Episode 270: Understanding Anxiety & the Brain-Body Connection
Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen on Spotify
Anxiety can feel like a heavy burden that keeps you from doing the things you love and being your healthiest self. However, navigating anxiety becomes far more manageable once we understand how it happens and harness it as a means of communication with our body.
On today’s episode, Erin delves into the foundational aspects of anxiety. This includes a breakdown of the brain’s physiological response when anxiety is triggered, as well as an exploration of the seven most common causes of this mental state. For real-world strategies, Erin shares solutions to anxiety that can transform it from a burden to a pathway for self-awareness and healing. You can use the tools in this episode to uncover what your anxiety may be telling you, learn how to listen to its signs, and support your overall well-being.
In this episode:
Anxiety: What’s actually happening in the brain? [4:10]
The #1 cause of anxiety symptoms [14:38]
Thyroid, hormones & your mood [19:10]
Gut-brain axis [28:14]
What your anxiety may be telling you [36:29]
Questions to ask yourself to uncover your root causes of anxiety [42:58]
Resources mentioned:
Carb Compatibility Project™ (Available for free within the Funk’tional Nutrition Collective)
Your Hormone Revival™ (Only available within the Funk’tional Nutrition Collective)
Qualia Mind (get $100 off and an extra 15% off your first purchase with code FUNK)
Organifi supplement powder (Save 20% on your order with code FUNK)
LMNT Electrolyte Replenishing powder (Use code FUNK get a free sample pack with any purchase)
Ned Natural Remedies (get 15% off your order with code FUNK)
Learn more about Mindset and Hormones
Related episodes:
264: Quantum Biology & Our Health with Dr. Catherine Clinton
263: How to Listen to Your Intuition
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Erin Holt [00:00:02]:
Welcome to the Funk'tional Nutrition podcast. I'm your host, Erin Holt. I'm an integrative and functional medicine nutritionist with a feisty attitude and well over a decade of clinical experience. I work with women all over the world through my online programs and I'm also the founder of the Funk'tional Nutrition Academy, a school and practitioner mentorship where we help other clinicians level up with functional medicine methodologies. I've got a bone to pick with diet culture and the conventional health model that are both systematically failing so many of us. Creating a new model is my life's work and this is what this show is all about. Please keep in mind this podcast is created for educational purposes only and should never be used as a replacement for medical diagnosis or treatment. If you like what you hear today, I would love for you to subscribe to the show, leave a review in iTunes, share with a friend and keep coming back for more.
Erin Holt [00:00:55]:
Now give me the mic so I can take it away. Hello my friends. I'm so excited to be back with you. Happy Lion's Gate. Eight, eight. Little portal, little manifestation action. What are you doing? What's up? What are you bringing into this Lion's Gate? We're going to talk about anxiety today, which I'm excited about. But before that, I want to make some announcements.
Erin Holt [00:01:23]:
The first is that the Carb Compatibility Project is officially open. We couldn't resist a Lion's Gate open. We couldn't resist an open cart on 8/8. I was just looking through the CCP and there's just so much good content. There's great videos, great audios. We have the core curriculum. Like this is what to do, this is what the program is. And then over the years, we've just added so much juicy bonus content.
Erin Holt [00:01:51]:
So if you love the podcast, you're going to really vibe with CCP and we get more into the nitty gritty about nutrition. It's like real focused on how to feed yourself. So would love to see you there. Another announcement is that as of this week, I'm officially releasing two podcasts a week. What! More content for you. Thursday. So it's going to be Tuesdays and then it's going to be Thursdays. I'm calling them Get Lifted Thursdays. They're like a little snack size mini episode, little mindset quickie.
Erin Holt [00:02:22]:
You get to ask me anything for my unfiltered hot take. So those episodes are going to be like less learning and more just like catching a vibe. So I'm pumped about that. Come back on Thursday and you can catch a vibe. So anxiety, let's talk about it, shall we? Now in the upcoming months, I don't know, year, I'll be doing a lot more with brain health. I'll talk a lot more about the mind. I'll talk a lot more about the gut-brain axis. I'm in yet another training.
Erin Holt [00:02:53]:
Can't stop, won't stop. So of course that's all going to filter out into this podcast. But for now, I really want to cover the basics of anxiety. Root causes of anxiety. I have a habit of doing deep dives, which I love, and I know that a lot of my practitioner listeners appreciate. But honestly, some of my basics or overview shows are the one that get the most listens and traction. They resonate with the most people. So today we're going to do an overview and we're going to touch on the most common things that we see that underlie anxiety.
