Sugar: why it's Bad for your Anxiety and will make you Hangry

Ask yourself honestly:

• Do you skip meals?
• Do you get "hangry"? (hungry and angry)
• Does your mood fluctuate throughout the day?
• Do you crave sweet treats after meals?
• Do you experience a slump in energy and mood at certain points in the day?

​Certain foods including:

1. Sugar
2. Foods that contain sugar
3. Foods that quickly convert into sugar once ingested, such as breakfast cereals, white bread, white rice and pasta

can literally shock and panic the body.

Shortly afterwards, our blood sugar levels can rapidly crash which is usually when we start to feel hungry again or our sweet cravings kick-in.

You may be familiar with the term, "hangry", which describes a person who is hungry and angry, usually from prolonged fasting and low blood sugar. Perhaps you experience it first-hand yourself, or know somebody who does? This is a classic sign of low blood sugar and will have a very negative impact on mood and anxiety. 

How to recognise when you're blood sugar is crashing

When your blood sugar crashes, your body produces "fight or flight" hormones, such as adrenaline and cortisol. At this point you may start to experience:

• Light-headedness or dizziness
• It becomes much harder to concentrate 
• You’re more prone to headaches
• Feeling down

These stress hormones send alarm signals around your body warning that the foods are “shocking” and “scaring” and to "please eat something again" in order to get blood sugar levels back to normal. Cortisol and adrenaline can lead to feelings of anxiety and “jitteriness”. The long-term effects may include panic attacks.

How to avoid sugar crashes

​To minimise our risk of low mood, depression and anxiety our aim is to focus on eating foods that keep our blood sugar stable such as good quality protein, like eggs, and healthy fats such as almonds and avocados. 

Could your anxiety or low moods be symptoms of blood sugar imbalance?
I’ll explain step-by-step how to avoid this from happening in my upcoming online masterclass: Nutrition, Anxiety and your Gut on 8th September 2020 at 7pm. Grab your ticket here.