The anxious thoughts that you have some days could also be due to your diet. Certain foods can increase anxiety while other foods can help in reducing it. If you find that you have significant amount of anxiety, its time to look into your eating habits.
Anxious thoughts and diet
All of us face anxious moments in our life. At that time, we have anxious thoughts that keep coming up in our minds. They are of the recurring and worrying type. We are unable to overcome them and want to avoid having those situations.
These anxiety moments can start emotionally but can have serious impact on our physical well being too. Usually, they are the result of external factors and our social environment. But often, diet too plays a role in increasing our susceptibility to such persistent worries. Which foods cause such terrible moments in our life?
Anxiety is bad for health (Source: Anxiety and depression association of America)Foods causing anxiety
There are a lot of foods such as sugars, caffeine, food additives, processed foods, fried foods etc that cause a person to start worrying and undergo anxious moments. But the two most common foods that lead to this state are:
Coffee
Coffee is a stimulant which is why many people like to have it after waking up from sleep. It gives them energy and raises their alertness and focus. But when consumed in excess or in some people even with small amounts of coffee, they get tremors, increased heart rate, sweating, and anxiety. They are unable to concentrate and feel restless. This is due to caffeine in the coffee.
Coffee (Source: Pinterest)Dietitian Madelyn Larouche suggests to avoid coffee and caffeinated drinks totally if one observes that they get anxious and restless after having such beverages. In such circumstances, it is best to go for herbal teas or black tea. These have lesser amounts of caffeine in them. Hence, they do not stimulate the brain as much as coffee does.
Processed foods
These foods are of low nutritive value. They lack nutrients such as fiber, minerals, vitamins, antioxidants, protein etc. They might have simple carbs that might provide instant energy and comfort you. But they increase body inflammation. They also increase blood sugar rapidly and to a larger extent. This can also make you uncomfortable. Moreover, lack of micronutrients means that your gut and brain health suffers.
These processed foods also have a lot of food additives. And some of these are notorious to give rise to irritability and restlessness. The food additives that could give your nervous system hyperactivity include bread preservative or mold inhibitor calcium propionate (282), BHA Buylated Hydroxyanisole antioxidant (320), salicylate, tartrazine color (102), sunset yellow color (110), monosodium glutamate flavor enhancing agent (621), aspartame as artificial sweetener (951), and the like.
Processed foods (Source: National kidney foundation)Read here: What is Dalgona coffee? Health benefits and caution!
If you have an anxious personality, try to limit intake of above two foods. And this is especially if you find that after consuming the above two foods, you find a change in your mental state. If severe, the person also has physical signs such as tremors, increased breathing, increased heart rate, and restlessness.