Nutrition Essentials: Is Your Diet Stressing You Out? with Melissa Young, MD

Podcast Transcript

John Horton:

Hey there and welcome to another Nutrition Essentials Podcast, a spinoff of our popular Health Essentials show. I'm John Horton, your host. There's no question about the link between food and stress. Anyone who has turned to a pint of cookies and cream ice cream during a tough time understands that connection, but the food-stress relationship is a two-way street. Just as stress levels can affect your food choices, your food choices can affect your daily stress levels. What you eat may be putting your body in a state of internal distress, which can lead to anxiety, fatigue, even depression.

Today, we're going to take a closer look at how diet shapes our mood and mental health. As always, we have registered dietitian, Julia Zumpano on hand, to look at the topic from the nutrition side. To learn more about the importance of managing stress, we brought in our go-to expert from Cleveland Clinic Center for Functional Medicine. We'll let Julia make that introduction.

Julia Zumpano:

Thanks, John. The practice of medicine is more than just, well, medicine. Lifestyle choices involving diet and stress management can play a major role on how people feel. Dr. Melissa Young takes that holistic approach to help people achieve optimal wellness. I'm looking forward to comparing notes with Dr. Young on how certain foods can reduce stress and allow people to feel better both physically and emotionally.

John Horton:

That's a great goal, Julia. Let's start working towards it. Dr. Young, it is so fabulous to see you again. Thanks for joining Julia and me on the Nutrition Essentials Podcast.

Dr. Melissa Young:

Thank you so much for having me back and these discussions are so exciting. So, I'm really pleased to be here.

John Horton:

Well, they always are when you're with us.

Dr. Melissa Young:

Thank you.

John Horton:

Let's jump into our topic. We're all pretty familiar with the idea of eating during stressful times. I mean, there's a reason why we chow down on things called comfort food, right? But I've never really thought of food creating a stressful response in our bodies. It totally flips the script. Dr. Young, how does this happen?

Dr. Melissa Young:

So I mean, I think the concept of food as medicine has never been more important, and we're understanding more and more about how food influences the body. Food and mood are definitely linked. That's clear in the medical literature. I think about what we choose to eat and what foods we choose to avoid influences many systems in the body. There's again, clear medical evidence that nutrition affects our mental and emotional well-being. It influences our risk for anxiety and depression, but it's so interesting because certain foods trigger physiological reactions in the body that can lead to increase in blood pressure, heart rate, blood sugar, and in particular diet in high-end processed foods.

So, foods, high-end sugar, refined carbohydrates, thinking about the white foods, white bread, white rice, candy, cookies, things like that leads to inflammation in the body. Also, really important, they're stripped of important nutrients that the body needs. So, these foods trigger this what I call roller coaster ride of blood sugar. So, your blood sugar goes high, it crashes. That creates stress hormones. It creates cravings for sugar. So, that roller coaster is going to produce excess cortisol, our main stress hormone and insulin that triggers the fight-or-flight state, so sympathetic nervous system.

All of this leads to inflammatory chemicals, free radical production of the body. Those are damaging chemicals. I like to think about they rust and age the body, and it disrupts the balance of the beneficial bacteria in the gut. So, all this can lead to mood changes like in the short-term fatigue, but then increases our risk then down the road for developing things like anxiety, depression, obesity, diabetes.

John Horton:

Wow, that was a lot going on there. So, clearly, as you laid out what you eat, it does so many of these physical changes. You said blood pressure, blood sugar, your heart rate jumps, GI issues, inflammation, all of that. That all makes so much sense with what it does to your body, but I'm still a little how that then affects your mental health. Everything we just brought up seems very physical. So, how do those changes open the door for anxiety and depression to set in?

Dr. Melissa Young:

Definitely, and lots of connections here. Studies are showing that anxiety disorders are linked with those stress hormones and inflammation. They're showing links between mood disorders and the balance of our gut bacteria. As well diet high in the process foods, as we were talking about, leads to nutrient deficiencies and even insufficiencies, just not quite enough, even if that's deficient. Those are critical nutrients. So, B vitamins, minerals, really important for our brain health, but as well, there can be changes in our antioxidant status if we're not getting all those good fruits and veggies. That leads to the free radical damage. That leads to inflammation. It impacts the gut. Many people have heard of leaky gut.

