I’ve experienced physical anxiety as long as I can remember. The anxiety definitely fueled my chronic stress crisis, and my chronic stress state also fueled the anxiety.
A vicious cycle.
When I got to the point I could not function one more day as I had been, and started to heal myself, I fell in love with yoga.
Not the handstand, pretzel-twist, look-at-my-butt-in-designer-lululemon-pants kind of yoga, but the deep-soul-body-heart-connection-let-me-breathe-now kind of yoga.
Yoga helped ground me in the present, calm my nerves, and release accumulated physical tension. It felt so good!
So I practiced yoga every morning by myself for over 5 years to help lower anxiety and keep me sane.
But I was still struggling with anxiety. It wasn’t anything I was thinking or worried about (mindfulness totally helped that), it was anxiety in my body.
On average, on a scale of 1-10, I would say my anxiety was around an unrelenting 6 even with a sustainable schedule, a whole foods diet, no caffeine, yoga, meditation, mindfulness, good relationships, and supplementation with amino acids, chelated minerals, and magnesium.
Gheesh! What’s left?
I had pretty much given up that anything would change. After you try everything, have exhausted the intarnets, and are so tired of ignoramus doctors, there’s an exhaustion that creeps in from trying to help yourself. So I stopped.
But then I learned – I mean really got it – about the relationship of blood sugar, insulin, and cortisol, and how these intimately communicate with each other.
If blood sugar dips or spikes, you can and likely will experience anxiety, insomnia, cravings, fluctuation in mood, and be less resilient to stress (think impatience, snap judgments, fatigue, etc.).
Generally speaking, my blood sugar was too low, even though when I get a physical, I am within normal range.
In short, I needed animal protein and fat for breakfast to help balance my blood sugar, and I need to eat it within one hour of waking. (eating it within 1 hour of waking is critical. this is the window of opportunity for blood sugar stabilization.)
I was skeptical it would help, but willing.
My typical breakfast was (I’m not joking) a homemade collard green-apple-ginger soup with a touch of coconut oil (I told you I eat a whole foods diet! :)).
Yes, it’s healthy with no processed anything, but it also lacked fat and protein.
So I started to eat two slices of organic turkey bacon and/or two pastured eggs along with my green soup within 1 hour of waking to stabilize my blood sugar.
pastured eggs with ghee, organic turkey bacon, collard green-apple-ginger soup, + earl grey tea – it’s what’s for breakfast!
The results were incredible.
On day 6 (consistency is necessary to experience results), I noticed a huge difference.
My anxiety lowered from a 6 to a 2 with this one simple change. With my anxiety at a 2, I felt like a normal person!
I stuck with it because it helped so much. This meant I gave up my morning yoga practice to cook and eat turkey bacon and eggs within 1 hour of waking, but it was beyond worth it!
About 3 weeks into the change, I decided to NOT eat my protein and headed out on a Saturday morning to my local outdoor farmer’s market.
As I walked closer to the activity, anxiety crept in and I experienced sensory overload and light-headedness. I couldn’t handle the stimulation. That was the last time I missed my protein.
Moral of the story?
- If you experience moderate-to-high stress, anxiety, insomnia, adrenal fatigue, and/or cravings, experiment eating animal protein within 1 hour of waking for two weeks and see how you feel!
- If you experience an unwanted physical, mental, or emotional symptom, look to solve it on the level of your body first. I see too many people thinking ‘they’ or their ‘mind’ or their ‘brain’ is a problem. Something is wrong with ‘me.’ Not true. Something may be awry with your physiology that can be addressed with nutrition, supplementation, and/or lifestyle changes.
- How, what, and when you eat influences your physical, emotional, and mental health. People are pretty convinced what they eat can cause or heal heart disease and diabetes, but still less likely to believe food contributes to mental health, stress resilience, PMS, insomnia, eating disorders, eczema, anxiety, depression, ADD/ADHD, or acne. IT DOES. What you eat and how you are able to digest it influences every cell and physiological process in your body. Whether you are underfed, appropriately fed, or overfed, most people are starving for nutrients.
- Remember, real self-care is consistent, flexible, and kind. I have to be consistent with this practice to not cause harm to myself. I had to be flexible to let go of my morning yoga practice to have time to make and eat my breakfast. I had to be kind to myself to even eat animal protein. Prior to this, I was almost vegetarian. I wish I could be vegetarian and maybe one day my nervous system will be strong enough I can be, but for now, it is unkind to withhold acidic animal protein my body needs to heal, so I make sure I get my meat and eggs from farmers I know who treat animals and the environment with love and respect.
Want to learn more? To learn more about the blood sugar/insulin/cortisol response and how to eat to balance this, watch this video with me and Jessica Drummond.
If you try this strategy every day for two weeks, write a note below to let me know your experience – I want to hear!
Be Gentle. Be Nourished,
Angela
