Coping with anxiety: Can diet make a difference?

Coping with anxiety disorder can be difficult. But treatments — such as medications and psychotherapy — can help. In addition, there are several things you can do on your own to reduce your anxiety, including watching what you eat. This includes eating a balanced diet, taking nutritional supplements as appropriate, and limiting or avoiding foods that may cause or mimic anxiety.

Although food can't cure an anxiety disorder, consider these changes to your diet:

• Increase your intake of carbohydrates. Carbohydrate-rich meals and snacks are thought to increase the amount of serotonin in your brain, which has a calming effect.
• Eat frequent small meals during the day. Going too long between meals or skipping meals can result in low blood sugar, which can cause trembling, nervousness and irritability. Also, eat more complex carbohydrates (starches) and fewer simple carbohydrates (sugars). Complex carbohydrates take longer to metabolize, which helps prevent a sudden drop in blood sugar.
• Include some foods that contain tryptophan, an amino acid that your body converts to serotonin. Milk, bananas, oats, soy, poultry, cheese, nuts, peanut butter and sesame seeds are good sources of tryptophan.
• Stay well-hydrated. Even mild dehydration can affect your mood, increasing anxiety.
• Limit or avoid alcohol. The immediate effect of alcohol may be calming for most people. But as alcohol is metabolized by your body, it can cause anxiety-like symptoms.
• Limit or avoid caffeine. Caffeine is a stimulant that can make you feel jittery and nervous and interfere with sleep.