So, if we have leaky gut, we can have a leaky brain, so meaning inflammation. All of that over time really increases the risk of anxiety and depression. Most people may not know about neurotransmitters and how a lot of them are produced in the gut. What's interesting, gut bacteria are the producers of neurotransmitters like GABA and serotonin, which are the common neurotransmitters. So, we need the right foods and nutrients for them to produce them. Some studies show intake of probiotic-rich foods lowering social anxiety. Mediterranean diet has been showed to lower depression.

Recent research actually shows dietary fiber as one of the most important factors in fighting anxiety and depression. Links between anxiety and lack of those nutrients, sugar and artificial sweetener intake by disrupting the microbiome leads to anxiety, lack of omega-3 fats and too many omega-6 fats. Of course, we'll jump into these details more in detail, but it's through all these interconnected mechanisms that these changes in our diets lead to anxiety and depression, mood changes.

Julia Zumpano:

Dr. Young, I think you made so many great points. Most of the time we see patients and they don't connect their feeling ill... I mean they come to us with other physiological issues. Then as we go along and discuss and talk to them, they talk about their depression or the anxiety comes up and it's actually one of the main concerns for them, but they've never connected it to their diet or what they're eating or even their inflammation. I think this is such a phenomenal time that as you mentioned, understanding that food is medicine and then our body, they're not individual parts. They're all together.

That's the key here is that it's a whole body system. So, if you have inflammation in your gut, it's going to affect your brain and your neurotransmitters and your mood. It's also deeply connected. I know the gut-brain connection is a big one. Do you want to briefly discuss what that is?

Dr. Melissa Young:

Absolutely. So, there's an intimate connection between our gut and our brain. Just as we touched on, most people aren't aware most of our neurotransmitters are actually made in the gut, and the gut is really termed the second brain. It's called the enteric nervous system. It is highly influenced by the trillions, yes, trillions of good bacteria that should make up our gut microbiome. There's a bidirectional communication between the enteric nervous system and the central nervous system in the brain. So, the bacteria in our gut produce anti-inflammatory chemicals, neurotransmitters, vitamins, also something called short chain fatty acids that are anti-inflammatory may protect us against bad bacteria and toxins.

But really important, there's this crosstalk between both systems and those chemicals are going to talk to our central nervous system. Those people who have irritable bowel know that their symptoms can worsen under stress and there's a higher incidence of mood disorders in people with IBS. So, those systems are so intimately connected and critical when we're thinking about the influence of food on our guts.

John Horton:

Dr. Young, you had mentioned cortisol earlier too, and I know that that's the stress hormone. We always think of that kicking up when you're in a stressful situation, but you're telling us just food in and of itself can just get that system cranking.

Dr. Melissa Young:

Yes. So, it's again, what we choose to eat that can calm that system. Julia and I'll talk more about that in the certain nutrients like omega-3 fats among others, but then the inflammatory foods or stimulating foods like too much caffeine are going to trigger that system and create an increase in the sympathetic fight-or-flight system. So, that's when your heart races and you feel that your blood pressure is high. It goes both ways, which is so exciting, because what we eat really can influence the calming of the system in addition to all the wonderful things we've talked about in the past with stress management techniques.

Julia Zumpano:

Dr. Young, correct me if I'm wrong, but everyone has this unique level of cortisol and how it rises and falls and everyone's level is individual, right? But if you are prone to having those spiky levels of cortisol or they tend to be spiked throughout the day, maybe more of an anxious person, more of a high stress person, if you are consuming foods that are going to stimulate that to occur more, you're only going to skyrocket that more higher.

So, those are those sensitive people that diet can really play a role in minimizing that stress response throughout the day. Vice versa, if you tend to have those low cortisol levels and maybe even have trouble getting up and running, diet can really play a role naturally in a very safe and great way, start to naturally help support the body to raise the cortisol when it needs to be and then help it come down appropriate in the right timing.

