You would need to have been living under a rock to not know by now the vital role that diet plays in every aspect of our health. Anxiety is such a common condition with a wide range of severities and presentations. Here are some ways in which your diet can make anxiety worse.
⚠️ Warning: There are some fancy words that you may or may not understand and may or may not have heard of before. If it’s something that sounds like it could be relevant to you, I do encourage you to google it. Researching is the best way to take charge of your health.
Intestinal Permeability or ‘Leaky gut’
There are many parts of our lifestyle and diet that can contribute to a ‘leaky gut’, which is when the intestines become more permeable than they should be. This means that incomplete proteins, bacteria or other substances can leak out into our blood stream. Because these ‘bits and pieces’ aren’t where they should be, they flag the immune system triggering systemic inflammation.
What’s the gut got to do with anxiety? Well they are both closely linked as they communicate via the gut-brain axis. But also, systemic inflammation and its subsequent chemicals can cross the blood brain barrier, causing inflammation in the brain. This doesn’t just cause anxiety, but can also contribute to other mental health issues, headaches, fogginess, forgetfulness and even long-term issues such as Alzheimer’s has been linked with brain inflammation.
Reducing inflammatory foods such as grains (Paleo or GAPS diet) and for some people nightshade vegetables (potato, tomato, eggplant, chilli, capsicum). Including probiotics rich foods such as yoghurt if you’re ok with dairy, kombucha, kefir or fermented vegetables.
Food Intolerances
The main food intolerances that are known are gluten (wheat, rye, spelt and barley) and dairy (either the lactose or the casein portion). But there are also other food intolerances that may cause immune reactions and consequent inflammation such as eggs, soy and fish.
Recently I have seen an increase in coconut and rice intolerances also causing inflammation. This is because many of the standard alternatives contain these two products. So, make sure you don’t overdo the usual GF/DF options.
Other food chemicals that can cause anxiety:
Glutamate excites the nervous system and can be found in:
- Any ingredients with glutamate in the name
- Soy products
- Corn/maize-based products
Histamine and foods that contain histamine
- Fermented foods (so unfortunately the point above regarding probiotic foods can also cause negative reactions
- Cured meats
- Citrus fruits
- Tomatoes and tomato products
- Chemicals in food (flavours and preservatives)
Salicylates which can be found in:
- Grapes
- Apples
- Berries
- Almonds
- Peanuts
Methylation
This is an important chemical process in many different reactions in the body including the making and breaking down of neurotransmitters (brain chemicals) which may contribute directly to anxiety. Methylation is also important in hormone function, which can indirectly lead to anxiety if hormones are unbalanced.
Methylation uses nutrients such as folate (found in green leafy vegetables), Vitamin B12 (meat and eggs), Vitamin B6 (meat and eggs, but also sweet potato and carrots) and choline (meat and eggs again (!), cauliflower, chick peas).
Pyrroluria
This condition is often a factor in mental health issues, the correlation is high. the body produces excess amounts of a chemical called HPL (hydroxyhemopyrrolin-2-one). It binds to zinc and vitamin B6 pulling them out of the body in urine. Zinc and B6 are vital for many functions of the body and while you can increase your intake through diet, supplementation is often required.
Pyrroluria can be caused through environmental toxins or stress, so managing these can he helpful. But other people will be affected no matter what. These are the people that are most likely to require supplementation.
As mentioned about Vitamin B6 is found in meat and eggs, sweet potato and carrots and other foods. Zinc is also found in meat, pumpkin seeds, poultry, chickpeas and salmon.
Deficiencies of B6 and zinc can cause many issues around the body including anxiety obviously, but also sleeping trouble, difficulty concentrating, immune system problems and lower tolerance to stress.
The key is to finding out what works for your. There are many dietary guidelines but no “one size fits all”. You need to find what works for you. Here are some options to look into:
- GAPS (Gut and Psychology Syndrome)
- Paleo
- Low Oxalate
- Low Salicylate
- Low Histamine
- SCD (Specific Carbohydrate Diet)