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Saturday, November 24, 2007

I-Search Essay - First Draft

Nutrition and Depression:
Is there a connection?
ByDeb McIntyre
Eng101, College Composition
November 16, 2007
Professor John Goldfine



Table of Contents

Summary iii
History.........1
Why I Chose My Research Topic.......2
What I Know........3
The Search.......4
What I Learned.....5
The Future.......6
List of Sources......7




Summary
I chose this topic because it is a subject that is near tomy heart. Depression happens to too many people.Many of my friends and family have battled with thisdisease for as far back as I can remember. I myselfhave battled with it in the past. With changing mylifestyle, I have not battled with it for a very long time.I contribute my health to those changes, but did notunderstand the depth of why it worked until researchingthis paper. I've learned why certain foods trigger depressionand have also learned what to change in order to help sustainthe disease. I hope to pass this knowledge along to those inneed of help.


History
When I was first married, over 17 years ago, I became very close with my
Sister-in-law. She was always a very quiet person, keepingto herself at family gatherings a lot. She and I had that in common.Neither of us liked crowds, but we both married into a very large andnoisy family. Go figure. Our husbands were quite the same. Funny,outgoing, and loved to interact with people. The men in this family couldbe a lot of fun. But on their other side, they were very much controllingin their family life. Most of them thought a woman's place should be homecooking and cleaning. This was the beginning of me observing my brother-in-law putting his wife down and telling her how worthless she was. I foundmy husband to take on some of these qualities once we were married. Bitsand pieces started to come out. The difference between our lives was thatI was brought up to be a strong, independent woman who did not toleratethese behaviors from my husband. At first I did, but as a few months wentalong, I stood up for myself. Funny thing was, my husband didn't realize howhe was treating me until we talked about it. I've never had him treat medisrespectfully again, which is a great accomplishment being raised withthose beliefs. My sister-in-law turned to food when she felt bad about herself.She ate foods high in fat and low in healthy nutrients. Her battle withdepression began. She sought help from therapists, only to be medicated.When that medicine didn't help any more, they increased or switched thedose.We decided to try to shed some pounds together, so we joined WeightWatchers. I will never forget this time in our lives. We had such good times.We started a healthy lifestyle that lasted for a couple of years. EveryWednesday night was girl’s night out. We went to the meetings, sharing storieswith others that were inspirational and celebrating lost pounds throughout theroom. After the meeting we had our "cheat" meal for the week. We walkedtogether every day and enjoyed each others company. I had never seen herso chatty and funny. She and I had lost weight, gained energy and enjoyed life.We then decided to grocery shop together, which helped keep each other in-tactof healthy eating at home. Every other week we made an afternoon of it.We clipped coupons and made our list of meals for the week together. We thentraveled to Bangor, shopped and had lunch together. After a while, herfamily started making it difficult for her to enjoy herself. When I pickedher up for our Wednesday meetings, they made fun of us, calling it ourFat Farm class. When we went grocery shopping, she would have to begher husband for money. It was the same battle every time. An argumentabout how much he would allow her, and then the lecture of bringing excesschange back to him. After a while she gave up going. She gained a lot of weightand became severely depressed, and at many times even suicidal. Her battlehas gone on for a very long time now. Her family all adapted the bad eatinghabits and no physical activity. Her husband and son now take medicationfor depression. When her husband snaps and treats people badly, he blamesit on not having a large enough dosage of medications. He contacts his doctor andgets an increase. The cycle continues.From my own personal experiences, I know how my diet can influence mymoods. When I was in high school I had a bad habit of starving myself. Iwould go days without a proper meal. Mountain Dew, coffee, and peanutm&ms were my diet. I could barely keep my eyes open during classes. Ibecame very thin and weak. A lot of it started when my cheering coachgave us her famous lecture of what we needed to look like to stay on herteam. A friend of mine who was not much larger than me and had muscularlegs was embarrassed in front of everyone when the coach told her she neededto drop weight. My greatest fear was being next. It took me many years torealize no matter how much you starve yourself, your body will not turn intoa model's body just by wishing it. But what I really discovered was thatwithout proper nutrients, I became depressed. Nothing made me happy.I had a hard time dealing with even small situations. But it didn't stop mefrom the yo-yo effect of crash dieting and then gorging myself. I thought aslong as I looked the way others thought I should, then life was good. I playedthis game with myself for years before I completely understood that I canbe fit and eat healthy and not become overweight. It was actually the opposite.When I started eating more calories, but the right calories, my body lookedand felt the best ever. But even better, my mind became stronger and I felta complete happiness I had missed for quite some time. I liked myself again.I know that I feel better with proper diet and exercise. I hope to find concreteanswers and maybe help my friend along the way.

