Case Study: Weight And Mood Problems In A 16 Year Old Girl

Anya is a lovely patient I saw at my clinic a month ago. She was brought in by her mother Theresa, who has been a long term patient of mine. Theresa was concerned about Anya’s health and mood. She suffered with many of the same symptoms as her mother, and Theresa wanted to spare her daughter from the health problems that she had been through.

Anya was carrying some excess weight around her abdomen, which bothered her. She was able to lose some weight by minimizing bread and pasta, but still had a stubborn roll of fat around her torso. Anya was very physically active, and felt frustrated and defeated at not being able to lose weight.

Theresa was concerned about her daughter’s mood swings. She became snappy and argumentative in the week before her menstrual period. If Anya ate sugar, for the next few days she felt depressed and weepy and unmotivated. Anya could see the pattern herself; she said to me “I get really strong carb cravings, particularly for cookies. Once I start eating them, I can’t stop until every cookie in the house is gone. For the next few days I feel bloated, irritable and I burst into tears at random moments. I find it really hard to get motivated to get back to a healthy diet”.

Anya regularly felt bloated. In fact she was constipated; she had a bowel motion every two or three days. On the third day she developed a headache, which eased once she was able to go to the bathroom. This is significant because constipated people find it much harder to lose weight, and also not eliminating waste properly increases the body’s toxic load. This is a common trigger of headaches and mood disturbances.

My recommendations for my patient

• Anya found it very hard to stay away from cookies because she really wasn’t eating enough food. Her meals were very tiny. In her efforts to lose weight, she was under eating, and that made staying away from junk food incredibly difficult. Anya didn’t have much time for breakfast, so she often left the house with just a banana or mandarin. I suggested she make a protein smoothie using whey protein powder. I encouraged Anya to eat larger meals, mostly comprised of vegetables, salads, protein rich foods and natural fats. Theresa had a copy of my book called I Can’t Lose Weight and I don’t know Why, and this contains eating plans and recipes.
• The constipation needed to be addressed. It’s impossible to feel well and be in a good mood if you are bloated and uncomfortable.
• Magnesium is wonderful for improving mood. For Anya, feeling stressed always triggered strong sugar and carb cravings. She told me that if she had problems falling asleep, she would get out of bed, go to the kitchen and find some cookies. Eating them helped her fall asleep, but then she was craving cookies and chocolate like crazy the next morning. I recommended she take a teaspoon of magnesium powder each day, which would help to make her feel calmer, and make it easier to get to sleep.
• Because there was a strong relationship between her mood and menstrual cycle, I recommended Anya use bio-identical progesterone cream. Low progesterone in the week before menstruation can create a terrible case of PMS. Irritability, anger and sadness, along with fluid retention, sore breasts and strong food cravings can all be helped with natural progesterone. Anya suffered with all of those symptoms and was keen to get some relief.

I plan to see Anya again in two weeks, but her mother told me that already Anya has been happier and calmer, and commented that she isn’t feeling as stressed as she used to.

The above statements have not been evaluated by the FDA and are not intended to diagnose, treat or cure any disease.