Food & Behavior

 

Barbara Stitt's Food & Behavior

Reviewed by Jay Banks

Barbara Stitt's book, Food and Behavior, is dedicated to the children and adults who have been mis-led and mis-fed. In other words, it is dedicated to America. In fact, even though Barbara became intimately involved with the relationship between food and behavior mainly through her work as a probation officer, most Americans could read this book and relate it to problems of their own or those of some friend or family member — even though these problems didn't necessarily lead to run-ins with the law.

Despite the fact that most AMA doctors mention diet as an afterthought when dealing with an illness, most people would still be able to make the connection between diet and certain illnesses. We see public service announcements on television for cancer or high blood pressure that remind us that these illnesses are diet related. If you eat cereal for breakfast, chances are your box says that it may help prevent heart disease or lower your cholesterol.

But how many people would relate an emotional or mental problem to diet? In this area, people are given advice ranging from "buck up" or "get it together," to advice to seek professional counseling, to prescriptions for mood-altering drugs. It is now common practice for doctors, in the absence of an obvious physical problem, to evaluate a patient's emotional situation and prescribe antidepressants accordingly.

But could there be another factor overlooked by the majority of Americans? Author Barbara Stitt says yes, and that factor is food.

According to Barbara, the Standard American Diet (SAD diet), loaded with empty calories, overly processed foods — sweetened, refined, stripped of nutrients, over-cooked, chemically treated, and devoid of any real nutrition — is affecting people's mental health.

Barbara touches on several dietary related issues that affect the brain, the most important organ of the body.

The first issue covered in depth is reactive hypoglycemia, in which the body's blood sugar levels are too low to meet the brain's needs. Although there are other causes of hypoglycemia, the average 129 pounds of sugar per person eaten each year by Americans¹ is the main cause of the reactive hypoglycemia that sends blood sugar on a wild roller coaster ride from high to low — accompanied with a craving for sweets that starts the cycle all over again if sugary laden foods are eaten. Amazingly, due to the high amount of processed sugar we now eat, as much as 50 percent of all Americans may be hypoglycemic². The physical and mental results of the hypoglycemic state include: apprehension, trembling, irritability, confusion, amnesia, and hallucinations — all symptoms the average psychiatrist would diagnose as neurosis, psychosis or schizoprenia³.  There is also a documented link between hypoglycemia and aggressive or violent behavior.

The next startling topic in the book is sub-clinical pellagra — a once wide-spread niacin-deficiency disease in the southern United States with symptoms that include dermatitis, disorientation, confusion, memory lapses, depression, anxiety, fatigue, and ultimately, dementia and death.

While pellagra is thought to have been eliminated, Barbara raises the issue of  developing some symptoms of the disease without developing full blown pellagra:

Although "enrichment" of many processed foods has guaranteed that few people in this country die of advanced pellagra, doctors are beginning to question whether the people with niacin deficiencies which aren't severe enough to cause the more visible symptoms of pellagra. Such a disease is called sub-clinical pellagra.⁴

The startling part of sub-clinical pellagra, like hypoglycemia, is that the symptoms also mirror those of schizophrenia, a problem so widespread that those who suffer from it occupy one out of every four hospital beds in the United States.⁵

A third topic the author details is vitamin B deficiencies, giving symptoms that could easily be confused with mental disorders. These B vitamins include B1, B2, B6, and B12. B12 deficiencies, for example, are well known for causing mental disturbances, such as paranoia, mental confusion, and dementia. In fact, the included table that compares vitamin B deficiencies to neuropsychiatric disorders is uncanny:

Symptoms of Vitamin B Deficiency		Symptoms of Neuropsychiatric Disorders
	fears		morbid fears
	fatigue		severe fatigue
	depression		depression
	paranoia		paranoia
	confusion		confusion
	hostility		anger
	rage		suicidal tendencies
	anxiety		anxiety6

Interestingly enough, Barbara points out that a B-vitamin deficiency can be related to a high sugar intake because, even though sugar contains no nutrients, the body must use stored nutrients to metabolize the sugar into energy. Therefore, meals high in processed foods not only provide little if any nutrition, they compound deficiency-related problems by robbing the body of nutrients in order to convert these non-foods into forms useable by the body.

