Coping with Seasonal Affective Disorder

By Hillery Kelly

Greetings Foodie Nation!  It’s Hillery, your Foodie Fitness Correspondent.  This month, I want to talk to you about Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Some people call it the “Winter Blues.”

According to the Mayo Clinic sufferers of SAD usually start experiencing symptoms in early fall, like depression, irritability and lack of energy. Symptoms can last all the way through spring. On a personal level I can say it’s something I’ve struggled with throughout my life.   

For me, it manifests itself in several ways. As the days get shorter and the nights get longer, I feel like I am cloaked in darkness. I wake up and it’s dark. I drive to work in the dark. While I’m working I miss what little light the day has to offer before driving to the gym and then home in the dark.

Emotionally, I feel like I’m in a haze. My sunny disposition is replaced by a crank I barely recognize. Add to that the fact that I ate being cold and when I am cold my body wants to go into hybernation. I crave foods I know I should not eat: bread, potatoes and other starch-heavy foods.

In short, I hate winter and I’d just assume spend it lounging in my Snuggie. But since my gastric bypass surgery 15 months ago I’ve committed to a healthier lifestyle and so I am learning to manage these symptoms. In the remainder of this article I’m going to share the tips I have picked up along the way, many of which have to do with moving your body!

1. Lunchtime walks.  Take them! They get you away from your desk and into the sunshine! Try keeping an old pair of sneakers at your desk and walk outside during the midday. If you are a runner, try getting in a short run at lunchtime. This helps burn some calories, get those feel good endorphins flowing and gives you the extra benefit of exposure to sunlight!
2. Increase your overall exercise.  As I mentioned above, exercise produces endorphins.  The more intense and physically demanding the workout, the more endorphins are produced.  So hit the gym and give it your all! Your mood will improve and you’ll feel good that you’re keeping up your healthy habits!
3. Stock the fridge with nutritiously “hearty” foods choices.  I’m a soup/stew girl in the winter…you will rarely see me eating a salad or anything cold. But that doesn’t mean I load up on starchy carbs in the process. Instead of potatoes, use lots of carrots and squash and other root veggies in soups and stews. To further reduce the calories, use leaner cuts of meat and to reduce the stress, cook your soup in a crockpot so dinner can be waiting for you when you get home (along with additional lunches and dinners too)!
4. Switch your light bulbs to higher wattages. One of the traditional treatments for SAD is known as phototherapy, or increasing the amount of artificial light around you to compensate for the lack of sunlight. Try replacing 40-60 watt light bulbs (or the energy efficient equivalent) with bulbs of higher wattage. It’s like an instant pick-me-up!
5. Find a workout that lifts your mood and makes you WANT to go.  Nik loves Zumba, I hate it (sorry, Nik)! We both love spin. Maybe you love boxing. Or running. Or yoga. I  encourage you all to find a good winter workout class that it engaging and fun…you’ll be much more likely to continue to attend even when its 20 degrees outside and your body is BEGGING for that electric blanket, thermal pjs and some hot tea!

BONUS TIP:  Use a bronzer or luminizer warm up your complexion.  Yes, black girls can use bronzer (at least this one does) too!  Some days, I just need a little visual pick me up and nothing does it faster than a bit of bronzer or adding a little liquid luminizer to my foundation to give myself a nice healthy glow.  Hello sun kissed skin!  

For my fairer ladies, try something like Benefit’s high beam or moon beam, or NARs Orgasm (the liquid or the powder).  And for my darker ladies, try NARs Laguna, Smashbox’s "Glow" illuminator, or even LORAC’s Tantilizer baked bronzer.  On my body, I like to use Jergen’s self tanning lotion.  It doesn’t really make me “tan” but it gives just enough of a color change that I don’t look jaundiced!

As always Foodies, please remember that I am NOT a medical professional.  If you suspect that you are suffering from SAD or any type of depression, I urge you to talk with a medical professional to get a proper diagnosis.  Depression can be a serious illness that can cause physical, mental, and emotional effects.  So please, don’t use these suggestions in place of medical treatment!

I hope these tips help get you through the winter blues. I have a TON of additional tips to share with you all.  Please make sure you've liked the Bariatric Foodie Facebook page, because Nik and I will be sharing tips there all winter long (plus I hear Nik is going a little bonkers on giveaways in December...don't tell her I told you!). I'd also love to hear from all of you if you have any tips to share as well!   

Hillery Kelly is 15 months post-op RNY gastric bypass. Got a fitness question for her? Hit her up at bariatricfoodie@yahoo.com!


Holistic Wellness: What is it and why does it matter?