Erin Holt [00:03:31]:
And each one of these sort of root causes of anxiety that I'm talking about could actually be their own individual episode. And we can definitely plan to get more in depth with each of these in upcoming shows if that's something that folks are interested in. I know that anxiety is a big one and folks are looking for solutions. So I definitely want to help you out with that. But today we're going to cover the basics because without these, we really shouldn't. This is like the do not pass go, do not collect $200 unless you look at these things. Okay? Now before we tuck into the root causes, let's just do an overview of what's actually going on with anxiety. There are specific regions of the brain that are implicated in anxiety that includes the prefrontal cortex, the amygdala.
Erin Holt [00:04:18]:
The amygdala is a big one, the hippocampus and the hypothalamus. And together these regions combine and they regulate fear-related learning and memory. Okay, so these are the regions of the brain that remember things, that encode things and say, that's a scary thing, that's something to be afraid of, let's ring the alarm bell, which is the amygdala. And with anxiety, there is an increased activation of the amygdala. So I've talked a lot about the amygdala on this show before. Remember that it plays a central role in not just anxiety, but fear, our fear responses. And when the amygdala gets tripwired, it activates our sympathetic centers, our fight or flight response. So the activation of amygdala can lead to anxiety, feelings of anxiety in the body, but then also it just tripwires the entire stress response as well.
Erin Holt [00:05:16]:
Now, there are different types of anxiety. There are different labels and diagnoses. Today we're just going to kind of talk about generalized anxiety. But different parts of the brain can be activated or under functioning, suppressed during different types of anxiety. For example, PTSD, there's amygdala activity. But the prefrontal cortex, that part of the brain that's responsible for rational, logical thinking, there's actually under activity. So that means that the critical thinking can't come online to calm down the anxiety and say, hey, it's actually okay here, we're actually safe. So it's like with some anxiety, we have the amygdala, the fear response really ramped up.
Erin Holt [00:05:59]:
But then the critical thinking, the logic, and the reason is ramped down. So we can't sort of talk ourselves out of the anxiety. And then when that amygdala is popping off, it's going to speak to the hypothalamus and that's what sets off the sympathetic nervous system, the fight or flight response. So we have these hypothalamus pathways that control our endocrine, our hormone function. So this will elicit a cortisol response. And then we also have pathways from the amygdala to the midbrain and the brain stem, and that activates catecholamine release. So this is your epinephrine and your norepinephrine response. So increased amygdala activity is going to ramp up epinephrine, norepinephrine, our adrenaline ramps things up, and at the same time, it's going to decrease GABA.
Erin Holt [00:06:50]:
And that is our inhibitory neurotransmitter. That's the neurotransmitter that's kind of like the brakes that calms things down, that slows things down. So we have a ramp up of the neurotransmitters that ramp up. And we have a suppression almost of the neurotransmitters that calm things down. And what we see is that with decreased GABA activity, that can actually induce anxiety. In fact, antianxiety meds benzodiazepines actually influence GABA. And that's how they are helpful in being antianxiety. So these are your Xanax, your Adavan, Lorazepan, Clonapin, Valium.
Erin Holt [00:07:30]:
So anyway, GABA is a biggie when it comes to anxiety. And things that can support GABA tend to have more of an antianxiety effect. Now, I think it's important to note as we move into today's conversation that with generalized or chronic anxiety, there does seem to be a hyperactivity of the amygdala. So the amygdala itself is sensitized, meaning it gets tripwired relatively easily. There is an increased plasticity of stress response projections. Remember that your brain is plastic. It's changing and it's adapting, and it's changing and adapting based on what you are thinking. That is what helps to build out the brain.
Erin Holt [00:08:13]:
So the mind builds out the brain. So the thoughts that you're thinking or the fears that you're projecting, the more that happens, the more you are creating neural circuitry in your brain to do more of that. And so that's kind of what we see with anxiety, is that the amygdala just gets tripwired. It's kind of like an ice luge, like a Jamaican bobsledding team. It's like the anxiety pathways are lit up, and that's the way we're going to go. And so because of this, there can also be an increased sensitivity of catecholamine receptors, your dopamine, your noradrenaline or norepinephrine and adrenaline or epinephrine. Okay, so these things are just getting fired pretty easily. Now, this can be developed early on in life.
