Does exercise/healthy eating help with your depression?

[everydayiloveyou]

Back in elementary and high school, I used to walk home every day and then work out for an hour. I first started doing it because I read online that it helps with anxiety and depression. It was fun and distracting, but I still had really bad anxiety and depression.

These days I have 0 time to exercise, and things are pretty much the same. But to be fair I've always been chubby. Recently my doc said that I have high cholesterol, so if my results are the same at my next appt, I'm gonna try to start dieting so I can lose weight and have my levels right. My parents dont think I should change my eating, but Im thinkin maybe if I start eating healthier then Ill feel healthier mentally too. Like maybe the bad feelings I always get are a result of my less-than-ideal physical health ?

What about you guys? Do you think your health habits affect your mental illnesses at all, and is it a good way to keep those thoughts at bay or has it been ineffective?

 

[JoeFailure]

For sure it helps. The more you do it, the better you'll probably feel.

Like anything else, no 1 thing is going to fix everything, but I do think this is super important if you're attempting recovery.

 

[Throwawaysoul]

I wish I could figure out how to eat healthily. I panic in the grocery store , don't know what to buy. Then I panic at home because I don't know how to cook. Then I panic again at the amount of food I'm wasting. The best I can do is make fruit Smoothies and even those they say are bad.

 

[Deleted member 1465]

Yes. Setting aside some more specific mental illnesses, I personally believe that being as healthy as possible is the cornerstone of good mental health. It's all tied together. No amount of therapy or medication or meditation or diet or exercise will have a lasting effect if these things are done in isolation to each other. Whatever you need all has to be done slowly and holistically.
I also believe that diet is the foundation of this approach. I think it's unreasonable to expect good mental health in a stressful society when we put so much shite into our stomachs.
Booze, drugs, sugar, refined carbs. How can you expect to be mentally well if you indulge in these things? Our bodies are not evolved to process this excess. I'm convinced also, that no amount of exercise will help you lose weight unless you first cut out all the processed and refined junk and eat only food with no ingredients list.
I don't do this. I still eat junks so hard to give it all up. But I want to change and I'm trying, slowly to improve my diet and keep mobile, even when I don't feel like it, precisely because I don't feel like it. I so wish all the bad stuff wasn't so damn addictive.

 

[BitterlyAlive]

For me, not really. I had a very clean diet for about a year, lost a bunch of weight too. I tried consistent exercise for about a month. Maybe I didn't try hard enough, but exercise really didn't do anything for my mood.

 

[Caspers]

There are a lot of 'mood foods' that are supposed to help with mental health. If you search 'mood food recipes' online, you'll find a lot of ideas. I use an app called 'Yummly' I don't know if it's iPhone only, but it's great at finding recipes you'd like. Say what your diet is, what food you like/dislike, and it finds thousands of recipes for you! Some are 15 mins long with 4 ingredients, some have videos. Good food definitely helps you feel a little bit better, even if it's just 5%. I don't know if it helps with depression as I mainly eat healthily, but considering the amount of research supporting it, I'd say good food does help with mental health.

 

[ceelo]

it made me super happy my whole life, this is why i kept trying to tell the fucking retards that this hiatal hernia was a problem as it was fucking my breathing and stopped me doing all those things that made me super happy and now im fucked to put it mildly.

 

[Øystein]

This year has been the healthiest year in terms of diet and exercise for me and yet I keep feeling worse and worse

 

[timf]

hiatal hernia

I found that after 40 I had to avoid chocolate, onions, and caffeine and then I didn't have this any more.

 

[AfraidofEverything]

Can't speak for others but it does seem to help me, though it doesn't cure anything. When I was at my lowest it was so hard to resist the urge to crawl into bed and even harder to get out once I was there. Exercise in the form of just getting things done was helpful for being active and distracting my brain. I really had to force myself even when I didn't want to so it can be a struggle but for me it was worth it.

I do eat fairly healthier now and I'd say that helps as well. I have anxiety so the constant caffeine I was using to lift my low energy only made me more anxious and tired. Cutting out that and other sugary/greasy junk did help and now I don't seem to want it anymore, it's unappealing.

I think it couldn't hurt for you to try and see if it helps! If anything you'd get healthier at least and it would be one less thing causing issues.

 

[so tired or manic]

I don't have much of a choice but to eat healthy. diabetes and celiac and lactose intolerance and I do have the hiatal hernia thing, but don't do anything but avoid tomatoes for that. I can't give up coffee. even plant based milks bother me, but ultra filtered milk does the trick. does it make me feel better? physically, yes. mentally, no.

exercising I'm not a fan of, but I do feel better overall when I am. the chronic back pain and flat feet like to make that difficult though.

 

[muffin222]

Yes, definitely. For the past 2 months, I've been consciously taking steps to eat a healthful diet and exercise at least 5-6 days a week for 30+ minutes. The key is to exercise and eat healthy even when you don't want to. Overcoming the mental resistance to making changes is the hardest step, in my experience. Once you build up the initial momentum in making changes, it gets easier to sustain the healthy habits

 

[LittleJem]

I wish I could figure out how to eat healthily. I panic in the grocery store , don't know what to buy. Then I panic at home because I don't know how to cook. Then I panic again at the amount of food I'm wasting. The best I can do is make fruit Smoothies and even those they say are bad.

