Anxiety Treatments: Changing Your Diet Could Change Your Mood

Most of us are well familiar with the traditional anxiety treatments provided by the medical community; like anti anxiety medication and cognitive behavioral therapy. A lot people have also tried several different types of medication and found it either to not work or to give them horrible side effects. Some people did get help from the anti anxiety medication they were on, but don’t consider it a long term solution since it only treats symptoms an doesn’t actually cure the anxiety.

A lot of these people are looking for looking for something different anxiety treatments, that don’t have bad side effects and that doesn’t involve putting unknown chemicals in their bodies for years and years.

Fortunately, there are more and more people focused on alternative ways to treat anxiety, and you are no longer alone in seeking new, healthier ways to deal with the problem.

The natural ways to treat anxiety usually involve a holistic approach, looking at both the physiological and psychological reasons behind anxiety. It is important to not only try to fix the problem, but also to try to prevent it in the first place. For instance, caffeine, alcohol, marijuana and nicotine can all bring about anxiety attacks, as can certain food allergies.

In her article on the Heathguidance website, Margaret Paul, a counselor with over 35 years of experience describe how many of her patients have found relief from their anxiety and depression through changing what they eat. Focusing on food in anxiety treatment and prevention is becoming more and more common as we start to see more of the long term results of eating heavily manipulated foods.

research suggests that even common foods such as meat and vegetables can be harmful to us because of the hormones and pesticides used in food production. Chemicals added in food processing such as preservatives and MSG can also have a serious effect on our nervous system and in return lead to anxiety.

The first thing you can do to avoid psychological problems due to the food you eat is start to eat organic foods that haven’t been grown with pesticides and hormones. Secondly, you can contact a naturopath or nutritionist to get tested for food allergies and to learn how to put together a diet that meets the needs of your body and mind.

Finding out what foods you can safely eat and what to stay away from can be a bit of a long and tedious process, but if you follow through with it, it can end up being one of the most efficient anxiety treatments you have ever tried.

In addition to cutting certain foods from your diet, there are also several foods that you should add in order to reduce anxiety and stress:

* Whole grains
* “Good fat” (fish oil, flax seed oil, avocado etc.)

* Veggies (especially spinach, onion, avocado, carrots, beets, asparagus and celery)

* Garlic

* Fish

* Wheat Germ

* Brewers Yeast

All of these foods can help reduce anxiety, but as always try to buy organic and fresh. Avoid processes foods as much as possible. Changing your habits is a key element in a lot of alternative anxiety treatments, and it can have tremendous results, but before you change your diet, make sure you are not allergic to any of the new foods you introduce.