Anxiety and panic

Calm Your Anxious Mind One Meal at a Time with The Antianxiety Food Solution

August 12, 2011 By Trudy Scott 9 Comments

real whole food

It’s remarkable how much the foods we eat can impact our brain chemistry and emotions. What and when we eat can make the difference between feeling anxious and staying calm and in control. But most of us don’t realize how much our diets influence our moods, thoughts, and feelings until we make a change.

In The Antianxiety Food Solution: How the Foods You Eat Can Help You Calm Your Anxious Mind, Improve Your Mood and End Cravings, you’ll find four unique antianxiety diets designed to help you address nutritional deficiencies that may be at the root of your anxiety and enjoy the many foods that foster increased emotional balance. This easy-to-use guide helps you choose the best plan for you and incorporates effective anxiety-busting foods and nutrients. You’ll soon be on the path to freeing yourself from anxiety—and enjoying an improved overall mood, better sleep, fewer cravings, and optimal health—the natural way!

In The Antianxiety Food Solution, you’ll discover:

How to assess your diet for anxiety-causing and anxiety-calming foods and nutrients
Foods and nutrients that balance your brain chemistry
Which anxiety-triggering foods and drinks you may need to avoid
Easy lifestyle changes that reduce anxiety and increase happiness

“[This book] fills an important gap in the popular literature on anxiety. It provides clear, helpful guidelines for utilizing nutrition to overcome anxiety.”

—Edmund Bourne, PhD, author of The Anxiety and Phobia Workbook

Trudy Scott, CN, has a nutrition practice that focuses on food, mood, and women’s health. She lectures extensively, both at live events and via teleseminars. She is president of the National Association of Nutrition Professionals and a member of Anxiety Disorders Association of America, the Alliance for Addiction Solutions, and the National Alliance on Mental Illness. She lives in the greater Sacramento, CA, area.

Foreword writer James Lake, MD, is president of the International Network of Integrative Mental Health and author of the Textbook of Integrative Mental Health Care. He lives in Carmel, CA.

Published by New Harbinger Publications www.newharbinger.com, June 2, 2011.

You can learn more here and by searching for “anxiety” on my blog.

The above material is from the back cover of the book and serves as a great synopsis – so you can calm your anxious mind one meal at a time! Please let me know how it goes when you make some of these changes.

Get your copy ….a signed copy of the book, a DVD or CD set, digital downloads and other related products.

Antianxiety Food Solution review by Mira Dessy

July 20, 2011 By Trudy Scott 12 Comments

I’m thrilled to share this wonderful book review by Mira Dessy, Certified Nutrition Educator and holistic health columnist helping others eat well to be well. It was featured in a recent edition of Nourishing Bytes, the ezine produced by the National Association of Nutrition Professionals (www.nanp.org)

Be sure to check out her blog for great nutrition advice and recipes!

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Written in a warm, reader-friendly style, “The Antianxiety Food Solution” takes the often undiscussed topic of anxiety disorders, brings them into the light, and offers solid, scientifically backed nutritional advice to help alleviate the symptoms.

Anxiety disorders encompass a wide range of conditions from generalized anxiety disorder (GAD) to panic disorder to social anxiety and more. Often undisclosed by those who suffer from this sometimes debilitating range of disorders, anxiety can cause a wide array of physical symptoms due to the stressors, emotional toll, nutrient depletion, and the lack of proper diet. The author herself a former sufferer of anxiety, brings the voice of experience to this topic in a caring yet straightforward way.

Diving right in to the topic, Chapter 1, Figure Out Your Optimum Antianxiety Diet, gives a step-bystep approach to proper nutrition to support the bio-individual needs of those looking to, as the sub-title says, calm their anxious mind, improve their mood, and end their cravings. As part of the nutritional support offered in the book, the author gives very clear examples of what to eat and, just as importantly, what not to eat, even including examples of nutrient dense bonus foods. The author then takes the subject a step further by including chapters on a wide range of conditions that may affect nutritional status and promote anxiety such as allergies, addiction, blood sugar imbalances, poor digestion, brain chemistry, hormonal imbalances, and lifestyle choices. Throughout the book are a number of easy to understand self-scoring quizzes as well as tables which concisely illuminate the points the author is making.

One main premise of the book is the promotion of a clean, traditional diet, free from chemicals and additives, that is high in whole foods. In another significant topic, the author explains how the use of amino acids can be highly beneficial for many sufferers of anxiety disorders. Clearly highlighting the symptoms each amino acid deficit can cause, she then illustrates how to address these deficits and discusses how to consider use of amino acids to help regulate brain chemistry. She then looks at a little discussed condition called pyroluria…

You can read the rest of the review here:
http://grainsandmore.blogspot.com/2011/06/antianxiety-food-solution.html

By Mira Dessy

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And you can learn more about The Antianxiety Food Solution: How the Foods You Eat Can Help You Calm Your Anxious Mind, Improve Your Mood and End Cravings! at www.antianxietyfoodsolution.com

Antianxiety Food Solution: great questions at Avid Reader

July 15, 2011 By Trudy Scott 9 Comments

trudy at avid bookstore to present antianxiety food solution

I’ve had a busy few weeks doing fun book promo stuff and some fun local book signings at Avid Reader books http://www.avidreaderbooks.com/. It was so cool (and very humbling) to finish my talk and have folks line up to get a signed copy of my new book The Antianxiety Food Solution: How the Foods You Eat Can Help You Calm Your Anxious Mind, Improve Your Mood and End Cravings!

It was also very exciting to see my book on display and on the shelves in the book store. Of course we took a ton of pictures and savored the moment! I hope you enjoy these pictures and that I see you at the next live event I do.

avid book display with antianxiety food solution

I had a great turnout at the Avid Reader in Davis and some great questions were asked.

Here are just some of the questions and my answers:

From someone I spoke to before the talk: “I have bad moods (anxiety and depression) and really bad sugar and bread cravings and I’m hoping this book will address all of this.”
My answer: “Great question, because often mood problems go hand-in hand with cravings and addictive behaviors. For example low endorphins can make you feel sad and also lead to comfort eating – so you address the low endorphins and both sadness and comfort eating is resolved. A similar case can be made for feeling anxious and eating to calm down – address the low GABA and both will resolve! You’ll love this book!”

And another question after the talk: “I do get anxious, but I really love my coffee. Do I really have to give up coffee or can I drink decaf?”
My answer: “This is a great question too, and one I get a lot. I see so many of my clients benefit from quitting coffee altogether that I really think it’s worth a try for you. Also, keep in mind that decaf does contain a small amount of caffeine and a subset of anxious people are just more sensitive to the effects of caffeine. I suggest trying some delicious Dandybend and see how you feel”.

You can read more about my book and these topics at www.antianxietyfoodsolution.com and read a book review by Mira Dessy that was featured in a recent edition of Nourishing Bytes, the ezine produced by the National Association of Nutrition Professionals http://grainsandmore.blogspot.com/2011/06/antianxiety-food-solution.html

Recipe for sprouted GABA rice

July 15, 2011 By Trudy Scott 4 Comments

Planet Rice brown rice

I recently received a few bags of sprouted GABA rice from Planet Rice (www.planetricefoods.com) – thank you Planet Rice! I used a modified recipe that I usually use for cooking brown rice and it was delicious!

The rice is sprouted or germinated, making it more digestible and nutrient-dense, resulting in a quicker cooking time and resulting in higher levels of GABA (gamma amino butyric acid). According to their website: “Germinated / sprouted brown rice has four times the GABA content of regular rice, and over ten times the GABA of white rice!” I’m very intrigued by this last fact because I’m a big fan of GABA, the major calming neurotransmitter and excellent for anxiety. I’ll be doing more research on this GABA connection and you’ll be hearing more from me on this very interesting topic! It’s not mentioned in my new book The Antianxiety Food Solution but I’m adding this to the list for the second edition.

