Tips to reduce your anxiety

More and more people suffer from anxiety and living with it is definitely not something easy.

Anxiety control is a long term process and even if there is no magical cure, a few tips can be integrated in our lifestyle to help to reduce the anxiety and live a more peaceful and happy life.

1.First of all the diet.

A diet rich in processed food, exciting like coffee, alcohol  is definitely related to increase anxiety.

In general but especially if you are subject to anxiety it is very important to adopt a healthy diet on a daily basis.

Eat a lot of leafy greens like kale, spinach, watercress. Foods rich in magnesium like dark chocolate, legumes like lentils, chickpeas… are the go to fight anxiety.

Reduce your sugar intake. Sugar creates a reactive hyperglycaemia in your body followed by a decreasing pic creating physiological reactions in your body: Stress. Your adrenals are secreting cortisol, the stress hormone which will make your anxiety worse. That is why it is very important to keep your blood sugar level constant and avoid hypo and hyperglycaemia phases…How do you do that? First by avoiding processed food rich in sugar with a high glycemic index like cakes, sweets, preparation with white flour in general. And privilege food with a low glycemic index with is not gonna create hyperglycaemia in your system: like vegetables, fruits (but it is better to associate them with some good fats like nuts, avocado when eaten as a snack), brown rice…

2. Respect yourself.

Are you the kind of person that would say yes even if they feel like saying no? Are you a people pleaser? Always putting the others needs before yours, always helping people but not even able to help yourself. You have to fill your own cup first because the greatest relationship you can have is with yourself first.

Do the things you want to do, take time for yourself, follow your dreams, live the life you came here to live.

3. Stop being a perfectionist .

Does everything have to be perfect around you? That is the best way to feel anxious. Life is not perfect so don’t try so hard to make it or you will suffer each time you don’t reach your high expectations. Accept that you are human. “You are allowed to be both the masterpiece and the work in progress , simultaneously ”.

4. Live in the present moment.

Be in the moment. Breathe. The past is in the past and the future is not here yet. so there is no need to overthink of what could have been in the past and what should be in the future. Of course it is great to have plans and dreams but feeling overwhelmed because you didn’t reach them yet, comparing yourself with other people’s life and driving you crazy with hundreds of tasks at the same time won’t help you to feel calm.

Meditation can be a good way to learn how to live in the moment. Even if it is just 5-10 minutes every day. There are plenty of ways to meditate, it doesn’t always mean that you just have to seat and do nothing. Going for a walk and practice mindfulness is great way to be focus in the now. Even practicing a sport, painting, playing or listening to music can be a way of meditating. In my opinion any activities where you are really focus on what you are doing are a kind of meditation, it is called mindfulness and it is all about being present.

Share with us your tips to deal with anxiety.

Deborah D.C

What is leaky gut syndrome?

When you eat, your food goes from the oesophagus to the stomach, then in the duodenum where our intestinal walls absorb the nutriments necessary for normal body function.

This wall has a very specific action of letting pass the good stuff like nutriments, water, minerals and stop what could harm us like bacterias and foreign molecules.

Unfortunately this barrier can become dysfunctional and “leak”.

For a few sensitive people , gluten for example will stimulate the secretion of a protein, call zonuline, that might damage the gut walls. Other factors like infection, stress, some drugs can lead to the same issue.

A lot of us have a leaky gut, also known as increased intestinal permeability, and the condition is rising amount the population.

Why does it affect us?

The problem is that the intestinal walls let some undigested food , toxins and microbes pass into the blood stream which activates our immune system.

The massive entrance of those antigenes can be the cause of inflammatory disease : the immune system tries to catch the unwanted molecules to eliminate them creating what we call inflammation.

Inflammation can occur anywhere in the body. Joints, liver, artery, skin…

At a higher level, leaky gut can be responsable of auto immune disease. Some protein found in food can be very similar to those in our organs. By trying to attack them, the immune system attack the organs as well.

Those dysfunctions inhibates the normal absorption of micronutrients very important for the normal function of the body. ( vitamins, minerals, iron, calcium, fatty acids…it can be the cause of fatigue, anaemia, joint pain…

Many diseases can be linked to a leaky gut:

• Type 2 diabetes

• IBS

• Coeliac disease

• asthma

• candida

• Crohn disease

• Rheumatoid arthritis

• hormonal imbalance (PCOS)

• Fibromyalgia

• And more…

Why skin issues can be linked to a leaky gut?

Well the skin is our biggest organ of elimination. If our organism is polluted by unwanted particles it is easy to understand that our body will try to get rid of it as quick as possible. Eczema, acne, dermatitis , psoriasis can be a sign of this process.

The liver, another organ of elimination, is gonna be affected too and will have to work twice as hard.. In those condition it will rapidly get tired which is gonna impact the hormonal balance and create all sorts of hormonal issues .

What Causes leaky gut?

1. Diet : gluten, diary , food allergies , carences..

2. Infection : candida, parasites

3. Toxines: heavy metals, alcohol, cigarettes, food preservatives, pesticides…

4. Stress: emotional or physical ( excess of sport)

5. Medication: antibiotics, anti inflammatory, corticoids …

6. Chemotherapy

What can you do to heal your gut?

You can choose to get the help of a health professional . But here are the main principles you can start applying:

1. Stop drinking Alcohol for 1 month at least.

2. Stop taking over the counter medication like aspirin, ibuprofen , anti acid unless no other option.

3. Reduce stress

4. Start a non inflammatory diet:

• Increase your fresh vegetable consumption , organic if possible ( Dirty dozen reference)

• Avoid refined sugar, white flour

• Avoid gluten

• Use cold pressed olive oil and coconut oil only

• Increase your omega 3 rich food like fatty fish (salmon, sardines, haring..) 3 times per week, chia seeds, flaxseeds, olive oil

• Avoid diary. The casein protein in them perturbates and increase the leaky gut.

5. Incorporate fermented food in your diet. They are a fantastic natural source of probiotics : kefir, kimchi, sauerkraut, pickles ..( 1 portion a day and see how you feel)

6. Carence in Vitamine D and zinc increase the risk of leaky gut. Eat rich in zinc food ( Brazil nuts, sea food) and supplement with vitamin D3

7. Other supplements help restore the intestinal walls like Lglutamine

8. Eat Bone broth. Bone broth is an amazing source of collagen and some amino acids that helps heal the gut.

Take care of your gut!