YSK that the food you eat influences your mood. People who eat a ton of fruits and vegetables are significantly less likely to suffer from anxiety and depression
19d 6h ago by sh.itjust.works/u/Taranel in youshouldknow from www1.racgp.org.au
Other sources:
https://lifestylemedicine.stanford.edu/brain-food-connection/
https://www.health.harvard.edu/mind-and-mood/mediterranean-diet-may-help-ease-depression
https://extension.illinois.edu/blogs/simply-nutritious-quick-and-delicious/2025-01-03-how-food-effects-our-mood
https://www.science.org/content/article/evidence-mounts-gut-bacteria-can-influence-mood-prevent-depression
Could very well be the other way around, people who don't suffer from anxiety or depression tend to eat more fruits and vegetables. Or, the thing that makes you anxious or depressed also causes you to eat less vegetables or fruits. The article specifically states "correlation is never causation".
Or even " the people who have the time to prepare, money to buy and luxury of access to fruits and vegetables are happier because they have time, money and luxury, whereas people who are poor and/0or work two jobs are depressed and incidentally don't eat many vegetables.
Who can afford apples and time to prepare it. Well, off to McDonald's
Yeah that's fair, I'm pretty money and time poor but I also eat whole raw carrots straight out of the bag like a fucking horse
Raw carrots > cooked carrots
I do suggest at least washing them though.
Wash them down with hard liquor to kill the worms.
Yet that doesn't stop epidemiologists from running to the media with their bullshit conclusions.
People who eat well are more educated, have more money, can spend more time and money on mental health and are not doing some mind-numbing bullshit job.
While wealthier people have access to better food, is it that hard to believe that eating well also benefits your health and well being?
It's not one variable. There is no depression sandwich.
Did anyone say this is the only variable? One thing can have an effect without being the entire explanation.
But we already knew eating healthy foods make you healthier. Like the original comment said, maybe people who are depressed are less likely to eat healthy foods when they are feeling depressed.
If we already knew that eating healthy makes you healthy, then why are we running for alternative explanations here? Why can’t eating healthy make you emotionally healthy, too?
People in this thread seem to have a strong attachment to the stereotype of depressed people gorging themselves on junk food for comfort, but that’s all it is: a stereotype - hardly a reliable description of depression.
That could very well be. The original comment was only pointing out the possibility that it could be the other way around since the post seemed to have left that out, that's it.
But anecdotally it's not that I eat junk food to feel better when I'm depressed, but I just don't care. I've eaten a bag of carrots before as a dinner, I've had two pop tarts as a dinner too. I'm not trying to feel better.
I mean yeah, when I'm most depressed I practically live on fruit and veggies. Cheap at the produce stand and takes no effort to prepare, easy calories. You have to cook meat, but not watermelon. Sprinkle some parmesan on canned green beans and boom, that's dinner. You can leave apples in your room and then you don't even need to get out of bed to eat! Also bags of chips. Hey, even that's potatoes though!
But seriously, if a diet "cured depression" it wouldn't be because it's full of fruit and veg, it'd be because it's dynamic and well rounded.
Nobody said “cured,” that’s exaggerating it to make a straw man out of it. “Significantly less likely to suffer from it” is the finding. The people in question may never have even been depressed at all.
I once saw an article posted by Harvard's medical school that claimed patients' self-assessment of poor health caused poor health outcomes. Their advice was to simply believe in yourself to improve your health outcomes.
Needless to say, this was based on an observational study. They never even entertained the idea that patients might have some intuition that they're sick prior to getting diagnosed.
Correlation is never causation? I’m not sure how I feel about that phrasing. Any causation will effect a correlation, so it seems the proper way to think about it is “correlation is not necessarily causation.” Unless we’re just talking about denotations here, as in “correlation and causation are different words.” I guess in that sense, ambulance is never dildo.
Couldn't decide between:
"Not with that attitude."
"Paige, no!"
When I'm feeling down or stressed, I always go for my comfort foods. That salad-a-day habit goes right out the window.
I’m the opposite. When I’m feeling run down and shitty, I ask myself when’s the last time I had a salad, and go make one. It always makes me feel better. Not just better, more completely full and satisfied.
I mean, it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that if you live on doritos and diet coke, you're going to have a depression and anxiety problem.
Why should I listen to a rocket scientist about mental health? I mean, it hardly takes a brain surgeon to realise that people with depression will indulge in their comfort foods more often. Doritos don't lead to depression; depression leads to doritos.
The studies say differently.
