I think I developed an eating disorder from researching about food too much? Any advice?

[Grouptose]

I'm not sure if I have bipolar or something, but most of my bipolar symptoms came about last year when I was taking SSRIS (for only 2 weeks, I stopped for a long time and haven't taken them anymore for ages, and I seem to be "acting" normal now, but I don't "feel" or "think" normal and this might have been due to the stress during that time of my life that caused this, but I have lots of obsessive and compulsive thoughts that change literally every few hours or every day.

My main obsession and compulsion has to do with food, one day I'll write down a list "FOODS TO STOP EATING, ONLY EAT THESE FOODS" and try out a new way of eating the next day, then I'll think "nah that was a bad idea" and then I'll write something on the notepad like "Stop eating rice" the next day when I eat sweet potatoes and get a stomach ache, I might go back to my notepad and write "sweet potatoes gave you gas switch back to rice"

It's so annoying and painful but I can't stop because it's literally like an addiction sometimes, like I sort of "enjoy" doing it, although it is corrupting my mind there's something about writing down a list of foods I should eat and then a list of foods I shouldn't eat, and sometimes I will change the list in seconds, it'll go from "rice is good" to "stop eating rice its a dumb grain" and my choices keep changing.

The odd part about all this, is that I don't know if this is a symptom of high serotonin or high dopamine, people would say "high serotonin" but then again, I sometimes find doing this stuff "overly fun, motivating and exciting/entertaining sometimes, until I find it boring again and then realize that I spent 5 days writing down about food, then there's the high serotonin symptoms after getting bored of it (Apathy, boredom, confusion, agitation) that kick in. So I don't know what to do here, can someone help me out because this is getting on my nerves

 

[stressless]

I'm really sorry you're going through this, it sounds like you're really struggling even though you're trying so hard to eat to be healthy.

One thing about food is that it's hard to tell for sure what is causing what. When you ate sweet potatoes and then got a stomach ache, your brain told you sweet potatoes = stomach ache. That might not be true, there are so many factors that go into what could cause a stomach ache, and it could just be that the stress you are feeling is giving you indigestion. This does indicate to me some OCD tendencies.

Here are a few practical suggestions:

- Do some research on OCD and treat food research as a compulsion (like you mentioned). Brain Lock by Jeffrey M. Schwartz, M.D., is a good book to help you get started. When someone has OCD compulsions and gives in to them, it might make them feel good for a few hours or a few minutes, but it puts them in a negative feedback loop and only strengthens their compulsions. Learn some tools for dealing with compulsions. The key is to not give in to them even if you enjoy them (in your case, stop tracking, stop making lists, stop researching). And do not take any more SSRIs.

- Stop tracking food, stop researching food, and get off this forum. These are contributing to your stress which is more harmful than anything. I've been eating pro-metabolically for years but it took me about 6 years before I felt I was ready to join this forum. Before then, I focused on the basics and was able to heal a lot of my mental illness as well as many physical issues. There are a lot of people on this forum who obsess about tiny details and it can be a massive trigger for people who have OCD or Orthorexia. The tiny details won't make any difference until you have the basics down for at least a few years.

- Get back to basics. Don't obsess over the details. Focus on eating simple, nutritious foods that are delicious. Don't eat PUFA. Get enough protein, get enough carbs, get enough fat. And that's it. Nothing on this forum will help you until you get the basics down and do the basics for a few years. Focus on fueling and energizing your body. Commit to doing this even though you know you might not see results for 6months or a year or even a few years. Give your body time to heal. Don't fall into the trap of taking a ton of supplements in the hopes of finding a 'quick fix'.


There are a lot of people who will say "just take cypro" or "coffee cured me" or "just do this one thing and it will change your life" and that's not true. You need to focus on the basics and take a holistic approach. Focus on healing your brain and fueling your body with lots of nutritious food.

 

[Grouptose]

I'm really sorry you're going through this, it sounds like you're really struggling even though you're trying so hard to eat to be healthy.

One thing about food is that it's hard to tell for sure what is causing what. When you ate sweet potatoes and then got a stomach ache, your brain told you sweet potatoes = stomach ache. That might not be true, there are so many factors that go into what could cause a stomach ache, and it could just be that the stress you are feeling is giving you indigestion. This does indicate to me some OCD tendencies.

