It has been extremely hard for the general public to recognize that there are many fat people who were skinny before they went on their medications. When I ran a weight loss clinic for a psychiatric hospital, we had people who were high ranking amateur athletes come to us because of their drug-associated weight gain. And these were people like you who had been thin all their lives, and fit.
Antidepressants have been connected with weight gain since they were first used about 48 years ago. Tricyclic antidepressants relieved sadness but left patients considerably heavier as a result of therapy. Especially, amitryptyline, was closely connected with unmanageable sugar cravings. While Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Blockers were recommended as a another generation of antidepressants, it was wished that weight gain would not be a trouble. Unlucky this expectation has not been realized.
Clinician were optimistic about Prozac, the first of the SSRIs, as patients lost weight during the early months of therapy. Prozac was considered not only as an effective mood regulator but a possibility weight-loss drug as well. It was tested in a national study and although weight loss did happen early in the research, weight gain followed. By the end of the research, patients on the drug weighed the same as they had before beginning the program.
The potential to cause weight gain is not limited to Prozac; at this point there is no effective antidepressant that does not have the potential to cause weight gain. In addition, drugs used to treat bipolar disorder and schizophrenia may leave the patient with l00 or more unwanted pounds.
There is still no explanation of how the drugs interfere with appetite and weight regulation. Some animal studies concentrate on drugs like Zyprexa that cause substantial weight gain suggest that the drug interferes with other brain chemicals like as histamine or a sub-group of serotonin-containing cells, thereby promoting hunger. But so far no one knows how drugs like Zoloft, Paxil, Lexapro or Prozac are able to limit or stop control over food intake.
Some years ago, I was asked to set up and run a weight management center at McLean Hospital, a psychiatric facility associated with Harvard Medical School. Our clients were drawn from the surrounding communities but what lots of had in common was weight gain during therapy with psychotropic drugs; some took two or three medications. What was striking about their problem is that almost all had been thin before starting on their medications. Before getting sick, these men and women never had emotional issues with food. They ate healthily, had never been on diet, and tended to enjoy exercise. All were startled by the change in their eating habits and, of course, in their bodies. Weight gain ranged between 14 and 39 pounds for those on antidepressants and between 74 and 124 pounds for those on mood stabilizers and atypical antipsychotic drugs. What they all had in common was the inability to turn off their urge to eat, regardless of how much food they were consuming.
Since then, as now, nobody really knew how to deal with this kind of weight gain we decided to try a way that had worked with typical obese customers. We knew from our research and previous clinical experience that increasing serotonin synthesis increased satiety. The SSRIs which theoretically should have activated this serotoninergic function was doing just the opposite, i.e. causing the patients to feel a chronic need to eat.
All carbohydrates with the exception of fructose will lead to a raise in serotonin synthesis if the carbohydrate is consumed without protein. The process involves the uptake into the brain of the amino acid tryptophan, the precursor to serotonin. Insulin release after carbohydrate digestion removes from the circulation other amino acids which compete with tryptophan for brain uptake. Tryptophan enters the brain easily and is quickly converted into serotonin. Protein consumption, even if eaten along with carbohydrates, floods the circulation with these competitor amino acids and tryptophan, the scarcest amino acid in protein, does not get into the brain.
Therefore the diet we developed to enhance serotonin synthesis consisted of scheduled consumption of easily digested carbohydrates during the day and in the evening. Clients were given a carbohydrate-containing beverage previously developed at an MIT research research to drink late in the morning, late in the afternoon and if needed about two hours before bedtime. The drink contained a mixture of fast and slowly digesting carbohydrates and no fat or protein. Customers were also given a list of carbohydrate snack foods that could substitute for the drink. In addition we gave the customers a nutrient-rich, reduced calorie food plan to follow. They were also encouraged to restart the exercise some of them had abandoned after gaining weight.
The satiating effects of the increased serotonin synthesis were felt within an hour or so of consuming the carbohydrate drink. Our customers told us that the nagging need to eat went away. They had no problem following the reduced-calorie food plan as they were not hungry. And they lost weight, in spite of continuing on the medications that had caused their weight gain.
This way to reversing antidepressant weight gain, now detailed in The Serotonin Power Diet, is easy and effective. For maximum efficacy, it should be put in place at the start of treatment so that weight gain can be stopped. However, because consuming carbohydrates is such an integral part of the plan, those whose medications have caused them to develop obesity-associated diabetes cannot use it without supervision by a dietician.
One funny benefit of this way to weight loss is that lots of of our customers reported easy feeling better. They told us they felt calmer, less anxious, slept better and were more relaxed. The opposite was also reported by some of our clients who had been told to avoid eating carbohydrates by their physicians in order to lose weight. lots of reported a worsening of their mood and one told us that she contemplated suicide after being taken off carbohydrates.
It is wished that soon there will be another grade of drugs to manage mood disorders without causing the sorrow of weight gain. But in the same time, the best solution to this weight gain is to take advantage of serotonin’s ability to turn off the appetite by just eating therapeutic large amounts of carbohydrates.
