Hypoglycemia at the core of most mood disorders

 When looking for alternative treatment modalities we come across many posts advocating the supplementation of such and such  a nutrient (such as Vitamin B1 or Vitamin B2 or B3 and so on, zinc and magnesium,  as a miracle cure for mood disorders. It is true that the deficiency in any one of the many nutrients can cause a mood disorder and here I use the term "mood disorder" as comprising the widest possible meaning of "mental illness". For instance, deficiency of vitamin B6 (pyridoxine) is a common among drugs addicts, because Vitamin B6 is also involved with detoxification processes. Thus any one using exogenous drugs are likely to be lacking in Vitamin B6, which is required in serotonin synthesis and hence may be responsible for depression. But supplementing with Vitamin B6 alone may not do the job!

I have written article Hit or Miss Supplements for Depression which shows how difficult it is to see mood disorders in terms of individual nutrient deficiencies. It highlights the principle of individuality of biochemistry - pointing out that each one of us has a unique biochemical make-up. One man's meat is another man's poison. Thus treatment for one may not apply to another.

In clinical practice there is a general scientific theorem that says that in diagnosing illnesses (including mental illnesses) that you first look for the most common illnesses, before going to look for the less common illnesses that may affect mood disorders.

Thus before looking at candidiasis, or adrenal exhaustion, or heavy metal intoxication it pays look first for the most common illness affecting mood disorder before looking at the ones I have just mentioned.

I have found that Hypoglycemia is just about the most common disease that affects people with mood disorders. You will find many studies in support of this at: 

Research Evidence for Hypoglycemia.

This can be tested by a test designed by Dr George Samra in Kogarah Australia. There are also more affordable home tests in the form of questionnaires, such as Nutrition-Behavior Inventory (NBI) and Hypoglycemic Questionnaire , which are fairly accurate in comparison with the actual costly medical test.

If you suffer from mood disorders and you prove positive to his test, you are fortunate, because hypoglycemia can be treated without recourse to drugs and/or psychotherapy by the adoption of the Hypoglycemic Diet. In my experience working as a Probation and Parole Officer, 80% of my clients with severe personalitydisorders improved remarkably on the hypoglycemic diet, without them really understanding why this diet should improve their mental health. However I believe that psychotherapy, especially of the CBT type, can be very beneficial after successful treatment of the biological aspects of mood disorders. It all depend on the severity of the personality disorder we are dealing with. Our jails are full with severely mentally disturbed people and little is being done in 'rehabilitating" them. mainly because of general ignorance about nutritional psychotherapy. See:  The Forgotten Factor in the Crime Debate.

Now the beauty of this hypoglycemic diet is that is basically a Paleolithic diet - the hunter gathering diet - that contains all the necessary nutrients in combination that your body needs to manufacture all the necessary hormones, enzymes and precursors to our feel-good neurotransmitters. Our bodies takes care of our individual biochemistry by choosing and picking those nutrients that the body needs most from this diet. 

The grazing animals that we eat, collect all the necessary nutrients from the grass in the fields and are able to provide us with all the nutrient dense food we need to be healthy. Unfortunately though, most meat source in our diet are now polluted with antibiotics, and artificial hormones as a result of factory farming. Hence search for organic farmers!

Most people tend to interpret this diet with an emphasis on low carbohydrate, high protein diet. But I tend to emphasize animal food sources, from eggs, chicken, meat, organ meat and above all animal fats. I believe contrary to popular opinion, that consumption of Animal Fats are Essential to Overall Health. Many people do not seem to thrive on the hypoglycemic diet because they seem to lack animal fats in their diets. The consumption of animal fats was common prior to the WWII.

The problem with our natural diet is that is has practically disappeared from the Western world ever since the second world war, when the food industry took over and started to dictate what we should eat! It is difficult to obtain organic food, devoid of preservatives, colorings, chemicals, sugar, pollutants and genetically modified foods. Even fish is a source of mercury intoxication.

Now if you encounter no improvements on the hypoglycemic diet in let us say in two months, it does not mean to abandon this diet, but then look for other causes. For instance, if you have been using drugs - legal or illegal - it may be that your body needs to re-build or repair damage done to the receptors for neuro-transmitters. This can be done with a high protein diet. This may take as much as a year, depending on each individual case. See: Nora Volkow

And then it is time to look for other illnesses, such as allergies, celiac disease, Crohns Disease, Candidiasis,  Irritable Bowel Syndrome, Hyper- or Hypothyroidism and so on and on,  as explained in 

Silent Diseases and Mood Disorders

This time you may need the help of nutritional doctors or counselors who have the expertise of testing for specific nutritional disorders. 

The purpose of the post is to emphasize that the hypoglycemic diet is at the core of and the starting point in any nutritional treatment  for either a physical or "mental" illness.