3 Food Traps to Avoid When You’re Depressed

WebMD Feature, June 27, 2011: Some people overeat and gain weight, turning to food to lift their mood. Others find they’re too exhausted to prepare balanced meals or that they’ve lost their appetite. People often get trapped in a cycle of feeling trapped and hopeless about life and their poor eating habits, which causes them to become even more depressed. “It’s important to connect with other people so you don’t become too isolated. Talking with friends and a therapist can provide support to help you break out of that cycle,” she says.
Here are three common ways clinical depression can impact your eating patterns and tips on how to start making healthier choices with the help of your doctor or therapist:

1. Using Food for Comfort: People with depression often use food to self-medicate. They may eat to improve or avoid negative or uncomfortable feelings, like sadness, shame, and self-loathing. Many people crave carbohydrates or soothing comfort foods, such as ice cream and cake, when they’re depressed. One reason for this is that foods high in carbs and sugar increase levels of serotonin, a brain chemical that elevates mood. In the short term, eating foods high in sugar and fat may make you feel calmer and cared for. But in the long term, a steady diet of comfort foods can lead to weight gain and increase your risk of heart disease, diabetes, and other serious health problems.
2. Eating Too Little: Many people find their appetite decreases when they’re feeling low. In some cases, they end up unintentionally losing weight. They have less desire for food and they start skipping meals – often, they’re sleeping through meals. You may feel like you don’t have the motivation or energy to eat when you’re depressed. Also, stress can play a role in reducing your appetite. Food isn’t as appealing when you’re anxious, worried, or feel hopeless. But not eating enough can make you more irritable and sensitive, which can worsen your depression.
3. Eating Whatever Is Easily Available: Shopping for and preparing healthy meals can seem daunting when you’re depressed and lacking energy. As a result, you may reach for foods that are convenient but that aren’t particularly nutritious and you may not get enough variety in your diet. Depressed people often wind up eating fast food or whatever they have on hand in their kitchen – such as their last box of cookies.

It’s also easy for people with depression to get into a rut of eating the same foods all the time. It’s so hard for them to function that they’re looking for routine and structure. They may stop and get a bagel and cream cheese every morning and never try anything different.

Read 3 Food Traps to Avoid When You’re Depressed

At Seattle weight loss and Bainbridge Island weight loss clients learn hypnosis to overcome depression and to change their eating habits. With hypnosis for weight loss you can create a happier and healthier life. don’t wait any longer. Change your life with self-hypnosis.

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Happy winter solstice 2010 from Hypnosis Health Info! We here in the North look forward to this day. Our short dark days can bring down most any ones spirits. If you suffer with Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) this darkness can be overwhelming. I am a “light” person who loves the warm sun. I’ve discovered that with self-hypnosis I can celebrate the light within me and create joy even while I long for the sun. You can learn hypnosis and create joy within you.

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There seems to be substantial data showing that the most effective treatment for depression isn’t drugs. Now, I’m not advocating that you go off of your medications. I am not a doctor. I am, however, urging you to do your research, talk to your medical professional and then make your decision. In my Seattle hypnosis and Bainbridge Island hypnosis offices over the years I have observed that exercise and also hypnosis can have a major role in alleviating depression.

What the Research Says about Alternative Treatments for Depression

One study conducted by Duke University in the late 1990’s divided depressed patients into three treatment groups:

1. Exercise only
2. Exercise plus antidepressant
3. Antidepressant drug only

After six weeks, the drug-only group was doing slightly better than the other two groups. However, after 10 months of follow-up, it was the exercise-only group that had the highest remission and stay-well rate.

Some countries are taking these types of research findings seriously, and are starting to base their treatments on the evidence at hand.

The UK, for example, does not routinely recommend antidepressants as the first line of therapy for mild to moderate depression anymore, and doctors there can write out a prescription to see an exercise counselor instead.

