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DIETARY ADVICE & INFORMATION

• A Guide to Helping Yourself
• Getting Help from Others
• How to Support Someone Suffering From PND

IS THERE ANYTHING I CAN DO TO HELP MYSELF, AS REGARDS DIET?

There certainly is! Many women have found that using our self help suggestions has proved extremely helpful, and we at the group feel that by using self help methods you are starting to fight back against P.N.D, so here are our self help rules:

CHANGE YOUR DIET AND EAT “LITTLE AND OFTEN”

“Little and often” refers to eating small amounts of starchy food at regular intervals which are - never more than three hours throughout the day, and ten hours overnight.

WHY?

When we go for too long without food, and , for the P.M.S and Post natal Depression sufferer this is longer than three waking hours, our blood sugar level drops and adrenaline is produced, which in turn allows the body to release sugar stored n the cells so that the blood sugar level can rise again. This is a problem for two reasons:

1. Adrenaline isn’t known as the hormone of fear, fight and flight for nothing - that spurt of adrenaline can leave us feeling irritable, depressed and headachy, not to mention being more prone to panic attacks and mood swings - we certainly don’t need that…..
2. The presence of adrenaline in the blood has an adverse effect on how the body is able to use another hormone that we produce - progesterone - and for P.M.S and P.N.D sufferers this is one thing we may need to avoid.

Sadly many P.N.D sufferers don’t eat properly, and this just worsens matters as we have just stated - so changing your eating habits makes sense.

WHAT FOODS ARE STARCHY FOODS?

FLOUR, RICE, POTATOES, OATS, RYE and MAIZE are all starchy foods

WHY DOES IT HAVE TO BE STARCHY FOOD?

The reason starchy food is used is because it raises the blood sugar level GRADUALLY, maintains it LONGER, and then allows a GRADUAL fall. Sugary foods, e.g. cakes, sweets etc. will cause a rapid rise with an equally rapid fall that can leave you in a worse situation than you were in before you had that chocolate bar!!! Another reason we use starchy food is that sugary food will pile on unwanted pounds, not to mention inches on your waistline and is not a healthy option, while starchy foods are generally low in calories e.g. Ryvita contains only 30 calories per cracker, and a slice of Nimble bread only 40, and many diet experts are now stressing the importance of starchy food in the diet.

WHAT ARE THE RULES OF EATING “LITTLE AND OFTEN”?

1. NEVER go longer than three hours without eating something starchy - in fact many of our members find aiming for two and a half hourly eating makes better sense - trying to eat on the dot of three hours is just asking for trouble - children decide they need you NOW, telephones ring and disasters occur, it is safer to give yourself a little extra time to get in front of that biscuit tin or bread bin, and in fact some women find that three hourly is just a little bit too long to go without food anyway.
2. ALWAYS eat within an hour of getting up, and an hour of going to bed at night.
3. SHOULD you have a disturbed night and be up with a child a small amount of starchy food will be required before you go back to sleep, this is where keeping a small airtight box of crackers beside the bed is invaluable.
4. IF you are fortunate enough to get a lie-in do keep an eye on the clock and if necessary nibble a cracker or biscuit in bed - you can always get rid of those crumbs later, and remember don’t go for longer than ten hours overnight without some starchy food!

AT THIS RATE I'M GOING TO BE THE SIZE OF A BUS!

No you aren’t, remember it isn’t sugary fattening foods we want you to eat but starchy ones, in fact you only need between 30 and 40 calories of starchy food in your snack and that can be a slice of Nimble bread or one and a half Ryvita (or similar) crackers, also if you have been chocolate bingeing due to your P.N.D this should now cease.

SO HOW LONG DO I HAVE TO DO THIS FOR?

We have found that this “diet” is better carried out ALL the time - one adrenaline spurt (because you didn’t eat regularly enough) can have an effect for up to a week, and of course it is much easier to eat in this way if you carry it out every day as your body gets used to the routine and it becomes less of a “bind” for you to do.

I TRIED ALL THIS BEFORE AND IT DIDN'T SEEM TO HELP!

This may well have been because -

1. You didn’t eat three hourly (or two and a half hourly).
2. You didn’t eat starchy food.
3. You didn’t eat enough starchy food.
4. You were under a lot of stress - you may well find that when you are under stress that it proves helpful to step up your eating plan and nibble a small piece of bread or cracker every hour, and as the symptoms of stress are very similar to those of P.N.D it can sometimes be difficult to know what is happening! If possible try to off-load as many of you worries as you can and give yourself some extra consideration at this time.
5. Sometimes it can be difficult to spot the improvements as they happen, you may well find that keeping a diary and pouring out your feelings and worries proves helpful, this in turn can be read at a later date and it is often only then that you discover that in fact life is gradually getting better.

SO TELL ME, HOW EXACTLY WILL I DO THIS EATING “LITTLE AND OFTEN”?

To help you understand how easy this method of eating is, here is an example -

7.30am Breakfast Tea, slice of toast
10.15am Tea, crackers and cheese
1.00pm Lunch Salad and small baked potato
3.30pm Coffee, scone
6.00pm Evening Meal Chicken pie, potato and peas
8.50pm Mineral water, bag of crisps
10.40pm Supper Tea, slice of crusty bread

As you can see although the gaps between foods varied, at no time did they ever exceed three hours, and at each snack time a small amount of starchy food was always taken. Of course the above is only an example, and your snacks and times will suit YOU, but hopefully our “timesheet” has proved to you that eating “little and often” is neither complicated nor expensive!!

The list of foods that you can eat would be far too long to print, but here are some ideas for quick reference -

• Scone or pancake
• One and a half digestive biscuits, or similar (the plainer the better)
• One or two crispbreads or crackers
• One slice bread (if counting calories use Nimble or Slimcea at approx. 40 cals per slice)
• Small bowl of cereal
• Small Pot Rice or Pot Noodle
• Pitta bread
• Small helping of pasta or potato salad
• Potato bread, soda farl, wheaten, veda

There are also “naughty but nice” nibbles -

• 1 slice apple tart or similar (sadly Pavlova will not do as it is made with eggs and sugar with not a drop of starch in it)
• Portion of fruit crumble
• Crisps
• Bun, slice of cake, shortbread or similar
• Popcorn
• Chips (why not use oven chips or those handy boxes of Micro-chips?)

REMEMBER

• You MUST always eat between 30-40 calories of STARCHY food for each snack
• You must NEVER go over the three hourly limit (and ten hours at night); it may well prove useful to invest in a cheap pocket timer or wrist watch with an alarm to help you keep track of the hours
• ALWAYS keep a small supply of biscuits or crisps handy e.g. the glove compartment of the car, beside the bed, in your handbag
• START to read labels on food stuffs regarding food content and calorie value
• DON’T give up - it is YOU who will feel the benefit

THIS THREE HOURLY EATING ALL SOUNDS A GOOD IDEA BUT DOES IT REALLY WORK?

To help convince you here are a few comments from some of our members -

• I’m beginning to see a difference.
• I just wish I had heard of this sooner - the difference has been wonderful.
• It really does help.
• I’m getting more good days than bad.
• Three hourly eating? Oh yes, it really does help you get through.
• It’s nice to be able to do something to help myself.
• Eating regularly - how is that going to stop me feeling like this? But it did!!!
• I just never realised that my not eating was worsening matters, now I do!!!

WHAT WILL WORSEN MY POSTNATAL DEPRESSION?

The contraceptive pill

The “pill” contains progestogen - an artificial form of the hormone progesterone - unfortunately this lowers our blood progesterone level and can in turn lead to a worsening of both Post Natal Depression and Premenstrual Syndrome symptoms.

Stress

Stress is a problem for all of us, but even more so for Post Natal Depression and Premenstrual Syndrome sufferers. When we are under stress we produce adrenaline - the hormone of fear, fight and flight. The release of this hormone can in itself leave us feeling edgy, head pounding and tummy churning, but it will also cause problems with the utilisation of the hormone progesterone and that is something we P.N.D and P.M.S sufferers can well do without!!! It will never be possible to eradicate stress from our lives - and in fact if we did we would probably become very, very bored - but on the other hand most of us are struggling through our days with more stress than we really need, so, here are some ideas for minimising the stress in YOUR life -

1. Share your worries - friends and are the first avenue of help although sometimes they aren’t the ideal choice, in relation to health worries do please talk to your G.P or Health Visitor - many a P.N.D sufferer has worried needlessly over some aspect of her symptoms when a chat with the right person would have set her mind at rest. Relate, Citizens Advice Bureau and Association for Mental Health and the many excellent women’s groups that exist are also there to help - do use them, and of course remember that the Samaritans are always there if you need them.
2. Ask yourself - will I still be worrying about this next week, next month, next year? There is generally a cut-off point when our worrying is useless. Another tip you might find helpful is thinking the whole worry through and working out the worst scenario you can imagine - often it is not as bad as you really thought!!!
3. Don’t try to exist on cups of tea and coffee and nothing else, no one expects a car to run without petrol so you can’t expect to get through your day without food!! In fact, stepping up your intake of starchy food may well help you - read our section on how to help yourself for more details.