Why I chose my research topic:
My motivation for why I chose this topic is because of the history of myfriend and my own experiences with battling depression and poor eatinghabits that contribute to this disease. I have a desire to help people thatalso have this battle in their lives. I hope to continue researching andstudying in the nutrition field. I feel that there are many diseases outthere that can be helped by changing someone’s bad nutrition habits.My goal for this paper was to answer questions that I've wondered fora while. I know when I changed my eating habits and added exerciseto my lifestyle things changed for me mentally and physically. I chosemy research topic to find out why.


What I Want to Learn:
Questions I would like to find answers to:
Can food cause depression?
What types of foods contribute to depression?
Can depression be reversed if diet is altered?
Does physical activity play a role in helping depression?



What I Know:
Looking back at both situations explained above, I truly believe diet
plays a major role in our lives. Our bodies need certain amounts and
varieties of nutrients in order to function properly. Without good balance,
our bodies are affected in different ways; weight, mood, energy level,
to name a few. I know from personal experience when I eat a well-balanced,
low-fat "clean" diet, my energy level is high, I feel great and I am completely
happy and content with my life even on the worst of days. I also know from
personal experience when I eat a poor diet, I don't have enough energy to
make it through my day, I am very moody and feel like I can't handle even
the smallest amount of stress or chaos that comes my way. I hope to find
more depth to what I already know. I hope to find out what types of foods
and which varieties help promote healthier happier lives. I hope I find that
certain types of depression can be improved with the help of a proper diet
and exercise, and that pills are not the answer for everyone. They are suitable
maybe to jump start someone on the way to recovery, but I feel should not be
an alternative to fixing the real problem.


Search
The task of researching for my I-search topic of Nutrition and Depression
turned out to be informational and challenging. I decided to research my
topic in 3 different ways. I googled the web for information and found it to
be quite helpful. I also read a book that a health professional suggested to
me for this purpose. Lastly, I conducted an experiment on myself changing
my eating and exercise habits.
Googling the web gave me the opportunity to find several websites to choose
pertinent information for my topic. Wording it as Nutrition and Depression
narrowed the search to finding exactly what I was looking for. I was
amazed at how well some of the sites fit my need. With time and patience,
the web can be a great research tool. What I learned the most from the web
was that the depression in people already exists as a chemical imbalance.
Food is a trigger that can set off this imbalance.
I then went to the health store and chatted with the owner about what
I was researching for a topic. We talked about what I knew and what I wanted
to have answered. She recommended the book, "Potatoes Not Prozac" for
me to read. I really enjoyed this book. The information in it was well researched
and put together by a doctor who had gone through her own situation.
Her main goal with this research was to help others in need. This book
was brought about by her wanting to help people dependent with alcohol and
drugs. She found that eating addictions seemed to contribute to relapses with

these other addictions. Once there diet was changed, the success rate for their
alcohol and/or drug dependency was greater. This is an excellent book for
anyone to read that would like to help improve there inner health.
My third research tool was to conduct an experiment. When I began this
research project, my initial attempt was to ask my friend who battles with
depression to allow me to set her upon an eating plan and observe any changes.
Her reaction was one that told me it wouldn't be an easy task to convince her
she needed to change her habits. I felt the battle would not be productive
and I would not be able to complete the experiment.
So, I chose to take an alternate route. I have been eating clean and exercising
on a regular basis for over 6 years now. I don't have bouts of depression and
my moods don't seem to fluctuate like they use to. So I decided to stop exercising
and eat junk for a couple of weeks and monitor my results. I found out that it
affects me more than I had ever realized. It actually became quite serious in
a very short period of time. And yes, I plunged into a nasty depression and
had a very hard time pulling myself back up again. Wow. Did this experiment
open my eyes even wider. I'm even more determined to keep researching
and learning. This topic really hits home for me and someday I hope to help
others who have gone through the same.


What I Learned

Can food cause depression? Yes.
Depression is an imbalance in the level of biochemicals such as glucose
(sugar in your blood), serotonin in your brain and beta-endorphin inyour brain. What I learned was that improper diet triggers depression.It does not actual create the depression, but triggers an imbalanceof glucose, serotonin and beta-endorphins in those individuals whoare susceptible to this imbalance (which in the book I read it's labeledas someone who is "sugar sensitive").

Can the depression be reversed if diet is altered? Yes.
All three chemical imbalances can be corrected by proper diet andexercise. One in balance, depression can be managed.

