Misconceptions about Antidepressants and Other Psychiatric Medications. Sometimes, they actually work.

Picture me.  And a soapbox.  Now I'm on it.

I would like to address the subject of antidepressant use.  It seems that every week I read an article or a book where antidepressant use is discouraged, because "they don't really work", they have horrible side effects, and they are bad for you.  Just yesterday I was reading "Food Over Medicine" by Pam Popper, which has a lot of great information about nutrition, but when she got to the subject of mental health, she said that some people experience depression as a result of a great loss and they just need time to "process their emotions".  Really?  That might work for some people, depending on the person, the loss, and their predisposition to depression.  But, for a lot of people, they can't function.  They can't see their need for help unless they have family or friends to point it out to them, and this might not be a time where "pulling yourself up by your bootstraps" is going to work.  Instead, they might need short or long term help with medications just to make them functional. Then, they might be able to see their situation more clearly and make plans to "process their feelings" with someone.  

She also said that if you do go to your doctor for depression, you should tell him that you are not interesetd in a pharmaceutical solution to the problem.  She claims that psychotropic drugs are addictive and "should be avoided at all costs".  A psychotropic drug is any drug used to treat psychiatric disorders.  I've been on several of these, and am currently taking two of them.  In Pam's words:

"Right now we know that taking antidepressant and antianxiety drugs not only increases your risk of suicide but they ultimately make people more depressed"

For this statement, she references one book.  One.  No scientific studies, just Petter Breggin's "Your Drug May be Your Problem".  If you read reviews of this book, several people say that their son/daughter stopped taking their bipolar medications after reading this book for a college course, and they ended up in a mental institution and took months to fully recover.  How can she make such a broad statement, that no one should take psychiatric medications and that they only have harmful effects?  I am lucky that my medications do not increase thoughts of suicide, in fact they do the opposite.  None of the other side effects are major enough for me to even consider stopping them.  What do they do? They allow me to be "me".  They enable me to get out of bed and function. They take away dark thoughts of worthlessness and hopelessness and allow me to stop thinking about death all of the time.  I don't cry for no reason, and I have energy to do things with my family instead of sleeping all of the time.  Now, if I had listened to someone like Pam Popper, I would have decided that these drugs would only make things worse and that I needed to solve my depression myself.  Can we say dangerous advice?

Another article I read recently was about a celebrity who claimed to have gone through depression. When asked if she needed medication to get out of it, she responded that "she was a really strong person so she was able to do without medication.  She worked through her feelings herself".  Why would it have been so terrible for her to say that she did need medication? Why is there still a stigma?  I'm sure a lot of depressed people read the article, hoping for some good advice, and felt even worse about themselves afterwards. What was wrong with them? Why couldn't they deal with their feelings themselves? They already feel worthless and useless, how is this attitude helping anyone?

Our bodies are fallen.  God created them perfect, but after the Fall in the Garden, sin and corruption began.  Our bodies are broken, people get heart disease, cancer, diabetes, digestive disorders and mental illnesses.  Would you ever say to a person with lung cancer, "Why don't you just try to fix it yourself?  Think positively, try exercising, and oh!  I just read about this new supplement that is supposed to do wonders!"  Now, there is nothing wrong with exercise (it has been proven to elevate the mood), or certain supplements, but my point is, if you had cancer, your friends and family would be researching the best doctors and hospitals trying to get you treatment as soon as possible.  Why?  Because if they don't, you might die.  Interesting.

To be fair, I will say that some doctors do overprescribe psychiatric medications.  They might automatically start with this solution after barely listening to the patient and they might not combine it with cognitive behavioral therapy when it is needed.  (And don't even get me started on the complete lack of good psychiatrists who can prescribe medications, it's often impossible to get an appointment, and you might end up with a general physician who is too scared to discuss mental health.  If this happens, drive.  Find a psychiatrist who will see you and someone who will drive you there).   There are lots of people who shouldn't be on psychiatric drugs, and there are a lot of people whose illnesses get worse on these medications.  BUT they do work for a lot of people.  And if they do, they are a literal lifesaver.  To tell people that they shouldn't even consider this option is dangerous.  You wouldn't tell someone with heart disease to go to talk therapy and take vitamins.  Watch out for your friends and family.  If they need help, drag them there.  They probably won't want to go and they will claim that they are fine.  A lot of people are still ashamed as if mental illness is their fault, so they hide their symptoms and suffer alone.   Hopefully it won't always be this way.

