Mental Illness and my Diet(Something for me to remember)
I just got finished reading an eye opening blog post on anorexia.
The main thing that caught my attention was the problem of anorexics become addicted to the negative cycle of under-eating/non-eating via catecholamines. Catecholamines produce nearly the same effects that any adrenal fatiguing chemicals do to the body. A small boost in energy and a loss of appetite.
This got me thinking as to the nature of my own problems with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder and how it related to my diet. Where does this all start: well in my pre- and early teen years I suffered from severe allergies. One of the otc drugs that worked, and still does, is psuedoephedrine. this chemical basically alerts the brain to release a hormone the tells the adrenal glands to fire adrenaline into the system. The increased blood flow allowed me to breathe. But constant use of this chemical brought out in me some aspects of nervous behavior. During my late teens/early twenties I was using pseudoephedrine damn near daily and in large doses. In my senior year alone I dropped something like 45 pounds. But I was becoming a non sleeping nervous wreck. I tell people that for nearly 2 and a half years I slept maybe 2 to 3 hours a night. This is no lie. When I was working at the movie theater I weighed something like 185lbs.
Where does diet come in? In high school I ate pizza every day, movie theater food at night. snacks, cakes, cookies, constant PB&J's, soda pop to the tune of a 2liter per day. This began to diminish as I felt self-conscious about being overweight. I began to eat far less to the point where a bite of a sandwich was the only solid thing I ate during the day. After 6 months of that I started to force myself to eat more despite it making me sick. Late high school is also when my OCD kicked in to high gear. I obsessed about everything, esp. why girls didn't want to date me and suicide. So I went up and down in weight to the tune of 40 lbs on average over the next couple years; the lowest being 172lbs to my highest at 250lbs. I was never muscular but probably lost most of it during my high school weight drop.
Over time I began what everyone initially turns to when trying to become healthy: jogging. While I got to a point where I was doing close to 5 miles per day, I still felt weak and tired. my diet remained deplorable. Enter weightlifting. I made almost no progress in a year and a half at the gym I went to despite hours upon hours of lifting and cardio. I was still a nervous wreck, highly suicidal, and my mind buzzed with frantic obsessive junk from the moment woke up till the moment I fell asleep.
When I turned 27 I dumped flour almost completely from my diet, barring PB&J's. Started eating mostly meat and vegetables. Interestingly enough this was when my OCD disappeared. Gone. Never to return. This was something I had been dealing with since I was 13. Also my weight began to stabilize around 215 with the occasional fluctuation.
I think now that my mental difficulties arose out of the extreme use of allergy meds and stress of constant under-eating/poor diet in my twenties; even a little catecholamine addiction was responsible. I've since dumped most refined foods, all flour, grains, and vegetable oils from my diet and am feeling better. I still don't know everything I want to about diet and health, but I am zeroing in on something. As of now I am gaining muscle and losing fat in a way I never have before. My waist size is almost down to what it was when I was 172lbs but now at 210lbs. And the best thing is that I am still sans OCD.