Does physical activity play a role in depression? Yes.
Physical activity helps your body be more sensitive to insulin. You want to move the sugar from your blood into your muscles to be usedas fuel. When you are overweight, your body does this less efficiently.Exercise also evokes a beta-endorphin response.


THE FUTURE:

This is just the beginning of what I hope to be a long journey for
me. I plan to continue researching and studying nutrition in many
ways, but mostly in such a way that I will be able to help many
people who battle with this ever growing disease. Life is a blessing
and should and can be enjoyed by everyone. Once in a while people
need a helping hand to be lifted up. I hope for my future that this will
be the person that I can be to those in need.


LIST OF SOURCES:

"Causes of Depression-Factors Play a Role in Depression". Google. 23 October 2007. http://findinginnerpeace.net/depression_causes.phpcauses.php
Although this website gave a wide range of depression causes,there was a section that gave more specific information pertaining to chemical imbalances caused by certain foods. The foods are explained to be a trigger of the imbalance that is already there. Which is information necessary for my paper.

"Depression and Nutrition". Google. 23 October 2007.http://www.mnwelldir.org/docs/mental_health/depression.htm
This was an excellent website for gathering nutrition anddepression material. It had a lot of medical informationpertaining to this topic. But even more so, it gave me moresites to branch out to for even more research.Author Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D.

"Potatoes Not Prozac".Copyright 1998.
What an interesting book to read. It gave a lot of useful information and answered a lot of questions that I havehad about causes and cures to not only others battleswith depression and eating issues, but hit so close tohome with my own experiences. Things really made senseto me in a deeper way. I've always known that what I eathas an affect on my body and moods, but learned by reading this book why and what foods are the culprit.I look forward to reading more about this subject andfurthering my knowledge.

1 Comments:

  • At November 25, 2007 at 9:40 AM , Blogger johngoldfine said...

    Nutrition and Depression:
    Is there a connection?
    ByDeb McIntyre
    Eng101, College Composition
    November 16, 2007
    Professor John Goldfine



    Table of Contents

    Summary iii
    History.........1
    Why I Chose My Research Topic.......2
    What I Know........3
    The Search.......4
    What I Learned.....5
    The Future.......6
    List of Sources......7




    Summary
    I chose this topic because it is a subject that is near tomy heart. Depression happens to too many people.Many of my friends and family have battled with thisdisease for as far back as I can remember. I myselfhave battled with it in the past. With changing mylifestyle, I have not battled with it for a very long time.I contribute my health to those changes, but did notunderstand the depth of why it worked until researchingthis paper. I've learned why certain foods trigger depressionand have also learned what to change in order to help sustainthe disease. I hope to pass this knowledge along to those inneed of help.


    History
    When I was first married, over 17 years ago, I became very close with my
    Sister-in-law. She was always a very quiet person, keepingto herself at family gatherings a lot. She and I had that in common.Neither of us liked crowds, but we both married into a very large andnoisy family. Go figure. Our husbands were quite the same. Funny,outgoing, and loved to interact with people. The men in this family couldbe a lot of fun. But on their other side, they were very much controllingin their family life. Most of them thought a woman's place should be homecooking and cleaning. This was the beginning of me observing my brother-in-law putting his wife down and telling her how worthless she was. I foundmy husband to take on some of these qualities once we were married. Bitsand pieces started to come out. The difference between our lives was thatI was brought up to be a strong, independent woman who did not toleratethese behaviors from my husband. At first I did, but as a few months wentalong, I stood up for myself. Funny thing was, my husband didn't realize howhe was treating me until we talked about it. I've never had him treat medisrespectfully again, which is a great accomplishment being raised withthose beliefs. My sister-in-law turned to food when she felt bad about herself.She ate foods high in fat and low in healthy nutrients. Her battle withdepression began. She sought help from therapists, only to be medicated.When that medicine didn't help any more, they increased or switched thedose.We decided to try to shed some pounds together, so we joined WeightWatchers. I will never forget this time in our lives. We had such good times.We started a healthy lifestyle that lasted for a couple of years. EveryWednesday night was girl’s night out. We went to the meetings, sharing storieswith others that were inspirational and celebrating lost pounds throughout theroom. After the meeting we had our "cheat" meal for the week. We walkedtogether every day and enjoyed each others company. I had never seen herso chatty and funny. She and I had lost weight, gained energy and enjoyed life.We then decided to grocery shop together, which helped keep each other in-tactof healthy eating at home. Every other week we made an afternoon of it.We clipped coupons and made our list of meals for the week together. We thentraveled to Bangor, shopped and had lunch together. After a while, herfamily started making it difficult for her to enjoy herself. When I pickedher up for our Wednesday meetings, they made fun of us, calling it ourFat Farm class. When we went grocery shopping, she would have to begher husband for money. It was the same battle every time. An argumentabout how much he would allow her, and then the lecture of bringing excesschange back to him. After a while she gave up going. She gained a lot of weightand became severely depressed, and at many times even suicidal. Her battlehas gone on for a very long time now. Her family all adapted the bad eatinghabits and no physical activity. Her husband and son now take medicationfor depression. When her husband snaps and treats people badly, he blamesit on not having a large enough dosage of medications. He contacts his doctor andgets an increase. The cycle continues.From my own personal experiences, I know how my diet can influence mymoods. When I was in high school I had a bad habit of starving myself. Iwould go days without a proper meal. Mountain Dew, coffee, and peanutm&ms were my diet. I could barely keep my eyes open during classes. Ibecame very thin and weak. A lot of it started when my cheering coachgave us her famous lecture of what we needed to look like to stay on herteam. A friend of mine who was not much larger than me and had muscularlegs was embarrassed in front of everyone when the coach told her she neededto drop weight. My greatest fear was being next. It took me many years torealize no matter how much you starve yourself, your body will not turn intoa model's body just by wishing it. But what I really discovered was thatwithout proper nutrients, I became depressed. Nothing made me happy.I had a hard time dealing with even small situations. But it didn't stop mefrom the yo-yo effect of crash dieting and then gorging myself. I thought aslong as I looked the way others thought I should, then life was good. I playedthis game with myself for years before I completely understood that I canbe fit and eat healthy and not become overweight. It was actually the opposite.When I started eating more calories, but the right calories, my body lookedand felt the best ever. But even better, my mind became stronger and I felta complete happiness I had missed for quite some time. I liked myself again.I know that I feel better with proper diet and exercise. I hope to find concreteanswers and maybe help my friend along the way.

