I have noticed something.I am much, much, much happier when my carbohydrate intake is barely existent. When I cut all sugar (that doesn't come from fruits and veggies) and when I cut out all flour and grain, everything in life improves.
And when I add things back, I get sluggish and sad.
Part of this is because I have a gluten sensitivity... so it makes me more bloated and gives me a bigger belly ache than other people get. A particularly nice, big, fluffy, salty, soft pretzel can make me forget all that, of course.
But what I do notice is that when I am eating carbs, I feel bad emotionally.
I looked online to see if I could find any information about a carb/mood connection that indicates it's anything other than "in my head." Unfortunately, the only information that I could find was to the contrary. Apparently, low carb diets can be responsible for depression in some people. They alter your serotonin (or some such thing).
I was on a super-low carb diet for nearly a year and weathered a few terrible events in that time rather gracefully. Not that I think that my low carb diet gets the credit for that, but I feel like I am emotionally more stable when I do not eat them. I just feel healthier in every respect.
I should ask my doctor about this. She hugely advocates no-carb diets. She says that by eliminating carbs you're only getting rid of junk food... stuff that hurts your body. I think that this surprises a lot of people because they get stuck on "low-fat = good health" and low carb diets tend to be higher in fats. That said, I don't have a totally meat based, low carb diet. The meats that we eat are organic and come from good farms where the animals aren't living in awful conditions (so I don't agonize over it) and I eat PLENTY of fresh fruits and veggies!!! And the difference I feel is drastic. Maybe it's all body chemistry? I don't know. I'm one of the few people that I've ever heard say the same thing. Most people that I know start low carb and quit a few days later because they're so unhappy.
So, as of yesterday I'm back at it.
Not at all for weight loss, but for general health.
I've been on a low-carb diet for several years. It's similar to the "paleolithic diet" -- look it up on Wikipedia. A doctor recommended it to me years back for chronic fatigue issues and it's helped a lot. I totally agree with everything you've said re: carbs and sugars.
ReplyDeleteHey, I'm familiar with it. Have you ever seen the blog Free The Animal? What I'm doing is really similar to that.
ReplyDeleteI notice a huge difference in the way I feel when I don't eat flours and sugars.
I'm glad to hear that there are other people out there who feel the same way.
i really think that some people fare better with low or no carbs and some fare better with high carb diets. i don't personally know of any direct link from food to mental illness, i do know that food can affect mood whether one has mental illness or not.
ReplyDeletei used to eat tons of carbs and low fat foods and i was unhealthy. i found out that the best diet for me is actually a high fat, lower carb diet, like greek or mediterranean. i was shocked to find this out. i though skim milk and light chips were doing me good, but actually my body does better with natural fats and oils.
i think be healthy and do what's right for you and your body, you have to live in it, lol!
I agree. It's so hard to listen to your body when what it's telling you is contrary to popular theory.
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