Erin Holt [00:09:00]:
This can be developed with trauma. This can be developed through just like high stress periods. But I also want to say that if that's the case, because the brain is plastic, remember that you can actually rewire that. So it's not a set it and forget it. Just because that neural circuitry exists now doesn't mean it has to exist forever. It does require active participation to kind of restructure the brain. That's not the point of today's show. But I just want you to know, in case you're listening and you're like, oh, no, it me.
Erin Holt [00:09:28]:
It's okay. It can change. Okay. But these root causes that I'm going to talk about today, if you have that propensity for anxiety, if you have that hyperactivity of the amygdala, these root causes are going to potentially tripwire. It easier than somebody who doesn't have that neural circuitry created, let's say. Now, before we get into the root causes, since we're talking about the brain, I want to tell you about a brand new sponsor. I've been teasing it out for a couple of months now. If you struggle with brain fog, memory sluggish, thinking, honestly, even mood stuff, this is for you.
Erin Holt [00:10:09]:
So a few months back, this company called Neurohacker sent me some bottles of Qualia Mind, this product called Qualia Mind. And I was like, okay, I don't need another supplement right now. So I just kind of put it away. I'm like, that's very interesting. I think the science behind it is super cool. I just don't need another supplement right now. So I put it on the counter, and it sat there for, like, a while. And then, as many of you know, I was building out Manifest Your Health, which is a pretty heavy lift.
Erin Holt [00:10:37]:
I had to take 15 years of research and put it into a six week program that requires a tremendous amount of focus and motivation and drive. And so I happened to walk by and see the bottle of Qualia Mind sitting there, and I'm like, this might be a good time to try it out. So I did, and I took it exactly according to the label. It's five days on, two days off. I did it exactly, and I kid you not, within a week, I would say a week, I was like, oh, this stuff is actually working. And I just felt so much focus. I'm not actually somebody who struggles with focus, but I was, like, in the zone. I really noticed an effect, and I thought that that was so cool.
Erin Holt [00:11:22]:
And then after that, I went on vacation, and I didn't take it with me because I'm like, well, I'm on vacation. I don't need it, right? And I noticed that my mood kind of, like, took a little dip without that wasn't my intention of the product. But taking quality of mind, I noticed that my mood and anxiety, just like, I felt better in my brain, which makes sense when you look at the science and what the product actually is. They use a very synergistic combination of nootropics, neurovitamins, antioxidants, adaptogens, amino acids, and they support different pathways that are critical for optimal brain function. So it supports and enhances BDNF brain mitochondrial function. It supports neuron and synaptic function. By the way, if you're into brain rewiring, this actually helps you do that. It supports neurotransmitter signaling and stress resilience as well.
Erin Holt [00:12:20]:
So I noticed more mental clarity, attention and focus, more motivation, more drive, but also more energy in my brain in a better mood, so because I reached out to the company after taking it, and noticing such an effect, I had Jenna reach out to the company. I'm like, we have to partner with them. I love them. I'm obsessed. I want to keep taking this stuff. I got to tell people about it. Would they be interested in partnering with us? And luckily, they said yes. So we've got discount codes galore for you if you want to check it out and get some brain fuel.
Erin Holt [00:12:56]:
Help out your mindset, help out your brain, go to neurohacker.com/funk. You'll get $100 off, and as a listener of the Funk'tional Nutrition podcast, use code FUNK at checkout, and you'll get an extra 15% off of your purchase. So I told you, we've got discounts galore. So neurohacker.com/funk you can try out Qualia with the code FUNK. And I'm telling you, you will notice a difference. I actually just took mine before I started recording this podcast. Okay, I want to talk to you about moringa, which is a plant that can give us a green powder. And I've known the benefits for a moringa for a while. It has a lot of protein, vitamin A, potassium, calcium, vitamin C, iron.
Erin Holt [00:13:41]:
It's a pretty powerful and potent little plant. I couldn't get past the taste. I would buy bags of it, just not really know what to do with it. I love me some, like, dirt flavor. I'll drink matcha tea all day long. But the moringa, I was like, it's kind of weird. The good news is that you can get all the benefits of moringa without the weird taste in Organifi's Green Juice. So you can go with their original blend, which has kind of a minty taste, or with their brand new Green Juice Crisp Apple Blend, which tastes just like apples.
Erin Holt [00:14:10]:
Organifi's Green Juice also has other green superfoods like spirulina and chlorella, as well as ashwagandha, a really nice adaptogenic herb that helps to balance out cortisol levels in the body. If you want to try some. And I think you should head to organifi.com/funk. That's organifi.com/funk to save 20% off of your order. So, anxiety, root causes. We have to start with blood sugar. Not only do I think it's the most common, but it's the most easily solvable. Okay, so trying to fix hormone imbalance or trying to fix the gut-brain axis, that stuff doesn't necessarily happen overnight, but regulating your blood sugar actually can happen overnight.
