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Meat and mental health: Meat eaters suffer less depression, anxiety

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Re: Meat and mental health: Meat eaters suffer less depression, anxiety

#191

Post by rackjack »

girvo wrote: post #114
rackjack wrote: post #101

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any recipe in particular you'd be willing to share? I'm interested in expanding my palate.

I'm in the process of writing some up as of the last few weeks -- but the core of it is "just replace any beef in your stir-frys or pasta minces with TVP cooked with a particular technique" Send me an email (its in my profile) and I'll make sure to send the link to you when I chuck them up on my site in the next week or so? But in short: rehydrate the TVP with boiling water with a cube or two of beef-style stock. Let…

If you have a website (jgirvin.com ?) I'll just keep tabs on that. Thanks for the recipe outlines.

Re: Meat and mental health: Meat eaters suffer less depression, anxiety

#192

Post by sundvor »

nautilius wrote: post #133
mmcgaha wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So you think hunters and people tend livestock eat less meat?

No, that’s not what sundvor says. They explicitly talk about the whole population (“everyone “), and I am pretty sure if everyone had to pull the trigger on their dinner, total meat consumption would absolutely go down, regardless of what a few hunters or farmers do.

Yep. I've only done so once, well my brother did the shooting whilst I held the rabbit down then helped prep to skin them.

Meeting the meat was also a reference to the Restaurant at the End of the Galaxy; there, the meat would kill itself. It forced the attendants higher up in the food chain to be confronted by the reality of the situation, rather than having the slice of meat simply something you get at the supermarkets in a packet.

In all seriousness, by reducing the amount of meat eaten you can avoid the worst meat factories with their horrible conditions for the animals.

I believe organic farming is far more ethical, and better for the planet as well (methane emissions) as for the consumers who are likely to be overweight.

Re: Meat and mental health: Meat eaters suffer less depression, anxiety

#193

Post by Omnitaus »

jiggunjer wrote: post #121
Omnitaus wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

bowel cancer, IBS, diverticulitis, heart disease

But low fiber doesnt _cause_ those diseases in the same sense as low vitamin D causes rickets. Most fiber-related studies I've seen were small and published in obscure journals. I'd agree the average person (with an average diet and lifestyle) probably benefits from getting enough fibre. But that's in conjunction with other factors. I just disagree with the statement humans "need" fiber.

Your gut cannot be healthy without fiber. It's important for the digestive process. There's a reason dietary guidelines include fiber, and I'm not sure where you're reading these journals but your agreement/disagreement is irrelevant to the point. A lack of fiber does _cause_ blood sugar fluctuations, cholesterol increases, constipation, etc.

Just because it's not as severe as rickets or scurvy doesn't mean people should ignore the needs of their gut microflora, especially given that the majority of cells in our bodies are (mostly beneficial) bacteria.

Re: Meat and mental health: Meat eaters suffer less depression, anxiety

#194

Post by heavyset_go »

inside65 wrote: post #130
icey wrote: post #115

An anecdote: I have been 100% carnivore for the past two months. The last vegetable I ate was in August. I’ve eaten 10 grams of carbs in that time period (in the form of vitamin C tablets early on), and zero fiber. My anxiety levels are subjectively lower, I’ve had fewer instances of insomnia, I’ve lost 20lbs of water + fat weight while maintaining an active lifestyle (standing desk all day + running 20+ miles a week…

Many people have not studied nutrition, or not studied it properly, and associate fats as in lipids with fat as in being overweight when this is in fact not the case and the various types of fats are both essential and provide energy to become an active person. Like you, I run 20+ miles a week, eat beef everyday and I'm the skinniest person I know.

From what I've read, there is a correlation between palmitic acid consumption, cardiovascular disease and increased mortality.

Re: Meat and mental health: Meat eaters suffer less depression, anxiety

#195

Post by dqh »

phonypc wrote: post #127
icey wrote: post #115

An anecdote: I have been 100% carnivore for the past two months. The last vegetable I ate was in August. I’ve eaten 10 grams of carbs in that time period (in the form of vitamin C tablets early on), and zero fiber. My anxiety levels are subjectively lower, I’ve had fewer instances of insomnia, I’ve lost 20lbs of water + fat weight while maintaining an active lifestyle (standing desk all day + running 20+ miles a week…

Do you actually test your blood ketones? Unless you're eating largely fat tissue straight up, rather than somewhat fatty meat, you're probably getting enough of your calories from protein that your ketones aren't particularly elevated.

I eat only meat, mostly beef, and I regularly test very high levels of ketones in my urine.

