The Anti-Anxiety Diet Read online

  Text copyright © 2018 Ali Miller. Design and concept copyright © 2018 Ulysses Press and its licensors. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized duplication in whole or in part or dissemination of this edition by any means (including but not limited to photocopying, electronic devices, digital versions, and the internet) will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

  Published in the United States by:

  ULYSSES PRESS

  P.O. Box 3440

  Berkeley, CA 94703

  www.ulyssespress.com

  ISBN: 978-1-61243-825-2

  Acquisitions editor: Bridget Thoreson

  Managing editor: Claire Chun

  Editor: Renee Rutledge

  Proofreader: Shayna Keyles

  Indexer: Sayre Van Young

  Front cover design: Rebecca Lown

  Cover photos: salmon © Tim UR/shutterstock.com; avocados © Valentyn Volkov/shutterstock.com; berries © Valentina Razumova/shutterstock.com; broccoli © Serhiy Shullye/shutterstock.com

  Distributed by Publishers Group West

  NOTE TO READERS: This book has been written and published strictly for informational and educational purposes only. It is not intended to serve as medical advice or to be any form of medical treatment. You should always consult your physician before altering or changing any aspect of your medical treatment and/or undertaking a diet regimen, including the guidelines as described in this book. Do not stop or change any prescription medications without the guidance and advice of your physician. Any use of the information in this book is made on the reader’s good judgment after consulting with his or her physician and is the reader’s sole responsibility. This book is not intended to diagnose or treat any medical condition and is not a substitute for a physician.

  This book is independently authored and published and no sponsorship or endorsement of this book by, and no affiliation with, any trademarked brands or other products mentioned within is claimed or suggested. All trademarks that appear in ingredient lists and elsewhere in this book belong to their respective owners and are used here for informational purposes only. The author and publisher encourage readers to patronize the quality brands mentioned and pictured in this book.

  To all of you readers and food-as-medicine warriors: may you find hope and direction with a pathway toward mental clarity,

  improved mood, and a mellow state of mind. Take the time and energy to apply the recommendations and honor your body. You

  are worth it!

  Contents

  Introduction

  My Journey into Functional Medicine

  What Is Food as Medicine?

  How Is This Program Different?

  Chapter 1: Anxiety, the Driver of Dysfunction

  The Anti-Anxiety Diet Foundational 6 Rs

  Chapter 2: Remove Inflammatory Foods

  What Is Inflammation?

  Inflammation and Anxiety

  The Top 5 Inflammatory Foods

  Elimination Diet Approach

  Carb Control Is Key!

  Chapter 3: Reset Gut Microbiome

  Why Do Bacteria Matter?

  What Fuels Dysbiosis?

  Drivers of Dysbiosis

  Bacteria and Mood Connection

  Getting Your Microbiome to Work For You

  Plowing the GI Tract with a Bacterial and Yeast Cleanse

  Lifestyle Support for Your Cleanse

  The Power of Fermented Foods

  Chapter 4: Repair GI Lining

  Gut Anatomy 101

  What Is Leaky Gut?

  Gut-Blood Barrier and Immune Reactivity

  Blood-Brain Barrier and Histamines

  Supplements to Support Gut Lining and Reduce Inflammation

  Food as Medicine to Support Leaky Gut

  Chapter 5: Restore Micronutrient Status

  Increased Demand

  Inability to Absorb

  Inability to Use

  Inadequate Intake

  Genetic Drivers toward Anxiety and Nutrient Deficiency

  When Eating Healthy Isn’t Enough and Drugs Don’t Work

  Antioxidants as Anti-Anxiety Support

  Mood-Stabilizing Minerals

  Mood-Stabilizing Vitamins

  Chapter 6: Rebound Your Adrenal Glands

  HPA-Axis

  Cortisol and Anxiety

  “Stressed and Wired” or “Stressed and Tired”?

  HPA-Axis Impact on Your Immune System

  Slowing the Anxiety Drive

  Supplements for Adrenal Fatigue and Stress Resilience

  Chapter 7: Rebalance Your Neurotransmitters

  What Are Neurotransmitters?

