About 20% of the American population struggles with anxiety and it is the most common psychiatric disorder. Anxiety is a feeling of fear, worry, or unease. Some physical symptoms associated with anxiety are increased heartbeat, sweating, shaking, and shortness of breath. Anxiety can be tied to something specific like something stressing us out, or we can feel generalized feelings of anxiety.

Since anxiety is a mental disorder that can result from too much stress or cortisol (our stress hormone), this means that anxiety plays a role in the gut-brain axis. This axis shows us that our gut health is crucial for the health of our mental well-beingtoo. The gut houses a large diversity of healthy gut bacteria which aid in digestion and absorption of our food. When disrupted, the gut microbiome becomes imbalanced and negatively impacts hormone levels and our stress and anxiety levels. This is why it is important to consume the right foods and know what foods to avoid for anxiety.

Note that the foods to avoid for anxiety mentioned here can still be included in a healthy diet regime. It is just important to be aware of how frequently you are eating these foods to limit their consumption, but there’s no need to eliminate them in totality.

Anxiety can occur as a result of stress. Anxiety is feelings of fear, worry or unease, but there is also a physical connection to anxiety. Anxiety is like a siren that your body turns on to let you know something needs to be looked at or something’s not quite right. Meaning anxiety can also be a symptom of either a hormonal imbalance or nutrient deficiency. Maybe we’re not eating enough of something or our body isn’t absorbing our nutrients the best it can. Genetics also plays a role in this. Healing anxiety doesn’t mean to make it go away forever, it just means that we can learn to work with it, to ease episodes or attacks caused by the anxiety. There many foods that reduce stress and anxiety by supporting hormones and possibly nutrient deficiencies.