Does Poor Diet Cause Depression?

Well, let's throw up another content warning that's all the rage for we leftists nowadays:

CW: Diet, eating disorders

And as always, here's a picture for the social media crowd:

Alright, I finally got enough free time to write out my first post on the causes of depression! Woo hoo!

I'm starting off with number ten on my list, just because this is still a blog discussing health and fitness. I might not go in the order that I presented in my last post after that. A lot of this writing is for me as well as those that read my blog, and part of me wants to write about things that feel more important for discussing what may be causing my depression. Either way, eventually all of the topics will be discussed.

So first things first, could a poor diet be causing people to be depressed?

Well, maybe.

There's been a few studies done on the subject, and every one that I've seen has agreed that obese people are more likely to be depressed. But are people obese because they're depressed, or depressed because they're obese?

The science isn't clear on which part is the cart or the horse, but they are definitely intertwined. To cite an article from Obesity Action Network:

While we still have much to learn about the association between obesity and depression, this much is clear: the link between the two conditions is clear. Considering the devastation either of them alone can cause, research to gain an even better understanding of how and why the two are connected and then identify any additional treatments could benefit many millions of people.

And while I don't talk too much about anorexia or bulimia, there's evidence that depression can cause those eating disorders as well:

Depression may lead to eating disorders, but there’s also evidence that eating disorders can result in depression. “Being severely underweight and malnourished, which is common in anorexia, can cause physiological changes that are known to negatively affect mood states,” says Lisa Lilenfeld, PhD, an associate professor of clinical psychology at Argosy University in Arlington, Va., who specializes in eating disorders.

Depression in people with eating disorders typically has its own unique features, according to Ira M. Sacker, MD, an eating disorders specialist at Langone Medical Center at New York University and author of Regaining Your Self: Understanding and Conquering the Eating Disorder Identity.

“People who develop eating disorders feel as people that they’re not good enough,” Sacker says. “They become obsessed with perfectionism. That perfectionism begins to focus on what they eat. But underlying it is depression and anxiety. Often, these patients have suffered a lot of emotional trauma.”

I'm sure I don't have to tell you that having  poor body image issues can lead to being depressed.

I was diagnosed with Type II diabetes in 2008.  For those that know about the symptoms of diabetes, people with a blood glucose level that's off balance (not between 80-120 mg/dl) often experience extreme mood swings and anger. Having a poor diet caused physiological changes that kept me from being able to feel happy.

Going back to the article from the Obesity Action Network, crash dieting isn't encouraged to help with depression (they can even make things worse). To quote:

In a 2008 review of study outcomes in the Journal of Clinical Psychology (Markowitz et al.), the authors urged clinicians to integrate the treatment of these two diseases and cautioned that dieting, which can worsen mood, and anti-depressants, which can cause weight gain, should be minimized. The authors also recommended that exercise and stress reduction, which have been shown to be effective treatments for both diseases, should be considered a first-line defense.

In my personal experience, there's no cart and no horse. Poor diet and depression are more of a vicious circle. I feel sad, so I stop meal prepping. I eat fast food and drink alcohol excessively. Then I get more depressed, so I eat and drink more. And so on. Until I finally get enough strength in me to start over and work to undo the damage I caused.

I'm not saying that this is the only cause of depression (I still have nine more topics to discuss), nor does eating healthy and exercising will cure you of depression. Just that it will help things. And that's something I'll have to remind myself of for the rest of my life.