Diego Salazar

Mrs. Little

ENG 121002

28, November 2018

Paper #4

Something that we all can agree on is that eating healthy and staying active can improve

way of life but what if diet and exercise could do more than that? What if eating the right food

and doing exercising can change your mood. Healthy eating benefits psychological just like

physical.

Today in the United States we have a big issue with obesity and nutrition. This year 65

percent of American adults are obese, and 31 percent are at risk of chronic diseases. This isn’t

too much of a surprise if kept a close look at the media in that past 8-10 years. There was a big

movement in childhood obesity that effected the United states when many people, such as

Michelle Obama who acted toward the fight of making the United States a healthier place to live.

The most effective way to start was in the schools, because it started to get kids into healthier

eating habits, and that’s what she did. The menus changed and the lunches became more nutrient

dense for students. Examples were adding a fruit and vegetable bars as well as switching to

whole wheat or whole wheat enriched breads. This was a good start, but it wasn’t enough.

Another fact is that there are over 45.7 million American adults that have anxiety or depression.

Heart disease and type 2 diabetes are the two main diseases that come with being obese. It’s a
scary thought to have something as bad as Heart disease or type two diabetes. It can affect ones

phycological outlook on life. This leads to depression and or anxiety which altimetry leads to a

less healthy life. Being depressed is not a healthy mood for someone to have.

Although eating healthy and doing enough exercise can be beneficial, some argue that it

doesn’t help with the psychological functions even if they take supplements. Most people will

turn to the vitamin supplements and the depression medication. Little do they know, the only

way you can overdose on vitamins is by taking supplements. Someone can eat all the green

apples and broccoli they want but the second they start taking the A, D, E, and K vitamin

supplements (fat soluble vitamins) they can overdose. This is because these vitamins stay in your

body a lot longer which builds up over time and can cause you to get sick. They stay in your fat

while the other vitamins are water soluble (B vitamins). This means that you can’t overdose on

these vitamins because if you get too much you can urinate them out.

Many websites and articles have led to the conclusion that diet and exercise can change

one's outlook on life and as well as one's overall health. Although this is very true and everyone

can agree with that, it’s such a bland statement, and looking at the facts from this year it’s not

moving people. I think the right way to approach this is to mention what eating right and

working out does for you. Using examples that show someone that food is energy people use to

go in the right direction for a healthy life.

“You are what you eat” one of the most overused statements in nutrition. Also, very true.

What this means is that its every important to know what to put in one's body. For athletes, after

a long hard workout session one doesn’t see them run to the chips and cookies, you see them eat

baked or grilled chicken with greens and all the water they can drink. This is because the human

body works hard to put out energy and when it’s all gone it needs more. This is when athletes go
for the more nutrient dense foods such as vegies and protein such as chicken or fish. When one

would replenish all that necessary energy you don’t feel as tired as you would without it.

There are many reasons for a person to feel depression or anxiety but most of those

reasons can be solved through simple actions someone can take such as eating the right food that

someone might have a deficiency in, getting a workout every now and then and getting enough

sleep. A problem that most vegetarians face is that they are not getting enough of their B

vitamins. This is also the situation for some pregnant women. Vitamin B is most commonly

found in animal products and meat. People who get stressed out end up using most of the B

vitamin, mainly B1 and when one can’t get enough B1 people get anxious and restless which

also ties in to restless leg syndrome which is a B vitamin deficiency. When you have a lack of

these vitamins some symptoms can occur such as of fatigue, shortness of breath, dizziness,

irregular heartbeats and weight loss (also known as a panic attack). You could even be faces with

Macrocytic Anemia. This is because without B12 your body can’t protect the nerve cells as it

should.

With all these facts being said this all ties into how food effects your mood as well as

exercise. With anxiety being caused by mainly stress it’s a good idea to stay away from people

who might Couse you to feel stressed out. The main reason for anxiety can be because your

overthinking. Overthinking is caused by stress and stress can be solved by going for a walk or

eating some fruit to lighten up your mood and give you some vitamins in the prosses. Everything

that was said all ties together. The deal with depression is that most people turn to the pills right

away but a good way to look at it is to find the problem at the source and solve it then without

jumping straight to the end and prescribing pills. Doctors note that most of the time it can be

linked to not enough sleep. Sleep is a really good way to get rid of stress, as it gives your body
and mind a break of worrying too much. Calcium is also a good way to feel relaxed. Calcium

makes your body more at ease while lowering your heart rate. If you ever tried to sleep with a

rapid heartrate it’s hard because your body isn’t letting you relax. Calcium helps you with that

problem, it tells brings your heartrate down.

The problem with depression is that it’s mainly a hormone that effects people's mood.

Serotonin is a pleasure hormone which makes someone happy or relives people of their

depression. Doctors state that the prescription of serotonin over time can cause one to need more

and more of it which leads into the need for it over time. It’s good to catch this problem sooner

and address it with something as simple as a diet. People who get put on anti-depression usually

get hooked on them and eventually depend on them because one's body needing more and more

as one's body gets used to it. A better plan of action would be to find the problem at its base and

look into that on a eeper level. Doctor Eric burg says that depression can be cured with a good

diet before you start to show signs of the depression getting too severe.

In conclusion any Americans have a problem with being obese or have some mental

problems. Obesity and depression/ Anxiety can be solved by what you put in your body and it's

been proven to help. While it may not cure all mental illnesses it’s a simple method that’s worth

it.

Work Cited

Blake, Joah, Nutrition & You, 2012.

ROBERTS, C. J. The effects of stress on food choice, mood and bodyweight in healthy

women. Nutrition Bulletin, mar. 2008. v. 33, n. 1, p. 33–39. Disponível em:

<http://libdb.ojc.edu/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN

=29412268&site=ehost-live>. Acesso em: 31 out. 2018.

Ortolani, Daniela, et al. “Stress-Induced Endocrine Response and Anxiety: The Effects of

Comfort Food in Rats.” Stress: The International Journal on the Biology of Stress, vol. 17, no. 3,

May 2014, pp. 211–218. EBSCOhost, doi:10.3109/10253890.2014.898059.

Tello, Monique. “Diet and Depression.” Harvard Health Blog, 22 Feb. 2018,

www.health.harvard.edu/blog/diet-and-depression-2018022213309.