Beating Anxiety

Did you know that the symptoms of phobia and panic attacks, coincidentally or not, are very similar to those of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar)? Blood rushes from the victim's brain to his limbs, causing light-headedness. When your body is suddenly deprived of glucose, causing brain starvation, adrenaline kicks in to bring these levels up again as soon as possible. Adrenaline is a hormone that converts glycogen (stored glucose) back into glucose in order to feed the brain.

What is interesting from a dietary point of view is that the typical diet of someone who comes to see us, includes several cups of coffee a day, lots of sweets and very few slow-release high-protein foods. They might have coffee with a doughnut for breakfast, more coffee at midmorning, a white-bread sandwich at lunch, and a plate of pasta for supper. Then before going to bed they have something sweet. If I ate like that I would be anxious too!

People who suffer from anxiety are often sensitive to blood sugar fluctuations which trigger panic attacks; in these cases a change of diet is all that is needed.

5 medicinal nutrition steps to beat panic attacks due to hypoglycemia:

• Eat 3 moderate protein/carb meals daily + 2 snacks containing a fat/protein source
• Include cinnamon (prevents insulin spikes), bananas (the combination of magnesium, potassium and B6 calms CNS) and whey (easy to digest source of branched chain aminos)
• Drink chamomile and white tea
• Eliminate coffee, white flour and anything containing aspartame (watch out as they are now changing the name to Amino Sweet - same poison, different wrapping!)



Bananas - nature's tranquilizer!

• No alcohol (blocks GABA receptors and spikes insulin)

If you continue to suffer from heightened anxiety, a depletion of the neurotransmitter that acts like a tranquilizer on your central nervous system, GABA, is usually at play.

If that is the case - which can be determined via blood work analysis and by taking our biochemistry type test via making an appointment with The Nutrition Doctor, then we work with herbs, tonics and supplements that boost brain-GABA within 3 months. Pure oral GABA supplementation is absorbed very poorly, why we do not recommend it.

3 key supplements to boost GABA:

• Inositol
• NAC
• L-theanine

Reference: Harp M. et al. Correlations of the physical symptoms of hypoglycemia with the psychological symptoms of anxiety and depression. J of Ortho Med. vol 5. 1990