Sneaky foods that may be making it worse

[Mearaina]

I have a long story battling mental health that I am not going to delve into right now, but I wanted to pass on something that I discovered by accident and helped me A LOT. I have food issues that can make my anxiety and depression a million times worse. If I eat chocolate a few days in a row my anxiety flares ups like crazy. There are other foods that I have issues with that affect my mental health that people wouldn't think of (like potatoes). I'm not saying food sensitivities cause these problems but I was amazed at how much better I feel since I've cut my "bad" foods out of my diet. Most of these foods are quite healthy but for whatever reason my body doesn't handle them normally. It may be worth eliminating different foods to see what happens. FWIW, if I eat chocolate 3 days in a row I end up having horrible anxiety for roughly a week. It can take a while for foods to get out of your system.

[punkrockmomma]

This is something I've been seriously looking into, because my meds don't work as well as I'd like them to, and I have also read bad things about their long term side affects, and I don't want to be on them forever. I know in Nov. I'm hoping to go hear a woman speak who treats mental illness with diet. I've actually gotten my sister, who is going to school for her PHD in Psychology interested in how diet can affect mental illness, and will probably be going with me to hear this woamn speak.

I know I haven't removed anything from diet yet, because nothing is obviously affecting me. I wish I had the self awareness to pin point any foods that make things worse.

I'm really glad to see someone posting about this in mental illness, usually this kind of stuff is reserved for the special needs forum, but can it can also really apply to mental illness as well.

[Oubliette8]

My therapist recommended cutting out caffeine and chocolate from my diet to help with anxiety and panic attacks. Apparently it affects him fairly badly and he has cut both out of his own diet. I thought he was nuts, I've never been a big caffeine drinker, maybe a handful of times a week, but definitely less than a drink a day. I tried cutting back (no caffeine after breakfast), which meant I had caffeine about 3X a week and it didn't help much, so finally i just bit the bullet and did it. i wasn't sure at first, but now I've been caffeine free for 4 or 5 months I think and I can see an improvement- my panic attacks are much less frequent and far less severe. I never did manage to cut out chocolate, but I'm happy with the improvement that cutting out caffeine brought.

[Mearaina]

Every bit helps, that's for sure. I didn't pick up on chocolate being a trigger until I had cut potatoes out of my diet for a few months, and only then was I able to pick up on the fact that chocolate was bothering me. I had discovered potatoes because I went on an elimination diet to see what food was making my mouth numb and started with plain baked potatoes and my mouth was still numb. I cut them out and gradually was able to pick up on more subtle foods, like chocolate, high fructose cron syrup, and too much sugar. But my potato reaction had masked all the others. These foods also make me tired and achy.

I'm glad to see other people are looking into this and getting some relief from diet modification. If only I had known about this 10 years ago.....

[2xy]

If potatoes bother you, you might consider eliminating other members of the nightshade family to see if they make a difference. Tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers (sweet and chili) are all nightshade plants.

[jane-t-mommy]

Have you ever heard of energy testing? It's basically where you get "feedback" from your subconcious concerning whether a certain substance is good for you or not. http://www.naturalhealthtechniques.c...le_testing.htm
This site explains it better than I can. But it is really easy to learn and you can do it on yourself and basically use it anywhere. It can really be a great tool to have in the sluething out of food reactions.

[academama]

I'm finding that a daily log is really helping me identify triggers [food and other]. I'm keeping a food diary, exercise log, sleep log, and anything else that seems notable [you know, major stress, menstrual cycle, etc.]. It's a PITA to keep but it's helping and I think a month of it will give me a good basis.

[paquerette]

I've actually picked up a couple of highly recommended books on this subject. Potatoes not Prozac, and The Mood Cure. Just haven't found time to read them yet. But they look good from flipping through.