Nutrition

Hey guys I wanted to make a thread dedicated to nutrition, I've been doing a lot of research on it so figured I'd share some things I learned and hopefully others will put insight

Vitamin C: great for combating the effects stress has on the body (especially the cardiac ones for those who have a phobia of cardiac stuff like me haha) and studies show people with low levels of vitamin C don't handle stress as well and can not recover from stress as fast as those with high levels of vitamin C (http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/200304/vitamin-c-stress-buster)

Niacin (vitamin b3): Man this one is crazy, people who suffered from pretty debilitating cases of social axiety started taking niacin and were all of a sudden very outgoing, also a women who was suicidally depressed was supplemented with really high doses of niacin and all of a sudden was completely normal and acted like nothing ever happened, but when her doctor saw how much niacin she was taking the doctor urged her to stop, she did and returned back to being sucidially depressed which eventually got the best of her...oh and also has been proven to help cholesterol in great ways (http://www.doctoryourself.com/niacin.html and a documentary called "Food Matters")

Moderate drinking: has been proven to reduce the risk of heart attack by great percentages, and obviously when you have a drink or two your anxiety almost vanishes, so this is good news, drink up a little BUT of course drinking excessively has a completely reversal on it's benefits so limit your drinks to about 9 if your a women or 12 or so if your a man (http://www2.potsdam.edu/hansondj/Controversies/1088441583.html)

Saturated Fat: People who consume low fat diets are often depressed and have mood problems, I saw a documentary of someone who went from being vegan and purely miserable and weak to eating a diet rich in saturated fat and being strong and happy again, this makes sense because nutrients are really only transported by fat, and the brain mostly functions on fat (Documentary called "Fathead")

WellTabs: I started taking these tabs, yea this is a commercial product but the results are quite incredible lol I just had a long drive from corpus to houston and it was pretty stressful, when I got here my mom gave me one of these and I took it and almost instantly I felt such relief from my stress and anxiety, don't know if it's placebo but my mom is a pretty anxious person too and she reports the same things (Personal Experience)

Maca Root: this stuff is freaking AWESOME! I took it on a day I was just so sluggish and defeated from my endless anxiety and OH MAN I was hopping all over the place, I was so happy I couldn't contain myself, my energy was through the roof, no lie guys no lie (Personal Experience)

I'm continously looking nutrition and supplements and what not up so I know I will be updating this thread hopefully, I hope ya guys can contribute because I am reaaly starting to believe

<span style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt">YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT or you know supplement with and stuff lol


<Edit> Thank you for the information . I would like to suggest you post links to helpful sites versus posting indepth info . No posts of lengthy articles. Sharing information is allowed, but the forums are not to be used to publish articles. It is an improper use of critical forum resources.

Edit: I added my references

Post Edited (3doorsdown) : 3/13/2011 3:49:36 PM (GMT-6)

3 D,

Please post some links to nutrition sites that recommend a healthy diet for people with anxiety and depression.

Kindly,

Kitt

I'm studying to be a nutritionist and in my honest opinion their are 'chemicals' in our foods that can be just as effective as xanax and such. My personal experience has shared this with me on endless accounts, I remember being as miserable as I thought I could be but then smacking on an orange and my whole world took a turn for the better. This can't be placebo because I was not expecting anything, I was just hungry and wanted a snack lol.

If you think about it, food's nutrition is what fuels our bodies to be at it's best day in day out so it'd make sense it can help us combat this dreadful anxiety. So a healthy diet for anxiety would be in my opinion a diet HIGH in nutritients, more than the next person needs because your body is basically in a war and it needs it's tools to win this fight.

Also a great nutrient for you would be playing out in the sun for 20 minutes or so. The UV rays help your body produce dopamine, the happy hormones:). I've been on a full recovery from some pretty debilitating anxiety and I attribute to a healthy nutrient dense diet.

Of course, you want exercising to be a pleasant experience you'd want to keep coming back to, and if the gym is not your thing don't try to force it.