* My all-time favorite book on the subject of mental illness is "Beyond Blue" by Therese Borchard.  She is hilarious.  And straightforward.  There's a ton of helpful information.  She also has a blog by the same name.

Super Easy and Quick Guacomole Recipe

I have one simple recipe that I use for guacomole.  It's very easy and quick, and it is so yummy!  I don't miss sour cream at all when I can eat this instead

Guacomole

Ingredients:

2-3 avocados

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

1/2 - 1 onion, minced

Directions:

1.  Cut the avocado in half, then peel the "skin" off of it, if it doesn't come off easily, it's not ripe yet.  Mash the avocados in a bowl with a fork.  Use 2 or 3 avocados depending on how much you want to make.

2.  Chop an onion (or 1/2, depending on how much onion you like).  Add onion to avocados.

3.  Chop cilantro into tiny pieces, then mix in with the other ingredients!  You can put everything in the food processor at this point, it will be more creamy this way.  I however usually just stir it together and it's ready.  

How do we know which nutrition advice to follow?

I've been interested in nutrition and dietetics since I was 14.  I knew that I wanted to major in Dietetics in college, and I chose James Madison Univ. for that reason.  It's interesting though to think back about what I was taught from 1995-1999 about nutrition.  Some of the things I learned have remained the same, but some of them haven't.  For example, in the late 90s dietetians were encouraging everyone to use  margarine instead of butter.  Margarine had less saturated fat, and no one taught about trans fats yet.  Today however, most people know that butter is the better choice because trans fats are so highly linked with cardiovascular disease.  

Another example is the diabetic diet.  At that time dietetians were still teaching the diabetic exchange program, where you could eat so many exchanges from each of the food groups, and diabetics were not supposed to eat too many carbohydrates.  It didn't differentiate a whole lot between refined carbs and whole, complex carbs.  And there was no mention of fat making a difference in diabetics' blood sugar levels, the focus was completely on carbs.  Today, a lot of studies have shown how fat can be the main culprit behind insulin resistance and diabetes; the fat can make the cells "sticky" and insulin cannot get into the cell with glucose.  Some people still teach diabetics to restrict all carbohydrate intake, whether it's refined or complex, but newer information shows that complex carbohydrates combined with a low-fat, vegan diet can reverse diabetes.  It worked for me.

So how do we know what to believe?  Is the nutritional advice 15 years from now going to be completely different from what it is today?  For some things it will be (my prediction is that high protein/low carb diets will be history, and hopefully by then the whole omega 3 debate will be settled).  But, I have a read a lot of books and articles about nutrition and there are 2 recommendations that have not changed over time:

1)  Eat a lot of fruits and vegetables

2)  Choose whole grains and complex carbohydrates over refined ones.

No one that I have read has argued with these 2 points.  Of course, most people suggest organic fruits/vegetables over conventional ones, but if you can't afford organic, it's probably still better for you to eat conventional fruits and vegetables than none at all.  And who would possibly claim that refined, sugary foods are good for you (beside the makers of Froot Loops who claim that they are "whole grain")?  If refined carbs and sugar were good for you, we would all be so healthy!  

So if you are confused by the information out there and aren't sure which diet is healthiest, start with the 2 recommendations above.  And maybe things will be a little clearer in the future.

Coconut Oil: Is it really good for you?

Coconut products seem to be everywhere!  Almost overnight, they appeared on grocery store shelves.  Most people experiment a little with coconut oil, some brave people drink coconut milk, and some very brave people use it as sunscreen!  It is yummy - my favorite thing to do is melt 1 Tablespoon of coconut oil and drizzle it over chopped vegetables (carrots, sweet potatoes, peppers, squash), and then roast them for 20-25 minutes.  But, how can it be good for you?  It is 100% fat, and not the good kind either, it is all saturated fat.  

I bought some coconut milk today to use in a blueberry smoothie and the side of the carton explained how it contains "medium chain triglycerides" which are used by your body differently than short or long chain triglycerides.  Apparently the medium ones (MCT) are quickly used by the liver for energy instead of sitting around and being turned into fat.  Although, if your body doesn't need the calories/fat right then, it will turn into fat.  Also, coconut oil isn't made up of 100% MCT's.  It is only about 10-15% MCTs.  And some of the other fats that are included in coconut oil contain short and long chain triglycerides and they are not good for you.  

