It was one of my biggest pitfalls. Cutting out all carbohydrates because I had infections, low energy, and sleep issues. For some reason I convinced myself that cutting carbs would solve all my problems. When we are desperate, we fall for big marketing traps, ugh!
During a heightened state of survival, when there is a perceived stressor, our body automatically taps into different responses.
We are either going to start using up many calories, or store a lot of fuel.
We are going to be on high alert, or conserve our energy.
When we do this over a prolonged period of time, it eventually leads to a wrecked metabolism.
When our body is under extreme stress or danger we enter the field of Fight or Flight where our body starts paying attention to stressors around us and we become suspicious, jumpy, fearful, or worried. We are ready for an attack and on high alert.
Over time, with repeated perceived or real stressors and danger in our environment, our physical body starts to respond in various ways:
Heart rate goes up.
Breathing become shallow.
Our muscles and tissues become tense.
Blood goes to survival organs like the limbs, heart, lungs.
All this leads to ANXIETY. These are all signs of anxiety.
And here is the big shocker, our brain and nervous system actually need carbohydrates to deal with all of the above.
Carbs and Sugar to the rescue. YEP, I said it again.
A lot of folks and practitioners think anxiety only shows up because of emotional and mental hardships, but I beg to differ.
It was my personal experience of cutting carbs, cutting meals, and therefore underfeeding myself. Add to that a big work load plus other life stressors, and voila, anxiety stepped to the forefront. We bring it on ourselves. I see it all around me, and in many of my female clients especially. We have a bucket load of stressors: kids, work, cooking, cleaning, driving the kids around, people pleasing and intense workouts, little sleep, you name it, and we just keep pushing on and on.
On top of all that we think cutting meals and carbohydrates are going to magically make all our anxiety disappear. Maybe squeeze in an extra workout, that sure will make the anxiety disappear. Do you even hear yourself?
The only thing that comes out of all of this is a SYSTEM COLLAPSE.
“The brain is dependent on sugar as its main fuel,” says Vera Novak, MD, PhD, an HMS associate professor of medicine at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. “It cannot be without it.”
In addition to the above, we create stress on physiological levels because we deplete nutrients and minerals. We also cause hormone imbalances as stress increases estrogen and depletes progesterone.
This leads to more anxiety, and your nervous system will be out of whack as well.
To calm the nervous system we need to have enough carbohydrates in our diet. I am not saying to only eat carbohydrates. I am saying eat enough carbs, in balance with protein and fat, because blood sugar balance is very important for smooth nervous system function, as well as increasing progesterone production. It helps our nervous system to feel safe and relaxed.
When we eat and nourish our bodies with regular nourishing meals, it calms our overactive nervous system and adrenal response because we can stop the fight or flight response.
So the next time you are anxious, ask yourself: Have I fueled my body well enough for the stressors and workload ahead for the day? Did I get some sunlight, gentle movement and stretching, some play time, creative time, or simply resting the body and mind without doing anything?
Anxiety Goes Deep.
The Central Nervous System:
It is the processing center of the body and 3 major functions are taking in information, sensing information, and sending out information. When these are out of balance our body can't respond correctly to normal daily functions.
Vagus Nerve:
The Vagus nerve is the main nerve of your parasympathetic nervous system. It controls your digestion, heart rate, mood, and immune system. Your sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems need to be balanced for your Vagus nerve to work properly.
Fascia:
Is made out of connective tissues and surrounds or holds every organ, muscle, bone, nerve fiber, blood vessel in place. All physical and emotional injuries that enter the CNS need to be processed by fascia. If not, they get stuck and energy flow ceases.
When you are stuck in the sympathetic nervous system mode:
The nervous system is in hyperdrive, stuck in fight or flight.
Anxiety, worry, fear, anger, rage, irritation, frustration, lots of concern overwhelm you.
Your organism prioritizes adrenalin, heart rate, oxygen flow to survival organs, fuel availability, and blood pressure.
All this is at the expense of your reproduction, digestion, thyroid optimization and immune health.
Our central nervous system is on the look out for danger and famine at all times. Your nervous system and your body require energy, and the best way to supply that energy is with a nutrient and mineral dense diet.
References:
Absolutely my experience, too, with strict Keto. My anxiety shot thru the roof. I am adding white rice back into my diet to provide some carby glucose. Wish this were not so, but it is so. Having Fight or Flight triggered for no apparent reason is debilitating. Thank you for your site!