When I first started doing research into natural ways to start overcoming the effects of stress and all the daily symptoms that go with it, the one thing that kept coming up over and over again was to make sure you are eating healthy foods.
I was kinda skeptical at the time.
I thought therapy and meds were the only answer, but I also knew that other people had done it so I was very curious and desperate to learn more.
I had to grudgingly admit that my diet wasn’t the best (McDonald’s and Dairy Queen were a staple for me) so I thought it couldn’t hurt to at least try.
Long story short, I learned that certain foods are especially triggering for anxiety; including gluten, dairy, and sugar.
These foods cause inflammation and negatively impact your gut, and I was starting to learn about the brain-gut connection at the time, so this made some sense to me.
A healthy gut means your body is better able to produce serotonin (your brain’s happy chemical) but processed foods like these deplete good gut bacteria and ensure your body is not able to produce sufficient amounts of serotonin.
A lack of serotonin means a low mood, anxiety and all the symptoms that go with it.
While I still had a long way to go in terms of confronting certain things from my past (something I am STILL working on), I quickly found that I was feeling so much better with fewer symptoms, just by eating anti-inflammatory foods and cleaning up my diet in general.
My body was now better able to manage stress and because my symptoms were not as intense, I was able to let go of some of that fear that was holding me back from doing other things I needed to in my journey.
So even though eating healthier foods may not solve challenges you are facing, it will help you to face them in a more mindful and positive way, while certainly reducing them.
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