In the weight loss surgery world we often say, “they operated on our stomachs, not our heads.”

That’s true but I think I’d revise that a bit to say, “they operated on our stomachs, not our lives.” Because in the five years since having Roux-en-Y gastric bypass surgery, I’ve learned that losing weight does not automatically make you healthier. We can see that in the studies that tell us that post-ops have high rates of transfer addictions, especially to alcohol.

No, a healthy lifestyle starts with a healthy self. And a healthy self is about more than just your stomach!

Shortly after my surgery, I enrolled in a 12-week group therapy class where I learned about making a Comprehensive Wellness Plan. This plan doesn’t just focus on my body but all areas of my life. The psychologist who led the sessions taught me that bariatric surgery is not just about the physical part of losing weight. If I didn’t get my head on straight and focus on my complete health, I’d never be a success — in weight loss surgery or life.

Five years later I’m still working my plan. I’ve had success in some areas, set-backs in others. I’ll work this plan for life. But having it helps me to make healthier life decisions. And isn't that what this is all about?

Here are the dimensions of health I’m focusing on, in case any of you would like to make a plan for yourself. You can choose to work on any area of your health that is important to you. But do it! You’ll thank yourself later.

1. Physical Health: Bariatric surgery gives you the opportunity to get a jumpstart on your physical health. But losing weight is only one part of the battle because the scale doesn’t tell you the whole story. Staying healthy with proper exercise and a solid vitamin regimen is also important.
2. Emotional Health: Keeping an emotional journal has helped me get in touch with my feelings and more fully understand what’s going on in my own head. Bariatric surgery is definitely about the physical health, but I believe that the surgery itself is only about 10% of the equation. The rest is all about the emotional journey: getting your head screwed on straight, establishing a healthy relationship with food and finding a way to love yourself enough to do make the healthy (and often harder) choices for your body.
3. Spiritual Health: Whether you are religious or not, you have a spirit and it needs to be healthy too! I personally spend time in prayer and practice meditation for overall spiritual health.
4. Financial Health: Especially now during this economic recession, many of us are facing difficult financial situations. Taking control of my financial health helped me find peace of mind and self-confidence and has helped me weather this stressful time. Does money ever drive you to make
5. Intellectual Health: I’m always learning new things. Right after my surgery I was very focused on learning as much as I could about my new body and how it worked from an anatomy and biology standpoint. I also knew that I wanted to go back to college and finish my degree. I achieved one of my the biggest goals on my plan when I graduated from college! But the learning hasn’t stopped for me. I always seek to learn and grow.
6. Vocational Health: If you’re not happy with your job, then find a new job. My vocational goals fed directly into my educational goals. I wanted a new career, so I had to finish my degree. For me, these two were closely related, but that might not be the case for you. In any case, everyone has a passion. An important first step in vocational health is discovering your passion.
7. Relationship Health: Too often we, as morbidly obese people, put ourselves last on the priority list. And when you finally decide to put yourself first with bariatric surgery, relationships can suffer. My goal was to be the best family member and friend I could be without sacrificing my overall health. Working extr
8. Character Health: This goal is not as easy to define as the others. The strength of my character has to do with who I am at the core of my being. Integrity, humor, tolerance, reliability, loyalty, courage, and wisdom are some of the character traits I’ve worked on over the years. Shame and guilt are two emotions that can be associated with ill character health. They both occur when you do something you don’t believe in. They are warning signs!

The diagram above is one I found on the Internet for a rehab facility and wellness program in Washington D.C. Although my wellness goals do not match the ones shown in this picture, it still gives you a general idea of how the individual parts of a Holistic Wellness Plan work together to promote overall good health.

If you make a Holistic Wellness Plan for yourself, I encourage you to share it with others. This process is not exclusive to bariatric patients. A plan for a healthy lifestyle can benefit anyone in any stage of life.

I hope that by sharing my plan, you can start on the path to your own holistic wellness.

This month we asked all Foodie contributors to share their guilty pleasures. Pam's is a never-ending love of collecting fonts (or "typefaces" as she tells us REAL graphic designers call them). While the rest of humanity gets by with the free fonts that are pre-installed in our programs, Pam actually pays MONEY for new fonts. (Yeah...we don't get it either...) But, as she points out, she's not sure if this can be considered a guilty pleasure because she is not ashamed!

And when she's not busy with that, Pam is also a graphic designer, support group leader and author of several blogs and the upcoming book entitled "Journey to a Healthier Me." She's a good one to know. Learn more about her!

Have a question for Pam? Send it to bariatricfoodie@yahoo.com!