depression and dieting

Discuss female concerns here.

Moderators: cassiegose, Boss Man

Post Reply
helendolman
STARTING OUT
Posts: 1
Joined: Wed Jan 18, 2012 7:56 am

depression and dieting

Post by helendolman »

Hi, Im new on here. Today I found out I am 14st which has really hit me hard!

I'm 28 years old and 5ft3in, Ive been on antidepressants for almost 2 years.

I work from home and have a gym membership, but rarely go due to lack of motivation. I comfort eat an awful lot and I tend to keep eating even if I am full!

Im sure im not the only person to ever be in this position so I am wondering if any of you have any success stories and advice on what to do to get motivated and stop comfort eating??

Thank you x
User avatar
Boss Man
SITE ADMIN
Posts: 15457
Joined: Sat Nov 25, 2006 3:27 pm

Re: depression and dieting

Post by Boss Man »

Hi there, it's good to hear from you :).

Can you describe the comfort eating for me. How does it manifest, what triggers it off?

There are ways to overcome this; one of which is to distract yourself from the influence(s), causing the comfort eating, by trying to create an environment where more things you like, I.E. music, TV etc, come into the equation, because if your mind is being distracted with negative or mediocre experiences and thoughts, you'd be more likely to eat things between meals that are not good for you and / or overconsume food when having main meals.

Another thing is to look at is the structure or content of your eating. Comfort eating could be down to a lack of satiety, for instance eating low Protein meals with possibly too much Carbohydrate and / or fat instead.

Protein creates fullness feelings and therefore might be a way to suppress an urge to overeat, if consumed in higher amounts.

Another method espoused, is to drink a glass of water before a meal, as it expands the stomach lining, creating a partial fullness type feeling.

There are however pros and cons to this.

As most foods contain water, it therefore must be semi-porous, so logically, the water could allow the overall molecular density of your stomch contents, to be reduced, making your stomach contents less solid and theoretically breakdown more quickly. However as Stomach PH is very acidic and regulated at around 1.5 - 2.0 PH and water is alkaline, (a glass being touted as a good way to combat GERD), a temporarily reduced Stomach PH, could increase the breakdown time of ingested content, meaning the nutrients your body wants, could be getting into your system more slowly than they should be.

Comfort eating can also stem from having easy access to poor quality food; things like bars of Chocolate, Toffees, Caramels, Biscuits, Ice Cream etc.

This then becomes a question of why is it in your residence? How does it weedle its way onto the premises?

You're then in a position to question your buying habits and correct them.

One way to correct them and make it worthwhile, is to try something like this if possible.

1. If you pay for food with a card, always use cash as it self regulates. Find out how much you spent on food last time you shopped, then seperate the amount spent on good food from that spent on poor food.

2. Allow for new discounts, old finished discounts and minor price fluctuations and slap £10 onto the value of the good food you bought last time and call that your allotted spend.

3. Now take the amount you spent last time on poor food and purposefully save that amount in a jar, tin, money box or any selected container and then at a specified time like every 1,2 or 3 months, you will have saved money to spend on things like new clothes, DVD's CD's, presents etc, because logically if you can afford to buy a bit of junk each week, you can afford to save the junk money for "inedible" rewards, such as those I listed above.

This incentivises the dexcision to save the junk money and also if you went shopping and had a straight choice; put back some Ice Cream or some Potatos for example, because having both would make your shopping cost more than you took to spend, what logical choice should you make?

You can also try to attach a different viewpoint to comfort food. You could tell yourself that the taste and sensations attached to the food, might seem comforting, but if the foods effects on your body landed you in hospital, or in a doctors surgery being told worrying things, where's the comfort then?

So you then try to destabilise the relationship between you and the excess food, because how easy would it still be, to conscience or justify the idea of eating it, if you were not at complete ease or peace with the idea itself?

If you live somwhere where people who eat junk live and they won't stop eating any, then keep your food seperate and buy it seperately. You can allocate the top two shleves of a fridge and leave the bottom two for them, so if you have to bend down to sneak some of their food,

A: it might make you rethink things and

B: it might make you aware that you're taking other peoples stuff without asking.

You could also put your food that requires no freezing or refridgerating, in differant shelves or drawers to toher peoples, so you won't be lead to temptation by cupboards contaminated with junk items.

Hopefully some of that helps and if you feel you want to divulge why you feel like you do towards food, please feel free, but I'll understand if you don't but I will say WELL DONE for admitting that you have issues, especially in regards to admitting about the medications, because I know something like that must have been a little bit tough to do, but such admissions and the positive move towards correcting your health woes, are things you should be proud of doing and I wanted you to know I'm proud of you for your admissions and your actions too, because it must be hard for most people who have have emotional, mental or physical problems, to admit they need some kind of help with them, because most people are proud and don't like to behave like that, as it may make them feel as if they are in some way(s), weak and / or incapable, and maybe be judged unfairly or perhaps criticised, belittled and put down.

So you have a lot of repsect and admiration from me, for being a little bit brave and proactive towards your health needs and we will certainly do what we can, to help you move forwards and look more positively to the future.

If you need anything else, or wish to contribute to other peoples life journeys, please feel free, because even one positive word to others can go a long way.

GOOD LUCK, best wishes and keep us posted okay, because we DO want to know how you get on and value all good members of our community as much as they need it :) :).
lacespace
STARTING OUT
Posts: 12
Joined: Thu Oct 06, 2011 3:55 pm

Re: depression and dieting

Post by lacespace »

I too deal with depression and eating helps body release the "happy hormones" for me to feel uplifted. What I do is focus on healthy foods that will release a lot of different healthy hormones throughout your body. First of all the food you are most likely eating, as I had this same problem, is filled with sugar or fats. These are comfort foods and give your body a quick surge of feel good feeling but we must take control and change this. I wrote a blog post you are welcome to visit the post at http://www.woodburywisdom.com/food/6-wh ... ng-powers/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. It is about what foods to fill your body with in order to change this sugar overload. Best of luck and hope this helps a little.
lynnbrwn
STARTING OUT
Posts: 9
Joined: Sun Apr 01, 2012 7:29 pm
Location: California

Re: depression and dieting

Post by lynnbrwn »

Great advice and information. I too have suffered through depression, however when I started working out on a regular basis mood improved. It was hard to get motivated in the beginning but after a few weeks it will get better. You just have to push yourself and don't accept "I can't" or "I am too tired". I do wish you good luck and I hope that the advice will help you.
Trish0102
SOCIAL CLIMBER
Posts: 92
Joined: Fri Jan 04, 2013 12:41 am

Re: depression and dieting

Post by Trish0102 »

You said you work from home. Try to get a life and meet with friends. Maybe you are all stressed out and lonely which is why you eat a lot for comfort. It isn't healthy as you know it.
rohanjain
SOCIAL CLIMBER
Posts: 59
Joined: Sat Apr 05, 2014 12:27 am

Re: depression and dieting

Post by rohanjain »

First of all,try to change your eating habits.It means always eat right food.patients Chicken,eggs,nuts and green vegetables are good for the patients of depression.
User avatar
Boss Man
SITE ADMIN
Posts: 15457
Joined: Sat Nov 25, 2006 3:27 pm

Re: depression and dieting

Post by Boss Man »

Why are they good for depression?
Post Reply