I wrote the following below around May or June. Looking at what I had written, and what I had gone through this year, the list below seems to ring some truth to it. I don't think I was bullshitting at all after reading through it.
This goes without saying that this blog is more or less for everybody and not just those with Aspergers Syndrome. For those of you who do smoke and/or drink, you find that your body is not accepting the poison and you also find that your eating habits are drastically different as a result. Because of the change in your eating habits, your hormones are now acting much differently. Or maybe your eating habits are bad to begin with and you are not a smoker or a drinker.
Food
I remember watching "Super-size Me" recently where the document-er went and ate McDonald's everyday for a whole month and at every meal. What we saw before that was a man who ate healthy vegan based foods, stood 6'2" (height doesn't change) weighed 185 lbs, had approximately 10% body fat and was very fit to a man who gained 27 lbs, his body fat shot up to 18%, and he became lethargic. His girlfriend in the documentary pointed out that his sex drive decreased significantly, and his doctors and nutritionists after about 20-23 days told him to stop out of fear that he would die. His body changed so significantly that people feared for his life. It apparently took him 14 months on his girlfriends detox diet to bring him back down to his normal weight again. Just think that it takes so little to jump your weight up, and how hard it is to bring your weight back down
Clearly from the above example, his hormones changed dramatically because of the foods that he ate. He expressed that he was getting depressed as the experiment went on explaining that his serotonin level dropped significantly. What I can see out of this was that his testosterone levels were also down if he had low sex drive. I am unsure how it affected his oxycotin levels, but if he was suffering from low sex drive, than the usual bonding after an orgasm probably would tell me he didn't cuddle much with his girlfriend. I am also not sure how much soy based products were used in the foods that make McDonald's foods. If there are soy based products in all of those foods, then he clearly raised his estrogen levels which may indicate the inability to keep his muscle mass. It is also guaranteed that his refined sugar intake went up tenfold with this diet. The testosterone level also explains the lower muscle mass. Since he did seem to want to drive more than walk after a while, then he clearly was suffering from a lower dopamine level as well as he was unable to seek rewards. Releasing of endorphins also likely affected his ability to keep his serotonin levels balanced. Now he had an amazing support circle around him for the documentary, and I as an Aspie don't always have the best support group.
Alcohol
Alcohol is one of the most well known depressants. A lot of alcoholic beverages contain high amounts of sugar as well as carbohydrates. In fact the sugar is the carbohydrates and considering that beer is an alcoholic drink, it may have contained starch products from wheat or barley or hops products. While these carbohydrates are not bad in moderation, they can lead to problems if consumed too much in one sitting or too often. Refined sugar has the ability to get you more hooked than, and I dare say it, nicotine, and that is what is scary about the amount of sugar in these drinks. The more sugar in your drink, the worse your hangover will be the next day. Of course, the more you smoke the worse the hangover is as well and I know that from experience. I honestly like to go out on occasion with friends and have a few drinks and have a good time and maybe even go out dancing. Alcohol can relax you a little bit, but it also depresses you. Just imagine what happens when you are dancing with a girl you feel you like, and some jerk comes along and takes your girl and she leaves the bar with that jerk. It doesn't make you feel good at all (this situation only applies if you genuinely like the girl and you met her ahead of time and not that night)
Let's take a look at what the effects of alcohol or even the sugar has on your body during these situations. If the drink is a depressant, the chances are your serotonin level will be decreased. What I don't understand about it is that we still seek pleasure from drinking even when we can't get it. Your testosterone is known to be reduced through consumption of alcohol, making sex even harder for men, and is also considered harmful for estrogen. I don't know how people think that having sex when they are drinking is a good idea as it doesn't seem like it would be fun or pleasurable considering what the drink is doing to your hormones. I have found that making out with people may help increase a social bond to a degree, but not enough since that may be the only time you ever see that person. Oxytocin may be irrelevant in these scenarios unless there was a different kind of bonding going on. Furthermore, Dopamine levels are clearly dropped since you may not really be seeking any kind of reward, but are more or less, just becoming more agreeable to suggestion. I would figure the only thing that you may be doing is releasing some endorphins through the dancing going on.
The Evil Cigarette
Cigarettes are probably the most harmful to your health, nutrition and your physical fitness. The strange thing is that you can do it for your whole life before it finally kills you in however many years it takes to catch up to you. If McDonalds foods can kill a person quickly if they eat it enough times over a short period of time, try smoking a lot more than you currently do and see what happens. When I quit smoking, I was able to run up to 5 miles without stopping compared to being barely able to squeeze out 3 miles without huffing and puffing. I was sweating more profusely as a smoker when I was working out. My body didn't have enough oxygen to support me when working out and my lungs and heart were telling me this. I couldn't really increase my strength on weight lifting without my chest feeling some sort of pain and without my head feeling really dizzy. As a smoker, you cannot try and exercise and be a smoker, your body is telling you that. So when I relapsed and tried to go for a run, I found myself stopping after 15 minutes because it was too hard to continue. It takes that much for smoking to ruin your fitness. My dopamine level is clearly affected as I am unable to seek out rewards, and now my fitness standard has dropped. Since this is depressing to me, my serotonin level has likely dropped as well.
Of course, smoking is also considered anti-social now, which is probably why I relapsed because I withdrew from a situation I perceived as not beneficial for me and isolated myself from the people that put me in that situation. This is where my Aspie mind came into play. I stupidly bought a pack of cigarettes because I was so depressed that I thought it would make me feel better. It did not and my serotonin level probably dropped even further. I felt incapable of seeking out new friends, so being able to bond with people is going to be affected through my oxytocin level. Considering that smoking is anti-social, are the people I withdrew from going to want to bond with me now? I don't know for sure what is going to happen. I went from being depressed one day, to being stressed out the next day and that isn't good for any hormones. If that isn't bad enough, I noticed that my sex drive had increased after a while when I stopped smoking. It took a few days for it to drop again. How lovely is that, now my testosterone levels have dropped because of this habit.
My eating habits weren't very good, but I did notice that my overall health was horrible when I was a smoker. Ever have problems in your chest after a meal because you smoked, or in your stomach or throat? How bout the dizziness and headaches that you felt? How did you feel about yourself as a person? How was your response to pain? Or how about your energy levels? All of this is affected by your smoking habit. It also depresses you when you realize you don't have money to spend because all you did was buy cigarettes when you did not need to. And if you consume high amounts of refined sugar, the health problems are also increased with the smoking habit. I feel almost all of my hormones are affected negatively as a smoker. I don't know why I did it again, and I have decided to make a target date for quitting again. I know I can do this since I did it before.
So think about your hormones when you engage in any bad habits. Think about how your hormones would be affected by your decision making. I think it is quite obvious that pills are not needed to help effect your hormones.
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