Eating Disorders due to Endogenous Depression
Quote:
Originally Posted by Depressed in MO
For the past 5 months I have been severely depressed-which in turn has made me doubt myself greatly. I've been so depressed to where I can't eat or sleep, if I do eat, it makes me want to vomit and I do. When I do, I feel better because I know I'm not going to gain weight from what I had just put into my body.
I know it's not right, but I have been like that ever since I was twelve years old off and on-more on than off.
Eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia are very closely related to depression. This is because depression is really a nutritional disorder. Most people make the mistake in believing that depression is a "mental" disorder and the concept of "mental" naturally leads to the concept that it is a disorder of the mind.
It can be shown that depression is mostly a physical disease by the fact that most depressed people have hypoglycemia. This can be tested with a four hour Medical Test for Hypoglycemia. It can also be tested with a paper and pencil test called the Nutrition Behavior Inventory Test (NBI) , although this test would not be as accurate as the medical test.
The question is why would hypoglycemia cause depression and/or an eating disorder?
The reason is that hypoglycemia is a sign of Insulin Resistance, meaning that the body has a problem of converting the sugars in food into Biological Energy called (ATP). This energy is required for the body to manufacture the feel good neurotransmitters such as serotonin.
Because the sugars in food are not properly converted to biological energy is is accumulated and saved in the body as fat cells. Hence depression is closely associated with putting on weight.
This may prompt some young girls - conscious of their appearances - to "DIET", where dieting means "starving the body of nutrients" in the false belief that absence of food will will cause weight loss. It will of course, but starving the body of food will only aggravate the serotonin deficiency and depression and increase weight gain when you resume eating.
Thus the anorectic or bulimic needs to treat the root cause of depression of which obesity is simply a side effects of depression.
Biological depression also called endogenous depression can be treated by supplying the body with appropriate amounts of biological energy. This energy is derived mainly from the sugar we eat. The problem with hypoglycemic people is that they are not absorbing and metabolizing these sugars normally. Their sugar metabolism may have been damaged by a life-long consumption of refined carbohydrates such as table sugar.
Thus the first step for depressed people is to adopt the Hypoglycemic Diet and adjust this diet to the individual needs of the person. This is best done under the supervision of a Clinical Nutritionist. This is because apart from a sugar allergy, patients are more than likely to be allergic to other food items and may have food sensitivities. Also other medical condition, usually associated with digestion (coeliac disease, ulcerative colitis, Crohn's Disease etc etc) also need to be eliminated. This should be done under medical supervision.
Psychotherapy can only be useful after treating the biological aspects of depression.
Please discuss with your CAM doctor or Clinical Nutritionist.