Dr. Melissa Young:

Absolutely. I mean, I think those influences are so powerful and we do need cortisol to get us going in the morning. There's a normal cortisol rhythm during the day. So, we want it to really function optimally and as you said, not too low, not too high, but we can influence that with food. Especially if we're eating those processed sugary foods and your blood sugar is going sky-high, dropping, you're going to have a compensatory response of the nervous system and cortisol that's going to shoot up and worsen everything and then you're on a roller coaster up and down.

John Horton:

Dr. Young, I think I'd like to jump in here and talk a little bit about stress. Because I think when most of us think of it, you think of a tense situation or something that's going on and that being the stress, but a lot of the stress that we go through, it's within our bodies. So, when you're talking about eating certain things, it's not maybe a tense situation or something that's affecting you in that way, but it's just your body is struggling with some of the things that you put in and it's creating these issues that just cascade.

Dr. Melissa Young:

I agree. I think about certainly, stress is a reaction to external factors and situations in our life, and that's the physiological response. But we definitely can use food to calm that and we can use the stress management techniques, but food can really make a difference here in preventing that response or blunting that response.

John Horton:

Yeah, that's so amazing. That's one of just the fascinating things as we've been doing these Nutrition Essentials Podcast is you see these links between food and all these things happening in your body that you just don't connect with what's on your plate.

Dr. Melissa Young:

Absolutely, yup.

John Horton:

So since we've been talking about all the stuff that food can do to you, I think we should probably start breaking down the foods that you should either avoid or gravitate towards. So, from everything we've said, there's certain foods that definitely seem to trigger stress and anxiety and lead to some of these nutritional deficiencies. What should we be avoiding, Julia? What are the things that shouldn't be on our table?

Julia Zumpano:

Great question, John. So, Dr. Young beautifully touched on a few things. Specifically processed foods, we really want to avoid processed foods, snack foods, packaged foods. They're high in refined flours, sugars. Those foods tend to spike those blood sugars up high. It may give you that boost of energy initially, but then plummets your blood sugar, drops it, and then makes you feel, again that low feeling, craving those sugars again. It's this vicious cycle of consuming these high sugary foods to get that artificial energy and boost, but it's wreaking havoc on our system and our cortisol levels, not to mention the fact that there's very little of any nutritional value to these foods.

John Horton:

These are the vending machine items that you're seeing so often, right?

Julia Zumpano:

Yeah, yeah, processed, packaged, snack foods, and then to couple with that, the sugary foods, so plain old sugar as we think of it, and soda or sweetened drinks and candies and cookies and cakes and pies and jams and jellies and chocolate and candy bars and whatever form you could be taking it in. There's so many options. But those sugary foods, those processed foods, those are definitely a big no-no, especially when it comes to spiking and dropping that blood sugar.

Caffeine can be that stimulant, can create that stimulant effect, but a lot of times it can lead to that spiking cortisol and that feeling of anxious. It can increase the levels of anxiety and stress. So, not just coffee that we think of caffeine, but energy drinks, even tea depends on how sensitive, dark chocolate, even some milk chocolate will have some caffeine. So, caffeinated beverages can certainly lead to some influence there too.

John Horton:

Yeah. Dr. Young, I know we were talking ahead of the podcast. You were really focused on caffeinated products and what they can do with stress.

Dr. Melissa Young:

Yeah, definitely. Julia definitely described that beautifully of a little caffeine for the average person I think is just fine. I have one cup of coffee in the morning myself, but in the sensitive person, and that may be someone with anxiety, of course, or just excess caffeine and coffee, tea, definitely the energy drinks just leads to overstimulation of the nervous system. Then also it often impacts sleep, which is going to also set us up for the changes, the spikes and drops in cortisol, blood sugar and anxiety, so risk of anxiety. So, a little bit goes a long way there. Some people actually might benefit from just avoiding caffeine altogether.

