You will know by now that I am very diet conscious after a lifetime struggle with weight. After successfully losing weight at 40 years old after yo-yoing for twenty-five years, I am a little obsessed and scared about weight gain. The pills in the clinic made me eat like a starved wolf. I was literally inhaling loaves of bread and licking nutella and honey out of those little capsules – not a good look. As soon as I popped the Seroquel, 10 minutes later the food frenzy began and no matter how hard I tried I could not control that level of hunger. Since I still take Seroquel I often ask my husband to lock me in my bedroom and because I have a ridiculously weak bladder I need a container to pee during the night. I mean it is absurd. This also makes me panic in case my daughter needs me, so alternatively I stockpile the ‘’goodies’’ and ask my husband to hide them. I agree that I should not have biscuits and chocolate in the house, also out of responsibility for my daughter’s diet, but I do. I can easily use willpower when I am watching my weight but chemically induced hunger is a different kettle of fish. Plus the binge is not even satisfying. It’s like you would need your stomach to rupture before you feel full. Hideous.
Last year I had a weight loss goal and I was fervent in adhering to the principles outlined in the bi-polar diet book.
There is very little point in me reinventing the wheel as far as talking about mood and food is concerned. So even if you heed no other advice, please please refer to Sarah Freeman’s easy to read manual on ‘’The Bi-Polar Diet – Managing Mood, Food and Weight’’. My gratitude to this lady cannot be over stated as it was the primary tool I used at the beginning of 2012 to expand a basic common sense knowledge about healthy eating. I have lost a lot of weight and maintained the loss by following her tips. I could and would like to write a whole book on food and diet, but this is pointless as Sarah has pretty much covered everything that a bi-polic needs to know on these topics. I will therefore reference her main points in my chapter on Diet.