  What Influences the Expression of Neurotransmitters?

  Get to Know Your Neurotransmitters

  Balancing Out the Complex Symphony in Your Brain

  Other Considerations to Rebalance your Neurotransmitters

  Food as Medicine to Rebalance Your Neurotransmitters

  Chapter 8: Applying the Anti-Anxiety Diet

  Understanding Macronutrients

  Two-Week Preparation Phase: Cleaning Up and Getting Set!

  Anti-Anxiety Diet Guidelines

  Phase 1: Ketogenic Protocol

  Phase 2: Low-Glycemic Protocol

  Carbohydrate-Containing Foods

  2-Week Meal Plan

  Lifestyle Support

  Closing

  Chapter 9: Recipes

  Breakfasts

  Butternut and Brussels Breakfast Hash

  Caramelized Onion, Turkey, and Kale Egg Muffins

  Sweet Potato Avocado Toast

  Prosciutto Egg Cups

  Smoked Wild Salmon Scramble

  Quick Coconut Yogurt

  Paleo Pumpkin Protein Pancakes

  Pumpkin Nut and Seed Bars

  Coconut No-Oatmeal

  Beverages

  Anti-Inflammatory Electrolyte Elixir

  Stress-Stabilizing Steamer

  Almond Collagen Hot Cocoa

  Matcha Green Smoothie

  Citrus Burst Smoothie

  Snacks/Appetizers

  Electrolyte-Boosting Avocado with a Spoon

  Greek Deviled Eggs

  Mango Zen Fuego Nutballz

  Whole Roasted Cauliflower

  Curry Roasted Cauliflower

  Roasted Almonds with Nori and Sesame

  Asian Braised Bok Choy

  Cashew Cheeze Dip

  Mellow Mama Dressing

  Roasted Colored Peppers

  Lunch/Dinner

  Grass-Fed Beef Knuckle Bone Broth

  Gut-Restoring Chicken Bone Broth

  Creamy Green Chile Chicken Soup

  Zesty Creamy Carrot Soup

  Naturally Nourished Pot Roast

  Warming Chicken Thighs with Braised Greens

  Seaweed Turkey Roll-Ups

  Sweet and Sour Pork Meatballs

  Mediterranean Tuna Salad

  Truffled Egg Salad

  Herb-Crusted Pork Tenderloin

  Almond Flour Chicken Piccata

  Slow Cooker Carnitas

  Carnitas Burrito Bowl

  Spaghetti Squash Bolognese

  Bacteria-Battling Chimichurri

  Simple Salt and Pepper Scallops

  Desserts

  Chia Cherry Thumbprint Cookies

  Chai Gelatin Panna Cotta

  Lime in the Coconut Fat Bomb

  Coconut Chia Seed Pudding

  Grain-Free Low-Carb Peanut Butter Cookies

  Walnut Maca Caramels

  Turmeric Orange Gummies

  Matcha Coconut Gummies

  Appendix

  Exchange List

  Anti-Anxiety Diet Grocery List

  Foods in Moderation

  Foods to Avoid

&n
bsp; Supplement Support for the 6 Foundational Rs

  Advanced Functional Labs

  Selected References

  Acknowledgments

  About the Author

  Introduction

  My Journey into Functional Medicine

  Growing up as a dancer I was always very health conscious. I considered my body a machine and worked to fuel it with healthy foods. Skim milk, whole grain, high-fiber processed products, and diet soda were among my “healthy choices.” In college, I transitioned from majoring in dance to nutritional sciences, with a newfound environmental consciousness, which led me to get involved with sustainable food production and the farm-to-table movement. Inspired by animal welfare networks, I became vegetarian at age 19, then vegan at age 20, substituting animal proteins for soy and meat analogues; they were cholesterol-free, after all, and sustainable, right?