Re: Meat and mental health: Meat eaters suffer less depression, anxiety

#196

Post by dqh »

nobody9999 wrote: post #139
dqh wrote: post #92

It’s worth looking into the relationship between carbohydrate consumption and mental health. Many people report a significant mental health benefit from using fat rather than carbohydrates as the primary energy source. Works for me, too.

>Many people report a significant mental health benefit from using fat rather than carbohydrates as the primary energy source. Works for me, too. This is anecdotal, but I recently had blood work done showing that I have high A1C[0] levels. As such, I cut out most carbohydrates and sugar from my diet. I've been maintaining this for almost three months and I have noticed no difference in my mental well being. That said…

> I've been maintaining this for almost three months and I have noticed no difference in my mental well being.

Are you in ketosis? It’s in the state of sustained ketosis where the effect appears.

Re: Meat and mental health: Meat eaters suffer less depression, anxiety

#197

Post by chmod600 »

rank0 wrote: post #186
chmod600 wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I see that your comment is downvoted a shade, but I'd like to know whether it is true or false. Do you (or anyone else) have a citation?

You could do a quick search but I think common sense should suffice here. How did all the (meat eating) humans survive before b12 supplements were around? Animals surely do not receive supplements in the wild. In the factories is where they are deprived of their natural diet that would provide the b12.

I agree, but sometimes I hear other theories. One of the other comments said something about unsanitized water providing b12. In the past I've heard that just eating dirty fruit and vegetables had enough b12.

Re: Meat and mental health: Meat eaters suffer less depression, anxiety

#198

Post by Iv »

TheDong wrote: post #80
Iv wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It is easy to lack some vitamins or nutrients while going on a vegan diet. Some of them have an impact on mental health. Unless you are very comited into calculating your intake in every mineral and vitamin, I would recommend to take some supplements if you are going vegan (which is something I support but did not totally go through yet)

Do you have any specific vitamins/nutrients in mind that have relevant mental health impacts? Ones that meat diets get, but vegan/vegetarian diets don't? From what I can tell, meat eaters are even less likely than vegans to calculate their nutritional intake (naturally so, vegans are much more likely to read ingredient and nutrient lists because how else can you shop vegan?), and the claim that it's easy to not have…

I am mostly thinking of B7, because I know 2 persons in my family who get seriously depressed when they lack it.

Note that I did not say it is impossible to get these through a vegan diet, just that it takes some efforts and care to have the daily dose necessary to avoid a deficit.

Yes, I agree that almost no one calculates their nutrients intake, but when you go full vegan, you remove more than half of your food diversity, it opens yourself more easily to deficits.

> From what I can tell, in practice some amount of nutritional deficiency just isn't that big a deal for most people. College kids that live on a diet of 80% ramen still survive relatively well

People with mild depression survive relatively well, and this is what is discussed here.

I used to have very bad dietary habits when I was working like crazy at my first job, and managed to get a deficiency in vitamin C. As I was young and in good conditions, it did not trigger any medical problem, but I can tell you that my quality of life improved greatly after I started taking vitamins (and later just rebalancing my diet a bit). It was removing a constant fog from my brain.

I think this is a reason why so many pseudo-scientific dietician advice abound: "surviving relatively well" is not a good enough criterion anymore, yet that's what the medical research focuses on. Well-being is also something that people seek to achieve. Being more alert, more focused, less depressed, less stressed are things that a diet can have an influence on, and the scientific data on that is pretty scarce.

Re: Meat and mental health: Meat eaters suffer less depression, anxiety

#199

Post by nobody9999 »

dqh wrote: post #196
nobody9999 wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Many people report a significant mental health benefit from using fat rather than carbohydrates as the primary energy source. Works for me, too. This is anecdotal, but I recently had blood work done showing that I have high A1C[0] levels. As such, I cut out most carbohydrates and sugar from my diet. I've been maintaining this for almost three months and I have noticed no difference in my mental well being. That said…

> I've been maintaining this for almost three months and I have noticed no difference in my mental well being. Are you in ketosis? It’s in the state of sustained ketosis where the effect appears.

>Are you in ketosis? It’s in the state of sustained ketosis where the effect appears.

Not as far as I'm aware. But I haven't been testing for it.

Re: Meat and mental health: Meat eaters suffer less depression, anxiety

#200

Post by npteljes »

dehrmann wrote: post #69
mfer wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Many (most?) meat eaters are deficient in nutrients their body needs. The USDA found that only about 3% of people get their daily recommended amount of fiber. Eating meat doesn’t mean you get what your body needs

Fiber is a funny choice because it's good for digestive health, but by definition, is food content you body has no interest in.

Even if indirectly, your body absolutely needs it.
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