“With that prescription… you now get either a reduced rate or a free rate at a gym for six months,” Whitaker explains. “Part of the exercise might be “green gyms”… gardening outside, nature walks, repairing trails, hiking trails. And they are finding that people really like this. People comply with it…

People who have gone through this course and have been prescribed exercise, they say that rather than seeing themselves as a victim of depression, and helpless before it — that they have this sort of biological problem they can’t do anything about — they say, “Aha, I can make a change, I can do something. It’s in my willpower to do something that will help this problem lift.”

So it empowers the patient in a different way that drugs do not.”

Since 2007, when this new program was first introduced, the rate of British doctors prescribing exercise for depression has increased from about 4 percent to about 25 percent.

Studies on exercise as a treatment for depression are also showing that there is a strong correlation between improved mood and aerobic capacity. So there’s a growing acceptance that the mind-body connection is very real, and that maintaining good physical health can significantly lower your risk of developing depression in the first place. Read The MOST Effective Treatment for Depression Isn’t Drugs… But You’ll Never Hear That From Your Psychiatrist.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2010/05/08/robert-whitaker-interview.aspx

You can use hypnosis for motivation for exercise and you can also use hypnosis to help you overcome depression.

Make sure that you consult with your physician before altering or stop taking anti-depressants.

Check out Seattle hypnosis and Bainbridge Island hypnosis. Call (206) 903-1232 or email for your free consultation.

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With self-hypnosis you can change your eating habits and avoid the depression caused by fast food. Boy do I remember how miserable I felt physically, mentally & emotionally when I lived on fast foods. At my Seattle weight loss and Bainbridge Island weight loss offices of Slender For Life™ I teach clients hypnosis for weight loss so that they have a healthy desire for real food.

According to the Newsrecord.org, Burgers, french fries and pizza might taste good, but consumption of processed junk food is not only bad for the waistline, but also for mental health. A new study in The British Journal of Psychiatry suggests eating junk food is likely to cause depression.

The scientists found high consumption of the processed foods was more likely to lead to depression, while people who ate healthier were less likely to be depressed. Food intake controls the levels of brain chemicals called neurotransmitters, which regulate behavior. Neurotransmitters are closely linked to mood.

Consuming fruits and vegetables (complex carbohydrates) raises the level of tryptophan in the brain, thereby increasing serotonin production, which has a calming effect. High-protein foods promote the production of dopamine and norepinephrine, which promote alertness.

On the other hand, eating junk food reduces the levels of these hormones in the brain, increasing stress and tension and reducing joy and alertness.

The unhealthy oils in junk food can have a long-lasting effect on the brain’s ability to experience pleasure. This produces an addiction whereby food becomes the only way to feel pleasure.

Read: Fast Food Linked To Depression

If you live too far away from my Bainbridge Island weight loss or Seattle weight loss office of Slender For Life™, then call me at (206) 903-1232 or send me an email and together we will design a program to meet your needs. Discover how you can put hypnosis for weight loss to work for you. Learn self-hypnosis and create joy in your life.

Be sure you get your free sample chapters of my book, Becoming Slender For Life.

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New studies are showing the importance of exercise in overcoming breast cancer depression. Hypnosis can help motivate you to exercise and can facilitate your cancer recovery. Learn self-hypnosis to move your body and improve your health.

In an article, Exercise, Green Tea May Lessen Breast Cancer Blues, it says that “Depression is a major health issue for breast cancer survivors, but new research hints that regular exercise and drinking green tea may help.

Exercising regularly and drinking green tea “may play an important role in the prevention of depression among breast cancer survivors,” report Dr. Xiao Ou Shu, at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, in Nashville, Tennessee, and colleagues. SOURCE: Journal of Clinical Oncology, online January 4, 2010. Read Exercise, Green Tea May Lessen Breast Cancer Blues.

Learn how to hypnotize yourself with the tools and resources here at Hypnosis Health Info. The one minute self-hypnosis technique is powerful and easy to learn and use. Visit my Bainbridge Island hypnosis or Seattle hypnosis offices or set up sessions over the phone and internet.

Check out Seattle hypnosis and Bainbridge Island hypnosis. Call (206) 903-1232 or email for your free consultation.

Remember to sign up for your FREE 8-part audio course, Understanding Hypnosis, at the right side of this page NOW!