I have read claims too that the saturated fats in coconut oil are processed differently from the saturated fats in meat and dairy.  There aren't any solid studies though to prove this point. The use of coconut oil is too new. One study seemed to link coconut oil intake with lower cholesterol and heart disease, but the population studied also ate small amounts of meat, dairy, and sugar, and they consumed a lot of fruits and vegetables. So it's difficult to say that coconut oil was the sole factor that reduced their heart disease, plus their method of screening for heart disease was skewed.

What is my main point?  The jury is still out on coconut oil and other coconut products.  There haven't been enough solid studies that have proven anything.  Saturated fat is still, well, saturated fat, and it is scientifically proven that high levels of this type of fat lead to higher cholesterol, lower HDL, and higher LDL.  All of these lead to heart disease.  Does this mean I will stop cooking with coconut oil or using its milk for smoothies?  No.  But I will be careful not to use too much of it too often.  Since only 10% of our calories are supposed to come from saturated fat, you could easily use up all of them with 1 cup of full-fat coconut milk.

How much is 10%?  Well, if you are aiming to eat 1800 calories per day, 10% of that is 180 calories.  Each fat calorie has 9 grams so you would divide 180/9 and get 20 grams. 2000 calories means you can eat 22g of saturated fat; that is your maximum limit for the day.     If you have ever looked at a carton of Ben and Jerry's ice cream, it easily contains 2 days worth of saturated fat in just one pint!  Other sources of saturated fat include meat (especially red), cream, butter, high-fat cheeses (cheddar and others), high-fat dairy products (whole milk, ice cream),  palm oil (usually present in peanut butter unless you buy the natural kind with only peanuts and salt), and coconut oil.  I believe the American Heart Association wants people to lower their intake to 7% of their total calories, especially if you have experienced some type of heart disease.  

I look forward to reading future studies about coconut products!  Until then, I will use it sparingly.

Dangerous Diet Drinks

I wanted to write this post about diet drinks because there has been so much information in the news lately about them.  I am a former Diet Dr. Pepper fan, I've been off of it for a couple of months and don't even crave it anymore.  Do you notice that once you drink diet drinks you start to crave them?  That's because artificial sweeteners trick your brain into thinking you are eating something sweet, and the cravings begin.  Even though the artificial sweeteners don't have calories, they are still affecting the brain the way sugar does.  

REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD NEVER DRINK DIET DRINKS (or give them to your children)

All diet sodas, Crystal Light, "light" yogurt, reduced sugar or sugar free products, Roaring Waters Capri Sun, and more.

1.  They increase the risk of diabetes 

-  a study published in the journal "Diabetes Care" in Jan. of 2009 found that people who drink diet soda daily have a 36% greater risk of metabolic syndrome (a group of risk factors that raise the risk of diabetes, stroke, and heart attack).  

- the same study found that daily diet soda drinkers had a 67% increased risk of diabetes!!!  67%!  

2.  There is a link between diet drinks and depression.  In one study individuals who drank diet soda had a 30% greater chance of depression over the period of 10 years.  It can also lead to preterm delivery.

3.  The caramel coloring in sodas is linked with hypertension (high blood pressure).  It isn't the caffeine in sodas that raises blood pressure, it's the additive that gives it that nice brown color.  Check food labels because caramel coloring is added to a lot of other processed foods.  (I even found it in granola bars)

4.  ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS - this is by far the greatest reason why you should not drink diet drinks or give them to your children, or your elderly parents!  Most sodas contain aspartame.  Some of the newer sodas contain aspartame and sucralose (Splenda).  Splenda is also an artificial sweetener that is chemically created and is linked to its own list of dangerous side effects.  But why is aspartame so bad?  It's found in a lot of reduced sugar foods and drinks, so it must be safe, right?

- Aspartame is considered an excitotoxin (it's a new word for me too).  Excitotoxins can get into the brain and literally excite the neurons to death, which leads to cell damage, which leads to brain damage, which can lead to other problems like dementia or Alzheimers.  If you are pregnant, excitotoxins also cross the placental barrier, causing problems in unborn children.

