By Madison Vacca
Disclaimer: Diet changes won’t fully cure anxiety; this post is suggesting that diet changes may help improve symptoms because what we eat can impact our mental health.
Did you know that what we eat can impact our emotions and mood?
Our brain needs fuel from food to perform well and the best way to receive a lot of fuel and nutrients is by eating healthy foods. There is a correlation between eating a diet in high refined sugars and anxiety.
My Personal Struggle With Anxiety
In my junior year of high school, I experienced high levels of anxiety as I took harder-level classes and started to think about applying for college. Now, I am a rising junior in college and as a psychology major, I have learned more about anxiety and have come to realize how important the topic of anxiety is and how it can affect mental wellbeing. Not wanting my anxiety to dictate my life and my decisions, I decided to take note of what helped my symptoms of anxiety, and a big factor I found was the food I was eating. I started looking into how food affects our brains and bodies and found that what we eat can really have an impact on our mood and behavior. Now I try to make more informed choices about what foods I eat and want to share with others foods that help me ease some symptoms of anxiety.
How Food Directly Impacts Mood
Our brain and gut are connected through something called the gut-brain axis. This is the link between the gastrointestinal tract and the central nervous system. Food can impact someone’s mood through neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin receptors. These neurotransmitters are often found in the lining of the gut. 
Dopamine can be linked with pleasurable sensations. One example of how food can impact dopamine is when eating chocolate. Chocolate increases the baseline of dopamine by 1.5 times causing euphoric effects which in turn can improve someone’s mood for a short period of time. However, dopamine levels that are too high can make people really alert and can lead to feelings of anxiety.
Serotonin helps regulate your mood and is typically known for regulating mood in a good way. Foods like spinach, seeds, eggs, and salmon can help increase serotonin levels.
Foods That Can Make Anxiety Levels Worse
Foods with a lot of added sugar (breakfast cereal, canned pasta sauce, and ketchup) – A lot of added sugar can cause sugar levels to go up and then crash and when it crashes, anxiety levels can go up.
Highly processed foods – Foods like processed meats, cake, and bread can worsen anxiety because they increase inflammation in the body.
Red Meat- Although it is a good source of zinc and iron, it also contains cholesterol and saturated fatty acid which increases risk factors for chronic diseases as well as red meat having higher levels of oxidative stress and inflammation.
Foods That Have Been Shown to Help With Anxiety:
- Cashews: cashews can help with anxiety because they have a large amount of zinc in them which has been associated with lower anxiety levels.
- Dark leafy greens: Greens like spinach, parsley, or kale are high in magnesium and can help. Diets with low amounts of magnesium have been suggested to cause anxiety.
- Wild salmon and chia seeds, I am a sucker for some good salmon or some chia pudding. Both these foods have high levels of Omega-3 fatty acids which have many benefits for the brain and body.
- Berries and Dark Chocolate: these are probably my favorite on this list as I am a huge dark chocolate fan. These are full of antioxidants which help impact anxiety because they decrease inflammation.
- Lastly is Turmeric. I recently discovered turmeric and have incorporated it more in my diet in the form of turmeric teas and lattes! Turmeric has a compound in it called curcumin which can reduce inflammation.
The Power of Understanding What We Eat
Being mindful about what we eat daily and understanding how our food choices affect us can help improve overall well-being and can also reduce the risk of developing eating disorders. This helps reduce the risk of developing an eating disorder because oftentimes planning out and eating balanced meals can help people recognize what type of food they should be eating as well as when to eat based on our body’s signals. It is important not to let our emotions govern what we eat all the time as a way to cope with certain emotions. When craving certain foods due to a certain emotion, instead look into why you may be feeling that way and healthy ways to address the emotion. Remember to always listen to your body about what foods make you feel good as well as to what foods negatively impact your mental health and well-being.
References
Dobersek U., et al. (2021). Meat and mental health: A meta-analysis of meat consumption, depression, and anxiety. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition. https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/10408398.2021.1974336?scroll=top&needAccess=true.
Huberman, A. (2021, March 15).How Foods and Nutrients Control Our Moods. Huberman Lab. https://hubermanlab.com/how-foods-and-nutrients-control-our-moods/
Naidoo, U. (2019, March 27). Gut Feelings: How Food Affects Your Mood. Harvard Health. Harvard Health Publishing- Harvard Medical School. https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/gut-feelings-how-food-affects-your-mood-2018120715548.
Nutritional Psychiatry: Your Brain on Food. (2020, March 26). Harvard Health. Harvard Health Publishing- Harvard Medical School, https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/nutritional-psychiatry-your-brain-on-food-201511168626.
Promaulayko, M. (2021, February 6). 12 Best Foods to Eat When You’re Feeling Anxious, According to Science. Galvanized Media. https://www.eatthis.com/news-foods-eat-when-anxious/.
