When the weather gets hot, it’s time to reach for the best foods to reduce anxiety.
Here’s a short list of food that just might help with some mid-summer anxiety.
Best Foods To Reduce Anxiety
Green Leafy Vegetables
Green leafy vegetables contain folate that produces dopamine. Dopamine is a feel-good chemical that’s produced in the brain and helps calm people down. This includes vegetables such as kale, Swiss chard, and spinach. These leafy vegetables are the best foods to reduce anxiety.
Omega-3 Fats
It has been proven that some of the best foods to reduce anxiety are omega-3 fatty acids. This is oil that can be obtained from wild fish such as salmon, sardines, or anchovies, and can make a great difference in your mood. A study showed that medical students who consumed omega-3 fats were able to reduce their anxiety levels by 20%.
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Bananas
Bananas contain dopamine which is great for uplifting someone’s mood. They also have vitamin B, which is great for the nervous system. In addition, they contain magnesium.
Dark Chocolate
Dark chocolate contains anandamide. This neurotransmitter is quite good at suppressing pain and helping with depression.
Fermented Foods
Foods like kefir, natto, and kimchi have lots of good bacteria known as probiotics. These send “feel-good” signals to your mind and help to uplift your mood.
Blueberries
The dark colors of the berries are caused by anthocyanins. Anthocyanins stimulate the brain to produce dopamine, which helps improve a person’s memory.
Kiwis
Kiwis are the among the best foods to reduce anxiety and are rich in vitamin C. Taking vitamin C on a regular basis helps to reduce stress hormones in the blood as well as other elements that might indicate emotional and physical stress.
Turmeric
Curcumin is found in Turmeric, and it’s what causes the yellow-orange color that turmeric has. Curcumin has neuroprotective elements that help to protect your brain, uplift your mood, and reduce anxiety.
What Effect Does Caffeine Have On Anxiety Levels?
If someone suffers from anxiety, it might not be a good idea to give them drinks that have caffeine. This includes sports drinks since they can make the situation even worse. Nevertheless, if you want to help someone reduce anxiety, you can give them a cup of black coffee which doesn’t have any added sugars or sweeteners.
Taking caffeine can stimulate the manufacturing of more neurotransmitters in the brain. These neurotransmitters can help to regulate one’s mood and encourage the production of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF). This causes the brain stem cells to produce new neurons.
If you want to take coffee but you don’t want it to affect you negatively, consider taking it in small amounts. This is based on how much caffeine your body can tolerate. However, if you are pregnant, avoid taking coffee.
Avoid Foods That Will Affect Your Mood
If you have anxiety problems, it’s obviously best to eat foods that will help you reduce anxiety. With this in mind, it’s also helpful to avoid foods that will negatively affect your mood.
These include foods such as:
- Sugar
Consuming too much sugar can affect your general health negatively. This includes your physical and mental health. Sugar causes your blood sugar and moods to fluctuate. It can also lead to you developing resistance to insulin and leptin. This will negatively affect how your brain works. Also, this will minimize BDNF activity and have negative effects on the stimulation of healthy brain cells.
- Gluten
This is a protein that one can find in grains such as wheat, barley, and rye. In 2017, a study published in the Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology focused on people who have celiac disease. The investigation revealed that people who have the ailment but haven’t received any treatment tend to suffer from depression and anxiety more than other individuals do.
- Processed Foods
Processed foods tend to contain sugar, gluten, trans fats, monosodium glutamate (MSG), artificial ingredients, and sweeteners. These elements might lead to one becoming irritable or even going into freakout mode in the summer heat.
So, if you want to reduce the summertime blues, be sure to also avoid a lot of processed foods.
You may also enjoy reading an additional Off The Grid News article: Natural Help For Anxiety [2]
What are your thoughts on the best foods that can reduce anxiety? Let us know in the comments below.