-  One other example of an excitotoxin is glutamate (found in MSG).  Both glutamate and aspartame are supposed to stay away from the brain and only be in our blood streams.  However, the blood-brain barrier that keeps these kinds of molecules out is not always functioning 100%.  Children's blood-brain barriers are still developing, so there are "holes" or places where things can sneak through, and lead to over stimulation (ie: temper tantrums and bad behavior).  It's important to know though that there might not be any outward symptoms to alert you to the damage, you may not find out for years that parts of your brain are affected.  

-  Older people also need to be concerned because as we age, the blood-brain barrier breaks down, especially if you have had a stroke, blunt head trauma, or brain injury.  Some studies have suggested a link between excitotoxins like aspartame and glutamate (MSG) and Alzheimer's.  In a person who is already genetically predisposed to Alzheimers, these chemicals simply speed up the process and possibly increase the damage.  

-  it can be easy to avoid giving aspartame to our children or ourselves, but avoiding MSG is much trickier.  My first blog post lists some of the sneaky names that it hides behind (yeast extract, hydrolyzed protein, natural flavors, and about 37 more).  In general, most processed foods in boxes and bags on the grocery store shelves contain MSG.  If you consume MSG with your breakfast, by the time it's out of your system it's time for lunch.  And then dinner.  You can easily keep a steady stream of glutamate in your body or in your child's body.

How do I eliminate MSG from my diet?

- stop eating processed foods

-  eat more fresh or frozen fruits and vegetables

- make your own broth for soup, taco seasoning, enchilada sauce, etc.

- cook your own rice and refried beans, most packaged rice foods contain msg for flavoring.  I even saw quinoa at the store with msg in it, and most people think of quinoa as a health food.

- avoid deli meats and sausages

- eat plain potato chips, all of the flavored ones contain msg, especially Doritos.

It does take more time.  And it means more cooking from scratch, with whole ingredients.  But it's worth it.

"Sugar, Salt, Fat - How the Food Giants Hooked Us" Part 2

CHEESE

"Sugar, Salt, Fat - How the Food Giants Hooked Us"  by Michael Moss Part 2

FAT

This past week I got to the second section of Michael Moss's book which focused on FAT.  Most people agree that fat is bad for you and that it can lead to heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.  A lot of this section focused on cheese and how Americans on average, eat 33 pounds of cheese per year!  The amount that we eat has more than tripled since the 1970s when cheese was becoming a bigger part of our diet.  

About 40-50 years ago, the dairy industry was producing too much milk.  There was more milk than Americans would drink.  They didn't want to reduce their production, otherwise it would not be profitable.  The government stepped in to subsidize milk and they purchased all of the milk that the dairy farms were unable to sell.  As a result, the government had this huge amount of milk that they needed to store.

Back in the 1970s, people were starting to pay attention to fat levels in milk.  They had 4 choices - whole, 2%, 1%, and skim.  More people were switching to the lower fat milks and as a result, the dairy industry also had a lot of milk fat accumulating that they did not need.  (In reality, whole milk is just 3% fat so if you switch from whole to 2% you are not making much of a change).  They started to store their excess milk and milk fat in these underground storage areas in Kansas.  When the Reagan administration started, the government was spending 1 million dollars per day for storage!  Reagan wanted to balance the budget so he put a stop to the government subsidization of milk.

Now what were they going to do with all of that excess milk and milk fat?  Make a lot of cheese!  Up until this point, cheese was a food that was enjoyed once in awhile, and it was usually eaten on its own before or after a meal, not added to other foods.  Large amounts of cheese started to be produced and most people did not know that cheeses are high in fat - 1 oz. of cheddar cheese contains 6g of saturated fat which is 30% of your daily recommended amount!  And that is in just 1 oz.  I don't know about you, but when I do consume cheese, it's a lot more than that!  Cheddar cheese is 75% fat and more and more convenience products were being invented that contained cheese.  The government also invested in programs to convince Americans that we needed more milk and cheese!  I'm sure most of us can remember the "Got Milk?" campaign that started in 1993 and other campaigns that we were exposed to in elementary school.

