Best Foods For Anxiety
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A great way to combat anxiety is by eating the right foods. Firstly, your body will receive nutrients from these foods which balance the body. Also these foods have certain attributes that directly affect brain health. These two things are a big deal when it comes to dealing with anxiousness.
We add these foods to our diet regularly alongside other anxiety-reducing practices. Being proactive with your anxiety is the best way to get anxiousness under control and make sure it does not spike.
Doing this will allow you to handle stress better and not be on edge at the drop of a hat.
An important caution to take is to know how certain foods affect you. Keeping a food journal that you can refer to when your brain is in anxiety mode is important.
I provide my kids with foods to prevent anxiety before it begins. Once anxiety kicks in, it may take longer to alleviate the symptoms.
Also, the better you can provide your body with natural anxiety control methods, the better your overall health will be.
Anxiety and blood Sugar Levels
According to the University of Michigan, there is growing proof that sugar levels is linked to mood issues such as anxiety, depression, and so on.
We experience this with one of our kids, and I experience it myself. I need to regulate my glycemic levels to make sure I don't experience an anxious overload. This study shows how hypoglycemia can cause symptoms of anxiety.
Additionally, epinephrine (a neurotransmitter and hormone) increases when sugar levels are too low. This can cause symptoms of increased heartbeat, shakiness, and profuse sweating, among other anxiety-like symptoms. Another way to think of this is when you experience adrenaline. This is epinephrine (same as adrenaline) kicking into overload.
It is important to balance epinephrine levels and not keep them elevated for too long. Avoiding processed and junk food and eating sugar-balancing foods regularly will help prevent this offset in epinephrine. In turn you should experience a reduction in anxiety.
Macronutrients and Micronutrients
The body will produce a "fight or flight" response when specific nutrition is lacking or out of balance. There are certain vitamins, minerals, and nutrients such as essential amino acids that promote dopamine levels in the brain.
Dopamine is another neurotransmitter that needs to be regulated correctly to ease anxiety symptoms. The list of foods below contain certain foods that trigger dopamine production.
Vitamins B6 and B12, magnesium, omega 3 fatty acids, zinc, and protein have been shown to be beneficial against anxiety. Ingesting vitamin B through food is beneficial because this vitamin can be tricky due to issues of methylation and mold.
All of these elements are important in decreasing anxiety. Most of these things occur due to underlying conditions. Eating foods that will help your anxiety should also help any underlying condition.
Health Problems and Anxiety
Underlying health issues play a role in anxiety. It is important that you are aware of what food triggers anxiousness or nervousness and keep a journal when possible. The foods below show great potential in helping anxiety, however, if the food is problematic for your body to properly handle, it can contribute to anxiety instead of alleviating anxious symptoms.
Histamines
For instance, histamines are one example of this. If you have an overload of histamines in the body, certain foods will be less tolerable for you to handle. Eating these foods can trigger anxiety. For more information on this read the post below.
Best Foods To Help Anxiety Symptoms
Swiss Chard
Swiss Chard contains a high amount of magnesium. Magnesium is needed for many bodily functions. Studies done with rats show that anxiety symptoms increase when magnesium levels are low.
Additionally, swiss chard is high in antioxidants, great at fighting inflammation, and helps stabilize blood sugar levels. All of these things contribute to anxiety when out of control. Therefore, eating swiss chard will benefit an anxiety problem.
Parsley
Parsley is another food that can be easily added to the diet to help with anxiety. Due to the flavonoids apigenin and luteolin in parsley, this herb helps with oxidative stress, inflammation, and neural activity.
Depression and anxiety are often linked. Parsley has been shown to help with both anxiety and depression and be a great natural treatment for these conditions. It also exhibits better results than some common drugs used for anxiety and depression with fewer or no side effects.
Kale
This vegetable contains magnesium as well as vitamin B, also known as folic acid. Both of these vitamins help ease feelings of over-anxiousness. Folic acid also helps with regulating serotonin levels. Serotonin is a chemical messenger that regulates mood through signals it sends to the brain.
Also, the sulforophane that the body gets from eating kale helps the liver with detoxification. In addition to this, this leafy green is a good source of omega-3 fatty acids. These are known for maintaining brain health and calming the body.
Kale will help with anxiety because of all of its helpful attributes. Anxiety is experienced when the body is not balanced, lacking something, or is genetically or environmentally affected.
Eating foods such as this will contribute appropriate nutrients that fight against these conditions.
beetroot
Beetroot is also added to the list of anxiety- preventative foods. Stress can trigger bouts of anxiety. This study demonstrates beetroots' positive effects in fighting anxiety and depressive symptoms.
Oxidative stress can lead to symptoms of anxiety, and beetroot is shown to successfully combat this in studies.
The betalains (water-soluble pigments) in beetroot are great anxtioxidants for fighting against free radicals in the body and oxidative stress, both of which are known for triggering anxiety.
Also, beetroot triggers an increase in dopamine levels. This increase can help calm the body and lower anxiety.
In addition to all of beetroots positive attributes, it demonstrates liver protecting properties. A healthy liver supports stress and anxiety levels.
This makes beets a great addition to add into your diet to help lower your stress and anxiety levels.
Mustard Leaves
A less common but still effective anxiety- combating food is mustard leaves. Studies show these leaves to help properly regulate precursor molecules in the adrenal glands.
Adrenal gland regulation is important because stress can trigger a rush of adrenalin causing anxiety and nervousness.
Avocados
Avocados are another excellent source of omega-3 fatty acids, therefore, making them great for brain health. These fatty acids have a beneficial impact on anxiety too.
Also, avocados contain vitamin B6. This vitamin is proven in studies to lower anxiety and nervousness when consumed. Eating foods high in vitamin B6 is effective in anxiety relief.
