Anxiety is the real deal.
The heaviness of it weighs you down and it can strike at the worst times.
If you have anxiety, or have kids who do, you know exactly what I’m talking about.
Now you may assume anxiety is “all in someone’s head” or that some people were “just born with it” … however, it’s anything BUT that.
Anxiety is often brought on by lifestyle, food choices, and even food allergies.
So, is it possible that your anxiety can be managed, or better yet reversed, through nutrition? You bet.
Today’s video has all the goods on how food affects anxiety. It’s worth the watch!
If video just isn’t your thing today, no biggie … simply scroll down to read all about it.
Anxiety + Processed Foods
Anxiety can be managed and even reversed just by the foods you are eating … Here’s how:
1. Processed foods raise your cortisol levels
Stress hormones increase with processed foods – specifically fat, sugar, and salt.
Remember, these foods are hard on your digestive system which will increase the stress on your body … and stress raises your cortisol levels.
In other words, the more processed foods you consume, the higher your cortisol levels will rise. Regular consumption of these foods means chronic stress on the body which can lead to a host of health problems while also creating a hormonal imbalance.
Plus – think about how you react to stress … makes you kind of anxious, doesn’t it? You can’t expect any less of a reaction if you’re going to add stress through food.
2. Processed foods affect your brain health
How is this possible?!? Well, the brain and gut are connected via the vagus nerve which transmits messages from brain to gut, and vice versa, leading researchers to call the gut your second brain.
A balance of healthy gut bacteria is vital to brain health as it affects the messages being transported to your brain.
Woah, that’s huge.
So having your gut balance off by eating crappy foods will affect your guts ability to communicate with the brain which can cause brain fog, learning struggles, and memory issues.
3. Processed foods cause nutritional imbalances
These foods will definitely throw off your nutritional balance. Processed foods require vitamins and minerals to be processed, yet they do not provide any nutritional benefits to make up for their “use” of these micronutrients – leaving an unexpected imbalance.
Deficiencies in calcium, magnesium, Vitamin E, Omega 3’s, Vitamin A, Vitamin D3, or B vitamins will all cause symptoms of anxiety.
If you struggle with anxiety – get yourself tested … stat!
3 tips to help you reduce anxiety
- Remove the processed foods from your diet … ya-huh. Cut them out now!
- Get tested for nutritional imbalances (hey, I do that!)
- Avoid caffeine and alcohol. Trust me, they both raise anxiety levels.
