Curated Paper 1

 I agree with this idea of Ayurveda. I believe that if there is no harmony or peace  in your life, if you are constantly worrying, or if you are eating an imbalanced diet, it can absolutely lead to illness and disease. Personally, I know when my mental health is struggling I tend to get stomach aches and an overall feeling of unwellness. I blame it on the things I eat or maybe it “just happened, sometimes you get stomach aches for no reason.” But what I really believe is that it comes from anxiety, disharmony in my life, AND not eating a healthy diet. This past summer I was eating really good foods, exercising, and telling myself positive affirmations, and overall my health was really good. I think that because there was more harmony in my life it led to an overall better wellbeing.

Billie Eilish has a song and here is one of the lyrics that reminds me of this idea of ayurveda, 

“Thought I was depressed or losing my mind

My stomach upset almost all of the time

But after I left, it was obvious why 

Because for you,

I was the love of your life, 

But you were not mine”

It reminds me of ayurveda because she is talking about how she felt physically ill, and she thought that maybe she just had depression and anxiety. But then she realized she was with the wrong person and was not happy in the relationship, and once she got out, she felt physically better. I think this goes to show how in sync our minds, souls, and body are in touch. I think that listening to our gut is a real thing. 

I took a look at the link that was put on the slides about chronic illness and its links to mental health challenges. There was a section labeled “can depression lead to chronic disease?” I thought that was enticing because I am a person who struggles pretty severely with depression, and it would be interesting to know if this mental illness could lead to another chronic illness. 

I read a paper (Wicke et al.) that suggests that the association between having depression and having type 2 diabetes is bidirectional. It says that since patients with depression tend to lack in physical activity which can lead to obesity, they are more at risk of developing type 2 diabetes. Regardless of weight, physical activity helps to reduce the symptoms of diabetes by changing the muscle metabolism of glucose. The article also suggests that some antidepressants can lead to weight gain which can be linked to type 2 diabetes. 

This makes me wonder exactly how much weight gain is significant enough for it to lead to diabetes? This also makes me wonder about “skinny fat” people. People who appear physically slim, but have a high body fat percentage and very little muscle tone. I wonder how many people with type 2 diabetes appear to “look skinny” but actually suffer from this disease due to a sedentary lifestyle and unhealthy diet. 

I’m really intrigued by the idea of intermittent fasting and time restricted eating and how it can increase your ayurveda. I’m not very good at chemistry, but from my understanding, when we eat, our body uses sugars from carbohydrates for energy. But when we fast we are forced to use stored fat as a source of energy and convert those fats into ketones. This can help with weight loss. I was curious if this type of diet is sustainable for a diabetic and if it could help clear up some symptoms for them. 

I read an article and it said that type 1 diabetics need to be very careful so that they do not go into diabetic ketoacidosis. However, several studies show that intermittent fasting for type 2 diabetics has led to reduced fasting glucose levels and A1C levels, as well as weight loss and an increase in adiponectin which is a natural hormone shown to increase insulin sensitivity and reduce inflammation. 

I believe that intermittent fasting is a powerful way to take control over your life for those with diabetes and those without. It ties in with this idea of ayurveda because it focuses on balancing when you eat and how you use your time. If you can feel good physically because of the food you eat, it can help you have a clear mind and gain control and harmony over your life. 

I am really interested in this idea that if you are able to return your gut microbiome to a healthy state, then you are able to make yourself feel better overall and perhaps even alleviate symptoms of chronic illnesses. For the last year I have been very interested in eating more fermented foods to increase the good bacteria in my gut. I was having constipation issues, so I decided to start really diving deep into changing my diet and eating for a healthy gut. 

I started to include foods like sauerkraut, kimchi, probiotic drinks, yogurt, sourdough bread and tempeh. I also knew that I needed to give the “good bacteria” something to eat, so I included lots of prebiotics as well, such as greens, garlic, berries, steel cut oats, flax seeds, and red onion. While I was following this diet I made sure to also limit my consumption of added sugars. Sugars can feed the bad bacteria and thus throw off your microbiome. And it worked! My bowel movements became very regular and the stool consistency was in line with type 4 from the Bristol Stool Chart- which type 4 is a good place to be. It indicates good gut health. 

However, I was recently listening to a podcast called, “The Doctors Farmacy” (yes, that is really how they spell pharmacy.) They mentioned that it is hard to know exactly which bacteria in your gut is imbalanced so it is hard to know which probiotics you need to take, if you are taking a supplement. It might take some trial and error. And if you introduce a “good” bacteria that you are sensitive to, it might make you sick. This really deters me from wanting to take a probiotic supplement, because they are expensive and I worry that I am going to get one that is not beneficial to me. So this begs the question, can you balance your microbiome by just eating the “right” foods? Or can you never know exactly which bacteria your gut needs. Are supplements necessary? And if they are, what is the best one to take?

I believe that taking control of your life by controlling what you put into your body can greatly increase ayurveda, and increase a healthy gut microbiome. The two go hand in hand. I truly believe that you can not obtain true ayurveda or harmony in your life if you are fighting a (curable) chronic illness. In order to feel better in mind and spirit, you need to feel well physically as well. 

I have experienced this firsthand. I do door to door sales and you can imagine that is a pretty tough job, mentally and physically. In order to stay sharp on the doors I know that I can not just roll out of bed, eat a poptart, and start knocking. I need to have ayurveda in my life. So I do this by having a strict time that I wake up in the morning, workout, eat a healthy breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I am sure to challenge my mind in some way by listening to a podcast and or reading a book. I have seen great benefits to this lifestyle and I believe it is because I have increased my ayurveda and am doing my best to have a balanced microbiome. 

Citations

Wicke, F. S., Otten, D., Schulz, A., Wild, P. S., Lackner, K. J., Münzel, T., König, J., Ernst, M., Wiltink, J., Reiner, I., Ghaemi Kerahrodi, J., Pfeiffer, N., & Beutel, M. E. (2024). Current and past depression as risk factors for incident type 2 diabetes mellitus and pre-diabetes in men and women: evidence from a longitudinal community cohort. Diabetology & Metabolic Syndrome, 16(1), 1–10. https://doi-org.proxy.li.suu.edu:2443/10.1186/s13098-024-01273-4

https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/publications/chronic-illness-mental-health