No they don't. They explicitly say correlation is not causation, and all they have found is a link within a small sample size. A link that is equally well explained by mental health affecting diet.
Why are you so eager to believe that happy people eat vegetables rather than the other way around? You don’t think there’s corroborating evidence generally that a diet of fresh fruits and vegetables is good for you?
That is... Not what I said. Think: If a person's having a bad day, then they're more likely to say "I don't feel like cooking. I'll just have a snack to make myself feel better." Their mood affects their diet.
‘We are not in any way saying eating more vegetables is a cure for mental health' - This article.
It’s exactly what you fucking said, right here:
it hardly takes a brain surgeon to realise that people with depression will indulge in their comfort foods more often. Doritos don't lead to depression; depression leads to doritos.
So again, why is this SO obvious to you while it’s unthinkable that eating well may be good for you? Any evidence whatsoever that this is the direction the causal arrow points? Or just snappy phrases like “it doesn’t take a brain surgeon to realize…?”
If I am going to take your argument in good faith, I need you to explain why you think I'm saying healthy eating isn't good for you. I will also need you to explain why "good for you" means "prevents depression" when the article itself says that isn't the case. I will need some acknowledgement of my "sad people eat comfort food" argument I have made in clear terms multiple times. Lastly, I will need you to apply the same question of "why is it so obvious" and snide remarks at "it doesn't take a ___ to realise" phrases to the comment directly above mine that did the exact same thing.
Because right now, it feels like you aren't even reading my comments.
I will need some acknowledgement of my "sad people eat comfort food" argument I have made in clear terms multiple times.
Oh it’s bright and clear as day that you hold this stereotype of depression to be a proven fact, yet it’s nothing but your dearly held stereotype. This is not a factual description of depression at large suitable to tip the interpretation of some experimental data. I’m much more persuaded by the mountain of scientific evidence that fresh fruits and vegetables benefit health. Your argument is based on cultural stereotypes.
My argument was in response to a cultural stereotype, and informed by people I know in real life. My best friend has ARFID, and suffered depression. But thank you for ignoring most of my comment and proving you aren't arguing in good faith. It'll save me a lot of time this evening.
Several studies in mice had indicated that gut microbes can affect behavior, and small studies of people suggested this microbial repertoire is altered in depression. To test the link in a larger group, Jeroen Raes, a microbiologist at the Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium, and his colleagues took a closer look at 1054 Belgians they had recruited to assess a "normal" microbiome. Some in the group—173 in total—had been diagnosed with depression or had done poorly on a quality of life survey, and the team compared their microbiomes with those other participants. Two kinds of microbes, Coprococcus and Dialister, were missing from the microbiomes of the depressed subjects, but not from those with a high quality of life. The finding held up when the researchers allowed for factors such as age, sex, or antidepressant use, all of which influence the microbiome, the team reports today in Nature Microbiology. They also found the depressed people had an increase in bacteria implicated in Crohn disease, suggesting inflammation may be at fault.
That shows a link between depression and gut microbes, but it seems to indicate that depression causes the lack of those microbes, rather than the other way around. Plus, it doesn't say a THING about diet, cause those microbes process food instead of coming from it.
At most, you've proven a link. Not causation.
Correlation or causation?
Not to mention confounding factors and comorbidity. Add a dash of confirmation bias, bake halfway, and bam! You got some pop science journalism.
I know it's anecdotal, but I'm a historically picky eater that doesn't eat much fruits or veggies (I'm working on that). However, I'm probably also the last anxious and depressed person I know. There are plenty of other factors at play too. Like I can comfortably afford life and don't have anxiety about hidden expenses for things... I bet there is a strong correlation between people who eat a diverse, healthy diet and people who have the means to afford that diet.
Yet you lose your mind when people use printers.
Nope
I dunno, pretty sure I've got you tagged as "printer-hating mouth-breather" for a reason
Because you are weird about printers. I had forgotten about that interaction yet it was so important to you that you tagged me. I don't even remember what it was about other than printers.
I tagged you because you were incredibly weird about printers.
Yes, I'm the weird one here. Not the person who was obsessed enough to tag the other person... The more I think about it, I think I do remember some of this interaction and there is some serious irony here. The way I remember it is that you couldn't realize the your personal experience was anecdotal and not necessarily representative of most people. Yet here I am in a completely unrelated thread and comment specifying that I know my personal experience is anecdotal. Lol, have fun with your printer dude.
Thanks, it's useful.
I remember you insisting that it's pointless for anyone to own a printer, which was provably false, and throwing a fit about it.
