News, diet plan tips, recipes and the latest research
to help improve your health, nutrition and well-being.
Clinical depression can be associated with confusion and cognitive impairment. Processing speed, creativity, memory, and mental focus can be compromised in the setting of depression. Cognitive decline associated with depression can look like dementia in the elderly. Treatment for depression, and social support and compassion, can be a way to improve cognitive function.
Studies show that high-fat food intake is associated with increased daytime sleepiness and decreased alertness. The deterioration in alertness was sufficiently great to be a possible deterrent to the performance of specific jobs. However, excessive daytime sleepiness found an association with saturated, but not unsaturated fat. This is another reason to choose nuts, seeds, olive and sesame oil, tahini, and avocado.
An enduring problem associated with strategies aimed to reduce obesity, or at least to make the obese healthier, is the “one size fits all” approach. It is rarely cost effective to work with an individual patient to figure out why weight was gained or perhaps regained. It takes time to figure out how lifestyle may contribute to overeating. Does the patient get enough sleep, or eat to stay awake? Is the patient overwhelmed by work or caregiving, perhaps for an elderly parent or disabled spouse? Is the overeating a response to depression, anxiety, social isolation, marital, financial, or other problems — or simply loneliness? Could intuitive eating work for everyone? The reasons for weight gain are not intuitive; nor, it seems, is the solution.
Fortunately, the increase in emotional comfort and decrease in stress experienced after eating carbohydrates is not dependent on changing food choices or new foods entering the supermarket. Carbohydrates will elicit a positive mood, regardless of whether the food was also eaten by one’s grandparents or is new to the contemporary eater. After eating pasta or quinoa, oatmeal or farro, or orange or purple sweet potatoes, relief from feeling down or anxious or tense.
Those with mental illness and their families are aware of the stigma associated with these disorders. We share information about other medical conditions with friends, co-workers, and casual acquaintances without worrying that we might be rejected as employees, friends, or participants in volunteer, religious, and charitable organizations. The Me2Orchestra is a stigma-free zone for people affected by mental illness to focus on joy and who they are rather than being defined by their diagnosis.
By eating healthy, low fat carbohydrate options like sweet potatoes and whole grain crackers rather than candy, you’ll eat less, have the benefit of nutritious foods, your cravings will be satisfied sooner, and you’ll be more likely to avoid unwanted weight gain due to SAD.
We might overlook the pleasure that our taking pleasure in something (or someone) gives others. A shared laugh, story, or experience, even with a stranger, improves the moods of everyone. And often, if we hold onto the memory of the fun experience, watching a parade of ducks or meeting an old acquaintance while going about the mundane experiences of the day, it makes the stress of those less fun encounters so much more bearable.
The biggest obstacle a dieter faces is lack of control over the food being prepared. This can be the case in the workplace or at home. Buying calorie-controlled meals from a weight-loss organization can help dieters stay on track, although lifestyle choices can still interfere. Ideally, dieters should take the person whom they eat with at home to meet their dietician or weight-loss coach, so everyone’s on the same page.
Recently published archeological research demonstrates that ancient man ate starchy carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are important for brain development and overall health.
Stressful moods, disrupted sleep, and decreased exercise that characterize perimenopause can all contribute to weight gain. An increased appetite for carbohydrates caused by low estrogen and serotonin can also contribute. Think PMS cravings, but for months instead of days.
Many of us are experiencing a situational depression during the pandemic known as adjustment disorder with depressed mood. Talk therapy and social support can help people cope and build resilience.
