One year off anti-depressant medication: Managing my anxiety

It’s been about a year since I weaned off my anti-depressant medication. I had been taking it for over six years, predominantly for anxiety but also depression. Coming off the medication was an experiment – after finishing my first round of the I Quit Sugar program in Spring 2014, I felt ready to have a go at living without it – a notion that had terrified me in the years prior. Continue reading →

The link between my physical and mental health – and a recipe for Hazelnut Nut-Ella Biscuits

I’m starting to realise how much my physical health affects my mental health. I wrote previously about considering coming off my anti-depressant medication, which I take primarily for anxiety, although I consider anxiety and depression to be different sides of the same coin. I have taken this medication for over six years, and it has only been this year – in my busiest, most sleep-deprived year yet – that I have felt in a place where I am ready to *try* living without it. I put this down to cutting out processed foods and fructose. I have felt so much healthier this year, and my frame of mind has followed suit. I feel more optimistic, happier, more resilient and able to cope with daily challenges, and had less mental exhaustion.

Comparatively, when I’m sick my mental health declines too. I am a terrible patient. If I get a cold or flu, ALL HOPE IS GONE. I am miserable. Pessimistic. A total negative nancy. The negative self-talk, self-loathing and paranoia goes into overdrive, and along with it, the need to indulge in unhealthy comfort food. I realise now that this once served to keep me trapped in a cycle of mediocre physical and mental health. Continue reading →