    BREAK THIS SECTION INTO SHORTER GRAFS.

    Why I chose my research topic:
    My motivation for why I chose this topic is because of the history of myfriend and my own experiences with battling depression and poor eatinghabits that contribute to this disease. I have a desire to help people thatalso have this battle in their lives. I hope to continue researching andstudying in the nutrition field. I feel that there are many diseases outthere that can be helped by changing someone’s bad nutrition habits.My goal for this paper was to answer questions that I've wondered fora while. I know when I changed my eating habits and added exerciseto my lifestyle things changed for me mentally and physically. I chosemy research topic to find out why.


    What I Want to Learn:
    Questions I would like to find answers to:
    Can food cause depression?
    What types of foods contribute to depression?
    Can depression be reversed if diet is altered?
    Does physical activity play a role in helping depression?



    What I Know:
    Looking back at both situations explained above, I truly believe diet
    plays a major role in our lives. Our bodies need certain amounts and
    varieties of nutrients in order to function properly. Without good balance,
    our bodies are affected in different ways; weight, mood, energy level,
    to name a few. I know from personal experience when I eat a well-balanced,
    low-fat "clean" diet, my energy level is high, I feel great and I am completely
    happy and content with my life even on the worst of days. I also know from
    personal experience when I eat a poor diet, I don't have enough energy to
    make it through my day, I am very moody and feel like I can't handle even
    the smallest amount of stress or chaos that comes my way. I hope to find
    more depth to what I already know. I hope to find out what types of foods
    and which varieties help promote healthier happier lives. I hope I find that
    certain types of depression can be improved with the help of a proper diet
    and exercise, and that pills are not the answer for everyone. They are suitable
    maybe to jump start someone on the way to recovery, but I feel should not be
    an alternative to fixing the real problem.


    Search
    The task of researching for my I-search topic of Nutrition and Depression
    turned out to be informational and challenging. I decided to research my
    topic in 3 different ways. I googled the web for information and found it to
    be quite helpful. I also read a book that a health professional suggested to
    me for this purpose. Lastly, I conducted an experiment on myself changing
    my eating and exercise habits.
    Googling the web gave me the opportunity to find several websites to choose
    pertinent information for my topic. Wording it as Nutrition and Depression
    narrowed the search to finding exactly what I was looking for. I was
    amazed at how well some of the sites fit my need. With time and patience,
    the web can be a great research tool. What I learned the most from the web
    was that the depression in people already exists as a chemical imbalance.
    Food is a trigger that can set off this imbalance. WHAT YOU ACTUALLY LEARNED SHOULD GO IN THE WHAT I LEARNED SECTION.
    I then went to the health store and chatted with the owner about what
    I was researching for a topic. We talked about what I knew and what I wanted
    to have answered. She recommended the book, "Potatoes Not Prozac" for
    me to read. I really enjoyed this book. The information in it was well researched
    and put together by a doctor who had gone through her own situation.
    Her main goal with this research was to help others in need. This book
    was brought about by her wanting to help people dependent with alcohol and
    drugs. She found that eating addictions seemed to contribute to relapses with