Julia Zumpano:

I know even some people metabolize caffeine in different rates too. So, you have to recognize are you a fast metabolizer or a slow metabolizer of caffeine? So if you can pinpoint if it takes caffeine a long time to get out of your system, then that will certainly affect your sleep. Even maybe if you're having it at noon, it could certainly still affect sleep or it can certainly still affect anxiety throughout the day. So, it's very important I think to be self-aware when it comes to all food, but specifically caffeine.

Dr. Melissa Young:

I agree. I mean our detox pathways are all different, speaking about caffeine here. As many women go through menopause, they may actually metabolize caffeine more slowly. For some, it may stay in the system for up to 24 hours. So, something to really check in with yourself and see if that's affecting you.

John Horton:

So Julia, you were midway through your list there. We went over the processed foods, the added sugars, caffeine. What other things should we be looking to limit?

Julia Zumpano:

Sure. So, fried and fatty foods, fast foods, again coupled with those processed foods, but think things like drive-through, restaurants, anything quick and easy, convenient stuff can be pretty fatty, fried. Of course, alcohol can definitely stimulate anxiety and stress, especially the more you drink and the more frequent. An occasional drink here and there may be fine for you, but again, that's like caffeine. You really have to recognize your threshold and how your body reacts to alcohol. Most people, it's great to avoid it, especially if you are more in that anxiety or stressed state, which is the opposite of what most people do. They may pour that glass of wine after a hard day thinking that it may help them, but in the end, it really doesn't.

John Horton:

Julia, that was a great point and I'd like to explore this a little bit. All of these foods that you mentioned all seem to fall in that comfort food category. So, when we're feeling stressed or we're feeling just really worn out from the day, these seem to be the foods that we lean on a lot, and yet they also seem to be the foods that are going to make the situation worse. That's a bad combo.

Julia Zumpano:

Sure. One key point, John, to mention is that if you are consuming all these ultra processed foods, sugary foods, caffeine, alcohol, fried foods, you are likely not meeting your nutrient needs because these foods are void of nutrients. So, most of the time you're consuming these foods, not consuming the adequate foods that are going to support a healthy mental system and mental health, and then that's going to lead to nutritional deficiencies. So, nutritional deficiencies are a big issue and they have been definitely correlated with more stress and anxiety.

John Horton:

Dr. Young, why do we gravitate towards some of these comfort foods that I mean clearly just aren't the best for us?

Dr. Melissa Young:

They give us a quick boost of blood sugar, a quick boost of cortisol, which maybe in the very short term makes us feel better, but then you get on that yo-yo, that roller coaster where it creates that whole cascade that's really going to make things worse. Julia can also speak to this more, but if we can get more of the good things in and the foods with fiber that keep us satiated, protein as well that keeps our blood sugar stable, we're less likely to need to reach for those processed foods that give us the quick boost but then lead to more trouble down the line.

Julia Zumpano:

Dr. Young, do you often see patients that have nutritional deficiencies?

Dr. Melissa Young:

That's a great question. So, in functional medicine, we really love the science. We do a lot of testing. I really want to know where people are in their nutrient status. I check this all the time and I am still amazed after years and years of doing this, the level of nutrient deficiencies in people, vitamin C, B vitamins, magnesium. We know from some of the studies like NHANES that our soils are quite depleted, especially of minerals.

Not only we have to remember what we eat, which is so important, but if our digestion is poor, we may not get all the nutrients. But yes, I see so much nutrient deficiency as well as I call it insufficiency. People may be at the bottom end of the reference range or have symptoms even if they're not frankly low in a nutrient, but we know therapeutically they'd benefit from a higher dose or supplementation.

John Horton:

All right. Well, let's figure out then how we are going to get that nutrition in and what foods we need to throw in our carts when we're at the grocery store. So, Julia, what are the items that might help us chill out and relax a little and keep our body working the way it should?

Julia Zumpano:

Sure. I'm going to jump on the bandwagon of fiber. Fiber is essential and the reason it's essential is because fibrous foods are prebiotic. So, prebiotic foods feed the good bacteria in our guts, which are the probiotics, those are the bacteria that help keep our immune system healthy, keep our whole body in our digestive system as healthy as possible. So, fiber-rich foods are whole grains, fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds and legumes, which are beans and lentils. So, those are phenomenal sources of fiber. So, incorporating fiber-rich foods every single time you eat is key.