Caffeine

Many a women relies on tea, coffee, fizzy drinks and chocolate to get her through the day - but did you realise they might be making you feel worse? All contain caffeine, which, although acting like a “pick me up” can, when taken in excess, become addictive and leave us with nerves jangling, anxious and irritable. So how much is too much? Opinion varies on this one but drinking more than six cups of coffee is not a good idea. Horrified? Here are some ideas to help you get that caffeine consumption level down -

1. Switch to cups instead of mugs.
2. Remind yourself you DON’T have to finish every cup.
3. Ask yourself do I really want this cuppa/piece of chocolate or am I just having it because I’m bored/fed up/miserable.
4. Buy some alternatives and introduce them gradually - caffeine free drinks are now freely available in the shops, and some of the new mineral waters are very pleasant. MUST have a bar of chocolate - really craving something sweet? See if you can find a sweet that ISN’T chocolate, but a bit of fruit would be healthier.
5. Check your medicine cupboard - many “over the counter” pain killers etc. contain caffeine, so learn to read labels!!
6. Lastly don’t be too hard on yourself - remember we said GRADUAL cut down - stopping caffeine abruptly will only leave you feeling cross and headachy, but these tips really can help, as many of our members have found, so it’s up to you.

Smoking

Sorry but here’s another reason to stop, recent research has found that smoking lowers the blood progesterone level and this is one thing we don’t need, before you start muttering that you can’t just read on.

1. Don’t try to give up when things are really bad - when your P.N.D starts to lift is a good time to start planning your escape from the hold of the “dreaded weed”.
2. Start in with our self help tips, they will help you cope.
3. See if you can get someone to join you.
4. Save the money you usually puff away and buy YOURSELF something nice with it.
5. When problems surround you and the only answers appear to be in a cigarette packet just think - will this really change anything?
6. Think how lovely it will be not to feel guilty about being a smoker - and how you will be able to stop lying to your G.P and Health Visitor!!
7. Each day you are a non smoker keep congratulating yourself.

Alcohol

If you have received medication from your G.P for Post Natal Depression you MUST talk to him/her regarding whether or not it is advisable for you to drink alcohol when taking your tablets. It is also well worth keeping in mind that some people find that alcohol has a depressive effect. Fortunately in the health conscious 21st century NOT drinking is fashionable and there are so many new mineral waters around that you shouldn’t feel too miserable about forgoing your favourite tipple - and remember it isn’t forever.

Tiredness

Yes babies are tiring but REALLY look at your day and see if you can cut down on your work load, there is generally something non-essential that you can cut out, and of course don’t be too proud to accept offers of help - maybe one day you will be able to repay the favour. Do take short rests throughout the day if you feel yourself flagging - being a martyr and keeping on when you are exhausted helps no one and you feel worse for it. Ten or fifteen minutes in a comfortable chair CAN recharge your batteries - if you let it.

WELL THAT SOUNDS PRETTY CONVINCING BUT WHAT ABOUT SUPPORT GROUPS, ARE THEY ANY USE?

Once again we will leave the reply to this to some of our members -

• It really helped knowing there was someone out there who understood.
• The group meetings gave me the opportunity to talk about my feelings and worries without fear of being thought mad.
• The meetings really helped me with the special eating plan - they helped me to stick to it.
• I’m pregnant again but at least this time I have some information, and I know if I do get ill again that there is support for me.
• I really need my meetings.
• It’s nice to know that someone out there cares whether I have had a good month or a bad one.
• I just wished that I could be open and talk about how I really felt…. and then I found the group.
• I just wish I’d known the group existed earlier. I was feeling so lonely and frightened, now I can see that there IS light at the end of the tunnel.
• The support group was my foundation stone from where I could only go onwards and upwards. I met many wonderful people and friendships still continue, long after P.N.D the meetings provide much more than “just support”, and I don’t think I have left a meeting feeling any other way but happy.
• The group made a world of difference to her. (Partner)
• I found the group so beneficial.
• It means a lot to know that it (the group) is there for me if I ever need it.