Thirteen: The Effects of Food on Mood
Not only could the absence of certain nutritional factors vitally impair mental health, but the excess of some of these very same factors in certain persons could also vitally impair mental health.
— George Watson, Nutrition and Your Mind Psychosomatic illness, a long-accepted category of modern medicine and psychology, is one in which bodily dysfunction is seen as caused by mental or emotional conditions, rather than by a“ virus,”“ bacteria,” or other external physical causes, known or unknown. Unfortunately, if the physical illness appears to stem from mental causes, it is usually dismissed as somewhat“ unreal,” and so unworthy of attention.“ It’ s all in your mind” is both a brush-off and a statement of ignorance. All that is“ in your mind” manifests itself via the body. Laughing, crying, blushing, shakin— all are physical reactions caused by mental or emotional states. This we know. Also, the notion that feelings are stored and experienced in the body, rather than in the“ mind,” has become the basis for such successful holistic therapies as rolfing and bioenergetics. 1 But the reverse is equally true: Bodily conditions affect mental or emotional states with similar intensity. For example, hunger can cause crankiness, lack of sleep makes it difficult to concentrate, diuretics and a host of other pills can cause depression and suicidal tendencies. When a destructive or overwhelming mood hits, it’ s not always necessarily psychological in origin. There is medical research indicating that substances in food or in the environment, including many modern household products, can cause brain-sensitivity reactions, producing fatigue, irritability, headaches, listlessness, anxiety, depression, and even psychotic behavior. 2 Another researcher suggests that in the case of unusual mental or emotional reactions we look at the following four areas: 3
• Improper or inadequate nutrition
• Drugs, poisons, allergies, or infections
• Stress— expending energy beyond one’ s biochemical limits
• Lack of sleep, resulting in failure to repair tissues Mood, it becomes clear, can be one of the first indicators that something is out of kilter with us. In keeping with the focus of this book, let’ s look at the first area mentioned above, from a systems viewpoint. Body / mind is an infinity loop: *
If there is anything we want to change, we can start at any point in this continuum and proceed from there: psychoanalysis, meditation, or seminars such as est or Relationships can help us lose weight, breathe more deeply, improve our digestion. Because we are rooted in the material world, however, it is usually easiest for us to manipulate physical things such as food. A change in diet, which can be embarked upon at any time, at any hour of the day, can make us feel more centered, improve our disposition and concentration, and even increase our joyfulness and good cheer. If you feel depressed, yet nothing has actually happened that could have caused you to feel that way, and talking about it doesn’ t help, the cause may well be physical or physiological. Only a physiological approach would then be of help. For example, I had a call recently from Y., one of my cheeriest students. She called me, she sobbed, because“ I’ ve been lying on my bed all morning thinking of ways to kill myself.” First I thought she was playing a joke on me, but after a few more sentences like that, I realized she was truly depressed. I thought something terrible must have happened, but when I asked, she said,“ Nothing. Everything is fine. I don’ t know where this is coming from.” That response made me think that the problem was physical— which I tend to think of first anyway. I feel that with mental distress you should first clean up physiological imbalances, and then, if some distress still remains, you can deal with that core problem directly and efficiently through psychological means. As Y.’ s depression had come on suddenly, it could have been an allergy response; apparently she used to get these attacks of the blues years ago, when she used to eat lots of chocolate. And indeed, she had had some chocolate the night