Here are a few practical suggestions:

- Do some research on OCD and treat food research as a compulsion (like you mentioned). Brain Lock by Jeffrey M. Schwartz, M.D., is a good book to help you get started. When someone has OCD compulsions and gives in to them, it might make them feel good for a few hours or a few minutes, but it puts them in a negative feedback loop and only strengthens their compulsions. Learn some tools for dealing with compulsions. The key is to not give in to them even if you enjoy them (in your case, stop tracking, stop making lists, stop researching). And do not take any more SSRIs.

- Stop tracking food, stop researching food, and get off this forum. These are contributing to your stress which is more harmful than anything. I've been eating pro-metabolically for years but it took me about 6 years before I felt I was ready to join this forum. Before then, I focused on the basics and was able to heal a lot of my mental illness as well as many physical issues. There are a lot of people on this forum who obsess about tiny details and it can be a massive trigger for people who have OCD or Orthorexia. The tiny details won't make any difference until you have the basics down for at least a few years.

- Get back to basics. Don't obsess over the details. Focus on eating simple, nutritious foods that are delicious. Don't eat PUFA. Get enough protein, get enough carbs, get enough fat. And that's it. Nothing on this forum will help you until you get the basics down and do the basics for a few years. Focus on fueling and energizing your body. Commit to doing this even though you know you might not see results for 6months or a year or even a few years. Give your body time to heal. Don't fall into the trap of taking a ton of supplements in the hopes of finding a 'quick fix'.


There are a lot of people who will say "just take cypro" or "coffee cured me" or "just do this one thing and it will change your life" and that's not true. You need to focus on the basics and take a holistic approach. Focus on healing your brain and fueling your body with lots of nutritious food.

Thank you for this

 

[PeskyPeater]

Involvement of the sigma1 receptor in inhibiting activity of fluvoxamine on marble-burying behavior: comparison with paroxetine - PubMed

In the present study, we examined the involvement of the sigma1 receptor in the inhibitory effect of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) fluvoxamine, compared with that of paroxetine, on marble-burying behavior, which is an animal model of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Sigma1...

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Abstract​

In the present study, we examined the involvement of the sigma1 receptor in the inhibitory effect of the selective serotonin reuptake inhibitor (SSRI) fluvoxamine, compared with that of paroxetine, on marble-burying behavior, which is an animal model of obsessive-compulsive disorder. Sigma1 receptor agonists (+)-SKF 10047 and PRE-084 significantly inhibited marble-burying behavior. Sigma receptor antagonist BD 1047 and selective sigma1 receptor antagonist BD 1063 significantly attenuated the inhibition of marble-burying behavior by fluvoxamine. In contrast, selective sigma2 receptor antagonist SM-21 failed to affect the inhibition of marble-burying behavior by fluvoxamine. On the other hand, BD 1047 and BD 1063 had no effect on the inhibition of marble-burying behavior by paroxetine. These observations show that activation of the sigma1 receptor is a necessary component in the inhibitory effect of fluvoxamine on marble-burying behavior, and that the mechanism of its action is clearly different from that of paroxetine.

 

[PeskyPeater]

Activation of Sigma-1 Receptor Alleviates Postpartum Estrogen Withdrawal-Induced "Depression" Through Restoring Hippocampal nNOS-NO-CREB Activities in Mice - PubMed

To explore the molecular mechanisms of PPD, in the present study, we investigated time-related changes in depressionlike behaviors, hippocampal nNOS-NO-CREB activities, and neurosteroidogenesis in mice after estradiol E2 withdrawal during HSP. Additionally, we examined the involvement of nNOS-NOCREB signaling and neurosteroids in depression-like behaviors induced by estradiol E2 withdrawal. Our results indicate that estradiol E2 withdrawal after HSP causes a depressive-like phenotype through reduced hippocampal nNOS-NO-CREB activities, which are recovered by a subsequent increase of neurosteroidogenesis.