I’m also a big fan of local and if you’re in Northern California, this is local! It’s grown just “up the road” from Sacramento. It’s also gluten-free of course. Planet Rice assured me that all California rice is free of GMOs (more on GMOS here). This particular brand is not organic (more on organic here) but rice typically uses less than other grains in the way of chemicals. But they do offer sprouted organic GABA rice in 25kg bags for commercial use and will hopefully make this available to us discerning and savvy consumers too!

My recipe for this sprouted GABA rice is so simple:

1 cup rice
2 cups boiling water

Add the above to a casserole dish with your choice of spices and optional chopped onion and garlic. Cover and cook for 40 minutes and enjoy with a curry dish, cold with veggies and salad dressing for a summer salad or however you like your rice!
(For regular brown rice, just cook for 60 minutes.)

The Antianxiety Food Solution: what you eat does make a difference!

June 2, 2011 By Trudy Scott 18 Comments

The Antianxiety Food Solution: How the Foods You Eat Can Help You Calm Your Anxious Mind, Improve Your Mood and End Cravings…official launch date is June 2, 2011!

This book will show you that what you eat (real whole food and yes, animal protein), when you eat (controlling blood sugar), what you don’t put in your mouth (sugar, coffee and foods you’re sensitive to like wheat), your digestion, your hormones and neurotransmitters – and more – can affect how anxious and overwhelmed you feel. And the magical thing is that when you address the root cause of your anxiety with food and nutrients it really does make you happier, eliminates sugar cravings and you’ll even sleep better! And who doesn’t want all of that?

The book has it’s own site www.antianxietyfoodsolution.com and this site is going to continue to grow and evolve. You can also buy your own copy of the book or eBook directly from my publisher New Harbinger (15% off this and all other books from their site). It’s also available in book stores and on Amazon. Right now you can check out the Table of Contents here , some Selected Quotes from the book here and some of the Rave Reviews I’ve already received here. In October I blogged about the new cover (you can read more here) and now we have the official launch! I am so excited!

I’m working with my publisher, New Harbinger on some exciting PR, events and book signings. If you have a need or know someone looking for a speaker on this topic, please let me know as I have big plans to get out and speak, and I may just be in your city! Don’t forget to sign up here to receive newsletter updates and stay up to date on new research, workshops and special offers.

Scarlett Johansson Oscars 2011: snacks and salmon!

March 3, 2011 By Trudy Scott 16 Comments

Scarlett Johansson looked absolutely stunning at the 2011 Oscars and you’ll never guess what she ate before she came – salmon!

Scarlett was interviewed on the Red Carpet and was asked: what is the most important thing about getting ready for the Oscars – the dress, the hair, the jewellery…?

And this is what she said: For me, what I eat before I come to the Oscars, is the most important thing. She said she’d actually just eaten some salmon and that it’s important to eat something good to control your blood sugar. She also said that it’s a little known fact that the celebs bring snacks to the Oscars.

Awesome and brilliant! Having some salmon or other form of protein or fat like eggs, meat or chicken before heading out to a big event will do wonders for keeping your blood sugar stable and keeping you feeling great, calm, stress-free and focused. Some great snack ideas to carry with you when you know you won’t be eating for awhile: nuts, fruit, grass-fed jerky, salmon jerky and my all time favorite, pemmican. A boiled egg is great too but may not go down well at the Oscars!

And yes I watched the Oscars! I have so much to learn about style and fashion! I’m a late bloomer….I’m the typical outdoorsy tomboy – love to travel, camp, bike, climb, ski and generally I’m happy to “rough-it”. But last year I decided to up-level my image and I worked with image consultant Anne Berit Olvsk. I had my colors done and I now actually enjoying shopping for clothes. So I figured the Oscars would be a great way to see some great style – outfits, hair, make-up, accessories, colors and more – and it was not disappointing! Scarlett looked stunning (check her out here and here), I got some great tips and heard Scarlett’s great food and snack advice! Yay Scarlett Johannson!