Everybody loves food! Maybe except if you’re anorexic or in such a depressed state that you can hardly grab a single bite. But in most cases, the mere thought of food is enough to make the digestive juices run and set-us off on a mouth-watering frenzy for the good stuff — ice cream, cake, and other sweet and often fatty delights.
But what often goes unnoticed is that food is also one of the leading causes of depression. How did that happen? Well, aside from starvation which can certainly make anyone weak and bleak, certain foods can also cause the blues. First, excessive eating actually makes our digestive system to become overworked. Like everything else in the universe, human capacity for food digestion is limited. Heavy eating right before sleeping actually only provides a temporary full feeling after burning the midnight oil in the office. But more often than not, a person who overeats at night still feels tired the next morning because his digestive system had to work overtime long after then rest of the body goes to sleep.
But the more conventional or usual cause of anxiety might involve a lingering illness, work problems, or a relationship gone sour. Enormous pressure at the office or unusually high demands in school can cause an otherwise stable individual to slowly “lose a grip” on life. Anxiety leaves a person listless, worried, hassled, and totally stressed out. Persons with severe emotional or psychological problems find themselves unable to focus at work or maintain smooth relations with a loved one or a friend.
To put a balance to it, anxiety can sometimes do good. Athletes and performers say that the “butterflies” they feel before competition or right before they go out on stage is a good sign. The twirling, swirling feeling in their gut is actually caused by the release of extra adrenaline. The anxiety actually helps the athletes and performers get mentally, emotionally, and biochemically primed for action.
Still, some people unintentionally throw themselves into a funk because of what they eat, or, what they don’t eat. For this reason, a lot of nutritionist-dietitians and health professionals promote what is called an anxiety diet. The concept behind this diet can be compared to the clich