Anxiety is our body’s natural response to stress. A feeling of fear or apprehension about what’s to come. The first day of school, exam time, big stage performance, music competition, or giving a speech, public speaking, attending an interview may cause most people to feel fearful and nervous. However, if they continue to be overwhelming over a period of time, body starts responding differently. How do we identify it and how to treat it naturally. Sharing what I learned in the process…!

The individual might / not know that they are exhibiting anxiety symptoms. Some of the people going through anxiety, tend to change their food habits by not eating, or stopping to eat. Food and eating seems like a chore that can wait till their mind is back in order. Health gets impacted.

We, as adults might realize we have anxiety issues or our colleagues will realize it before us and make sure the message is conveyed to us 🙂 However, as a parent how do we realize if a child has anxiety issues.. sharing some symptoms that you can look out for: Not eating meals on time, low sleep quality and sleep time, no time for fun activities, no time for friendly chats, always busy with something or the other, always thinking about things to be done soon, feeling of lagging behind and catching up, multi-tasking excessively, no time to accept a compliment etc

So, what can one do? Looking an alternate therapies, changing food habits can significantly reduce your symptoms and get you back to normal! Did you know that eating root vegetables helps reduce anxiety levels. More like grounding their emotions / stress levels.

Listing some of the root vegetables that come to the top of my mind

1. Carrots
2. Beetroot
3. Parsnip
4. Radish
5. Celery
6. Turnip
7. Horseradish
8. Potatoes
9. Sweet potatoes
10. Ginger
11. Onions
12. Shallots
13. Yam
14. Celery root
15. Garlic

One of my family members was going through anxiety issues for a few weeks. We were able to identify and control it and get them back to normalcy by changing their food habits. Recommended it to colleagues and the entire team could feel the difference in their schedule, personality and behavior!

Sharing some of the food items they ate in the process

1. Saute Potatoes and Carrots with a sprinkle of turmeric and salt
2. Steamed beetroot with a sprinkle of salt
3. Steam and mashed beetroot mixed with roasted nuts
4. Sweet potatoes and Carrots roasted
5. Celery with peanut butter
6. Celery, carrots, ginger and garlic added to soups
7. Omelettes made with eggs, shallots and grated carrots
8. Deep fried sweet potato slices
9. Deep fried potato slices

Increased protein intake in the form of lentils and salmon and reduced rice intake.

Turmeric milk and Ginger tea (with milk & sugar) helped as well.

Sharing some of the other changes that helped…

• Setting a scheduled sleep time helped a great deal
• Going early to bed and waking up early morning (basically being a morning person) improved quality of sleep
• Writing down the list of to-dos got things off their mind (Do not need to keep everything in your mind till you get it done!)
• Reducing workload or number of items on their list (with some external help from parent / manager / peer) helps. Once you have a handle, you can slowly ease into your comfort zone again

Have you tried any other dietary options to reduce anxiety? How did it work for you? Do share.. would love to learn!