Anxiety
Anxiety is debilitating. It’s something we see a lot in practice and Anxiety and Depression association of America estimates some 18% of the population suffers with anxiety (1). My colleagues and I belief the actual percentage is much higher with many people suffering silently. Women are twice as likely to be as affected as men with only about 40% of people receiving treatment (2). The root cause is sometimes difficult to find as anxiety can be a factor of many different underlying issues.
Food
“Your stomach is your second brain.”- Have you heard this? There is so much emerging science on how our neurotransmitters are influenced by our gut – which means its really important which foods we are putting in our gut! (3). There are many links to the food you eat and how it effects your stomach and therefore your brain.
Below are some foods worth removing to help improve mood:
Gluten: this food is gaining quite the hype and a lot of it is true! Including that it can inflame your gut therefore inflaming your brain. The book “grain brain” is one of my favorites – it explains the link between anxiety and other mental disorders and grains such as gluten.
Grains: if there is a time to incorporate rice or quinoa in our diet to improve levels of serotonin (which makes you happy) its at dinner. Otherwise its generally accepted to improve your mood to decrease or eliminate grains. As you reduce inflammation in the gut you are also reducing inflammation in the brain and allowing your happy hormones and neurotransmitters to do what they do best.
Sugar: at this point we all know sugar isn’t good for us but that doesn’t stop us from craving it. Maybe if we understand better WHY we want to avoid sugar that will be more helpful. When your blood sugar (glucose) bounces up and down it makes it harder to maintain a stable mood. Stable blood sugar (less fluctuations) creates stability everywhere in your body and especially your mood! Sugar can make your blood sugar spike quite high and then after it tends to drop low creating more cravings! Are there types of sugar that are ok? Generally speaking the types of sugar paired with fat such as dark chocolate, cacao, spike your blood sugar less. Other sugars such as monkfruit sweetener, yakon and eryithritol don’t spike your blood sugar much at all and still tastes yummy.
Here are some foods worth adding to improve mood:
Brazil nuts: these nuts are packed with selenium which can reduce inflammation and improve mood (4).
Salmon, sardines, trout (fatty fish): are high in omega 3’s which help to regulate neurotransmitters, reduce inflammation and promote higher cognitive function (4).
Eggs: contain choline which is needed for the production of acetylcholine which is a neurotransmitter that regulates the mood and reduces stress. Eggs also have a high level of vitamin D which will ease depression and anxiety (5).
Lifestyle
Here are some other ways of balancing anxiety:
Keto: This style of eating has hit the ground running and I recommend if you’re interested in trying Keto that you find a reputable source to help you through it. Ketosis is a metabolic state where your body shifts to using fat for fuel instead of just glucose. A ketogenic diet increases the level of GABA in the brain which is linked to relaxation. Also having stable blood sugar and higher levels of serotonin from a less inflamed gut helps lower anxiety (6).
If this is something you’re interested in trying I would look at Ali Miller RD’s book “The Anti-Anxiety Diet: A Whole Body Program To Stop Racing Thoughts, Banish Worry, and Live Panic-Free”Stop Intermittent Fasting: Cortisol is a hormone that is associated with high stress levels. It has been studied that when women eat breakfast (and skip fasting) they have lowered cortisol and blood pressure. Female breakfast skippers had a heightened stress response (7).
Start mindfulness: meditation, visualization practices for even 5 minutes a day have significantly shown to reduce stress and improve mood. Try apps such as Insight Timer or Headspace.
Exercise less: What!? I know – who gives that advice. Exercise is a form of stress and it spikes cortisol (we love cortisol for many things but not when its flying too high). Choose types of exercise that are more calming such as yoga, walking, weight lifting for shorter amounts of time.
Supplements
Last but not least AFTER we make all the diet and lifestyle changes we can look to supplements to improve your brain chemistry. This is a very incomplete list as the root cause could be many different things. Some possible root causes are significant trauma that hasn’t been addresses, gut imbalance, toxicity or heavy metals, chronic infections etc. Yes! As you can see the best course of action is to work with a thorough medical professional that can sift through everything and figure out your root cause. However, the following supplements have been shown to reduce anxiety (8) and you know your squad recommends you get a trusted brand:
GABA
Passionflower
Kava
Fish oil: 3- 5 grams a day this amount will help psychologically
Magnesium: lowers cortisol and helps mood 200-300 mg at night
Modalities
As mentioned above a lot of anxiety has roots in the past. Whether it be trauma we know we have experienced or maybe life events that we blanked out, its important while we are working on lifestyle, we are also diving into healing our mind and spirit as well. Some of my favorite modalities are:
NET: Neuro-emotional technique
NLP: Neuro linguistic programming
EMDR: Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing
Meditate: look up Dr Joe Dispenza and be prepared to be amazed
Journaling
If you have any questions or comments please feel free to put them in the comments or reach out to us!
If you have any questions or comments please feel free to put them in the comments or reach out to us!
Here’s to feeling happy and having balanced blood sugar,
Dr. Nicole
