Warrior Wife Resource: Fighting anxiety with food

Because of the major health setback my husband experienced a few months back due to an unexpected adverse reaction to serotonin inhibitors, I decided to look into alternative methods of fighting and treating his anxiety and PTSD. Since my husband has limited options of meds that he can take due to the possibility of serotonin syndrome danger, we started to think more along the lines of eastern non-traditional treatments, group and one-on-one therapy, and changing his diet. Making the decision was fairly easy for both of us, but figuring out an active plan of execution along with finding away to maintain this new way of life became a looming question mark over both our heads for quite some time. We knew what we wanted to do, but had no clue how to pull it together. How do you treat anxiety disorder without meds? Better yet, is non-traditional treatment even possible? I decided to throw myself into internet research, along with sitting down with a nutritionist to determine what our options were, and what action we needed to take to get the ball rolling. As luck would have it, the amount of information on this particular issue was abundant which really helped us to take the first steps. The funny thing about my research is how simple some of the first steps were; most of all my research kept pointing in the same direction…food!

Food/fo͞od/

Noun:

Any nutritious substance that people or animals eat or drink, or that plants absorb, in order to maintain life and growth.

I never really thought about how food effects my mental stability, let alone did I ever think that by being cognizant of what I eat, I could possibly heal whatever mental or emotional state for good. This was a revelation that I found to be eye opening.

So here’s the 411 on foods that I have both researched and are trying out as we speak.

Carbohydrates-

Complex carbohydrates like whole grains  are packed with natural slow-release serotonin inhibitors that can help calm you down and even your serotonin levels. Grains will also keep you balanced, centered, energized, and help with focus and memory. Foods rich in Whole grain are: Whole grain bread, brown rice, quinoa, barley, oats, wild rice, and millet.

Magnesium-

Magnesium can actually help naturally relax your muscles, fight depression, insomnia, and anxiety. Magnesium enriched foods are: leafy greens (collards, kale, bok choy, and spinach), green veggies, whole grain and nuts.

B vitamins-

B-complex vitamins are super important for the body, but they also play a huge role in maintaining stable mental health. Some B vitamins have close interaction with your hormones, and your hormones play a huge role in maintain your weight, providing energy, distribution of minerals throughout the body, and breaking down sugar. Adding a balanced daily regimen of B vitamin enriched foods studies show can help keep your hormones in control which aid to your ability to sustain mental health.

This has all been such amazingly useful information for me and my husband. We’ve decided to try a vegan lifestyle for the next 30 days just as a trial to see how well all this works for him and myself. I’ll keep everyone posted as we go along, and hopefully at the end of the 30 days I’ll have some really good news to tell!

If you are interested in finding out more about how food can help fight anxiety, talk to your doctor and find out what your options are.