Erin Holt [00:14:58]:
So it's like, this is the place you get the most bang for your buck. You put some work in, and you see the effects pretty quickly. And so we got to start here. On top of that, blood sugar dysregulation really feeds into the next two root causes that I'm talking about: thyroid and hormone dysfunction. You cannot bring balance into either of these systems without first balancing your blood sugar. So this is, I would say, arguably one of the more important things to focus on with anxiety and super duper duper common. So let me explain why dysregulated blood sugar swinging from high to low or low blood sugar or skipping meals can actually trigger anxiety. When blood sugar levels are low, our pancreas releases a hormone called glucagon and this gives us access to glycogen.
Erin Holt [00:15:50]:
So if we're not eating, if we're not getting glucose into our bloodstream via food in our pie hole, we store glucose and we store it in the form of glycogen. So if we don't have enough blood sugar, your pancreas is going to be tripwired to say, hey, we need to release that stored away glucose so the body and the brain can function. Now, if we don't have enough glycogen, then what we have to do is activate something known as gluconeogenesis. Remember, this is like high school science stuff. Remember you remember that word? So gluconeogenesis is essentially the creation of new glucose. We're making glucose from the breakdown of proteins and lipids triglycerides that are stored in our bodies. And in order for gluconeogenesis to happen, it requires adrenaline to activate it. So you know what adrenaline feels like when you get a shot of adrenaline into your body.
Erin Holt [00:16:49]:
Hey, that's a real big tripwire for feelings of anxiety. We also need to pull cortisol in. So cortisol is a critical counterregulatory mechanism. It helps to bring blood sugar back up. I've talked about that an awful lot over the past few years. Cortisol is known as a glucocorticoid. Glucose is right in the name. It plays a huge role in your glucose metabolism.
Erin Holt [00:17:15]:
So when we experience a pocket of hypoglycemia or low blood sugar, in the first five minutes, the adrenal medulla, so that's part of the adrenal glands, it's pumping out adrenaline. And then after five minutes, it starts to the adrenal cortex, a different part of the adrenal gland starts to pump out cortisol. So we are getting this influx of stress hormones when our blood sugar dips low. And the release of these hormones can cause anxiety, nervousness, irritability, heart palpitations. This can happen in the middle of the night. If you ever wake up in the middle of the night, kind of like with your heart beating, it's most likely due to low blood sugar. Your blood sugar dropped too low and so that the stress chemicals had to be released to get more blood sugar into your system. So skipping meals, undereating or not eating in a way to appropriately support and balance your blood sugar, all of this can really lead to anxiety.
Erin Holt [00:18:11]:
And again, this is especially true, like I said at the start of this episode, if you are prone to this, this is going to be especially true for your and this is very common and why I still run the CCP. This is why I still absolutely adore the Carb Compatibility Project, why I think it is a foundational program. It is foundational work. I cannot help you balance your hormones or rewire your brain, or improve your mood or manifest your health. If this is constantly being trip wired, if you're constantly swinging around your blood sugar, which is triggering these stress chemicals and these stress hormones, it's also wildly inflammatory to the brain as well. Okay, so we can and we must start here. And if you need help with that, the Carb Compatibility Project is officially open today, so go and sign yourself up for it. The next common root cause that I'll see is thyroid dysfunction.
Erin Holt [00:19:11]:
I have a lot of episodes on thyroid health, so you can check those out to learn more. Thyroid dysfunction can lead to a disruption in neurochemical activity. So low thyroid hormones T3 and T4 absolutely impacts neurotransmitter signaling. It can lower the activity of basically all of the neurotransmitters. We can see anxiety as a symptom of both low thyroid hormone and also high thyroid hormone. Now, I want to just say just having anxiety doesn't automatically mean you have a thyroid problem. But if anxiety is presenting and it pairs with other symptoms, then it might be something for you to think about. So I'm just going to kind of run through the list of some symptoms of hypothyroid.
Erin Holt [00:19:55]:
Brain fog, poor memory, fatigue, if you're losing your hair, hair on your head, outer third of the eyebrows, having dry, brittle hair, dry skin. Itchy skin, constipation, sluggish bowels, feeling cold all the time, having cold extremities, hands and feet, poor circulation, joint pain, muscle pain. All of that can be symptoms of hypothyroidism. And then we can see symptoms of hyperthyroidism that kind of mimic a lot of anxiety symptoms. So heart palpitations, trembling, an increased pulse rate even when you're at rest, nervousness, insomnia, night sweats, having a hard time gaining weight. I kind of sometimes refer to it as like the feelings of being over caffeinated. You know, when you've just drank way too much coffee. That can kind of what it feels like.
Erin Holt [00:20:44]:
And with Hashimoto's, which is autoimmune thyroid dysfunction, it can oftentimes be a mix of hypo and hyperthyroid symptoms because your metabolic rate is kind of like swinging around. So, like I said, just anxiety alone is not enough to say, like, gosh, I should really get my thyroid checked. But if it's pairing with some of those symptoms, then that really should be something that you couldn't consider and look into. Hormones is another big one. If you've just got cortisol cranking all of the time, that can absolutely contribute to feelings of anxiety. Another really common one is low progesterone. So progesterone converts to a neurosteroid called allopregnanolone, and that really influences GABA. Remember, GABA is that calming neurotransmitter.
Erin Holt [00:21:38]:
And so progesterone can have a very calming effect, and low progesterone can have the opposite. It can make us feel anxious or have difficulty sleeping, just feel like real revved up. So if you notice that your anxiety tends to be more cyclical, meaning it comes at certain times of your menstrual cycle. It's not all the time. It just tends to kind of come and then it goes. That could be something to look into, perhaps your not ovulating and or you've got low progesterone. Other hormones can be at play here as well, just because hormones in general impact neurotransmitter signaling. So low estrogen, for example, leads to low dopamine activity, low serotonin, low acetylcholine activity, low progesterone, as I said, lowers GABA activity.
Erin Holt [00:22:29]:
And then low testosterone can also pair with low dopamine activity. So our hormones, our sex hormones are influencing our neurotransmitters, which can absolutely influence our mood and anxiety. Now, in Your Hormone Revival, we test for all of this. I do feel that this is a situation where testing can come in so helpful because it can help you pinpoint exactly what is going on on a physiological level. Your Hormone Revival is available for self study, so you can purchase it anytime. Not only do you get the education about your hormones, but you also get lab testing. We test for thyroid. We do a full thyroid panel.
Erin Holt [00:23:13]:
We test for blood sugar, and we test all your sex hormones as well. And you get an appointment with one of our practitioners to go over everything and help your on your path to feeling better. We run a DUTCH test. And one thing to note on a DUTCH hormone test, we look at estrogen clearance on that test. And one of the ways that we do this is by looking at COMT enzyme activity, sometimes called COMT enzyme activity. This enzyme helps to methylate estrogen and clear it out of the body. That's part of phase two detoxification. But what's really interesting is that this same enzyme also works on your stress neurotransmitters.
Erin Holt [00:23:56]:
So if we see slow activity here, which we can absolutely see on a DUTCH test, we can see estrogen dominant symptoms for sure. Not necessarily because you're making too much estrogen, but because it's having a difficult time clearing out of your body. But we can also see more anxiety because you're not effectively clearing out your catecholamines, your stress neurotransmitters, they are basically remaining in your body longer than they should be. And that can make you feel wired and anxious because these things are supposed to make them use them, clear them, make them use them, clear them. And if they're just kind of like pumping basing through your system, you're going to feel the effects of that. So that's something that we can see on a lab report. And when we can see that on a lab, we can really help to support you in a very targeted and practical way. Okay, so thyroid and hormones can have an influence over your mood.
Erin Holt [00:24:57]:
Another really biggie, and this is a basic one, is circadian rhythm disruptions. There is a bi directional relationship between mood disorders and circadian rhythms. And our bodies are designed to be synced up with the sun. Our bodies are designed to have access to the outdoors. And so if we are removing that from our bodies, then we cannot be shook and shocked that our bodies are not functioning the way that they should or our moods are not functioning the way they should. It reminds me of the very first line in Gabor Mate's most recent book, the Myth of Normal. He says in the most health obsessed society ever, all is not well. Then he goes on to say that chronic illness, mental or physical, is to a large extent a function or a feature of the way things are. Not a glitch, a consequence of how we live, not a mysterious aberration.
Erin Holt [00:25:55]:
So we can't look around and see that the way that we're living our life. We've got a screen in our face 23 hours out of the day. We fall asleep to screens. We're scrolling and scrolling and scrolling. We're not eating well. We're barely moving our bodies, we're not going outside. Our stress is like all over the place. So we can't be like wow, it's so weird that so many of us have anxiety and mood disorders.