John Horton:

Those are the gut healthy foods. We're talking about the brain-gut connection.

Julia Zumpano:

Yes, and then you have foods that can support and those prebiotic and probiotic foods are very important for a healthy gut. Probiotics are found in fermented foods in things like kombucha and kimchi and sauerkraut, kefir, which is a drinkable yogurt. So, those are great sources of probiotics. Again, just only increasing the amount of those good bacteria you have in your gut.

Dr. Melissa Young:

If I can jump in, one more thing I think about as well are the polyphenols are the plant chemicals in the colorful fruits and veggies and the polyphenols have been also shown to support growth of the beneficial bacteria in the gut. So, you're getting not only the fiber and all sorts of other nutrients, but these polyphenols are so important. So, choosing lots of color if you can on a daily basis, but at least over a week getting lots of those different ones in.

Julia Zumpano:

Yup. I always say, John-

John Horton:

I was going to say, eat the rainbow.

Julia Zumpano:

Eat the rainbow. Eat the rainbow for sure. So, when you fill your grocery cart, you really want to look down and say, "Do I have a fruit or vegetable from every color?" So you want a super colorful grocery cart and that's really where it starts when you plan your meals and you fill your grocery cart, because then it's in your fridge and you'll consume it. So, it's really important to start at the grocery store to fill that cart up with all of those whole colorful foods.

Dr. Melissa Young:

Other things too that I think are so helpful are using herbs and spices. Those are anti-inflammatory. They lower those free radicals we were talking about that are damaging to the body aging and rusting. When thinking about maybe some things like green tea and chamomile tea, those actually have calming properties. So, there's so many foods and certain drinks that we can choose that are going to make a big difference in everything that we've been talking about.

Julia Zumpano:

Absolutely, I agree. B vitamins are essential, specifically B-12. B-12 really aids in your methylation pathways, which Dr. Young, I'll let you talk about. But just to throw in some food sources of B-12, things like liver, clams, sardines, beef, tuna, nutritional yeast, trout, salmon, dairy and eggs. So, think protein is where you get B-12.

Dr. Melissa Young:

Yeah, the B vitamins I think are key for our brain and so many of my patients are self-educated. They do a lot. They listen to podcasts or look at webinars and they're familiar with methylation, especially the MTHFR gene though that's one particular gene related to methylation, but methylation's a really critical process in the body. It's adding a methyl group, so a little bit of chemistry here. It's carbon and three hydrogens and it's added to our DNA. It influences which genes are active or inactive. It's important for detoxification and neurotransmitters, hormone balance.

Especially we think about this MTHFR gene, which so many people ask me about, it's common to have an abnormal variant of one or both of the MTHFR genes, but it's important to know that even an abnormality or variant in that gene is only a potential for an abnormality in expression of that gene. In particular, this one influences how we utilize many of the B vitamins, but especially B-12 and folate. So, we want definitely food sources. For most people ideally who have say the MTHFR gene variant, we want to choose methylated folate and methylated B-12, but really critical process, but sometimes we give too much influence to some of the gene variants.

John Horton:

So Julia, you had mentioned the protein-rich foods, and I know that's sometimes a trouble spot for people because a lot of times you look at beef and pork and some things that can be a little fattier. How are you going to get that protein and not get things you don't want to?

Julia Zumpano:

Well, so you want to choose lean sources of grass-fed protein, beef or pork, poultry. Fish is a phenomenal source of B vitamins, so you really want to increase your fish. Not to mention one thing we didn't mention was omega-3 fatty acids, essential for reducing inflammation. That's where if you follow more a Mediterranean style diet, fish is very abundant in a Mediterranean eating style. So, we're eating fish at least two, three days a week. So, those fattier fish are going to give you the omega-3. They're going to give you the B vitamins and they're going to give you the protein.