Hi, it's worth buying a student cookery book - as they have easy recipes which can be healthy too.https://www.independent.co.uk/extras/indybest/books/cookbooks/best-student-cookbook-vegetarian-gluten-free-healthy-vegan-budget-a7320321.html

 

[Deleted member 17949]

I find it does. Whether or not they actually physically make me feel better I don't know, but the sense of accomplishment and control that comes with being on top of these things definitely lifts my mood and makes me feel more energetic.

 

[Existingnotliving]

Nope

 

[Wisdom3_1-9]

People have always said that and the science seems to support it. However, that has never been my experience. Perhaps it's just the way I'm wired? The healthiest I've been in my life was about five years ago, a time at which I was actively planning my suicide for the first time in my life... so...

 

[mathieu]

At the moment I am eating healthy and exercising regularly. I am feeling better but I don't know if I feel better due to the lifestyle or if I am doing these things because I feel better. My antidepressants were also recently increased. It's worth doing if just to look better and have more confidence IMO.

 

[heartbreaksilence]

It can be rewarding physically but my depression has worsened maybe as a result from quarantine and not going to the same gym I don't know really.

 

[mahakaliSS_MahaDurga]

I wish I could figure out how to eat healthily. I panic in the grocery store , don't know what to buy. Then I panic at home because I don't know how to cook. Then I panic again at the amount of food I'm wasting. The best I can do is make fruit Smoothies and even those they say are bad.

I thought I was the only one with this problem. I panic about food all the time.

 

[Throwawaysoul]

I thought I was the only one with this problem. I panic about food all the time

You're definitely not alone. I'm panicking right now thinking about what I'm going to have for dinner 6 hours from now.

I can't figure out the produce aisle if my life depended on it. Every time I try a recipe I feel like I'm spending so much more because I don't have any of the ingredients and pans, plus I need a back up meal if I fail.
I would try those mail order meals but they are even more expensive and the boxes have logos all over them, I don't want the mail carrier and my neighbors to know I'm an idiot.

 

[TotallyIsolated]

I don't exercise and I feel SUPER bad about it. I really want to and I wish I could, and I get SOO massively triggered seeing other people doing well and being fit and healthy.

I just can't motivate myself and I beat myself up so much I can't even get started. I would need SO much help to even think about starting even the slightest bit of exercise.

 

[Lester Cohle]

Nope. I'm doing sport and eat healthy food for at least 2 years, and it doesn't make a difference. Just another thing to occupy myself with, that's all.

 

[Sinai Silence]

Nothing really changed for me mentally when I started dieting and going to the gym. I did outgrow all my trousers though which was an expensive wardrobe replacement lol

Everyone is different though so you won't know until you've tried. I'd say go for it! It might be better to start off gradually as you might not notice changes at first and changing up your whole routine will be a shock to the system.

 

[Dr Iron Arc]

I've attempted dieting and regular exercise before but I have so little self control that it always fails. I also always end up in a worse mood if I don't get to eat my favorite foods or if I'm expected to do something exhausting. That's probably how I became diabetic. A few years ago I actually did lose 30 pounds...by accident. I just happened to lose weight without even trying by going to my fast food job five days a week and usually only eating $7 worth of that food for my meals (which wasn't much). I don't work there anymore but I used to be happy to go there before I left because of someone who also worked there... This experience made me realize that in the future the only things that would ever motivate me to fully exercise again is a girl I like who also likes me and even with that I would probably still have to be unaware of any weight loss because usually even just the thought of losing weight just makes me more hungry and more lethargic. Just typing this is making me go to the pantry to gorge on some chips.

 

[inactive]

Only mildly :(

 

[pennylanefinaltake]

For me it helps temporarily. My gym has those annoying mirrors in front of you when you are on any machines so that irks me (I already have body dysmorphia) but being at one with the action and the music feels great. Clean eating helps when it's done for a longer period of time.

 

[checkouttime]

It releases dopamine

problem with people when they exercise, they don't do it properly. so in turn, don't see any results! i used to see people in the gym after 2yrs still look the same. I imagine this can have a negative effect as you can't see any results.

when you see results, it will make you happy. I used to be mad into the gym and it was an addiction at one point, and i must admit i felt great about my body.

The changes people desire won't happen overnight though and probably why so many give it up so soon

 

[schopenh]

It never helped me and it never helped anybody I had in real life contact with (that is, people I can observe aren't just fooling themselves).

 

[checkouttime]

For me it helps temporarily. My gym has those annoying mirrors in front of you when you are on any machines so that irks me (I already have body dysmorphia) but being at one with the action and the music feels great. Clean eating helps when it's done for a longer period of time.

although i can fully understand why you personally wouldn't like the mirrors. they are actually so you can check you are performing an exercise correctly. doing an exercise wrong eg too fast and no control will have no effect(or very little). they aren't their for performing selfies!!!! i may be guilty of taking a photo in a mirror but NEVER in a GYM ......... no way!!!

 

[Done at Fifty]

Yes however not always in a healthy way. I like to make extreme weightloss goals. This bizarrely provides me with a temporary feeling of control and happiness.