If you are what you eat, make sure to eat right!
Have you ever heard the old saying “you are what you eat”? Like most nuggets of proverbial wisdom, there is much truth to this statement. Moreover, it’s one of the ground rules when it comes to getting started with your anxiety management program.
There are many foods that reinforce your anxious states. You’d better avoid those foods.
Before proceeding to list the foods you should avoid and the foods you should favor, we should make something clear: you don’t really have to change your diet as part of your anxiety treatment. But you really should because if you keep eating things that add to your anxiety, then you’ll be undermining all your efforts. Why would you want to do such a thing?
If you feel that changing your eating habits will be tough, you need to consider the big picture.
Anxiety inducing foods (and drinks) that you should avoid/moderate
- Fried foods: hard to digest, low nutritional content, bad for your health… how can your body possibly run smoothly if you keep eating tasty-but-terrible food?
- Alcohol: most people think alcohol is a tranquilizer, but that’s only until it gets fully absorbed. Once the buzz is gone, you will feel more anxious than before.
- Coffee: caffeine is one of the best anxiety inducing drugs widely available on the market. Unless you’re looking to get more anxious, you should avoid it.
- Dairy products are actually good for you… except when consumed in excess, in which case they’ll increase your adrenalin levels and heighten anxious states.
- Sugar and Spice and everything nice? Not if you’re suffering from anxiety disorder, in which case these substances will just add to your tension.
- Acid forming foods (such as yogurt, pickles, eggs, sour cream, wine, liver) will decrease your magnesium levels which will make you feel tense and edgy.
Avoiding these foods is definitely a good start, and it will certainly help keep your anxiety in check. But if you’re serious about improving your physical and emotional well-being, you don’t have to merely avoid eating wrong foods. You must actively pursue a healthy lifestyle, of which eating certain foods will be a cornerstone.
Foods and drinks that will weaken your anxious states:
- Fresh fruit: it’s delicious, nutritious and a great option when you want a snack. Fruit will provide you with fibers, vitamins and no bad cholesterol whatsoever.
- Vegetables: they are the cornerstone of healthy eating, and you should favor them plentily. Greenies are the best, but you make a point of eating vegetables of all colors.
- Water: you already know drinking lots of water is good for you, right? Well, for added motivation, you should realize that dehydration negatively impacts your mood.
- Tryptophan rich foods (such as oats, soy, poultry, Sesame seeds): this amino acid will make you more relaxed, improving your metabolism and your sleep patterns.
- Magnesium rich foods (such as tofu, whole grain, black beans): a powerful muscle relaxant, this essential mineral will keep you energized and calm.
- Omega-3 fatty acids (walnuts, flax seeds, salmon, shrimp, winter squash): research has shown a deficit in this substance is associated with depression and anxiety.
Eating this kind of foods will help reduce your inner tension and will decisively contribute towards managing your anxiety, especially if you’re following other anxiety treatment options such as getting more exercise and reducing your ingestion of stimulants.
Improving your diet won’t just improve your anxiety
Keeping anxiety under control will be harder if you refuse to improve your diet. There really is no way around that, especially if you tend to eat certain foods (see list above for details).
Fortunately, the reverse also holds true; adjusting specific nutritional patterns will vastly facilitate your recovery from anxiety disorder. It will help stabilize your mood. It will help reduce your intrusive thoughts. It will boost your coping skills.
A healthy diet will boost your immune system as well as your mental strength. You will find it easier to focus and deal with those pesky automated thoughts and negative emotions.
And there some rather enticing added bonuses that you should keep in mind:
