Discussion Board

Has anyone had success with lowering anxiety problems on the McDougall plan? I've had anxiety problems for a while, but the low fat raw vegan diet and this diet don't seem to help...I'm wondering if there's something I'm missing. Adding more fats of any kind makes me feel awful, but any other tips are welcome. My blood tests are fine, now. I hoped iron from beans would help, but it only seems to give me more energy--which doesn't help my anxiety problems, lol.

I share your issue, and when it's high it tends to affect my intestines. If that's the case with you maybe look into the legumes. If not maybe look into any caffeine or excess salt consumption.

I know for me, when I undereat, I feel more anxiety ridden. I know that for some, when we try to get full on this WOE and go for low calorie veggies a lot and become active, we don't realize our calories are sometimes too low for solid brain function. When I would up my calories a little, anxiety would lessen. Are you sure you are eating enough calories?

Exercise helps me a lot too.

Lastly, I have definitely noticed that some fructose sugar intake definitely helps my brain feel better. I eat some sweet fruit and I have been playing with around 6 oz of a sweet fruit juice daily and that has made a nice improvement in the way my brain feels and my overall feeling of satisfaction throughout the day. It seems the extra (sugar) glucose (our brains run on glucose) to the brain from the sugar is helping me. Even just eating good complex carbs like brown rice or yams was not as helpful as actually eating more fructose and even a tad bit of sugar. I know that may not work for everyone and some will disagree with the juice thing but I am sure it's helping me. It's actually even helping me drop weight a touch easier because my brain feels better and it quells my appetite a nice bit.

I don't know that I can offer any suggestions, but I can answer your questions. In June of 2011 we started eating this way after watching the documentary, "Forks Over Knives". My husband went from being a meat-eater to a low-fat whole foods vegan overnight. He has suffered with anxiety and a heart arrhythmia for years. He gets anxious about his heart and then the beat gets off and then it makes him more anxious. It's a vicious cycle.

Since then he has lost 50 pounds, taken up moderate exercise and stuck to this WOE, although I think he gets a little too much added fats. He has gotten off of all his medications for anxiety, high blood pressure and his irregular heartbeat. He keeps medication around for his arrhythmia "just in case". I haven't noticed any particular foods contributing to his anxiety. I think it's a matter of him "feeling" healthy.

When you ate the lowfat raw vegan diet were you referring to the Hallelujah Diet? I read a long article by someone who overcame anxiety on that eating plan.

The diet allows olive oil which I disapprove of completely, but otherwise is pretty similar to McD. It places a large emphasis on raw, but allows cooked food at dinner.

The plan has participants eating Barley Green or Barley Max which gives a large daily dose of powdered barley and really great nutrition. Just wondered if you get a lot of greens? If not, you may want to experiment with the powdered stuff to see if it might help with the anxiety. (Be warned, it tastes terrible!)

There used to be a book called Potatoes, not Prozac. You may want to increase your consumption of potatoes as an easy way to improve your mood.

(And if you happen to seek counseling, make sure to find a cognitive behavioral LPC.) Good luck!

When I stopped eating wheat it made all the difference in my level of anxiety. There is no doubt in my mind that wheat was causing rapid heart beat, anxiety, and hostility. Others have reported similar symptoms from eating wheat.

Hey, until you figure this out, look into Valerian. I get mine from Whole Foods. I've read a good bit about it and haven't seen any significant worries about drug interactions or side effects. But do your own research. It helps take the edge off for me during the day when I need it and helps me sleep better w/ no weird feelings in the morn. It's been a life saver for me. It's also kept me off anti-anxiety drugs. My sister used it when she was weaning off zanax. There are other herbs that help as well- go explore but get educated first.

Well, thank you! I will try to up my sugars, but my previous diet was very low sugar McDougall, also, with no changes. My previous low fat raw vegan hiiiigh fruit sugar diet was still no cure for my anxiety. Interesting, maybe it is merely psychological, and I can look into therapies or the like. However, it might also be an omega-3 problem, so I might see if adding more greens (which I eat very rarely) would help.

All the advise given you is great. And, yes, in addition, I would look into the way your mind generates the anxiety. By FAR, the main way to transform anxiety is via personal transformation work. I'm not even talking about therapy. I'm talking about work where you learn things like meditation and visualizing and choosing positive statments that empower you and make them stick in your consciousness. This type of works trumps everything when working on releasing chronic anxiety. When we are generating anxiety thoughts, it creates a whole neuro-chemical state that is best managed through techniques of Mind power. I'd look into that if you feel your diet is pretty solid and it's still not helping.

You need to read the book The Magnesium Miracle"! Magnesium supplements have really helped me. There is one called Natural Calm, it is great to help get a good night's sleep.