Other food-related problems covered in some depth in the book as they relate to behavior are: allergic reactions to food; alcohol consumption; the effects of toxic substances such as aluminum, lead, mercury, etc.; man-made chemical additives such as MSG and Nutrasweet; and milk, which is surprisingly high in sugar and causes allergic reactions in a large percentage of the population.

These problems are also related to crime and violence, often with real-life examples pulled from the author's probation files or related studies, with names changed, of course. These case studies help to put a face to the problems. A good example here is the case of a 14-year-old with atrocious eating habits and a penchant for vandalism and burglaries:

A 14-year-old male observed by Dr. Alex Schauss and Dr. Clifford E. Simonsen vividly illustrates the junk food addiction of many adolescents who get into trouble with the law. This boy had been arrested for vandalism, but it was not his first offense; he had committed two second-degree burglaries in two years. The composite of this young man's diet, which Schauss and Simonsen present, defies belief and turns the stomach. For breakfast he often ate five cups of Sugar Smacks with 1/2 teaspoon added sugar, a glazed donut and 20 ounces of milk. For lunch he ate two hamburgers, french fries, two slices of white bread, 24 ounces of chocolate milk, and topped it off with two foot-long ropes of red licorice; he might even eat a small serving of green beans. Supper consisted of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on white bread, a can of tomato soup and ten ounces of Kool-Aid. Throughout the day he snacked on high-sugar foods, and foods with plenty of preservatives and other additives: more red licorice, three beef jerky sticks, a large bowl of ice cream and a very large candy bar.

No one could eat this way and stay sane and healthy. Little wonder, then, that this young man complained of sleeplessness, headaches, nightmares, fainting spells, restlessness, indecision, nervousness, explosive temper and crying spells. Computer analysis confirmed what anybody could have guessed: even though the food he was eating had too many calories and refined carbohydrates, it was woefully deficient in vitamins E, C, B1, B2, B5, B6, B12, para-aminobenzoic acid, biotin, bioflavinoids, selenium and vanadium.⁷

Overall, Food & Behavior is well worth taking the time to read. If there was any complaint at all with the book, it would be that the diet information is a little sparse. This is nothing too out of the ordinary, however, since the book was not designed to be a cookbook. And any minor complaints, such as Barbara advocating whole-wheat products, when many of these products are only slightly better than white-flour products health-wise,  really are minor when you factor in the success she has had with keeping people out of trouble.

Barbara claims more than 80 percent of probationers who came to her after she started using a food-based treatment were able to go on to live full, productive lives; and analyzing a twelve year study, found that not a single individual who stayed with the program had been back in trouble⁸. While there very well may be other issues involved with crime and violence, it is hard to ignore the results Barbara has had with her program. 

BAD NUTRITION STARTS IN THE WOMB

This [lack of nutrition] isn't a process that begins when teenagers start snacking on sodas, chips, and ice cream. Rather, this nutrition deprivation starts in the womb: mom doesn't get the right nutrition (essential fatty acids, high-quality protein, unrefined carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and water), so baby is born already brain-nutrient deficient. Infant formulas, processed baby food, and sugared cereals exacerbate the problem through the stages of childhood, with kids not getting the nutrition their growing brains need. 

---

 

Footnotes:

¹William Dufty, Sugar Blues (New York: Warner Books, 1976).

²Duffy, p. 21

³Barbara Reed Stitt, Food & Behavior, (Natural Press), p. 41

⁴Barbara Reed Stitt, Food & Behavior, (Natural Press), p. 52

⁵Pressman, "Neurochemistry," op. cit.

⁶Barbara Reed Stitt, Food & Behavior, (Natural Press), p. 81

⁷Barbara Reed Stitt, Food & Behavior, (Natural Press), pp. 88 - 89

⁸Barbara Reed Stitt, Food & Behavior, (Natural Press), p. 161

All articles and information on this website are for educational purposes only. They are  not to be regarded or relied upon as medical advice.  The articles and  information have not been evaluated by the FDA. AIM products are not intended to cure, treat, heal, mitigate, or prevent a disease or illness. Results may vary per person. Consult your  health practitioner if you have health problems.

Recommended Products for Neuro Health
Clink on link to learn more

Copyright © AIM International, Inc. Used with permission.