Well, you remember wrong. I don't generally make such blanket statements. You're still so engulfed in your own experience you still can't see what I was saying.
You were being so remarkably insufferable about it that I made a label as a warning for future interactions. Perhaps you were having a bad day? Not enough veggerbles that morning?
What is your problem? Why are you so hung up on this printer thing?
I just thought that I was funny that you got all bent out of shape about printers but claimed to be exceptionally low-anxiety.
What would anxiety have to do with that anyway?
It reflects how high-strung you are.
Again, nope. You're a sad person trying to project your experience on everyone else. You can't even let this printer thing go. Meanwhile it never bothered me that someone I don't know on the internet owns a printer.
I hope one day you can learn to stop lying to yourself, as well as everyone else.
Correlation or correlation due to causation. We have taken the “correlation is not causation” thing so far that people now literally believe by default that any correlation indicates that there IS NO causation.
I'm assuming they correct for correlation and isolate causation in coming to these conclusions, right? People that eat more fruits and veggies are also more likely to be people that practice other health conscious habits, get regular preventative care to avoid illness, grow their own food which is exercise and boosts feelings of security and satisfaction, have higher incomes/wealth that reduces stressers from their lives, have others doing some or all of their shopping and food prep for them allowing them to focus on preferred activities, avoid negative health aspects of highly processed foods that can increase illness, etc.
I mean, I don't doubt that eating whole fruits and veggies is good for your physical health, which can boost your mental health in turn. I'm just saying that I don't think the cureall for mental health issues is vegetarianism.
For me, it's both. When I'm in a funk and I stumble into eating healthy for a small stretch I feel slightly better. Same deal when I'm happy but eat like garbage and just feel bloated and anxious, which makes me give up and eat more garbage, which makes me feel even worse.
That said, food's a slight correlation for me, exercise seems to be a bigger factor in my happiness, though again, that too is interrelated, I have more energy and less sluggishness to exercise when I eat right.
Cosplaying being healthy and taking care of my body can lift my mood. Not the only factor, but a sizable one.
Is that why my girlfriend keeps telling me to eat more pineapple?
Yes because she doesn't want to feel depressed when she's sucking the cum out of your penis hole
I must have been sitting on a wellspring of hatred and anger because I recently incorporated more fruits and vegetables into my diet, and even though my heart rate has dropped to less than 55 beats a minute on average, every single thing I see and say and do is full of anger.
I have been cussing more and angry more in the last two days than I have in the year prior to this diet change.
I have a co-worker who takes ADHD meds and it makes his nose runny, and I have visualized myself throttling him to death for his incessant sniffles all fucking day.
What did you eat before? I also experience anger and irritation when I stop eating sugar.
My diet didn't really change outside of adding additional fruits and vegetables to it and eating a little bit less of whatever else I was eating.
IBS from too much fiber? No, really.
I don't see anything in there about increased irritability from a sufficient amount of dietary fiber.
Fruits are mostly fructose which is a fast acting sugar and can make people hyper (also the culprit for all the tequila makes me crazy claims)
How is your coworker taking his meds? Via insulflation?
I have no idea how anybody else takes their meds, especially at work, lol.
Then why op used self-destructive account?
A horde of self deleting spam accounts are swarming this community daily and I don't know why.
Former acute agoraphobic here. I spent years unable to leave my driveway due to crippling panic attacks. I wanted to end it all.
It took a long time but I got better. Now I can get on airplanes, overseas travel, etc.
But early on in recovery when I was beginning to function and hold down a part time dishwashing job, I learned that diet and exercise were key.
I lived mostly off fruit and vegetables exclusively and had a simple cardio routine and that really was night and day for ME. Your mileage may vary and everyone is different.
Now the only time I really experience anxiety is when I'm hungover. I have since switched to a Mediterranean diet with some occasional fish, still work out, and it's mostly behind me 20 years later.
Self deleting spam account.
Mods really need to do something about this.
When I eat a shit-ton of watermelon, pineapple, potatoes, my glucose levels skyrocket. I'm sure I could negate my anxiety and depression with a diabetic coma...
I ate a ton of fruits and vegetables and was cured of my depression after 1000 kg of produce erupted from my abdomen and killed me instantly.
Anecdotally yeah, switching to a plant focused pescatarian diet was very helpful in my anxiety treatment.
For the northern hemisphere folks citrus is an in season winter fruit.
If i eat a lot of fruit i will definitely not suffer from constipation, if you know what i mean.