 

[PeskyPeater]

Sigma1 (sigma 1) receptor agonists and neurosteroids attenuate B25-35-amyloid peptide-induced amnesia in mice through a common mechanism - PubMed

Abstract​

The sigma1 (sigma 1) receptor agonists exert potent anti-amnesic effects, as they apparently block the learning impairments either induced by the muscarinic receptor antagonist scopolamine, the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor antagonist dizocilpine or inherently due to the age-related deficits in senescence-accelerated mice. We recently described the amnesia induced by the beta-amyloid-related peptide beta 25-35, administered centrally in an aggregated form, in mice. The deficits were sensitive to cholinomimetics or to N-methyl-D-aspartate/glycine modulatory site agonists. Herein, we examined the effects of sigma 1 receptor ligands on the beta 25-35 peptide-induced amnesia. The effects of neuro(active) steroids, which interact in vitro and in vivo with sigma 1 receptors were examined in parallel. Mnesic capacity was evaluated seven days after administration of aggregated beta 25-35 peptide (3 nmol), using spontaneous alternation in the Y-maze for spatial short-term memory, or after 14 days, using the step-down type passive avoidance test for long-term memory. The sigma 1 receptor agonists (+)-pentazocine, PRE-084, or SA4503 attenuated, in a dose-dependent and bell-shaped manner, the beta 25-35 peptide-induced deficits on both tests. These effects were antagonized by haloperidol or BMY-14802, confirming the sigma 1 receptor pharmacology. Pregnenolone, dehydroepiandrosterone, and their sulphate esters, but not progesterone, also dose-dependently attenuated the beta 25-35 peptide-induced deficits. Progesterone blocked the beneficial effects of each other neurosteroid, behaving as an antagonist. Furthermore, haloperidol blocked the effects induced by neurosteroids, whereas progesterone antagonized the effects of the non-steroidal sigma 1 receptor agonists, showing a clear crossed pharmacology of different drug classes. These results demonstrate that: (i) the anti-amnesic effect of sigma 1 receptor agonists may be of therapeutic relevance in pathological states affecting the cholinergic and/or glutamatergic systems, such as in pathological aging; (ii) neurosteroids play an important role in learning processes and may collectively constitute a therapeutic target; (iii) the interaction between sigma 1 systems and neurosteroids appears indeed of behavioural relevance.

 

[PeskyPeater]

Do you understand the correlations of these three studies above? It suggest that certain trauma events can result in neurosteroid dysfunction in the brain that regulate mood via the Sigma-1 system that when activated released monoamines that impact typical aspects in behaviour and associated moods.
In other words, the youth hormones pregnenolone and DHEA can resolve behavioral issues by activating Sigma-1, progesterone doesn't have this action.

 

[Peatful]

I'm not sure if I have bipolar or something, but most of my bipolar symptoms came about last year when I was taking SSRIS (for only 2 weeks, I stopped for a long time and haven't taken them anymore for ages, and I seem to be "acting" normal now, but I don't "feel" or "think" normal and this might have been due to the stress during that time of my life that caused this, but I have lots of obsessive and compulsive thoughts that change literally every few hours or every day.

My main obsession and compulsion has to do with food, one day I'll write down a list "FOODS TO STOP EATING, ONLY EAT THESE FOODS" and try out a new way of eating the next day, then I'll think "nah that was a bad idea" and then I'll write something on the notepad like "Stop eating rice" the next day when I eat sweet potatoes and get a stomach ache, I might go back to my notepad and write "sweet potatoes gave you gas switch back to rice"

It's so annoying and painful but I can't stop because it's literally like an addiction sometimes, like I sort of "enjoy" doing it, although it is corrupting my mind there's something about writing down a list of foods I should eat and then a list of foods I shouldn't eat, and sometimes I will change the list in seconds, it'll go from "rice is good" to "stop eating rice its a dumb grain" and my choices keep changing.

The odd part about all this, is that I don't know if this is a symptom of high serotonin or high dopamine, people would say "high serotonin" but then again, I sometimes find doing this stuff "overly fun, motivating and exciting/entertaining sometimes, until I find it boring again and then realize that I spent 5 days writing down about food, then there's the high serotonin symptoms after getting bored of it (Apathy, boredom, confusion, agitation) that kick in. So I don't know what to do here, can someone help me out because this is getting on my nerves

Hi.

