Lithium

[Dreamline]

I haven't gained any fat on lithium...just have your thyroid checked if you do...LiC0 can cause low thyroid but its reversible.  It can also lower you appetite, it does mine but I stick to healthy and doing fine.  Thanks to lithium I have been able to consistently eat healthy and work out and my physique changed as a result.  It enabled me.  So just watch out for any potential weight gain and you can alway switch. 

[Paz]

  I wouldn't worry about weight gain Ash.....you are a Vegan!

  Weight gain comes from eating bad processed food. I think you will be fine.

[Art_girl216]

Actually, weight gain is from the mixture of carbohydrates and fats.  Carbohydrates trigger insulin which turns on fat storage.  Trust me, it's easy to gain weight on a vegan diet.

[Paz]

  Most people crave really bad food when they take psych meds, which in turn causes weight gain. Most people who take them become coca-cola fiends and the like. I think they must trigger something in the brain that craves those things, because all of them caution about weight gain. Makes you wonder.

[Art_girl216]

Well, it doesn't help that processed crap is either carbohydrates and fat. I would recommend if anyone craves junk food, to find a little bit more complex (whole grain, non-processed sugars) healthier version of it, I personally like Paul Newman Orea's.  Junk foods have a well-earned reputation. They typically provide a quick mood and energy boost followed 30 to 60 minutes later by a crash. Foods such as white rice, potato chips, cookies, crackers, and pasta often take your body on a roller-coaster ride of sugar highs and lows.  Sugars and simple carbohydrates trigger a dramatic boost in blood-sugar levels that your body must respond to in order to survive. As your blood-sugar rises, your pancreas dumps insulin into your system to convert excess sugar to fat for storage. With a large rush of insulin, your blood-sugar drops, making you feel sleepy or cranky and often hungry for more sweets.  I'm sure that you already craving crap, along with the meds doesn't help.  If your going to eat that processed crap, eat it with high fibrous food that will slow the sugar going into your system. 

[LadyAshley]

Honestly, I don't crave junkfood hardly at all anymore since I went vegan. Like yesterday, you know what I was craving? A tossed salad.... Hahahaha! And for snacks I usually go to pistachios or a frozen coconut bar or something like that. If I want something sweeter I sometimes have some dark chocolate but that's rare and basically more or less when I go to the movies-- I tend to sneak stuff in since they don't have very many vegan options.

[Paz]

  If you have ever watched some of my videos, you know that we eat organic & we juice like crazy.....we only eat whole organic foods, and we make our own bread. Our son is a Lacto-Ovo Vegetarian....he used to eat fish & organic chicken but not any more. And we all take Raw one supplements, and Omega-3 and calcium & vitamin D and B-complex.

 I don't eat junk food, never really have. I did drink Coca-cola when I was on Depakote, but I haven't had a Coke since 2009, and it was in Costa Rica, and they make it with cane sugar down there.

 When you eat proper foods, you don't crave junk.

 Sometimes I crave dark chocolate covered almonds, and also coconut ice cream. We have a small ice cream maker, so we even make our own organic ice cream! 

[LadyAshley]

I think having sweets once in awhile is totally fine. It's just making a habit of it that is harmless. I love coconut ice cream!

[LadyAshley]

Sorry typo, harmful, not harmless haha!

[Dreamline]

I make healthy smoothies, veggie ones, fruit ones and protein ones.  I made an ice cream smoothie the other day (frozen cream cubes, milk/or almond or coconut milk, peanut butter, xylitol).  Xylitol is an excellent sweetener, not toxic like splenda (fucking pesticide) but not good for pets. 

[Art_girl216]

I crave junk food all the time, but that's because I'm a carb and sugar addict.  Give me a healthy version I'll eat it, give me a plate of french fries, I'll eat it.  I love carbs and fat, I'm suprised I'm not as big as a house.  Only healthy thing I crave on a constant basis is banana's and other fruits, I'm a fruit junky lol.

[LadyAshley]

Well you can always make healthy versions of the things you crave. I mean fries aren't necessarily unhealthy unless you deep fry them and cover them in salt. But you can always do low sodium baked fries.

[Dreamline]

Then all you get is carbs...depending on your metabolic type...could be bad.  For me high fat and protein is good, starchy carbs are horrible, sugar is worse, low starch veggies with lots of anti-oxidants wonderful!  Other people are sort of the opposite.

In case anyone is interested in metabolic types:
Humans are classed as omnivores...its a spectrum.  On one end the *carb type......mixed type.......protein type*
Carb types do great with lots of veggies, usually can tolerate starch or fruits, need lean protein, not much fat.
Protein types need lots of protein (some need high fat others moderate), some low starch veggies and berries.
The people in between have to find what proportion of foods suits them between the two extremes.
I'm an extreme protein type and have adjusted my diet and feel much better.
This the reason why some people thrive on a diet and others don't.  Atkins works for one but low fat works for another, vegan works for another, vegetarian works for another...etc.  It also explains why one person will crave salt yet another craves vinegar...and so on.  I have a book called The Metabolic Typing Diet..its awesome.  There are other sources too, if intersted I'll try and dig them up.