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If you eat rubbish expect to feel like rubbish!


Guest Tricia

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Why do so many people contact me with depression, anxiety and OCD symptoms and admit they eat rubbish, but expect to feel well despite it?

I'm sorry if I seem harsh or uncaring. I'm not! It's just that our bodies and minds need the right fuel and most people I know expect to feel well living on junk!!

I am terrified of touching/peeling vegetables, but face doing so every day. I also have a checking compulsion where I have very high anxiety even throwing out peelings (which I force myself to do without any checking). There is no excuse for eating junk food!

I have 'friends' bombarding me with calls (five last night while I was trying to prepare dinner!) and I am just a sounding board (or Wailing Wall, to quote from Frasier!). No one listens to me about diet. No one believes me and I really cannot carry on hearing about all their woes. I am changing my phone number!

When I was fourteen my English teacher told me off for being a doormat. Well, I've had feet wiped on me once too often. It's taken me decades to see sense!

It would also be nice if these 'friends', just occasionally, asked or cared about me!!! Many people with OCD (or maybe just many people) can be utterly selfish! I think what has blown my fuse today is that after empathizing and giving over two hours of my time to a friend in distress, he told me how lucky I am 'just to have contamination fears', which, apparently, are far easier to live with than his problem. (It didn't help that I was shivering in an unheated hall just in my underwear as usual) It was the fourth time I've been told that by fellow OCD sufferers! I actually have a range of symptoms, but it is totally unacceptable for any one of us to judge another's OCD in this way!

Going back to junk food, I have been chastised for not facing therapy (despite the fact I have) but those who choose to eat unhealthily never seem to be told to change or make more effort!! Why do so many people prefer to take a pill with side-effects (both known and unknown) rather than attempt a healthy diet to see if their depression and anxiety ease?! Why do so many people expect everyone else to help them (family, friends, NHS etc.) but they won't help themselves?!

Oh, and while I am at it, exercise would help, too!

Edited by Tricia
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Hear Hear Tricia :)

I am currently doing a combination of taking medication and forcing myself to eat well and exercise, because as we previously discussed eating badly can have such a detrimental effect

I'm sorry you feel like a sounding board, I guess if your friends see you coping quite well and seeming like you 'have it together', they maybe feel like you are the best person to ask for advice. Obviously people never really know what a person is coping with.

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The friend who passed that remark knows me well and he is aware I have not been able to wear clothes (other than underwear) for 25 years. He also knows I wash all the family's clothes in the garden dressed like that, even when there's snow on the ground, and how miserably cold I am all winter. Maybe I need to whine back at people! I think the sad fact is that most are too selfish to care!

Of course you are right that no one knows exactly what another is suffering, it's why no one should ever pass a remark about another's obsession being easier. On one occasion a man with OCD listed all the things (including arriving at Sainsbury's to find the car park knee deep in dog poo!) that I would have to face to come anywhere near to what he is dealing with OCD-wise!

I've never read this kind of talk on cancer forums and it doesn't reflect well on us to be honest!

Edited by Tricia
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While eating right is a good thing for your body, I've seen no studies suggesting eating less junk food and more fruits and vegetables has a direct benefit for OCD symptoms, anxiety or depression.

As for being a doormat, maybe it would be better for you to take the time you give counselling others and use it toward trying to make your situation better.

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While eating right is a good thing for your body, I've seen no studies suggesting eating less junk food and more fruits and vegetables has a direct benefit for OCD symptoms, anxiety or depression.

Nobody has done such studies because fruit and veg growers don't have the kind of money it takes to fund research that most people consider common sense anyway.

You're more likely to see some rigged study ''proving'' junk food isn't as harmful as evidence suggests because the manufacturers have an invested interest in concealing the truth.

But do we need studies to tell us our bodies need a healthy balance of nutrients to run efficiently?

I can only give anecdotal evidence, but my OCD is definitely more manageable when I'm not depressed, and my depression is always miles better when I eat well and cut down on sugary foods.

I no longer drink coffee, but the effects of caffeine on anxiety are well-documented.

A good diet is a no-brainer. And you don't even have to prepare everything from raw to eat well these days. There are many excellently balanced and healthy ready meals available.

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Here, here - this is something I'm working on. I love eating apples and blueberries and I always have these in my lunchbox. I'd advise a fruity snack every day. I'm no healthy eater myself, because I'm a raging chocoholic (read: greedy pig) but feel best when I'm moving around; I like to feel active and went for a walk just today. Granted, I have just had a takeaway, but that was with my housemate, so... :p

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While eating right is a good thing for your body, I've seen no studies suggesting eating less junk food and more fruits and vegetables has a direct benefit for OCD symptoms, anxiety or depression.

I strongly agree with you on almost everything you say Polar but it's insanity to suggest diet doesn't directly impact depression and anxiety. The brain is an organ in the body, after all. A cursory glance at google will throw up a number of scholarly studies on this. Anecdotally, I know for me personally my mental health is a zillion times better when I eat right, exercise, don't have too much sugar or caffeine, and drink less.

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Guest yinyang

Hey while eating a bar of chocolate I feel fantastic!

On a more serious note..

There are loads of studies linking poor diet with mental health.

Healthy body healthy mind and all that jazz makes perfect sense to me!

Now where's that aero bar I bought earlier....?

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I strongly agree with you on almost everything you say Polar but it's insanity to suggest diet doesn't directly impact depression and anxiety. The brain is an organ in the body, after all. A cursory glance at google will throw up a number of scholarly studies on this. Anecdotally, I know for me personally my mental health is a zillion times better when I eat right, exercise, don't have too much sugar or caffeine, and drink less.

I should not have stuck 'anxiety and depression' on the end of that. I should have stuck to OCD. For that, my apologies. Heck, I've told people a number of times it's important they eat right, sleep right, get exercise and relax -- all good for all of us, regardless what you are suffering from. My real focus was that changing your diet is not going to miraculously improve your OCD symptoms to the point you are not suffering from them. Could it help? Yeah, I have to admit it could help.

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Okay. I hereby take back what I said about diet not affecting OCD, anxiety and depression. I was thinking along a different track. I just Googled diet and OCD and came up with a wealth of information on the subject. Will do some reading.

Carry on.

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Er...pizza and chocolate weren't quite what we had in mind when we talked about a healthy diet folks... :wontlisten: Honestly, you guys! :lol:

Still, everything in moderation. As an occasional treat they're ok. :original: ​

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Okay. I hereby take back what I said about diet not affecting OCD, anxiety and depression. I was thinking along a different track. I just Googled diet and OCD and came up with a wealth of information on the subject. Will do some reading.

Carry on.

Don't take it back, you could eat the most amazing balanced diet in the world, but id you don't do the therapy then not a lot will change. Eating well will help our mood, and that is generally good for our mental health. But as for direct impact on the OCD, nope.

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Sugar is no good for us and simple carbohydrate...cause adrenal fatigue and thyroid issues related to weight changes etc there is a link to the thyroid and obsessive thoughts so healthy diet does help by balancing sugar levels I learned this and lots of healthy fats make me feel better and there is defo a link to hydration xx

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