A Balanced Diet

Guest Opinion

By Greg Holmes | July 19, 2025

Do you feel stressed and depressed when you scroll through your daily diet of news? If so, you are hardly alone. There seems to be no end to the amount of things in the world to be worried about: devastating wars, an environment on life support, and incompetent, self-interested politicians, just to name a few. The news is dominated by stories of disaster, conflict, and rage.

If that’s not depressing enough, the news that is chosen to be covered is followed by “pundits” whose job is to basically tell you what to think about the events of the day. A key feature of this coverage is to inform you whom they believe is responsible for the bad news and whom you should blame. What objectivity exists, if any, is often buried deep beneath the hyperbole of accusations that can reach the crescendo of character assassination.

Yes, life is difficult for all of us at times, and it is too often full of tragedy and grief. These things need to be reported, but what about the positive news, the good news, the wondrous events of the day that can only be described as miraculous? Why aren’t these stories featured out front instead of regulated to the very last minutes once in a while in a newscast?

The answer is obvious, if depressing. News corporations are commercial businesses first and foremost. Their number one goal is not to objectively report what’s happening, but to win the ratings race against their competitors, sell commercials, and make money. How best to do this? Simply by giving viewers what they want.

And what do people want in their news? Two things. First, viewers are much more likely to be drawn to dramatic stories that elicit feelings of fear, outrage, and distress. Secondly, when we look for a source for our news, we are not looking for objectivity and fact checking so much as we are looking for reporting that confirms and supports our preexisting biases.

Can we blame the media for giving us what we want? Do we blame fast food restaurants for selling food that we crave even if it’s not nutritious and contributes to our poor health? It’s much easier to blame someone or something else than it is to claim personal agency.

Here’s the difference between our food diet and news diet. Many of us have a sense of what foods are good for us. We know which ones we should avoid, even though we continue to eat food that is bad for us. When we consume negative news, we do so without an awareness about how it is affecting our health.

Think for a moment about how you feel after consuming a helping of bad news. Chances are high that you feel worse. Your stress level has likely increased, and your mood has become darker.

Now imagine that you have a daily diet of bad news. Your feelings and thoughts can become even more dysphoric, as it is increasingly difficult to maintain a vital sense of hope and optimism. A constant barrage of biased, negative reporting about wars, corrupt politicians, and environmental disasters, for example, can easily lead to feelings of hopelessness and a feeling of loss of control.

You are not alone with these reactions. Studies have shown that anxiety levels increase after only 14 minutes of exposure to the news. Over 50 percent of Americans report that following the news causes them stress. Researchers have also found a correlation between exposure to news on social media with feelings of depression as well as symptoms of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD).

Tired of feeling this way? Caveat emptor! The options are simple, but often difficult to implement. The easiest option in the short run is to do nothing.

Perhaps your feelings of depression and pessimism have taken hold of the best of you, and you’ve concluded, as Bruce Hornsby once sang, “That’s just the way it is…some things will never change.” But remember his final advice to the listener, “Ah, but don’t you believe it.”

If you want to change how you feel, you need to change what you do.

A person struggling with obesity needs to make difficult changes with their diet and exercise routine if they want to lose weight. They know what they crave and how eating bad food makes them feel.

You know all too well how bad news makes you feel. Why not try a balanced diet of good and bad news and see how that feels? It’s difficult and dangerous to deny bad news, but it is very harmful to deny what is good and life affirming. Being mindful and grateful of good news is a powerful antidepressant.

I became excited recently as I read the good news about how France has removed the pollution from the Seine River. Now people can swim in it. Seeing people enjoying themselves as they swam brought a smile to my face.

Imagine what it would be like to replace some of the pollution of bad news in your life with a more balanced diet. Bon appetit!

Greg Holmes lives and writes in Traverse City.