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Mar 17, 2023 · Discover which foods and drinks can contribute to anxiety and which ones can help reduce symptoms. Read our expert guide on managing anxiety through your diet.
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- Fruit Juice. The fiber in whole fruit fills you up and slows down how your blood takes in energy. Without that fiber, you’re just drinking nutritious sugar-water that can quickly hype you up -- and bring you down just as fast.
- Regular Soda. There's no win for you here: It has all of the blood-spiking sugar of fruit juice with none of the nutrition. Sugar-sweetened drinks like soda have a direct link to depression, too.
- Diet Soda. No sugar, so no problem, right? Not exactly. You may not have the energy crash that comes with having too much sugar, but diet soda may make you depressed.
- Toast. Wait, toast?! If it's made from white bread, yes. The highly processed white flour it's made from quickly turns to blood sugar after you eat it.
- Foods that can cause anxiety. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, almost a third of Americans have an anxiety disorder at some point during their lifetime.
- Coffee. The connection between coffee and anxiety may not seem that surprising, but it bears repeating, especially because so many other foods and drinks contain caffeine.
- Energy drinks. Speaking of caffeine and energy drinks, these popular products can contain pure, concentrated caffeine. A two-ounce shot of five-hour energy, for instance, contains 200 milligrams of caffeine, about the same as a Starbucks Cold Brew.
- White bread. Or white rice or white pasta. All these items are processed and contain refined sugars which, in general, are a no-no for a healthy diet and can affect your mood.
- Overview
- Reactive hypoglycemia
- Food triggers
- Allergies and food sensitivities
- Lapsing back into old eating habits
- Previous negative experiences with food
- Disordered eating
- The bottom line
Anxiety symptoms sometimes appear without any warning. One moment you’re fairly calm and relaxed. The next, a familiar tension settles into your chest. You feel dizzy and lightheaded, your palms sweat, and you find yourself struggling to catch a breath.
After living with anxiety for some time, you may start to recognize a pattern. Perhaps you notice your mood quickly takes a turn toward anxious when you encounter specific triggers, such as an important work meeting, a packed schedule, or annoyance in your partner’s voice.
For some people, anxiety shows up after eating.
Managing anxiety symptoms typically starts with learning to avoid key triggers and finding productive ways to manage those you can’t avoid.
If you have reactive hypoglycemia, you’ll experience low blood sugar after eating, usually within a few hours. This drop in blood sugar, which typically follows an increase in insulin production, can make you feel anxious, irritable, and even a little confused.
You might also notice other physical changes that resemble anxiety symptoms, like:
•dizziness
•shakiness
•a racing heart
•increased sweating
Certain foods can provoke anxiety symptoms even if they don’t directly affect your blood sugar.
Some potential triggers include:
•cheese, cured meats, and other fermented foods that contain the neurotransmitter histamine
•caffeine, which can disrupt sleep and worsen anxiety symptoms
•trans fats (partially hydrogenated oils)
•white flour, sugar, and other refined carbs, which can cause adrenaline spikes that trigger panicky or anxious feelings
Food allergies can involve symptoms that range from mild to severe, and many can resemble those of an oncoming anxiety or panic attack.
You might notice:
•difficulty breathing
•lightheadedness
•tightness or swelling in your throat
•tingling or numbness in your mouth
If you’re trying to address specific patterns or behaviors around eating, you might feel anxious after slipping up.
Say you decided to cut red meat from your diet but find yourself craving a cheeseburger 3 weeks in. Deciding one burger won’t demolish your long-term health goals, you stop by your favorite restaurant to pick one up.
Unpleasant memories often produce anxious feelings, and food-related experiences are no exception.
Say you and your partner had a serious disagreement while eating chicken tikka masala at your favorite Indian restaurant. That emotional tension and fear might return whenever you eat that same dish or even a different meal at the same restaurant.
If you choked on popcorn during a date or got food poisoning from the sandwich buffet at work, you might, understandably, feel anxious when trying those foods again.
Plenty of sensations that happen during eating can also create feelings of anxiety. Fullness, a touch of indigestion or heartburn, or tightness in your chest after a large bite all happen occasionally, but they can still contribute to uneasiness after eating.
It’s fairly common for people living with eating disorders to experience food-related anxiety.
Anxiety after eating doesn’t necessarily mean you have an eating disorder, but it can sometimes suggest potentially harmful eating patterns.
Other key signs of disordered eating include:
•anxiety around mealtimes, especially when eating with others
•guilt or other distress after eating foods you consider “bad” or unhealthy
•nervousness or guilt if you believe you’ve eaten too much
At first glance, anxiety may seem completely unrelated to food, but the interaction between your brain and stomach, called the gut-brain axis, means digestive health plays an important role in mental health.
To make things more complex, this link goes both ways. Feeling anxious can prevent you from relaxing and digesting food properly, and poor digestive health can create more stress in your life.
- Alcohol. Believe it or not, the beverage often used to quell social anxiety is actually making it worse. “Although it may seem like it calms your nerves, alcohol can have a negative impact on hydration and sleep, both of which can trigger anxiety symptoms when suppressed,” says Erin Palinski-Wade, RD, CDE, author of “Belly Fat for Dummies.”
- Caffeine. According to the National Coffee Association, 62 percent of Americans drink coffee on a daily basis, and the average amount per day is slightly over 3 cups per coffee-drinker.
- Sneaky added sugar. There’s no way to avoid sugar 100 percent of the time, as it naturally occurs in many of the foods we love to eat, like fruit. But added sugar is a contributor to overall anxiety.
- Refined carbs. Refined carbohydrates have been associated with increased risk of serious health conditions like diabetes, heart disease, and obesity. Refined carbohydrates are foods that have been stripped of much of their fiber and micronutrients.
Oct 1, 2024 · “There’s clear medical evidence that nutrition affects our emotional well-being and can reduce the risk of anxiety.” Many foods that may offer anxiety relief share certain characteristics ...
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Jan 3, 2023 · Key Takeaways. Experts say what you eat is connected to your mental well-being. Sugar, processed carbohydrates, and what you’re not eating can contribute to stress. Eating mostly nutrient-rich foods can allow you to also indulge in your favorite treats.
