Alright,
Who am I, and why am I writing this stuff? Well, my ex-girlfriend is someone who may have bipolar disorder. Because of my former relationship, I ended up learning a whole lot about bipolar disorder and what kind of things one can do to maintain mood stability and therefore increase quality of life, but since “former” is the operative word, my bipolar learnings are now fairly useless in my personal life! Thus, I have turned to blogging to try to put some some of the info I learned to some use.
I’m not exactly the world’s finest chef, and my kitchen is absolutely pathetic in both size and scope by average North American standards. In some ways this might be good- maybe I’ll force myself to keep things simple so I don’t have to clean up a buggerload of dishes or clog my 4.2 square feet of counter space after one of my attempts at culinary decentness.
In reading and listening to others talk about bipolar disorder, I noticed there is very little specific information out there on how to eat a bipolar-specific healthy diet. What are the specific needs of someone with bipolar disorder? How can one meet these needs, even when depressed? Well, are going to focus on the following;
1) Maintain steady blood sugar levels.
How does one do this? Lots of unprocessed, fresh foods like fruits and vegetables.
We will be fruit, veggie and legume heavy here, so get used to it! Cheap meat is often loaded with fat and potentially a host of other nasties (like trace antibiotics, etc).
Dry legumes such as kidney beans, chick peas, etc. are especially cheap, easy to prepare, and will store forever in your pantry without spoiling. If you can’t handle the soaking required, canned stuff isn’t quite as cheap but it is quick!
2) Getting lots of nutrients.
Heavy on the fruits, veggies, and legumes. Get used to it!
3) Laying off stimulants and depressants (hello caffeine, you dirty bugger- we’re talking about you)
There are a zillion alternatives when it comes to avoiding coffee. Some of the tea you can get these days is delicious without having any stimulants involved.
4) Keep cooking pretty simple, and post some good large-batch recipes that you can make once a week and will last.
Of course, many people living with Tha BP may have a few things in common;
-limited funds (ingredients will be cheap but nutritious)
-limited interest in boring stuff like cooking from scratch and doing dishes (recipes will be simple)
-feeling hungry a lot due to medication side-effects (foods will be calorie-wise yet filling and decent tasting)
All right, let’s get this show on the road!
No comments:
Post a Comment