day, more on weekends, more in summer. Less arthritis pain, fewer headaches, better tolerance for medications, better digestion, on and on. Anecdotally, less pain, clearer thought. water makes us work better as beings. Forehead Slap.
I drink a lot of water too, don’t really have a reason why, I just started as a teenager, maybe because I was a dancer but still drink a ton of water everyday.
 
Military teaches water & ibuprofen cures cancer & amputation.
a lt. col. friend told me about training troops for desert duty in Texas in the summer. They boarded their flights with two jerry cans of water, toted them all the way to their racks and during maneuvers, hated that weight. The only way to shed it was to drink it and they did, gladly. They had to be forced to eat in the heat. Thats something right there, even when burning calories like a bonfire they wanted to drink and didn't want to eat unless it was under scrutiny from up top.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top