Georgia Love opens up on chronic fatigue, mental health

Bachelorette and TV journalist Georgia Love has opened up about her health.

From the outset, former Bachelorette and TV journalist Georgia Love looked radiant wile juggling her numerous hats effortlessly.

But the Channel 10 star has revealed she spent the past few years working to overcome chronic fatigue and declining mental health as a result of an iron deficiency.

The 31-year-old, like many Australians, was suffering from the undiagnosed deficiency until she finally decided to go see the doctor two years ago.

“I was getting really run down and sick all the time, so I finally went to my doctor who did my bloods and found out I was iron deficient. I’ve honestly been a new person since I discovered and started treating it,” she said.

Georgia Love has opened up about her health.

“The feeling of being run down and sick all the time takes such a huge mental toll. I’d find myself never wanting to go out because I knew I’d wind up sick, or I was too sick to want to go out and in turn, those anti-social feelings spiralled my mental health and stress too.”

Experts have revealed that, like Love, many Australian are struggling with their mental health which is made worse by a lack of nutrients and key vitamins in their diet.

Common deficiencies like Iron, Vitamin B12, or a low potassium and magnesium diet can contribute to increasing symptoms for those with pre-existing anxiety and depression.

Since her diagnosis, Love has upped her red meat intake and tries to consume it at least five times a week by swapping ingredients like chicken with some minced meat instead.

“I take an iron supplement (ferro-grad C) every day to keep my levels up and I’ve honestly been a new person ever since. Especially this year when life has been stressful and health has never been more important,” she added.

Georgia Love has battled with chronic fatigue.

Nutritionist Lexi Crouch has also used her diet to improve her mental health and says being deficient in fundamental vitamins can limit people’s ability to think clearly.

“You can’t make your diet the cure, but it can take the edge off some of the symptoms and get you thinking clearly. When you are deficient you can act very irrationally,” she said.

“A lack of iron can cause chronic exhaustion and dizziness and struggling to think properly. With a vitamin B12 deficiency you can see symptoms like tingling all over your body, irritability and heart palpitations.”

Ms Crouch recommended people to included eggs and green leafy vegetables as a way of increasing vitamin B12 intake while apricots and raisins were holy grail ingredients for iron.

“Magnesium is my number go to for stress because when we are stressed we burn through it quite quickly and a lack of it can make you feel overwhelmed and manifest as aches and pains and cramps in your body,” she said.

“Foods rich in omega 3 like salmon can be a great serotonin (happiness hormone) booster in the body. There is no easy fix for mental health but these things can assist and boost you in dealing with the illness.”

Originally published as Georgia Love opens up on chronic fatigue, mental health