Anxiety and an Unsettled Mind

“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all”

Oscar Wilde

Body and Mind; 2 Sides of the Same Coin:

A basic rule in Traditional Chinese Medicine is that the physical body has a profound affect on your thoughts and emotions and visa versa your thoughts and emotions have a profound affect on the health of your physical body.

This statement is obvious when you put it in context of your own personal experience. Below are just a few common examples of your physical body affecting your thoughts and emotions:

• Have you ever experienced the short temper caused by hunger?
• The sense of being “on edge” or irritable when overly tired?
• The sense of “feeling down” when you just need to eat?
• Have you ever personally experienced or witnessed the short temper or unexplained sadness prior to the start of menstration for women?

Using Your Diet and Relationship With Food to Heal an Unsettled Mind:

To heal an unsettled mind you want a balance of food and lifestyle choices that create a balance between detoxing your body and building it back up. The deficiencies in the body are of blood and yin, primarily yin and an excess of toxins, primarily heat toxin. (Both of which you can learn about in detail on the provided links.)

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Let’s start with how you eat:

As discussed in “My Relationship With Food” HOW you eat is as important as WHAT you eat. So let’s explore that specifically in regards to an unsettled mind.

1. Let go of your “shoulds” and “shouldn’ts” with food.
   1. Probably the most common eating trend I see with anxiety is fear, worry, and stress around what you should or shouldn’t eat. Thoughts such as “this is bad for me” or “I can’t eat that because…” cause a tremendous stress on your ability to heal from anxiety. Why?
      1. In part because it prevents you from being able to properly digest and absorb the “nutrients” in the food that heal your mind.
      2. In part because the belief that you should or shouldn’t eat something intensifies feelings of fear and worry, and more things to be fearful of or worry about is the last thing you need.

2. Be open and receptive to your feelings especially at mealtimes.
   1. It is very common if you have an unsettled mind to “bury” your emotions (which I will talk about in the next page.) One of the most common ways to do this is by “stress eating”; literally burying your feelings under a pile of food. This tendency can really increase feelings of anxiety around mealtimes when all of the buried emotions resurface.

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Moving on to what you eat:

As discussed in “Building Vs Cleansing” WHAT you eat is also important. So let’s explore that specifically in regards to an unsettled mind.

1. Eat building foods for Yin and Blood
   1. Foods that are particularly helpful are:
      1. Raw Honey
      2. Dates
      3. Bone Broth
      4. Melons (such as watermelon or cantelope)
      5. Blackberries

2. Eat foods that get rid of “heat” toxins in the body
   1. Foods that are particularly helpful are:
      1. Celery
      2. Lettuce or Spinach
      3. Cucumber
      4. Kale or Collard Greens

1. Eat “Sinking” Type Foods
   1. Since anxiety has a tendency to make energy rise, sinking type foods are those that have a natural sinking energy that calm you down. They are the food version of a sedative!
   2. They are typically food very dense in vitamins and minerals. Specific examples are:
      1. Dark Chocolate (80% +)
      2. Fresh Pressed Vegetable and Fruit Juices (Especially those listed under the “heat” category)
      3. Bitter Teas (Such as dandelion)

Up Next: How Your Emotions and Thought Life Cause an Unsettled Mind