So, really that's the way you want to look at nutrition and what you're eating because you want to try to maximize how many nutrients you can get in a single food and that's where whole foods come into play. You're not just getting one thing out of this. You're getting multiple things, multiple nutrients and essential fats, phytochemicals, polyphenols, all of those things that aid your overall health. If you can maximize one food to get so many things, then it's not as overwhelming. So, I think fish is definitely a way to go.

Grass-fed beef is wonderful as well. Eggs are phenomenal. I feel like they've gotten a bad rap over years. I think even with high cholesterol, you can safely have an egg a day. So, egg yolks are a phenomenal source and packed in nutrition, as well as the white where you get the protein. So, I think it's really important to expand the variety of foods you eat and really look at what nutrients those foods can support.

Dr. Melissa Young:

In particular, I was thinking we think about how important the omega-3 fats are. Our cell membranes throughout the body are comprised of fat. So, if we're choosing too much saturated fat, the trans fats, too many of the omega-6s, they get really stiff and all of our communication occurs at the level of the cell membrane. We want fluid flexible membranes, so those wonderful omega-3 fats and all of the monounsaturated fats, so extra virgin olive oil.

Julia Zumpano:

Chia seeds, flax seeds, those are-

Dr. Melissa Young:

Yes, all of those.

Julia Zumpano:

... good sources of omega-3, walnuts, pumpkin seeds, that's where you can get again, plant sources of omega-3, the form of alpha-linolenic acid. So, that's still good. We want a variety though. So, you just really want to maximize healthy fats. They're essential for health.

Dr. Melissa Young:

Yes, definitely. I'm partial too. I agree with Julia. Fish can be a great source of omega-3s and protein. Ideally, choosing, doing some research, if you're working with a dietician, choosing the lower mercury fish, SMASH fish. I never get all of these, but wild salmon and sardines and herring and some mackerel are lower end mercury. I see a lot of patients who are toxic with many different types of toxic exposures and so we want to minimize that while getting all the good fats there.

John Horton:

Julia, they usually recommend limiting the number of servings of fish you have per week, just because of mercury concerns.

Julia Zumpano:

Yeah, generally, 12 ounces is what's recommended, but if you're using low mercury, wild caught fish, I really even think you could exceed that if you're very aware of the source of fish you're getting and you're really minimizing mercury-rich fish. We think tuna, swordfish, tilefish, shark, those are the ones that are high in mercury. I think tuna is probably the most common consumed in American diet. So, canned tuna varieties, you really want to minimize. Look for low mercury canned tuna, fresh tuna that's wild caught, but really space that out few and far between and maximize things like the salmon.

Dr. Melissa Young:

Sardines are actually amazing. When I was doing my integrative medicine fellowship, Andy Weil taught us this recipe of mashing up the canned sardines, some chopped onion, and Dijon mustard on a gluten-free cracker. It's amazing. So, it's worth trying.

John Horton:

Recipe tips too, we have everything on the show. So, when we're talking nutrients too, one that I know I read in advance of this, which I don't think we've hit on, is magnesium-rich foods. Is that something you should be looking for if you're looking to control stress and anxiety through diet?

Julia Zumpano:

Absolutely. Most of us are deficient in magnesium. It's essential. It's responsible for over 300 enzymatic reactions in our body. Magnesium is definitely a super nutrient. Food sources of magnesium, things like almonds, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, chia seeds, black beans, edamame, which are green soybeans, and those greens, those leafy greens like spinach, Swiss chard, quinoa is a great source of magnesium, avocados, bananas, dark chocolate. So, all of these great plant-based foods are great sources of magnesium. Again, good sources of other nutrients like omega-3s and we have some fiber-rich sources in there, polyphenols. So, definitely upping your magnesium intake can certainly help you feel better.

John Horton:

Well, that leads us to the really big question here, which is how much of a difference can dietary changes make for someone if they're dealing with stress and anxiety and they want to bring that down? Dr. Young, when you're working with patients, do you see much of a change if they do make some of these adjustments in how they eat?

Dr. Melissa Young:

I think for most people, the results can be profound. We see very complex chronic patients who maybe have a lot more issues that need to be addressed as well, but the food definitely one is foundational. I would say for the majority of people there's a huge benefit and I'd say for a significant percentage of patients that's all they need is to actually help with lifestyle and the dietary piece. It just makes such an amazing difference for a lot of people.

