Thursday, August 1, 2013

mood, diet, and ladylike behavior

A certain blogosphere loudmouth has begun blaming a VLC diet for irritability in its proponents.  Truth be told, the mood-influencing qualities of diet are PROFOUND -- but not at all as claimed by the trolls.

I'm not the one who should be posting on this subject.  I have no technical qualifications in the health fields:  as i've said before, what i write here is only a report of what HAS or has NOT worked FOR ME.  Wooo has the medical background, insight from her own experiences, and what she has learned from her particular studies, inspired by people and situations which particularly interest her.  Sidereal has insider information which comes of her doctoral studies in psychology, and Minijumb and Kim also have professional qualifications.  THEY should be the ones to present just exactly what happens and how/why -- all i "know" is what i've experienced.

When i was eating a "standard-but-clean" diet of ordinary foods -- lots of those healthy fruits and vegetables, and whole grain, home-made breads and other cereal products -- my mood was a lot more variable.  I didn't have an anxiety disorder, but felt a modicum of anxiety on a regular basis (i'm a born worrier, which Chris Masterjohn describes as one of the poles of speed-of-dopamine-methylation, in the worrier/warrior spectrum).  I had significant brain-fog in the morning which dissipated as the day progressed.  I never had significant PMS, thank the gods! only discomfort from the water retention.

The very first benefit i noticed from beginning Atkins, lo those many years ago, was that the morning fog completely disappeared.  All other noticible results were physical.  It wasn't until i went ketogenic that i observed "psychological" changes -- i started converting from worrier to warrior.  From a serotonin-oriented person, i've been moving in the dopaminergic direction, especially since i've been encouraging dopamine with mucuna and nicotine and ... probably other components of my diet.

This bring us to more cultural standards of behavior when it comes to acting on one's mental state...

The world has never had much affection for strong women, but of course the great women of history never gave a damn if they were liked and appreciated or not.  These qualities are closely associated with hormone and neurotransmitter levels, and are influenced by diet and environment.  Female hormones contribute to gentleness and placation, depression and anxiety; male hormones toward fearlessness, risk-taking and self-confidence.  NEWS FLASH:  a lot of men HATE it when women display the latter characteristics!  "Inferior" men want their women weak, stupid and ... inferior, because it's the only way THEY can feel SUperior.

Western society has tried to train women to be docile, obedient and subservient.  Religion and civil law prohibiting certain types of behavior provided the strong-arm to bully half the population into self-inhibition.  Wealthier women, who have more leisure, educational opportunities, entitled attitude and sheer wherewithal to do whatever they want, require a more stealthy technique to wheedle them to do as paternalistic society wants -- therefore, we have this set of guidelines saying "this is how 'ladies' behave:  if you don't follow the rules, you are no 'lady' and therefore can be mistreated with impunity."

This was particularly effective with the rising middle class.  The etiquette books were invented for their benefit after all -- upper classes were brought up with the examples of those around them as guides to behavior, and the lower ones didn't have the luxury of choice.  But to be taken seriously, the genteel-but-impoverished HAD to use their manners as indication of quality, and the nouveau riche to keep open the doors that their money made accessible in the first place.  Manners maketh the man.  Pretty is as pretty does.

The twentieth century upset the status quo in this respect, and we see anti-feminists today doing their damnedest to reverse the tide.  Modern young women have been brainwashed to think that "feminists" are extremists and "the enemy" -- which is just sad.  Nineteenth- and twentieth-century feminism is what originally promoted their rights to pursue whatever course they desire, and a lot of them don't know what they owe those women who came before.  Hell, the right to vote is less than a hundred years old in the USA, and reproductive rights are significantly younger ... and THREATENED.

It's a truism that "well-behaved women don't make history."  "Well-behaved" women are usually treated as doormats, because our culture doesn't actually value them as individuals -- only as accessories.  Women with "masculine" traits are treated seriously;  assertive, self-protective women are often considered less "womanly" or "ladylike" and their deportment is decried by males who feel threatened by them.  Double-edged sword -- be nice and be ignored or regarded contemptuously, or stand up for yourself and be labelled a bitch.  Women in relationships frequently have to alternate humoring and raging behaviors to even be HEARD.

So in response to the loud-mouthed blog-troll i spoke of, it isn't our diets which cause us to become irritable;  the "breakup" is not about us, it's about YOU, after all.  You are a childish jerk, and we're not your mommy.  We have no incentive to put up with your BS, and therefore we won't.  We'll tell you exactly what we think of you whether you like it or not.  We'll BAN your ass if you talk back on OUR platforms, and ignore you elsewhere.

Dopamine is a wonderful thing -- it encourages us to do what we wanted to, all along.

20 comments:

  1. Well Said! I wholeheartedly agree. VLC living has helped me so much that I advocate it for everyone. Do they do it? Nope...but that's to their detriment.

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    1. thank you, L! :-)

      VLC just FEELS GOOD! being on vacation this last week, i've fallen off the meat truck (tuna boat?) a couple of times, and it REALLY shows how right i am to minimize the "neolithic agents of disease"....

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  2. I really enjoyed this tess.

    In this specific individuals' case I think a cognitive issue is mostly at work, but in general we see this mentality on the paleosphere/blogosphere where women who are outspoken are harshly attacked but men substantially less so. Look at how long Harris was worshiped, and Nikoley had to practically call all the women of paleo cunts before people started abandoning him.