Erin Holt [00:26:18]:
How strange. Like this tracks. We have strayed so far from the stimulus that our bodies and our brains have come to expect. So of course things are going to feel wonky and haywire like. Of course they are. Episode 264 I talked to Dr. Catherine Clinton and she talked about quantum biology and our health. That's a really great listen as it comes to circadian rhythm and why it's so important to be outside and to get safe sun exposure.
Erin Holt [00:26:50]:
She said that research from 2017 shows that each one of our skin cells contain a circadian clock. These clocks are tightly attuned to the rhythm of the sun. So we have mechanisms in our body that keep us healthy and the sun is required for this. So one of the best things you can do if you are experiencing chronic anxiety is to go outside. It's to spend time outside. It's to wake up in the morning and rather than pick up your phone and crank coffee, tiptoe your way outside. Get some sun into your face. Feet on the earth, bare feet if you can.
Erin Holt [00:27:30]:
The frequency of the Earth's electromagnetic field. It's almost like the Earth has its own heartbeat and our bodies can attune to the vibration. And when we do this, it actually helps to shift our brainwave activity. So this can be a really grounding and calming practice. First thing in the morning, go outside, get sun in your face. If that's not available to you, just get outside. At some point during the day, if you spend most of your days inside, indoors with not natural light, it's absolutely going to impact your mood. If we're not spending time in nature, time with the sun, that's going to impact our health, including our mental health.
Erin Holt [00:28:14]:
Okay, so that's another one and then another biggie is the gut-brain axis. And I could probably teach like an eight hour course on this alone. So this is going to be grossly oversimplified. But essentially any imbalance in the gut or in the microbiome can lead to mood imbalances. Because the gut and the brain talk to each other. And they talk to each other bidirectionally. Meaning that the brain is communicating down to the gut, and the gut is communicating up to the brain and our digestive system.
Erin Holt [00:28:47]:
Our gut has its very own nervous system, and that's communicating with the brain via the vagus nerve. So your gut is your brain is your gut is your brain. So it makes sense that any imbalance in the gut will absolutely impact the brain and your mood. And then in addition to that, nervous system, contact microbiota. So the critters in our gut, the bacteria and other stuff in your gut have a direct influence on mood. The bacteria in our guts produce and modulate neurotransmitters. So we actually have bacterial species that live in our gut that produce dopamine, norepinephrine, GABA, acetylcholine, serotonin. So it makes good sense that our gut is going to impact our mood.
Erin Holt [00:29:33]:
Anything that modifies, changes, or rearranges the metabolic activity of the microbiome, this includes stress, this includes your diet, this includes antibiotics, this includes probiotics, can absolutely modulate the emotion generating circuits. So anything that influences our gut bacteria can also influence our emotion and our mood. And this is why such a big focus or part of the reason why such a big focus of the Carb Compatibility Project is on gut health. People go through these four weeks and they feel better, not just physically, but mentally, emotionally, their brains work better. And a lot of that has to do with the fact that we are balancing your blood sugar. But a lot of that has to do with the fact that we're also supporting gut health. So that's just really something to think about. When it comes to generalized anxiety disorder, there are studies that show a correlation between generalized anxiety and decreased microbial richness in diversity, decreased short chain, fatty acid producing bacteria.
Erin Holt [00:30:45]:
So if we are missing certain species in the gut, that can trigger in tripwire anxiety, okay, so there's a huge link between our gut and our mood. And since we're talking about gut stuff, I also want to bring up the diaphragm. I've been thinking about it a lot lately. During times of high stress or emotional intensity, this muscle, this muscle that essentially helps us breathe, it can get rigid or bound down or tight or stuck. I've had some different hands on body healing sessions, whether that's like visceral manipulation or cranial sacral therapy. And I have been told during times of stress, like, oh, your diaphragm is stuck, I've actually had energy, distance energy healings, where people have said that to me too. So I know that I have a tendency for my diaphragm to kind of get caught.