I think it is not necessary to stop taking meds since many people really must take them in order to lose weight. Our clinic’s diet plan which we reproduced in our book, the serotonin power diet, got the weight off even though the meds were still being taken.
Antidepressants have been connected with weight gain since they were first used about 48 years ago. Tricyclic antidepressants relieved sadness but left patients considerably heavier as a result of therapy. Especially, amitryptyline, was closely connected with unmanageable sugar cravings. While Selective Serotonin Re-uptake Blockers were recommended as a another generation of antidepressants, it was wished that weight gain would not be a trouble. Unlucky this expectation has not been realized.
Clinician were optimistic about Prozac, the first of the SSRIs, as patients lost weight during the early months of therapy. Prozac was considered not only as an effective mood regulator but a possibility weight-loss drug as well. It was tested in a national study and although weight loss did happen early in the research, weight gain followed. By the end of the research, patients on the drug weighed the same as they had before beginning the program.
The potential to cause weight gain is not limited to Prozac; at this point there is no effective antidepressant that does not have the potential to cause weight gain. In addition, drugs used to treat bipolar disorder and schizophrenia may leave the patient with l00 or more unwanted pounds.
There is still no explanation of how the drugs interfere with appetite and weight regulation. Some animal studies concentrate on drugs like Zyprexa that cause substantial weight gain suggest that the drug interferes with other brain chemicals like as histamine or a sub-group of serotonin-containing cells, thereby promoting hunger. But so far no one knows how drugs like Zoloft, Paxil, Lexapro or Prozac are able to limit or stop control over food intake.
Some years ago, I was asked to set up and run a weight management center at McLean Hospital, a psychiatric facility associated with Harvard Medical School. Our clients were drawn from the surrounding communities but what lots of had in common was weight gain during therapy with psychotropic drugs; some took two or three medications. What was striking about their problem is that almost all had been thin before starting on their medications. Before getting sick, these men and women never had emotional issues with food. They ate healthily, had never been on diet, and tended to enjoy exercise. All were startled by the change in their eating habits and, of course, in their bodies. Weight gain ranged between 14 and 39 pounds for those on antidepressants and between 74 and 124 pounds for those on mood stabilizers and atypical antipsychotic drugs. What they all had in common was the inability to turn off their urge to eat, regardless of how much food they were consuming.
Since then, as now, nobody really knew how to deal with this kind of weight gain we decided to try a way that had worked with typical obese customers. We knew from our research and previous clinical experience that increasing serotonin synthesis increased satiety. The SSRIs which theoretically should have activated this serotoninergic function was doing just the opposite, i.e. causing the patients to feel a chronic need to eat.
All carbohydrates with the exception of fructose will lead to a raise in serotonin synthesis if the carbohydrate is consumed without protein. The process involves the uptake into the brain of the amino acid tryptophan, the precursor to serotonin. Insulin release after carbohydrate digestion removes from the circulation other amino acids which compete with tryptophan for brain uptake. Tryptophan enters the brain easily and is quickly converted into serotonin. Protein consumption, even if eaten along with carbohydrates, floods the circulation with these competitor amino acids and tryptophan, the scarcest amino acid in protein, does not get into the brain.
Therefore the diet we developed to enhance serotonin synthesis consisted of scheduled consumption of easily digested carbohydrates during the day and in the evening. Clients were given a carbohydrate-containing beverage previously developed at an MIT research research to drink late in the morning, late in the afternoon and if needed about two hours before bedtime. The drink contained a mixture of fast and slowly digesting carbohydrates and no fat or protein. Customers were also given a list of carbohydrate snack foods that could substitute for the drink. In addition we gave the customers a nutrient-rich, reduced calorie food plan to follow. They were also encouraged to restart the exercise some of them had abandoned after gaining weight.
The satiating effects of the increased serotonin synthesis were felt within an hour or so of consuming the carbohydrate drink. Our customers told us that the nagging need to eat went away. They had no problem following the reduced-calorie food plan as they were not hungry. And they lost weight, in spite of continuing on the medications that had caused their weight gain.
This way to reversing antidepressant weight gain, now detailed in The Serotonin Power Diet, is easy and effective. For maximum efficacy, it should be put in place at the start of treatment so that weight gain can be stopped. However, because consuming carbohydrates is such an integral part of the plan, those whose medications have caused them to develop obesity-associated diabetes cannot use it without supervision by a dietician.
One funny benefit of this way to weight loss is that lots of of our customers reported easy feeling better. They told us they felt calmer, less anxious, slept better and were more relaxed. The opposite was also reported by some of our clients who had been told to avoid eating carbohydrates by their physicians in order to lose weight. lots of reported a worsening of their mood and one told us that she contemplated suicide after being taken off carbohydrates.
It is wished that soon there will be another grade of drugs to manage mood disorders without causing the sorrow of weight gain. But in the same time, the best solution to this weight gain is to take advantage of serotonin’s ability to turn off the appetite by just eating therapeutic large amounts of carbohydrates.
I think it is not necessary to stop taking meds since many people really must take them in order to lose weight. Our clinic’s diet plan which we reproduced in our book, the serotonin power diet, got the weight off even though the meds were still being taken.
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