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Dietary Recommendations for Anxiety & Depression

Anxiety is a condition that involves excessive worry, feelings of anxiousness, interrupted sleep and chronic stress. The symptoms of anxiety involve muscular tension, shaking, tachycardia, respiratory difficulties, profuse sweating, exhaustion, sleep disturbances and irritability. Sometimes anxiety can lead to other issues like social isolation and depression. In fact, depression and anxiety share similar symptoms, depression can intensify your anxiety, and vice versa. Thankfully, some dietary changes can help alleviate issues with anxiety and depression.

  1. Blood Sugar

    • When consuming your meals, in order to reduce anxiety, you need to eat several smaller meals throughout the day. Eating with more frequency allows your body to keep your blood sugar stabilized. Extreme highs and lows in blood sugar levels have a direct affect on your mood; blood sugar lows are associated with fatigue and depression, whereas high blood sugar levels can make you overly excited and anxious.

    Complex Carbohydrates

    • You should get plenty of complex carbohydrates, and you will need to reduce your intake of simple carbohydrates or foods with little nutritional value. Food sources for complex carbohydrates include things like legumes, breads, rice, pasta and starchy vegetables. Adding these foods to your daily intake will help you get the energy you need from the foods you consume and avoid fatigue that is occasionally associated with anxiety and depression. Avoiding simple carbohydrates and sugars will help keep you calmer and less excitable, too.

    Tryptophan

    • Tryptophan is needed by your brain, so that the brain can produce mood altering chemicals that relax you. Your body relies on tryptophan, an amino acid, to produce serotonin and niacin; serotonin will naturally help to stabilize your moods. Consuming foods containing tryptophan can help in alleviating depression and include food sources include bananas, cheese, chicken, eggs, fish, milk, nuts, oats, peanut butter, peanuts, poultry, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, soy, tofu, and turkey.

    5-hydroxytrptophan

    • Getting enough 5-hydroxytrptophan may raise lowered levels of serotonin in your brain. In fact, 5-hydroxytrptophan behaves like an anti-depressant, and it is actually a precursor to serotonin production. Food sources do not offer you 5-hydroxytrptophan, but tryptophan is in foods that are needed for your body to create 5-hydroxytrptophan naturally. You can supplement your diet with 5-hydroxytrptophan by taking 50 mg of 5-hydroxytrptophan one to three times daily, but a supplement of 5-hydroxytrptophan should not be used in conjunction with antidepressants; serotonin levels can become far too high.

    Omega 3-Fatty Acids

    • Three to nine grams a day of omega-3 fatty acids is a treatment for depression. This treatment should not be used if you are taking blood thinners, because the combination of omega-3 fatty acids and blood thinners puts you at an increased risk for bleeding. Food sources include flaxseeds, rapeseed oil, walnuts, krill, algae, walnut oil, pumpkin seeds and soybeans. Omega-3 fatty acids can be consumed at a dosage of 3 g per day to prevent issues with bleeding; higher dosages should be monitored by a physician.

    Vitamin B6

    • Getting adequate amounts of Vitamin B6 can help alleviate issues with depression. This vitamin can help in elevating serotonin levels, thereby reducing depressive symptoms. Some food sources for B6 include chicken, tuna, salmon, bran, rice, turkey, beef liver, lentils, milk, shrimp, cheese, carrots, sunflower seeds and wheat germ. You need at least 1.3 mg of this vitamin to get an adequate intake each day.

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