Fighting the person in the mirror

Certain things in life are worth believing while others I have trouble with. For example, does my voice really sound like my voicemail recording? Or does the camera really add 10 pounds? And does the mirror ever add 10 lbs?

How do you know where the truth begins and where it ends. I started to wonder if maybe it was a chemical thing, that distorted my opinion of myself.

I found that Body Dismorphic Disorder (BDD) is quite a serious condition and it is often associated with Obsessive Compulsive issues as well as Anorexia. I know I don't have that but milder body image disturbances that do not meet criteria for BDD include:

*A concerned dissatisfaction with one’s looks. This does not affect the person’s quality of life. 30-40% of Americans may have these feelings.
*Moderate disturbance with one’s body image. The person’s concerns about appearance cause some intermittent anxiety or depression.

And what causes this? Besides the easy "blame it on the media" way, there is also a theory by Katharine Phillips which claims that BDD is caused by a chemical imbalance that was most likely genetically passed on from family members that have OCD or anxiety disorders. She claims that BDDers have a deficiency in production of the neurotransmitter called Serotonin, and recommends that they take certain antidepressants which affect mood and motivation.

Well if this is possiple for extreme cases, I'm sure it's also possible for mild cases too. And basically it's a form of depression. And what might that be a sympton of (in mild cases)?! Depletion of proper nutrients.

I checked out a site about natural healing for depression and although I understand depression in severe cases can not be treated this way, I think that a general down-in-the-dumps mood could possibly be corrected this way. By creating better moods, maybe there's a better chance of not putting yourself down so much.

The article says: "Depression, seasonal affective disorder (SAD), high cholesterol levels and heart disease—all are said to improve with plentiful supplies of the essential fatty acids, omega-3s. The body doesn't produce its own, but popular demand has made omega-3s widely available..."

If you read my blog on Lesson #3, you'll see it's all starting to make so much sense! There really are several reasons to why they call it comfort food...in fact one guy started a HappyFood collection: