Dietary choices may decrease anxiety


Xanax, Klonopin, Ambien, cannabis, fatty or sugary ‘comfort’ foods, nicotine, wine or beer are all things that may pass our lips in an effort to calm our minds or to help sleep. Why does it seem hard to believe that healthy food choices or dietary habits could help decrease anxiety?

The Antianxiety Food Solution is a new book that describes how nutritional deficiencies or biochemical vulnerabilities may predispose one to anxiety, proposing dietary guidelines to consider for anyone looking for ways to reduce anxiety.

Author and nutrition expert Trudy Scott recommends including more high-quality vegetables, fruit and protein.


Trudy Scott, CN, is President of the National Association of Nutrition Professionals and author of this book. Trudy’s own personal journey with anxiety led to an understanding of her unique blood sugar issues and food sensitivities, and a nutrition practice that focuses on food, mood and women’s health.

Trudy combines research and her clinical expertise to come up with an outline for optimizing a diet plan that may help minimize anxiety. Here are some of my thoughts on a few chapters (titles in bold) from her book:

Avoid Sugar and Control Blood Sugar Swings

Low blood sugar can cause anxiety and those who have difficulty managing blood sugar fluctuations, as in diabetes, may have an impaired stress response. Is it a leap to consider the possibility that too much blood sugar may affect our ability to efficiently manage sugar and, therefore, stress?

Avoid Caffeine, Alcohol, and Nicotine

Alcohol is probably one of the most common ways we attempt to cope with anxiety. New research suggests that self-medicating anxiety with alcohol has long-term negative effects, and this is something I see regularly in the hospital – where regular intake can lead to tolerance, the need to drink more and heightened anxiety when not drinking.

Address Problems with Gluten and Other Food Sensitivities

If our body is sensitive to a food product, it may react by mounting a biochemical attack on the food particle, potentially causing damage to tissue while increasing the circulation of inflammatory molecules. Aside from being implicated as a factor in the pathogenesis of cancer, increased levels of inflammatory molecules, known as cytokines, have also been associated with anxiety and depression.

Celiac disease is a form of gluten insensitivity that often features anxiety as a prominent symptom, and one study demonstrated that anxiety, but not depression, decreased in celiac patients after one-year of a gluten-free diet.

Last month, a study published in Brain, Behavior and Immunity found decreased anxiety and decreased levels of cytokines in a healthy sample taking omega-3 fatty acids compared to a group taking fish-oil placebo. One of the reasons this study resonates with me is because I’ve been taking omega-3s for anxiety for several years and wouldn’t keep buying them if I didn’t think they helped.

Improve Your Digestion

One aspect that I really appreciate about Trudy’s book is the fact that she addresses not only what we eat, but how we eat, as important factors in digestion. Mindful eating may include themes of meditation that are often the basis for stress reduction programs. Here are some of Trudy’s recommendations for improving digestion:

-Prepare and eat your meals at home.

-Chew your food well.

-Eat smaller meals.

-Give thanks for your food, savor the meal, and be mindful.

-Sit down to eat, and make it a family gathering.

-Don’t eat when you’re highly stressed or anxious.

To those looking for help with anxiety, I would warn against stopping or trying to replace current modalities with dietary changes. In my opinion, antianxiety food solutions should be considered as an adjunctive approach to standard treatments.

If you would like to hear more from Trudy Scott, she will be speaking at NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Health) California’s 2011 Annual conference. Her topic will be Food and Mood: The science behind the effects of food on mental health. Trudy will also provide practical how-to-eat-real-food-again information in a hands-on nutrition workshop later in the day. The conference is in Sacramento, California on August 19 & 20.

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