Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Put your happy health face on Mississippi!!!!:D

Hey y'all!!

How are you?! Have you asked yourself that today?? I highly recommend a daily emotional checkin with yourself. People habitually ask how we are doing as a form of greeting but if someone actually sat you down and asked how you were doing how would you respond? So when you can, ask yourself that very important question. It is so easy to get caught up in day to day life and worry about how everyone else is doing but don't forget about you!!!!

I find it interesting that as such a hospitable state with quite hospitable citizens we are actually one of the most depressed states.:( Not depressed as in we are a bad state because we rock but depressed as in the clinical meaning. Yes, you read correctly. Mississippi has the highest rate of depression in the US!!!! What?! I for one am deeply saddened by this. So why are a whopping 14.8% of Mississippians depressed? Well I have a theory.

As you may have heard Mississippi also ranks the highest in obesity rates as well. (Again I am not knocking MS but trying to understand the facts.) I wonder if there is a correlation between the high rates of depression and obesity. I also wonder what percentage of depressed Mississippians are obese. A person is obese if he/she has a BMI of 30 or higher. (It is more accurate to measure body fat % but for explanation purposes I'll be using BMI. The BMI of a person at normal weight is 18.5-24.9. Hugeeee difference there y'all. And we have the most overweight people of any state in the US AND the most depressed people of any state in the US! Coincidence? I think not. I think people are either obese because they are depressed and emotionally eat in an attempt to feel better and/or people are obese and have low self confidence causing the onset of depression. Either way it IS preventable, fixable, and everything WILL BE OK!!!!

I have been depressed. I am currently being treated for depression and have been recovering since I was diagnosed at 16. Shortly after my diagnosis I gained weight. I was not overweight but enough weight was gained to confuse my positive self image as I had been super tiny before. This is where the vicious cycle set in. I became more depressed. I gained more weight. More depressed. More weight. I am now technically obese according to my BMI. I still battle self image and self worth issues because of my weight but now that I have taken control of my weight and my depression has gotten so much better. Now I have reversed the vicious cycle!!!!! Less weight. Fewer symptoms of depression. Less weight. Fewer symptoms of depression. Long story short.... Choose your cycle!!!! With help and treatment your vicious cycle can be reversed and made into a happy cycle!!!! I don't care about these stats because it angers me to be called the depressed fat state but because it saddens me that so many of my fellow Mississippians are unhealthy mentally and physically.

Being there and still being there has proven to me that we don't have to be this way. If you need help or support seeking treatment for obesity and/or mental health please email me at haley.e.moon@gmail.com or comment below. I'd be happy to help as much as I can and if needed refer you to the right people. Let's be the happy health state y'all!!

<3 Haley

http://www.health.com/health/m/gallery/0,,20483493_6,00.html

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