Caution: Avocados are high in histamine and are able to trigger a histamine reaction resulting in greater anxiety.
Fish high in Omega-3 Fatty Acids
Eating fish that are high in Omega-3 fatty acids such as mackerel and anchovies is beneficial for anxiety symptoms as well. Eating smaller fish or freshwater fish that are high in Omega-3s fatty acids is better due to the toxicity levels of larger fish.
Caution: Fish is high in histamine and can trigger histamine levels to rise.
Dark Chocolate
Chocolate is plentiful in magnesium which we have established is beneficial to maintaining healthy anxiety levels. However, this food is another one that may be problematic for people.
It triggers histamine levels to spike and can cause anxiety. I, myself, need to be very cautious about eating chocolate and crave it when magnesium levels are low.
These indicators can alert your body as to what nutritional component it needs and supplement it accordingly.
Watermelon
Watermelon may not often be thought of as a substantial food being so high in water content, but it contains many helpful vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that all benefit anxiety.
Vitamins C, A, and B6 are all important vitamins needed for a calm, healthy functioning body, and these nutrients are all found in watermelon.
Additionally, it is important to keep well-hydrated to prevent anxiousness, and watermelon helps in hydration as well.
Pumpkin Seeds
These seeds have both tyrosine and tryptophan (amino acids) in them and are also a great source of zinc. In addition to these nutritional benefits, magnesium is also found in pumpkin seeds.
The above amino acids play an important role in stabilizing anxiety levels. Studies show that low levels of these amino acids are linked to increased nervousness and anxiousness.
The body also needs a proper amount of zinc to not exhibit anxiety. Therefore, pumpkin seeds are a great snack to keep on hand to keep blood sugar levels stable and add in anxiety-fighting nutrients.
Foods high in antioxidants
Berries and Acai are great sources of antioxidants. They contribute to lower levels of oxidative stress lowering the risk of anxiety. They fight free radicals and contribute to an overall healthy body.
Additionally, strawberries show benefits against fighting anxiety as well. They are high in vitamin C which helps to stabilize the nervous system.
Also, melatonin can be found in strawberries. Melatonin is known for calming the body and aiding stress on the body.
Caution: Strawberries are a high-histamine food that can trigger anxiety symptoms if you are sensitive to histamines.
Foods high in Tyrosine
Tyrosine is an important amino acid helpful in stabilizing anxiety levels in the body. This amino acid can be found in high-protein foods such as chicken, beef, pork, fish, oatmeal, eggs, dairy, beans, and almonds, among others.
Foods high in Zinc
Additionally, foods that are high in the mineral zinc show effectiveness against anxiety. This mineral is important in fighting against free radicals and increasing the neurotransmitter GABA. GABA plays an important role in reducing fear and worry which lead to anxiety.
Lower levels of trace minerals such as zinc are linked to anxiety disorders. Foods that are rich in zinc are dark chocolate, pumpkin seeds, cashews, red meat, and oats, among others.
This post is about the best foods for anxiety and how they contribute to calming and stabilizing the nervous system.
- https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/nutritional-strategies-to-ease-anxiety-201604139441
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350546660_The_Potential_of_Parsley_Polyphenols_and_Their_Antioxidant_Capacity_to_Help_in_the_Treatment_of_Depression_and_Anxiety_An_In_Vivo_Subacute_Study
- Es-Safi, I., Mechchate, H., Amaghnouje, A., Kamaly, O. M. A., Jawhari, F. Z., Imtara, H., Grafov, A., & Bousta, D. (2021). The Potential of Parsley Polyphenols and Their Antioxidant Capacity to Help in the Treatment of Depression and Anxiety: An In Vivo Subacute Study. Molecules (Basel, Switzerland), 26(7), 2009. https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules26072009
- https://drewramseymd.com/depression-anxiety/health-benefits-kale_b_3529768/
- Sulakhiya, K., Patel, V. K., Saxena, R., Dashore, J., Srivastava, A. K., & Rathore, M. (2016). Effect of Beta vulgaris Linn. Leaves Extract on Anxiety- and Depressive-like Behavior and Oxidative Stress in Mice after Acute Restraint Stress. Pharmacognosy research, 8(1), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.4103/0974-8490.171100
- https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/fsn3.2577
- Hwang, K. A., Hwang, H. J., Hwang, Y. J., & Kim, Y. J. (2020). Mustard Leaf Extract Suppresses Psychological Stress in Chronic Restraint Stress-Subjected Mice by Regulation of Stress Hormone, Neurotransmitters, and Apoptosis. Nutrients, 12(12), 3640. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12123640
- Durrani, D., Idrees, R., Idrees, H., & Ellahi, A. (2022). Vitamin B6: A new approach to lowering anxiety, and depression?. Annals of medicine and surgery (2012), 82, 104663. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amsu.2022.104663
- https://www.nwhealth.edu/news/11-top-watermelon-health-benefits/
- https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?contenttypeid=19&contentid=Tyrosine#:~:text=Tyrosine%20is%20said%20to%20improve,anxiety%2C%20narcolepsy%2C%20and%20insomnia.
- Totten MS, Davenport TS, Edwards LF, Howell JM. Trace Minerals and Anxiety: A Review of Zinc, Copper, Iron, and Selenium. Dietetics. 2023; 2(1):83-103. https://doi.org/10.3390/dietetics2010008
- https://sph.umich.edu/pursuit/2019posts/mood-blood-sugar-kujawski.html
- Aucoin, M., & Bhardwaj, S. (2016). Generalized Anxiety Disorder and Hypoglycemia Symptoms Improved with Diet Modification. Case reports in psychiatry, 2016, 7165425. https://doi.org/10.1155/2016/7165425
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