To overcome anxiety without taking any medication is a challenging thing to do and may also involve making many lifestyle changes, some of which include making considerable changes in your diet.
Your diet plays a vital role when it comes to anxiety relief as there are foods that you eat that will help to cure your anxiety, as well as help contribute to your anxiety.
However, when you choose the right foods, they can drastically help cut down the amount of your anxiety, as well as help to improve your mood at the same time.
Here are some of the foods that will help to improve your happiness, reduce your stress and anxiety, as well as help you to start making better eating habit decisions.
You’ll learn of some foods that you should avoid as they help to promote your anxiety.
Foods That Contribute To Anxiety
While there are foods that you can add to your diet to help with anxiety relief, there are also foods that can contribute to your anxiety and make things even worse.
When you can eliminate these ‘negative’ foods from your diet, you will be taking the first step to helping relieve your anxiety through your diet. Examples of the foods that contribute to your anxiety include:
- Fried foods
- Refined sugars
- Alcoholic drinks
- High-glycemic carbs
While these foods are the main culprits, there are also other foods that can worsen your anxiety, but those depend upon how much that you understand your symptoms.
For example, if you have anxiety attacks; you should probably avoid drinking coffee, as coffee will increase your heart rate, which can trigger an anxiety attack.
However, if you have more generalized anxiety, coffee can potentially be very beneficial to you. Some people who suffer from anxiety find that caffeine in lower quantities is actually able to help them reduce their stress levels and improve their mood.
Foods That Help To Cure Anxiety
- Whole Grains
If you are not gluten intolerant, your anxiety may be able to benefit from whole grain foods. These foods can include such things as whole grain bread and pasta. It has been proven that when you eat foods that are ‘true’ whole grain foods (whole grain foods that don’t contain any processed ingredients), there are several different benefits for anxiety relief. These benefits include:
- Whole grain foods are rich in the mineral magnesium. Magnesium deficiency has been shown to lead to anxiety
- When you eat whole grains, you are getting a healthy dose of tryptophan. Tryptophan becomes serotonin in your body and is a calming neurotransmitter.
- Whole grains not just reduce your hunger, but they also help you create healthy energy, which both are very important for preventing anxiety.
Whole grain foods are not just crucial for helping with anxiety relief; they also contain many nutrients that are not present in many of the modern-day diets. By implementing whole grains into your daily diet, you will be helping prevent your anxiety from occurring as often.
- Blueberries
When you look at blueberries, chances are you see a healthy, delicious fruit. While that is true, it is also considered by many to be a superfood. Blueberries are rich in phytonutrients (plant nutrients) and vitamins, as well as contain many antioxidants that are very useful when it comes to relieving stress and anxiety. While not on this list, many consider to be very similar to peaches in the sense that they also appear to have a calming effect when eaten.
- Seaweed
With similar benefits to whole grains, seaweed is very rich in nutrients, as well as has a high amount of magnesium. Plus, kelp and certain types of seaweed have higher amounts of tryptophan in them. And if you happen to be gluten sensitive, seaweed is the perfect alternative for you.
- Acai Berries
While acai berries are one of the most recently discovered superfoods, it has received a lot of press due to all of the health benefits it can provide you. While the weight loss aspect of the berry may not be what has been claimed, it is still very rich in phytonutrients similar to blueberries. Not only that, but acai berries antioxidant levels are tough to match and are pretty much off the charts.
- Chocolate
If you are living with stress and anxiety, then chocolate is exactly what you need. Not regular chocolate, but dark chocolate without any added milk or sugars. Dark chocolate helps to reduce cortisol, one of the stress hormones that is caused by symptoms of anxiety. Plus, dark chocolate has special compounds that will help to improve your mood as well.
- Almonds
Almonds are probably one of the most underrated foods ever. They not only contain zinc, which is one of the key nutrients involved with maintaining a good mood, but they also contain both healthy fats and iron as well. This is important, as low iron levels are associated with brain fatigue, which can contribute to a lack of energy and anxiety. And the healthy fats are just an important part of any healthy diet.
- Maca Root
While maca root is a lesser-known food that isn’t really jumping off the shelves at your local grocery store, it is easily added to different foods and drinks and contains a ton of phytonutrients.
In fact, maca root contains more phytonutrients than any other fruit or vegetable. And this means that it is excellent for helping you control anxiety, as well as increase your energy and stamina as well.
When it comes to the best diet for anxiety relief, you want to be sure and include foods that are rich in vitamins and minerals that have been proven to have a calming effect on the body and the mind, as well as increase your energy and help to stabilize your mood.
When you add those foods to your diet that is free of all fried foods and other harmful ingredients, you should see a huge difference in the levels of your anxiety. Just remember that changing your diet isn’t a cure for anxiety but will help to reduce the symptoms that you experience.
This article by Madeleine Taylor is originally published at SundayScaries.