A  lot of people eat cheese several times per day, and most of it is not part-skim mozzarella.  High levels of saturated fat in our diets directly leads to high cholesterol.  Want an easy way to lower cholesterol quickly?  Give up animal foods (meat, dairy) and your cholesterol will drop drastically because animal foods are the only dietary source of cholesterol.  Your body makes what it needs and we don't need to take in more cholesterol through our diet.  Plant foods contain 0g of cholesterol.  The last time I had my cholesterol checked it was 111.  

Here are some easy ways to reduce your cheese consumption:

-  Substitute guacamole or salsa for cheese in Mexican dishes.  Avocados are high in fat - but in polyunsaturated fats which are good for you.

-  Make your own pizza and put lots of veggies on top and either skip the cheese or only use a little

-  Try soy or rice cheeses.  The kinds sold by Kroger here are not good, but I have heard that Whole Foods and Trader Joes sell better kinds.

-  If you do eat cheese, choose part-skim mozzarella or Neufchatel cheese (reduced fat cream cheese)

- Substitute avocado slices, onions, peppers, and/or tomatoes on your sandwiches instead of cheese.  My favorite sandwich right now is avocado, tomato, and mustard.  And they will make it for you at Panera if you ask!

- Pay attention to how much cheese is in convenience foods.  Look at the fat content.  If the amount of fat calories is more than 50% of the total calories, skip it.  To find fat calories look at the top of the food label, or multiply the grams of fat by 9.

"Salt, Sugar, and Fat - How the Food Giants Hooked Us"

I recently started reading "Salt, Sugar, Fat - How the Food Giants Hooked Us" by Michael Moss.  I stumbled upon his book after reading an article in the NY Times about how food companies have added so  much junk to their foods, that we can't stop craving it.  And, if they reduce the amount of one ingredient (sugar), they have to increase another ingredient (fat) to make up for the taste difference.  We now think that this is how foods should taste.  The book so far is excellent, it's divided into 3 parts (Salt, Sugar, Fat) and it starts out with a litte

In 1947 a man named Clausi was hired by General Foods and one of his first assignments was to create an instant pudding for Jello.  Up until this point you could only buy the cook-and-serve type of pudding which could take hours to prepare and chill.  It took him years to meet this goal because General Foods only wanted him to use pure ingredients and he wasn't able to make the pudding gel correctly.  Then, a competitor came out with their own patent for instant pudding, and all of the rules went out the window.  General Foods told Clausi that he could use whatever additives he needed - they just wanted an instant pudding that could be ready in 30 minutes.  He added two chemicals to the recipe and it worked!  And Jello instant pudding was added to the growing list of convenience foods sweeping the country.

At this time in  history, women were starting to enter the workforce and needed more convenient foods to prepare for their families.  They used to spend hours in the kitchen cooking foods from scratch, and now they needed things they could just open and heat.  During this time home economics teachers were still teaching students how to grocery shop on a budget and cook healthy food from scratch.  Their instruction was going against what the food companies were trying to sell with their convenience products that weren't so healthy.  Betty Dickson was a well-known home ec teacher at the time who had won an award for her teaching, so the convenience world invented their own figure - Betty Crocker.  And the world of boxed cake mixes began.

From this point on the major food companies realized that to make a profit, foods needed to taste good.  In order for that to happen, they needed a lot of sugar, salt, and/or fat.  Cereal was invented and some contained as much as 50% sugar!  Soft drinks grew in popularity and sweetened fruit beverages became a daily treat for kids.  One beverage - Capri Sun - has some flavors that contain more sugar than soda (Wild Cherry).  They also label their pouches with "natural fruit drink" and "all natural ingredients" because of the presence of fruit concentrate (a stripped version of juice that is mostly sugar, devoid of the fiber, flavors, and aromas of real fruit).  One grandmother sued Capri Sun when she realized that its ingredients were virtually identical to soda and not "all natural".  Eighteen days later Kraft decided to change the labeling to "no artificial colors, flavors, or preservatives".  Some foods are also labeled with "reduced sugar", because when they switched from real sugar to high fructose corn syrup, less syrup is required to achieve the same sweet taste.  Thus, the amount of sweetener was reduced.  

This book does get me all fired up!  I know that food companies want to make a profit and that is their main concern, but I can't help feeling tricked by some of their schemes.  And the more sugary cereal, fruit drinks, soda, and oreos I eat, the more I want.  There is definitely an addictive component to sugar in that it acts similar to some drugs in how it affects the brain.