Fwd: Support Group - Nutrition

[Guest guest]

As a novice in vitamins, minerals, amino acids, and the like; the 1

1/2 hours of our weekly OCD support group barely permited me to

scratch the surface of the great presentation by Mark, an OCD sufferer

himself.

Mark's presentation was so warmly received, that he has been asked to

come back 'real soon' to continue. There is also some interest in

having him schedule a one day seminar [and he is interested in doing

so].

Overall Mark said, he has found that being attentive to diet,

nutrition, exercise, and sleep has thus far enabled him to lower his

YBOCs by about 25% [and still heading in the right direction].

Mark pointed out the obvious: few of us consume a proper diet nor

supplement with vitamins, minerals, and exercise. Also, that we must

NOT go on 'diets', but rather MUST establish healthy diet patterns to

follow throughout our lives.

He suggested the following steps be used in our quest.

1. Be open to different ways of thinking..

2. Educate oneself

3. Be committed

4. Make a plan

5. Get support

He said the following books have been helpful for him:

-Staying Healthy With Nutrition---Haas

-Nutritional Almanac---Kirschmann

-The Vitamin Bible---Holford

-Nutrition Desk Reference---Garrison

And the following web sites:

www.solgar.com

www.nutritionfocus.com

www.drweil.com

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Mark noted that MUST plan healthy diets and then add vitamin and

mineral supplements. [When I asked about places like GNC, Mark

indicated that he was not a customer at all.]

He noted the the FDA charts on food products showing the Minimum Daily

Requirements [MDRs] are only meant to address preventing disease, not

establishing and maintaining optimal health/vitality.

He noted that our lives are too filled with 'processed foods', stress,

medications, polllution, and our disorders which can easily consume

the extra resources we might have stored in our bodies. As a result

the vitamin and mineral supplements are required.

He mentioned that some supplements like folic acid and chromium have

been shown to provide augmentation to the SSRIs which are often a part

of an OCDers daily life.

Mark recommended using natural [not processed] in our meal

preparation. [whole grains not enriched]. Vegetables. Fruit in

moderation. Lots of water. No sodas. No caffeine. [Note, Mark did

mention that he does have a beer or two each month.] Lean meats.

Eggs. Little or no dairy.

Hopefully, the next installment from Mark will be coing sooner than

later.

jim

jjmcf@4...

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