  During this time, my hunger for spreading “healthy eating” and changing the world with vegan advocacy was growing. I wanted to do whatever I could to immerse myself in the field of nutrition and get experience as a dietitian. While taking courses to become a registered dietitian, I worked in a hospital as a diet technician, where I was in charge of adjusting plates to be compliant with guidelines for diabetes, sodium restriction, postpartum nourishment, etc. I coordinated formulas for tube feedings and supplemental shakes with products (often recommended by physicians) that contained corn syrup solids, highly refined soybean oil, canola oil, high-fructose corn syrup, soy protein isolate, and other food-like substances with artificial colorants and flavors to boot.

  I knew that this was not real food or anywhere on the path to nutrition as I imagined it, but it was a step toward understanding how the current medical system views food. In attempts to share the influence of food as medicine with the hospital and staff, I offered a class on probiotics. The class was well received, with nurses, dietitians, and doctors giving positive feedback and asking questions. I had found my calling! I needed a learning environment that would teach me how to use food as medicine rather than as a mere calorie filler.

  I completed my nutrition education at a naturopathic college, Bastyr University, where my philosophies on food were greatly expanded and challenged. I learned about food on a biochemical level: how nutrients, phytocompounds, antioxidants, and enzymes influence the function of the body. I learned about anti-nutrients, or compounds in particular foods (including soy, legumes, and many vegetarian forms of protein) that block the absorption of vitamins, minerals, and nutritional elements. I also learned that the bioavailability of nutrients varies from vegetable to animal. For example, a mere 30 percent of iron is absorbed in the body from vegetarian sources as opposed to 100 percent from grass-fed beef or bison! I became fervently invested in nutritional sciences, picking up any elective courses and opportunities available to immerse myself in a deeper understanding of how food could be medicine. Yet, as the stress of my workload and courses increased, my drive increased, which led to racing thoughts, lack of sleep, and ultimately, a toll on my body.

  During the last quarter of my first year at Bastyr, I did a span of four months as a raw vegan. My system did not receive this well; I was constantly bloated, fatigued, and started getting neuropathy with pain, tingling, and loss of sensation in my hands and feet. Unable to ground my floating brain, I was overwhelmed with constant racing thoughts. My circulatory system was stagnant and I was always cold and clammy, but my commitment to the cause of vegetarianism silenced the signals of my body. After the third year as a vegan and a four-month run as a raw vegan, I started experiencing shortness of breath and significant brain fog, and for the first time, I experienced a chronic onset of anxiety. Beyond persistent worry and negative thoughts, I was also starting to experience panic attacks. Tunnel vision, walls closing in on me, shortness of breath, the proverbial elephant on the chest, and exhausting insomnia all became the norm. I was seeing an acupuncturist, taking Chinese herbs, and stopped eating a raw diet to include more warming foods, but I was not improving. If anything, I was declining. The more I obsessed and searched for a cure, the sicker I became.

  Finally, I went up to the naturopathic clinic and did extensive blood work. I learned that I had an autoimmune disease with elevated antinuclear antibodies (ANA) and a diagnosis of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, along with B12 deficiency and iron deficiency. It was starting to make sense: the neuropathy, the brain fog, and the shortness of breath, the vegan diet void of these nutrients! My naturopathic doctor prescribed a B12 sublingual supplement and an easily absorbable iron supplement for my deficiencies, and provided a handout of vegetarian sources of these nutrients. Even though I had been eating those foods in focused high amounts, I was still deficient!

  I started to see improvement in the shortness of breath and severity of pain but felt that there was something more to it. I still didn’t feel grounded or balanced. As a future practitioner who wanted to use food as medicine, I needed to start with myself, and in this case, that meant incorporating animal products into my diet in order to meet my body’s increased demand for nutrients. I would need to bypass the anti-nutrients in many plant-based foods, and take full advantage of the enhanced bioavailability of animal-sourced nutrients. I had to make peace with becoming an omnivore again to fully heal. I committed to only consuming animal products that were free of antibiotics and growth hormones, and raised in a humane, small-scale environments on a traditional pasture-centered diet. I started with raw egg yolks in my green smoothies, then lightly poached eggs from pasture-raised chickens, then wild fish. Over the course of six weeks, I was consuming two biological sources of protein daily.

