Struggling With Mental Health

[EnRoute]

Hello.

I've noticed that my mental health is on fire between 1 o'clock in the day and 8 p.m. I'm moderately depressed, every day, at those specific hours. After that, I'm alright. I can focus, read books and do pretty much everything.

I try to remain present when I'm moody and repressed. I do it every day.

I wonder how is this going to end? I mean my mental health issues.

[mandyjw]

How is your diet and exercise and do you have any yoga or meditation practices? 

[EnRoute]

42 minutes ago, mandyjw said:

How is your diet and exercise and do you have any yoga or meditation practices? 

Yes. I'm on a ketogenic diet. I'm also an advanced meditator. I'm in the present moment most of the time; that state of inner stillness. 

[Windappreciator]

Why are you on keto?

[EnRoute]

On 6/25/2021 at 9:59 AM, Windappreciator said:

Why are you on keto?

I can not eat sugar and refined carbs. They are truly unhealthy. 

[Michael569]

On 23/06/2021 at 7:19 PM, EnRoute said:

Yes. I'm on a ketogenic diet. I'm also an advanced meditator. I'm in the present moment most of the time; that state of inner stillness. 

There may be a potential link between the keto diet and the mood. A diet deprived of carbohydrate may potentially be contributing to worsening of mood. This is because in some people gluconeogenesis (creating glucose from non-carb sources) may be lower and so going on keto will effectively deprive your neurons of sufficient energy. 

In addition ketogenic diet may be more pro-inflammatory in certain cases mainly due to increased intake of animal food and reduced intake of plants. Generally carbohydrate-rich diet has been associated with better progression of depression and anxiety but it is important to go for the right sources of carbs. 

I am totally with you that simple carbs and refined flour products are crap, nobody needs those in their diet. However if you were open to try adding some carbs, I'd suggest considering adding some sources of complex carbs like beans, whole grains, lentils, chickpeas. That sort of stuff. Also if your diet was generally lower in fibre, you will be missing on the benefit of short-chain fatty acids and those are tightly linked to mental health. 

As an experiment, you could add fruit, and sources of complex carbs back in for 2 weeks and see if you feel any better. The worst case scenario you can always go back to keto

Since you are saying you are an advanced meditator, I assume the cause may indeed be more physiological than psychological. 

[Windappreciator]

On 26.6.2021 at 9:22 AM, EnRoute said:

I can not eat sugar and refined carbs. They are truly unhealthy. 

That's fine, but why keto? 

[Linnea Lindstrom]

Hey guys! Thought I might share my own story with mental health/self-development with you all to possibly give someone else that’s struggling a glims of hope. 

So I grew up being a very nervous child with authoritarian parents that later became an angry resentful teenager, and for a long time as a young adult I thought that my value as a person was performance based and based on how other people saw me. I thought that life was suppose to be a struggle and that joy, love and wealth just happened to people that were lucky. I was also taught as a child that ”Rest and recovery is for weak people”. 

I was completely disconnected from my own feelings and the signals my body was trying to send me. I faked a smile and a bubbly personality on the outside but on the inside I was exhausted and felt like absolute shit. 

I thought extremely low of myself and that nobody could ever accept or love me for who I was. I also thought that I wasn’t worthy of anything good in life; like my dream job, a respectful loving partner, money, and somedays even rest and food.

One day I had enough, and after reading every psychology and self-development book I could find I realised that what dictated my feeling was primarily my brain, and that my brain basically was a computer that someone else once programmed with their personal beliefs and thoughts about the world (Mainly my parents and the toxic environment I grew up in). 

This made me the think that; if my brain works like a programmed computer, wouldn’t that mean that I should be able to re-program it? This realisation was honestly what save my life.

This was barely 3 years ago and since the day I made the decision to truly start working on myself and my mindset I have;
- Moved to a different country (Can't even believe it)
- Started my business doing something I really enjoy 
- AND I also found a guy so good I didn’t think people like him even existed!

I guess my point is - To anyone reading this that feel like absolute shit inside, PLEASE keep going! I know it feels impossible to get out of that dark hole, but it IS possible! And you DESERVE to live the life of your dreams and to be happy! 

 

You are hanging out in these communities for a reason, because you deep down want something better for yourself! 

 

If I can do it, SO CAN YOU!!

[SLuxy]

@Linnea Lindstrom Wow!