You not only explain the origins of your behavior- plus the effects on you now- but you even touch on the solution.

As said above- stay off this forum- or especially any dogmatic diet, lifestyle or health forum.

Guess what the solution is: go eat. Go eat anything you want. And enjoy every bite.

Once you are truly satiated- be it after one meal, one week or one year- you will stop obsessing.
It will have no control or power in your life. Eating, food and health will have freedom and pleasure attached to it.

Let me know if that’s unclear.
But hopefully- you arent on this forum anymore.

Best to you.

 

[PeskyPeater]

Hi.

You not only explain the origins of your behavior- plus the effects on you now- but you even touch on the solution.

As said above- stay off this forum- or especially any dogmatic diet, lifestyle or health forum.

Guess what the solution is: go eat. Go eat anything you want. And enjoy every bite.

Once you are truly satiated- be it after one meal, one week or one year- you will stop obsessing.
It will have no control or power in your life. Eating, food and health will have freedom and pleasure attached to it.

Let me know if that’s unclear.
But hopefully- you arent on this forum anymore.

Best to you.

I think you are over reacting. Scaring people away, has the consequence of never being able to come to a better understanding of the conditions and denying potential vital information for change.

 

[PeskyPeater]

Everyone's journey is difficult, but who are you to judge that the chosen path is an impossible endeavor to accomplish? I think it is best to try to support persons on that journey to help reach their goal.

 

[Peatful]

I think you are over reacting. Scaring people away, has the consequence of never being able to come to a better understanding of the conditions and denying potential vital information for change.

Hi @PeskyPeater
Which comment or concept was scary? Which comment or concept was unsupportive?

 

[PeskyPeater]

Hi.

You not only explain the origins of your behavior- plus the effects on you now- but you even touch on the solution.

here you are suggesting that the solution is found in her own story, that you have judged the person to be in the wrong spot just becasue you assume the problems to be incurable and being here is out of place.

As said above- stay off this forum- or especially any dogmatic diet, lifestyle or health forum.

Then here you are sending the person away based on the above

Guess what the solution is: go eat. Go eat anything you want. And enjoy every bite.

Once you are truly satiated- be it after one meal, one week or one year- you will stop obsessing.
It will have no control or power in your life. Eating, food and health will have freedom and pleasure attached to it.

Then here you are suggesting you know what is best action but totally denying any other possible solution that can be found here.

Let me know if that’s unclear.
But hopefully- you arent on this forum anymore.

And this confirms you exiling the person like there is no other way than to escape from here

 

[Peatful]

here you are suggesting that the solution is found in her own story, that you have judged the person to be in the wrong spot just becasue you assume the problems to be incurable and being here is out of place.

Then here you are sending the person away based on the above

Then here you are suggesting you know what is best action but totally denying any other possible solution that can be found here.

And this confirms you exiling the person like there is no other way than to escape from here

Thx for your quick and thorough response.

 

[Demyze]

What are you not eating that you want to eat?

 

[catan]

I am sorry you are having a difficult time re food. It is easy to get overly obsessive. I can relate— I had an eating disorder for ten years.

I agree with @Peatful re eating what you want and enjoy. It is liberating, helps regain some intuition around eating, and body and mind heal with the nourishment.

For myself I spent years restricting my eating and when I started reading Peat’s work, set a few ground rules such as minimized pufa, and ate freely, no tracking no feeling guilt. What a difference it made! Just having more energy made me more positive and optimistic, and then that made me less obsessive about food (and other life things). Healing process took years and was life changing.

I wish you the best.

 

[PeskyPeater]

I'm not sure if I have bipolar or something, but most of my bipolar symptoms came about last year when I was taking SSRIS (for only 2 weeks, I stopped for a long time and haven't taken them anymore for ages, and I seem to be "acting" normal now, but I don't "feel" or "think" normal and this might have been due to the stress during that time of my life that caused this, but I have lots of obsessive and compulsive thoughts that change literally every few hours or every day.