Erin Holt [00:31:41]:
And so that creates a problem because if our diaphragm is stuck in any way, and I might not be using the exact technical terms, is there like a PT in the audience that's just like, oh, my God, what is she talking about? I don't know if stuck or caught is the appropriate term, but you can pick up what I'm putting down, right? So that's going to impact our ability to appropriately breathe, to take in as much oxygen as we need. And that in and of itself can trigger even more anxiety. So it's like, we get stressed, our diaphragm kind of gets locked up, we're not breathing appropriately, and that can cause more anxiety. When I start to feel my stress and anxiety kick it up a notch like Emeril Lagasse, I personally lean on Ned's Destress Blend. It's a certified organic formula that features two powerful plant compounds, CBD and then the lesser known CBG, which is considered the mother of all cannabinoids because of how effective it is for anxiety and stress. Destress Blend also features ashwagandha, one of my favorite adaptogens. And I think I say that about all the adaptogens, but ashwagandha was my gateway into adaptogenic herbs, so I do have a special love for it. Invest in yourself and fortify your stress response.
Erin Holt [00:33:04]:
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Erin Holt [00:33:39]:
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Erin Holt [00:34:18]:
So if we have any type of tension in this muscle of the diaphragm, that absolutely impacts our parasympathetic nervous system response. So just kind of keep that in mind. Are you breathing? Because I find that when I get real stressed out, I'm not breathing appropriately. And when I take the time to appropriately breathe and do my diaphragmatic pelvic floor breaths, it immediately, and I mean immediately calms me down. So we can get caught up in this anxiety cycle and we kind of forget that we have these really basic, free, readily accessible tools at our disposal, like go outside and breathe. Probably the best antianxiety tool that you have at your disposal right now. Okay, what I think is also super cool and what I'm kind of fixated on right now is the diaphragm also tends to be a place where we store unconscious emotional stuff like unprocessed emotions or grief. In Chinese medicine, the diaphragm is known as the gateway between the upper and the lower parts of the body.
Erin Holt [00:35:43]:
I mean that's pretty like it is kind of like a bridge or like a shield between the upper body and the lower body, right between the upper body and the gut. But on top of that, it's also the bridge between the conscious and the unconscious. So the diaphragm can be an emotional storage point where things get locked up if we're not appropriately processing our emotions. But it can also serve as a gateway to emotional processing. So the breath is just such a portal and such a gateway into so many good things. I figured it was worth a mention. Shout out to the diaphragm unsung hero. You heard it here first.
Erin Holt [00:36:28]:
Love me some diaphragm. Okay, this is all going to bring me to my next quote unquote root cause of anxiety. And it's a biggie so. Drumroll please. Part of anxiety is awakening you to your gut instinct. So chronic generalized anxiety is a signal that something is out of balance. Anxiety presents itself to tell you that, hey, something is off. Something needs your attention, something needs to be different than it currently is and that something can be physical, which is why we just talked about all of that.
Erin Holt [00:37:03]:
But sometimes it's beyond the physical body. Sometimes your intuition speaks to you via anxiety. In episode 263, I talked about how to listen to your intuition. So it's a really good one to listen to. And I talked about purpose and I asked, are you not living out your purpose? In the book The Big Leap, Gay Hendricks refers to diseases of unfulfillment. He sees when somebody is not living out their purpose, when somebody's not expressing their full potential, they can get illness with vague, hard to diagnose symptoms. And I would absolutely unquestionably lump anxiety into this. When there's a part of you somewhere that knows you are not living your highest potential, you are not doing the thing you are meant to do.
Erin Holt [00:37:50]:
Anxiety might be part of your intuition or your gut instinct communicating that to you. And the beautiful irony of this is that I am recording this episode, which is totally not planned at a time where I've been experiencing massive anxiety for like a week. Like serious deep anxiety. Now fortunately, I have people in my life that are willing to hold space and go deep and have the big conversation. As I take myself through my own process of figuring out what is going on with me, I'm kind of figuring it out. And it probably warrants a podcast at some point. And by the way, it has everything to do with work and my relationship to working. So there's a little teaser for you.
Erin Holt [00:38:42]:
But my anxiety is an initiation. Sometimes I choose to see it as an initiation where it helps me understand myself more deeply. So you can also choose to see your anxiety that way, helping you get a deeper understanding of yourself, meeting yourself at deeper levels than ever before. In doing this can actually help to create more trust in yourself. And like I talked about in that episode about intuition, more trust in yourself can really be the antidote to anxiety because a lack of trust in yourself can fuel anxiety. And so this is why I don't pathologize my anxiety. I don't medicate my anxiety. I used to.
Erin Holt [00:39:31]:
In 2007, I weaned myself off of antianxiety and antidepressant depression medication. And I incidentally, that is the same year I found energy medicine and started studying energy medicine. And obviously this is not a dig or critique on anybody who is taking those medications whatsoever. It's just that I have observed in myself over the past 15 plus years that anxiety for me requires a different kind of medicine. Emotions are the language of the body. And so anxiety can be your body's way of communicating with you. So when it pops up, when it presents itself, I give myself the opportunity to sit with what is coming up and I create space to hear those messages. I'm not trying to mute the messages because I'm done betraying myself.