    these other addictions. Once there diet was changed, the success rate for their
    alcohol and/or drug dependency was greater. AGAIN THE PRECEDING FEW SENTENCES BELONG IN THE NEXT SECTION. This is an excellent book for
    anyone to read that would like to help improve there inner health.
    My third research tool was to conduct an experiment. When I began this
    research project, my initial attempt was to ask my friend who battles with
    depression to allow me to set her upon an eating plan and observe any changes.
    Her reaction was one that told me it wouldn't be an easy task to convince her
    she needed to change her habits. I felt the battle would not be productive
    and I would not be able to complete the experiment.
    So, I chose to take an alternate route. I have been eating clean and exercising
    on a regular basis for over 6 years now. I don't have bouts of depression and
    my moods don't seem to fluctuate like they use to. So I decided to stop exercising
    and eat junk for a couple of weeks and monitor my results. I found out that it
    affects me more than I had ever realized. It actually became quite serious in
    a very short period of time. And yes, I plunged into a nasty depression and
    had a very hard time pulling myself back up again. Wow. Did this experiment
    open my eyes even wider. AGAIN THE PRECEDING FEW SENTENCES BELONG IN THE NEXT SECTION.I'm even more determined to keep researching
    and learning. This topic really hits home for me and someday I hope to help
    others who have gone through the same.


    What I Learned

    Can food cause depression? Yes.
    Depression is an imbalance in the level of biochemicals such as glucose
    (sugar in your blood), serotonin in your brain and beta-endorphin inyour brain. What I learned was that improper diet triggers depression.It does not actual create the depression, but triggers an imbalanceof glucose, serotonin and beta-endorphins in those individuals whoare susceptible to this imbalance (which in the book I read it's labeledas someone who is "sugar sensitive"). CITATIONS NEEDED ALL THROUGH HERE.

    Can the depression be reversed if diet is altered? Yes.
    All three chemical imbalances can be corrected by proper diet andexercise. One in balance, depression can be managed.

    Does physical activity play a role in depression? Yes.
    Physical activity helps your body be more sensitive to insulin. You want to move the sugar from your blood into your muscles to be usedas fuel. When you are overweight, your body does this less efficiently.Exercise also evokes a beta-endorphin response.


    THE FUTURE:

    This is just the beginning of what I hope to be a long journey for
    me. I plan to continue researching and studying nutrition in many
    ways, but mostly in such a way that I will be able to help many
    people who battle with this ever growing disease. Life is a blessing
    and should and can be enjoyed by everyone. Once in a while people
    need a helping hand to be lifted up. I hope for my future that this will
    be the person that I can be to those in need.


    LIST OF SOURCES:

    "Causes of Depression-Factors Play a Role in Depression". Google. 23 October 2007. http://findinginnerpeace.net/depression_causes.phpcauses.php
    Although this website gave a wide range of depression causes,there was a section that gave more specific information pertaining to chemical imbalances caused by certain foods. The foods are explained to be a trigger of the imbalance that is already there. Which is information necessary for my paper.

    "Depression and Nutrition". Google. 23 October 2007.http://www.mnwelldir.org/docs/mental_health/depression.htm
    This was an excellent website for gathering nutrition anddepression material. It had a lot of medical informationpertaining to this topic. But even more so, it gave me moresites to branch out to for even more research.Author Kathleen DesMaisons, Ph.D.

    "Potatoes Not Prozac".Copyright 1998. INCOMPLETE
    What an interesting book to read. It gave a lot of useful information and answered a lot of questions that I havehad about causes and cures to not only others battleswith depression and eating issues, but hit so close tohome with my own experiences. Things really made senseto me in a deeper way. I've always known that what I eathas an affect on my body and moods, but learned by reading this book why and what foods are the culprit.I look forward to reading more about this subject andfurthering my knowledge.

    YOU MIGHT WANT TO PUSH THE RESEARCH HARDER, MAYBE BY GOING TO GOOGLE GROUPS AND SEEING WHAT 'CIVILIANS' ARE SAYING. YOUR DISCUSSION WITH THE HEALTH STORE PERSON BELONGS IN THE SOURCE LIST AS AN INTERVIEW.

     

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