Benches are good you know but limited on the amount of exercises you can do, if you want go to the route of a good home gym make sure to get a power rack too for your squats and deadlifts, or maybe some kind of bowflex-esque machine haha though I don't really recommend that machine but hey it might work for you

see, chuck norris is clearly a phenomenal specimen whose rumored to be the 1st adam, and has been scientifically proven to contain the DNA of zeus, but he didn't get that from that total gym thing loll total gym is really most effective in a rehabilitation setting for someone recovering from a car accident or a sports injury of some sort, shouldn't really be your main base as an exercise but if you truly only have 10 minutes a day then go for it I suppose

P90X is awesome, I'm going to do a round myself soon, it's a complete exercise, very well balance and you won't need anything more than just P90X if you go that way, I've mentioned before I was most shredded while doing P90X

ps, I didn't know you were that good on black ops haha you were like 30 something Ks with single digit Ds and you kept getting our team attack dogs haha I was like whoooaaa, being honest here though and not making excuses it is DIFFICULT to play on the ps3 wow I promise I'm not that bad on the 360 lol

3DoorsDown, 

You are on the right track!  I am no longer on meds and am functioning pretty well.  Stopping caffeine, limiting sugar and white bread cut my anxiety by more than 50%.  I walk at least every other day or run or work out to FIT TV, my only investment was a Yoga mat. It's Genetic suggested a good website, you may be familiar with called Doctor Yourself, it has some great information.  Keep on cleaning up that diet, keep a positive attitude and I do believe that goes a long way.  As well as consistant exercise.  Watch out on the stimulating herbs, I do not think that you can study nutrition without including vitamins, herbs, ammino acids, etc.  It all works together.

So nice to hear that other people are exploring these options.  I know they do not work for everyone that makes a sincere, dedicated effort, but it works for a lot of people.

Thanks for sharing

Gem

people say you should focus on your diet to lose weight, or do more cardio or even cut your total caloric intake, but the truth is what is really going to help you lose weight is just boosting your metabolism. I mean of course all those other things help, but you should really attend your attention to boosting your metabolism and things will get much easier

I've found from personal experience the best metabolism boosting tricks are things like circuit training or interval training or intense weight lifting sessions, and of course eating a lot of calories. Basically if you cut your calories you really just slow your metabolism and you get results at first but then you plateau

so yea, as far as peanut butter it helps you lose weight because it has a lot of fat and protein which both obviously digest a lot slower than carbohydrates and keep you full longer so your less tempted to munch anymore. the fat in peanut butter is mostly healthy fats though so I wouldn't worry about that, remember the good fats and bad fats battle in your system, so if you intake more good than bad fats you shouldn't worry

I started doing some circuit training for the last couple 2-3 weeks. I do 1 exercise per body part and 3 sets of 15 of each. So I do 1 for chest/back/tris/bis/shoulders/legs and then I do 15-20 min of cardio after that. I'm hoping to see some results pretty soon from doing this as far as losing the weight. Think that's a good circuit training regiment or maybe it needs some tweaking? Once again though I gotta complain, I hate the gym when it's so packed. It makes me half ass my exercises cause I just want to get out of there. Might need to invest in that bowflex sooner then I thought lol

Make your food intake as much fruit and veggies as possible.  Eat a medium breakfast, larger lunch and minimal dinner.  Lay off sodas they keep the weight on.  Just eat less than you normally would.  Exercise atleast three times a week, minimum.  Cut the sugar, eat an apple or a pear if you are craving something.  I keep honey in the cabinet and one tablespoon of that will satisfy any sugar craving.

You will get there.  Slow and steady wins!

Gem

Thanks Kitt!

Gem

Whole foods. Natural state.

Gem

Eat the dressing you want, just eat less.  Products labeled Fat free do not always live up to that.  get yourself a book on nutrition, lots of good ones out there.  Just change it up and keep it interesting.  Sirloin steak/roast may be less fatty than chuck roast/ribeyes.  I would not be so worried about the fat.  Just watch how much you eat and try to really cut down on caffeine/sugar/white bread.

Sounds like you are on the right track.  Just relax and have fun with it.  I have no doubts that you will reach your goals, it appears you are working really hard.  Trust yourself and the over thinking will fall to the wayside.

Have a great week-end Mike.

Gem