Erin Holt [00:40:25]:
Betraying myself begets more anxiety. You understand that? Turning away from myself, going dark on myself, that is what causes the anxiety to fester and to even become panic attacks. That was my early 20s. I've lived that life. I don't want to do that. I'm done turning away from myself in my greatest times of need. I'm done ignoring my inner asks. When my anxiety speaks, I listen.
Erin Holt [00:40:50]:
And so when I say my anxiety requires a different kind of medication, this is exactly what I mean, being willing to be with myself. So if you're experiencing anxiety, you can think about that and you can see if that resonates for you. The last little thing that I will say, and for the sake of time, I'm not going to get into a whole robust conversation, but it definitely requires, warrants, a whole robust conversation. But sometimes when you're feeling anxiety, it can be indicative that you are actually feeling other people's energy or you're running other people's energy through your body. It could be more of a collective thing. And so having a way to discern is this mine or is this somebody else's? Is really huge. Running other people's energy through our bodies, through our spaces, through our energy fields can absolutely present like anxiety.
Erin Holt [00:41:48]:
And it's not because other people's energy is toxic, but it's because your energy field is designed for your energy. It's not designed to be occupied by other people's energy. It's not a vibrational match. Oftentimes we feel what we feel in the physical body actually starts out in the energy field, in the biofield first. So it's important that you have a process of identifying, is this even mine? You have a process to clear other people's stuff out, to call your energy back to you. And this is even more important if you're prone to anxiety, especially if you're somebody who tends to be more empathic or a highly sensitive person. Finding a way to create energetic boundaries is really, really huge for not just our physical health, but our mental and emotional health and well being. I think I'm going to do a master class on this, so stay tuned for that because it's a biggie like I said, also come back on Thursday because I'm talking a little bit more about what it means to be in your energy and you might vibe with that conversation.
Erin Holt [00:42:58]:
So to close out, these are some questions to ask yourself if you're experiencing generalized anxiety. 1, am I eating breakfast, right? If I'm being honest with myself, am I fueling myself appropriately? Do I even know what that means? Do I even know what it means to fuel myself? If you don't, it's okay. Join the Carb Compatibility Project and I will teach you. I will hold your hand through the process. You can ask yourself, do I feel more energized after I eat? Feeling more energy after you eat a meal is a good indication that you are having low blood sugar leading up into that meal. And we've already established that low blood sugar can trigger anxiety. Okay? You can ask yourself, are there more physical symptoms going on than just anxiety? So are you experiencing fatigue or joint pain or digestive issues? I will say from experience, anxiety can definitely amplify symptoms, can rev them up, can make them feel worse.
Erin Holt [00:43:59]:
So it's kind of like anxiety can sprinkle like a little magic dust on anything going on in your body, really amplify things. You can ask, does anxiety present cyclically or is it all the time? If it's more of a cyclical thing, okay, what's going on at the time? Does it pair with a certain phase of my menstrual cycle? Another good question to ask yourself do I spend the majority of the day inside? Do I get any exposure to nature, green spaces, blue spaces? Do I expose myself to the sun? Am I on a screen all day long? Am I on a screen all night long? Cool. You're wearing your blue blocker glasses, but do you still have a screen in your face? And then where am I fixating on the past or the future? Where am I disallowing myself the medicine of the present moment? Am I allowing myself to be where I am, where my feet are? Or is my mind caught up in things that happened in the past? Or hyper fixating on what's going to happen in the future and projecting, like, fear based projections into the future. Where am I not trusting myself? Where am I not trusting the flow of life? Where do I feel unsupported or helpless to change things? Is that really true? Is it really true that I'm completely unsupported? Is it really true that I'm totally helpless to change my situation? Is there something I need that I'm ignoring? Where is my worry or concern for other people overriding my ability to caretake myself, to caretake my own needs, to caretake my own emotions? So those questions can all be trailheads in to help your self identify what is causing my anxiety? Is it more of a physical body thing? Or is it something deeper than that? So I hope that helps you. We can talk about more stuff relating to anxiety. Send us an email DM us and we're happy to help. See you Thursday. Thanks for joining me for this episode out of the Funk'tional Nutrition podcast.
Erin Holt [00:46:17]:
If you got something from today's show, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, share with a friend, and keep coming back for more. Take care of you.