    Aggressive / assertive women are repellant on a sexual/instinctual level to men I believe, rather like they will also similarly hurl insults at women if she is not attractive or young/thin enough etc. The aggressive nature suggests decreased fertility / more of a masculine endocrine system.

    I can understand the averse reaction to such a person, but these individuals almost feel entitled to be placated or entertained, so their abuse of aggressive women is justifiable.

    I dont understand that about men... many of them behave as if women only exist for their entertainment. I encounter this a lot IRL too. Like, when dealing with any man or group of men there is almost an expectation that I am obligated to entertain them, I'm not allowed to just be neutral. If a woman fails to meet their subjective expectations of an object to amuse they become almost angry and abusive in some way.

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    1. If a woman is saying something you don't like then that is a different issue of course, but most of the time it is this pat generalization of "you are too aggressive and crazy" vs actually being upset with a specific point of view.

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    2. precisely. more intelligent men realize that "women are people too" but a subset of the dumber ones are so subjective about EVERYTHING that women just play a generic part in their me-theatre. especially if they have something attractive about them, so they've had success with girls....

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  3. Tess, besides a gentle doormat and a strong aggressive bitch, there is a third variety of woman exists. It is a feminine soft-spoken bitch who can put any amount of barbs under the hide of an aggressive straight-forward-acting individual and he would not be able to defend himself. Letting yourself to act angry is very liberating and often could be enjoyable, it also can work well in certain situations, but in many instances well-placed barbs are more effective. I had to maneuver a lot around family members who didn't get along and got easily angry, so I had to find some alternative ways of self-expression.

    I think that Nigel is not a malicious troll, rather an individual with a mild form of Asperger, who is more capable that an average person to annoy others.

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    1. Oh yeah -- there's every degree along the passive-aggressive spectrum....

      I didn't mention Nigel, why would you imagine i meant him? ;-)

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    2. Because you recently got annoyed by him. I guess you finally managed to scare poor Nige away from Wooo's blog. In his case barbs wouldn't do it.

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    3. Nigel is no innocent. He thought he could get away with being an asshole to everyone as long as he sucked up to Woo. I imagine he thought he was being quite cunning and was shocked when she told him off.

      He's running out of blogs to haunt; at this point he's shit too many beds.

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    4. My guess is Nigel is not cunning at all. He is not socially calculating.

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    5. There's a difference between not being calculating and not being any good at it.

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    6. I agree with anon. Nigel seems to be aware he is annoying everyone which is why he always doubles down on sycophanting when he suspects he has exasperated his trolling host target. An autie would not have this common sense. An autie would be like "why are you upset I only told you that you appear fat". Nigel has insight into other peoples frustrations, and it is a source of amusement via attention.

      I tolerate it, but only as long as he backs down when it gets over the top. Not only was he becoming more persistent but he was going on other blogs mocking/insulting me (and then denying he was doing it).

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  4. So much of it comes down to biology; on the macro level i.e. male/female and then of course, individual biology. I used to think it was all psychological, how we were raised, “nurture” as opposed to “nature.” Traditional society hates “strong” i.e. masculine women and “weak” i.e. feminine men. On a high-carb diet I have more mood instability & way more depression and irritability. If I keep my carbs low my mood stays relatively stable. But, I’m just as much of a door-mat whether I eat low-carb or high. I have noticed that sense the hysterectomy and menopause I generally care less about everything...but that might just be age :)

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    1. :-) i think it's dopamine! there IS of course our conditioning sending us in the direction we've become accustomed to go, but why are some of us tigers and some lambs? i believe that the reason i've been such an underachiever all my life is because i discourage too easily. the "perceived reward" of dopamine just hasn't been there for me -- i often feel that some things are not worth the effort, and when i go ahead and make myself do them, they turn out better than expected ... but the next day, again, i have a hard time finding my motivation. ambition is something i've always had a hard time mustering.

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  6. Of course, there's a world of difference between being assertive and being an ass. For instance, a coworker called me unapproachable on my review. O.M.F.G. It didn't cross her mind that her incredible rudeness has something to do with her making my skin crawl, and that I really don't want to hear one more wildly inappropriate thing out of her mouth, that the problem is hers alone and it's one of her own making. My reviewer disagreed I was unapproachable, and so would my coworkers, past and present, who've seen me on the street or the bus and talked to me or come to me every day needing something.

    The clueless people are just as clueless as they seem. I once read that such people are considered incurable by tribal healers, and in such settings tend to end up having fatal accidents.

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    1. if you were unapproachable in person, i think we'd see signs of it online! :-) ...how interesting about "incurable people" -- do you have any remembrance of where you read that?

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    2. Evil Genes by Barbara Oakley. I wrote a post about narcissists awhile back: http://relievemypain.blogspot.com/2013/03/machiavellians-narcissists-more-more-of.html

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  7. What has been very interesting to me is that with PCOS, I had very high testosterone levels on low fat, high carb diets. I felt miserably depressed, (even suicidal at one point), PLUS I had the roller coaster of hyper to hypo-glycemia from uncontrolled insulin resistance. I was miserable in every way possible.

    On low carb, not only is my mood stabilized without the blood sugar roller coaster, but I feel wonderful-- somewhat euphoric and almost giddy. I think it's one of the reasons that I (and other low carbers) can't shut up about how great low carb is. We just feel GOOD and full of energy! And my testosterone levels are normal for a woman my age.

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    1. :-) the temptation to help everybody is overpowering at first. As the rebuffs filter in, we become more reserved....

      But YES! When i'm eating my extra-clean diet i feel so great, i wonder why i get stupid sometimes and eat the ordinary stuff.

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