  Reincorporating animal products into my diet played a great role in my recovery. It allowed me to lower my consumption of grains and completely eliminate processed grain and soy products, which accelerated my rebound to balanced health! This book will highlight the unique attributes of animal products and how traditional foods such as bone broth and organ pâté, as well as daily inclusion of meat, poultry, fish, and eggs, supports balancing your brain and optimizing mood stability.

  Unfortunately, my healing journey was not complete. While some of my nutrient deficiencies were from inadequate intake, others were from inadequate absorption. I put myself on a quality digestive enzyme to help my body break down food and denser proteins while reducing the inflammatory properties of dairy and gluten.

  Years later, I went to a Wise Traditions conference and met Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride, author of Gut and Psychology Syndrome and creator of the GAPS diet. Learning about leaky gut and its role in driving inflammation throughout the body (Chapter 4), as well as driving autism, ADHD, anxiety, bipolar disorder, dyslexia, and depression, was mind-blowing!

  I started to alter my diet to reduce inflammatory compounds and focus on restoring my gut lining and gut microbiome with therapeutic supplements and strategic diet support. I started to realize that it was the function of my body that was driving imbalance with anxiety and autoimmune flares, which then drove the nutrient deficiency and exacerbated symptoms.

  During my last year in school, I was introduced to functional medicine in my work at the Bastyr Naturopathic Clinic. Here, I was challenged to develop patient interventions beyond a nutritional handout or natural foods approach. For example, when treating a patient with constipation, I would be encouraged to think hard about whether the individual truly needed a handout on fiber-rich foods and a reminder to drink more fluid, or whether the peristalsis (process that moves food through the intestines) was paralyzed by the stress response. I was challenged to try to understand why dysfunction was occurring with my patient rather than simply come up with a way to treat the symptom. I took an elective course, Functional Medicine for the Nutrition Practitioner, and something clicked. It was the missing piece of my educational and clinical experience: learning to get to the root of the patient’s problems.

  For the first time, I understood how to treat people, not diseases! Now focused on an individualized approach, I began tr
eating the whole person and looking to resolve the root cause of dysfunction, rather than managing a symptom, which often yields temporary outcomes. This was the synergy that I craved, to use food as medicine to functionally address imbalance in the body. I began creating targeted treatment protocols using diet and supplement support founded on data unique to each patient and their personal expression of imbalance.

  Finally, through the work of Dr. Jeff Bland and Linus Pauling, I learned about orthomolecular medicine, using nutritional supplementation to support optimized function, and the concept of nutrigenomics, the role of nutritional compounds in influencing genetic expression. I learned that high-dose nutrients could reverse disease, and that our genes are not our destiny but an opportunity! The idea that we could no longer blame our genes for disease was both enlightening and empowering, and this sealed my commitment to functional medicine. I started to understand more thoroughly the roles of stress, mental health, toxins, and hormones as the epigenome, or the lifestyle elements that influence genetic expression. This is where meditation and mindfulness as medication make sense, and the idea that stress can kill is validated.

  What Is Food as Medicine?

  Food as medicine is the understanding that food can contribute to disease and dysfunction or drive optimal organ function and treat or prevent disease. By avoiding inflammatory, processed, or toxic ingredients and food-like substances through a whole food diet, you can begin to experience the benefits of food as medicine. You can take it further by enhancing your diet with the addition of therapeutic ingredients that promote healthy function and lead to optimal metabolic balance. With the use of food as medicine, not only do you avoid the side effects of pharmaceutical drugs, but you can also gain a multitude of medicinal benefits for a single intention.

  When treating a cold, for instance, over-the-counter expectorants can break up mucus or phlegm, but they can cause nausea, nervousness, insomnia, and/or drowsiness. Bone broth, however, can break up mucus and phlegm, and beyond alleviating congestion, it will support your immune system by boosting production of white blood cells and aid in relining the gut microvilli. Bone broth also provides support for anxiety and reduced cravings. Pretty cool for a mug of broth!