In a message dated 8/23/02 9:20:01 AM,  tsayonah <[log in to unmask]>
writes:

----- Original Message -----
From: "Kat Co" <[log in to unmask]>
>  ... did a month of a paleo diet very successfully,
> without much trouble, and then for some reason I don't remember, quit
> following it and have had my usual horrible food habits ever since.
> <snip>
> Has anyone seen a Paleo diet work successfully longterm for a person who
> "eats" away emotional turmoil?
> Minet

<< Once past the adjustment
period, my depression AND the manic anxiety simply ceased to
exist.  Small stuff really became small again in my
perception.  BTW, I am four months into rather strict paleo
and the return of an anxiety attack is a clear signal that I
either deliberately cheated or made a big mistake in a food
choice :)

Elisi Tsayonah, AniWodi, ghigau,
   St Francis River Band of Cherokee
>>

Yes, Elisi, I cannot agree with you more strongly on this point! My episodes
(from years ago) were absolutely crippling. At my worst, I was very nearly
catatonic. I can remember standing in front of the bathroom water faucet,
virtually frozen for minutes, and unable to turn it off. At such times I was
unable to eat at all, but in between, I was a serious binge eater, hoarding
and hiding my stash of such things as Freihoffers chocolate chip cookies, or
Lil Debbie Snack Cakes. I, too, had endless dreams about such forbidden
fruits. I don't have those kinds of dreams anymore. Indeed, I don't go near a
bakery if I can help it, and although on RARE occasion I may overindulge in
something like chocolate (and pay a steep price), I have simply made up my
mind that I will never knowingly eat a speck of gluten again.

Last week we bought one of those supermarket spit roasted chickens (NEVER
shop when you are hungry!) and that night my husband had terrible trouble
sleeping, and the whole next day I felt a touch of anxiety/depression
creeping over me. It was very uncomfortable. Although there may not have been
any gluten in the chicken, there was undoubtedly some kind of Excitotoxin
(MSG or derivative) that caused a reaction in both of us. We are finding it
most useful to stick to a simple rule about food: Buy only foods that have no
ingredient labels at all, or, at most, only ONE ingredient, such as,
Ingredient, celery!

I have found that as the physical problems disappear, the emotional drive to
consume these "poisonous" foods melts away too, since the root may well be
physical in nature to begin with. When doctors don't understand what causes
people to overeat (or smoke, or drink, or whatever) they like to turn it
around and blame the patient. Afterall, if they have no solution, they have
to tell the patient something! The end result is that heaping guilt upon a
hapless patient just perpetuates the vicious emotional bingeing cycle.

Oh, for those interested, Elisi also said,

I had "dysthymic bipolar
disorder"

My diagnosis was Bipolar Disorder, Type II, with mixed states and extreme
rapid cycling. I was also secondarily labeled with Major Depressive Disorder,
Severe Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, Obsessive Compulsive
Disorder, and Dissociative Disorder. Yikes! Where'd they all go? :-)

Maddy Mason
Hudson Valley, NY