My main obsession and compulsion has to do with food, one day I'll write down a list "FOODS TO STOP EATING, ONLY EAT THESE FOODS" and try out a new way of eating the next day, then I'll think "nah that was a bad idea" and then I'll write something on the notepad like "Stop eating rice" the next day when I eat sweet potatoes and get a stomach ache, I might go back to my notepad and write "sweet potatoes gave you gas switch back to rice"

It's so annoying and painful but I can't stop because it's literally like an addiction sometimes, like I sort of "enjoy" doing it, although it is corrupting my mind there's something about writing down a list of foods I should eat and then a list of foods I shouldn't eat, and sometimes I will change the list in seconds, it'll go from "rice is good" to "stop eating rice its a dumb grain" and my choices keep changing.

The odd part about all this, is that I don't know if this is a symptom of high serotonin or high dopamine, people would say "high serotonin" but then again, I sometimes find doing this stuff "overly fun, motivating and exciting/entertaining sometimes, until I find it boring again and then realize that I spent 5 days writing down about food, then there's the high serotonin symptoms after getting bored of it (Apathy, boredom, confusion, agitation) that kick in. So I don't know what to do here, can someone help me out because this is getting on my nerves

I'ts not a big deal to obsess about food with passion behind it, sometimes we get carried away. I had the same difficulty in the beginning with starting to understand food Dr peat recommends, but there is no good guide available. It was a pain in the **** to accumulate the right info and putting it in practice, that's a challenge and I also became orthorexic for a while, the skill is to correct yourself over time, and you can only do this by putting in effort, but it's worth it.
Although, there is a ray peat survival guide Ebook on amazon , maybe you could check it out to make things simpler for you.

[edit] There is much to be learned on Danny Roddy's youtube channel. and you can search for phrases in interviews on www.bioenergetic.life

 

[PeskyPeater]

I understand it can be confusing to learn from secondhand information about food. In one context a food can be healthy, in another context the same food is not so oke. What helps is to ask lot's of question when uncertain. And what helps is not do demonize all foods that have some bad stuff in it. Trying to choose food that has high nutrient density while "minimizing the damage" or toxins, meaning accepting that its not always possible to eat 100% correct, and it's oke to eat suboptimal food, human have been thriving on suboptimal food for ages. The body knows what to do with it better than you do, so trust that your body can handle it even though it's not perfect.

 

[PeskyPeater]

Looking at your story it doesn't seem very abnormal too me. just a case of being irresolute from an indecisive state of mind. Starting projects impulsively with the intention of improvement but not being able to come to concrete conclusions. While the effort can give you joy, there is not much relief from it because there is no definitive end result to be content about thus not achieving satisfaction and that leads to frustration.

But if you think that you can only see things in black and white, in one contrast, either this or that. And you are not able to find a nuanced intermediate and alternative and are stuck in thinking in the same patterns, unable to think outside of the box, not being able to change perspective, and having the need to repeat the operations even if it makes no sense, then that's an issue that can be given a name that has the effect they call stigmatization, what is basically box-thinking, putting you in a virtual confinement, restricting you mentally, leading to inescapable stress and results in learned helplessness. of course draining energy and get quickly to exhaustion. Thus this is an energy problem. energy and structure go hand in hand. improving structure will improve energy. So gather enough energy to break out of the box seems like a good idea.

So how to get more brain energy one might ask. When looking at what keeps us young, the youth hormones come to mind. These are also active in the brain, they call them neurosteroids. These are pregnenolone, DHEA or progesterone. I has some terrible issues, paranoid schizophrenic, anxiety and avoidance disorder. I found out the neuro steroids can fix this so i used pregnenolone for a couple of months with good results. The paranoia became less and I became more confident. Now I'm using DHEA with Progest-e and things are still stable. Took me about 4 years to figure that stuff out, it was tough but now I'm proud of my effort.

 

[Gânico]

Most people experience this when they understand the power of nutrition, although i think this forum tend to obsess more about supplements, hahah.

Like i said, once you know about nutrition and it's effects, it is very hard to not overreact to certain foods, your mind is very powerful. Anyways, if i were you, i would just try to make high digestible high quality foods my staples.. like fruits, tolerable dairy products, meat, occasional liver.. very difficult to go wrong with that, and overtime it should heal most of your problems.

 

[Herbie]

People research and become more ordered at eating but the main stream call it a disorder which makes no sense.