Previously we took a good look at how anxiety can be a crippling disorder. It has a host of negative effects that keep you in an endless cycle of trying to self remedy. One of these damaging self remedy options that many people go for is eating their worries away. Your food choices can easily help you cure your anxiety or, in most cases, make it worse than it already is. We’ve put together a list of the anxiety causing food you need to watch out for to avoid making anxiety worse.
Avoid Anxiety Causing Food
Binge eating is a reaction that many people do as a reaction to their anxiety. This is dangerous however, and it can make the symptoms of anxiety much worse. Certain types of food can easily worsen your mood despite giving you a temporary high. This puts you in a cycle of using these anxiety inducing food to cure anxiety caused by the lack of these foods. This makes anxiety worse and also causes a host of other issues.
Sugar Rush and Crash
Sugar is something you can find in many types of food. Pastries, candy, and soft drinks are just some examples. Sugar will give you a boost of energy if you decide to use it as your anxiety remedy of choice. It has its downsides however. Despite making you happy, the sugar high is quickly replaced by your mood taking a nosedive. This is because sugar is quickly absorbed by the body. Soon after your body needs to produce insulin to clean up the excess sugar. Not only will you have anxiety, but you’ll also suffer from sugar related problems like diabetes.
The High and Low Caused By Caffeine
Caffeine can be a great boost to anyone wanting to have a little extra energy throughout the day. You can find it in soft drinks, coffee, and some teas. In small amounts, caffeine has a host of wonderful effects. Too much of a good thing can be pretty bad though. Too much caffeine can cause your flight or fight response to go haywire, and causing an anxiety attack in the process.
Fast Food and Processed Food
Processed food like hotdogs, french fries,and sausages are common to see in fast food restaurants. Not only are processed food cheap and widely available, they also have a host of anxiety causing ingredients. Excessive amounts of preservatives, sugar, fat and salt make an anxiety inducing combination that can be hard to shake off. These types of food are very addictive and withdrawal can cause anxiety symptoms to flare up.
Alcohol: The Anxiety Causing Cocktail
Alcohol is the biggest offender when it comes to anxiety causing food. Despite being able to help you calm down and unwind, the after effects of excessive drinking are far worse than the short term relief. Alcohol addiction is a very real problem and it will worsen your anxiety. Around 6.2%of Americans are suffering from alcohol addiction and will show signs of withdrawal when they don’t get their hit of Budweiser. The worst part is that many alcoholic drinks combine sugar, caffeine and alcohol into an anxiety inducing cocktail.
