Anxiety affects millions of people. Globally, 4% of the population is currently struggling with some sort of an anxiety disorder.
Symptoms of anxiety can range from having difficulty concentrating, feeling irritable and sweating to having trouble sleeping. Anxiety can rob you of simple pleasures in life. Oftentimes, what we feel as anxiety is related to our body’s physiological response. This type of anxiety is not a true emotional response to unpleasant things and events. Rather, it can be a result of being overcaffeinated, sleep-deprived, hungry, or dehydrated.
Lifestyle and habits play a critical role in how we feel. But nutrition is perhaps the biggest contributing factor, through the mind-body connection and our microbiome. Certain foods or additives can cause reactions in our body leaving us anxious shortly after consumption or within a few hours/days.
Office workers have a 2.17-fold increase in the odds of anxiety compared to those working in manufacturing jobs. So, if you have an office job, it is crucial to add anxiety-reducing foods to your diet and crowd out unhealthy foods that can be detrimental to your mental health.
The following lists includes foods, snacks and spices that can easily be added to your diet to shield yourself from perceived anxiety symptoms.
1. Dark Chocolate
Foods that are naturally rich in Magnesium can make us feel calmer and dark chocolate is one of the greatest sources of magnesium. Chocolate also has a high content of tryptophan, a component that support the body to produce more of mood-boosting neurotransmitters such as serotonin in the brain.
Dessert Idea: A piece of dark chocolate with a warm beverage after breakfast/lunch
2. Avocados
Avocados are loaded with alpha-linolenic acid. There is some evidence that links alpha-linolenic acid intake with reduced symptoms of distress and anxiety.
Breakfast/Lunch Idea: Avocado toast (see recipe)
3. Turmeric
The many health advantages of turmeric have been known for a long time, and it’s all owing to an active compound in turmeric called curcumin. Not only is turmeric one of the most powerful antioxidants, but research also suggests that it can help with the management of anxiety.
Cooking Idea: Add to stews and sauces
4. Fatty Fish
Fatty fish have a high content of Omega-3s, fatty acids that have been linked to improved cognitive function and mental health. Research studies have shown that use of Omega-3 Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids is linked to changes in severity of anxiety symptoms.
Eating at least two servings a week of fatty fish such as Salmon, Mackerel, Sardines, trout and herring is recommended to help reduce anxiety.
Recipe Idea: Best ever baked salmon
5. Saffron
Saffron is one of the most expensive spices in the world. Beyond its beautiful reddish-golden color, earthy/subtly sweet flavor and heavenly aroma, it offers many health benefits. In a few research studies, saffron was found to be as effective as anti-depressants in alleviating the symptoms of both depression and anxiety.
Recipe Idea: Persian saffron rice, saffron chicken
6. Chamomile
The use of Chamomile as an herbal remedy dates back to ancient Greece and Rome. While there are no published controlled clinical trials of the anti-anxiety effect of chamomile in humans, there is substantial literature suggesting that chamomile (and several of its flavonoid components) may have anxiolytic and antidepressant activity.
Tea Ritual Idea: A cup of Chamomile tea after a busy/stressful workday
7. Yogurt
Yogurt and other fermented foods can help manage the symptoms of anxiety and stress by stimulating the production of healthy gut bacteria. For added benefits, opt for Greek yogurt that’s rich in magnesium, protein, calcium and has a high supply of vitamins B6 and B12.
Snack Idea: Sweet/Savory yogurt snacks
8. Eggs
Like dark chocolate, eggs contain tryptophan, an amino acid that boosts the production of serotonin in the body. With serotonin known to improve brain function and relieve anxiety, eggs may be a great source to reduce anxiety symptoms.
Quick Dinner Idea: Easy Egg Salad
Eating Habits that Can Make Anxiety Worse
1. Processed Foods
We usually eat more unhealthy foods with unknown ingredients when we’re tired or stressed out. If you’re determined to find the devil in the ingredients, your grocery runs might become a mission of pouring through the labels on dark red bags of Doritos and heart-stamped boxes of Cheerios: ultra processed products infused with high fructose corn syrup, Titanium Dioxide, red dye 40, and MSG. Some of the ingredients seem like great suggestions for a tongue twister game.
These additives have become the silent catalysts behind a growing wave of not only allergies, obesity, diabetes, and heart disease, but also anxiety and depression.
The fake stuff means less healthy nutrients in your food that can be detrimental to your physical and cognitive health.
2. Caffeine Overconsumption
Coffee may be the first thing we reach out for in the morning. Busy professionals love coffee. Caffeine’s effect on the brain makes dopamine flow more freely. In moderate amounts, coffee increases focus, alertness and sometimes even happiness. Excess caffeine consumption is being recognized increasingly by health-care professionals and by regulatory agencies as potentially harmful.
Caffeine is a central nervous system stimulant. Overuse of caffeine, i.e. 5 cups or more of coffee a day can aggravate symptoms of anxiety and panic disorder.
3. Alcohol Overconsumption
As a typical depressant, alcohol affects the brain in many ways, and it is likely that high doses will cause feelings of sadness that can evolve into feeling the symptoms of anxiety and nervousness during the subsequent hangover.
For some people, drinking helps cope with job-related stress or overcome negative emotions. It might feel like it’s helping, but over time alcohol can lead to compromised mental health and increased levels of stress. Research studies show that alcohol overconsumption can augment anxiety symptoms as it boosts the production of cortisol in the body.
4. Too Much or Too Little Sugar
High blood sugar is correlated with an increase in body’s cortisol levels. At the same time, not eating or drinking enough carbohydrates can lower your blood glucose, a condition known as Hypoglycemia. Hypoglycemia is associated with an acute increase in epinephrine which contributes to neuropsychiatric symptoms including anxiety and symptoms associated with anxiety such as shakiness, sweating, and heart palpitations.
Working in a busy and fast-paced environment could mean that we either forget to eat or we reach out for foods and snacks that are high in sugar content. When blood sugar fluctuation go beyond normal healthy levels, it can result in poor glycemic regulation that have been shown to mirror the symptoms of several mental health issues including anxiety.
5. Obsessive Dieting
Not only obsessive dieting limits the amount of nutrition that is essential in keeping our body and mind healthy, it also causes you to have obsessive thoughts about food. If you diet for an extended period of time, your body keeps releasing adrenaline and cortisol, making you more irritable and anxious.
6. Binge Eating
A research study highlights the need to screen for Bing Eating Disorder (BED) in patients who present with anxiety and mood disorder symptoms.
When faced with stressful situations, people try to find ways to cope with the level of unease. Coping mechanisms can differ from person to person, but one thing a lot of people turn to when faced with stress is food. Cortisol increases your appetite. It’s body’s natural response to give you more energy to deal with stressful situations. However, zoning out with food is a temporary escape. In fact, binge eating can turn stress into feeling more anxious. We also normally turn to high-fat, high-sugar foods (Not celery and asparagus) to alleviate stress. Over time, we need more and more of it to get the same reward hormones.
Anxiety can sometimes be a function of how our body feels irritated. That’s what we call “perceived anxiety”. We don’t know why we are anxious, but we feel the symptoms of anxiety and become more irritable to minor triggers we are exposed to. Perceived anxiety is caused by our diet to a large extent and is something that is in our control. As busy professionals, it is critical to acknowledge the anxiety symptoms, be able to separate the signal from the noise and do what we can through our diet and nutrition to alleviate the symptoms.