Anxious about anxiety?

By Raina Dawn Lutz

Anxiety is not something you can just ‘get rid of’ by popping a pill or changing your mind.

Often, people attempt to recommend a quick fix for anxiety (like the ever-popular “just take CBD oil!”), but everyone is so different and what works for one person may not work at all for the next.

Like our bodies, our health issues are holistic and generally require a time investment and a money investment in the many different attempts at finding balance.

It took me more than a year of trial and error to find the right foods, supplements, exercise, and emotional/therapy to feel a sense of finding balance with anxiety.

Below are four great tools to help the body cope better, and these may not work for you, but perhaps they would in different combinations. You have to play around and listen to your body.

Anxiety is a serious cyclical condition of mind games that feels real and can feel hard to escape, and while we'd like to lean on the hope that we'd all eventually be free of those nerves, it takes time.

Magnesium

For mental calm, take one teaspoon (200mg) of Natural CALM magnesium powder. I got mine from the awesome ladies at Vitamin King in Penticton.

You can take up to 400mg per day (taken with dinner) or an Epsom salt bath (heavy on the salt!) can also help a lot. Dark green, leafy vegetables like kale and spinach are rich in magnesium and B vitamins, so are grains such as quinoa and millet.

If your anxiety keeps you tossing and turning and affects getting a good night sleep, a magnesium supplement is a must.

B Vitamins

Thankfully, there are literal chill pills you can take. B-complex vitamins can be helpful when it comes to keeping your mood lifted and stabilized.

A good B-complex vitamin includes thiamine (vitamin B1), riboflavin (vitamin B2), niacin (vitamin B3), pantothenic acid (vitamin B5), pyridoxine (vitamin B6), biotin, folic acid and the cobalamins (vitamin B12), all of which play a role in keeping your mood stable. Green tea is a fantastic source of theanine, aim to get at least one cup per day of green tea!

Fats

Our brain requires fat for proper balance and health. Saturated fat is a fundamental building block for brain cells. Cook with coconut oil or butter and put oils such as avocado or organic extra virgin oil on raw on salads or cooked vegetables.

Probiotics

Fermented foods and probiotics are vitally important for mental health. The connection between our gut and our brain is better known as of late, and it’s exciting that research is starting to back up what holistic nutrition has been promoting for decades:

• the importance of supporting our digestion.

Make sure to get 2-3 oz or tablespoons of lacto-fermented foods like sauerkraut, pickles or kombucha daily.

For your anxiety, adding daily relaxing meditation to your life as well as a strong support network is key.

In addition to taking supplements, a balanced whole foods diet helps improve your anxiety responses, so make sure your diet is supporting your mental and physical health needs.

Taking care of issues holistically is the best way to find the root cause and find balance from that place.

Raina Dawn Lutz is a registered holistic nutritionist and kombucha brewer  who helps women to get the tools, motivation and excitement to eat well. She specializes in weight loss, digestive issues and anxiety. www.LutzNutrition.ca; [email protected]; office: 250-462-1025

This article is written by or on behalf of an outsourced columnist and does not necessarily reflect the views of Castanet.