Julia Zumpano:

I couldn't agree with you more, Dr. Young. We always start with let's clean up the diet first, right? Let's take out the things that could be hurting the situation and add foods that could be helping the situation. Sometimes that alone can make you feel so much better.

Dr. Melissa Young:

For sure.

John Horton:

Dr. Young, so how much of a focus do you typically put on diet when you see a patient with stress or anxiety symptoms?

Dr. Melissa Young:

A very strong focus. So, everyone in our department sees one of our dietitians at least once, but usually on an ongoing basis since I think changing lifestyle and our diet is a process. But in my experience, if we don't have that foundation of healthy food, it makes everything else harder when we're trying to help people heal. So, that is the foundation from my perspective.

Julia Zumpano:

Dr. Young, it's so great to hear that you refer everyone to a dietitian. I think that's awesome. I really think dietitians can really help in the journey of pinpointing which foods could be triggers, helping you develop a better eating plan that's specific to you, help guide you and incorporating some of these new foods and getting all these colorful foods in your diet and slowly start to wean off some of the foods that are not serving you as well. So, I think dietitians can be essential in the role of really help managing some of the symptoms of stress and anxiety.

Dr. Melissa Young:

I agree. I mean I think in this day and age of medicine, we want to individualize things for patients. Even though there's core concepts and core nutrition, some people might need more or less of something, some people might have food sensitivities, which could be discussion for another day, but it's definitely a journey. So, to have a dietitian to be able to just make that journey with patients, I've seen really turn people's lives around when they have that support.

John Horton:

So to help people on this journey, luckily, we have both of you here. So, now we're going to tap into your combined wisdom and get some tips that people can use to use their diet to ease their stress and anxiety and make changes. So, how can they go about doing that?

Julia Zumpano:

Well, first of all, I would say take a little scan of your diet, see if there are influencing foods, some of those foods we talked about that aren't serving your body as well. Can we start to decrease those foods, slowly eliminate those foods, and replace them with some of the foods that will support a healthy whole system, all those foods, whole foods we talked about? So slowly transitioning into that and then even consider an elimination diet to a very moderate degree. Let's just take caffeine. If we know every time you have that second cup of coffee, it seems like your anxiety level rises and you feel more anxious and jittery and more irritable.

Well, maybe just playing around with not having that second cup of coffee and slowly maybe decreasing the volume of coffee you're consuming and seeing how your body's reacting. So, if you already have pinpointed a couple of trigger foods, you can experiment on your own by decreasing them and slowly eliminating them and then even keeping a little journal or a little note on how you feel. You can already tailor your diet on your own just based on the cues your body is giving you in reaction to some of these foods and beverages.

Dr. Melissa Young:

I agree. Yeah, food diary, I think, can be helpful and really checking in. We live in such a busy society that we're often eating on the run and some of these food sensitivities can take up to three days to have a reaction. So, I think that can be helpful and everyone is going to have a different timetable. Slow and steady is good. The more you get some of those good things in, it's going to calm cravings and you're going to feel better. I think it makes it easier to make some of the other changes of slowly eliminating the foods that are not serving you.

Julia Zumpano:

Dr. Young, you made a good point of cravings. We didn't touch base on that. I wanted to just throw out one quick comment on that. We didn't mention that all of those hyper-processed foods and sugary foods are designed to make us crave them. So, the more you consume them, the more you crave them. So, if you struggle with cravings, sugar cravings, caffeine cravings, that's because a lot of those foods are designed to create that craving. So, as you start to eliminate, cut them down, and focus on whole foods, those cravings will significantly decrease if not subside completely.

Dr. Melissa Young:

Absolutely. I see that in those foods and the chemicals and sugar light up the same areas of the brain related to drug addiction. So, absolutely, as you cut those out, you're going to have fewer cravings.

John Horton:

Julia, the advice on that then would just be as people are at the store, you need to stop or not buy as much of that and just really fill your fridge and your pantry with more of these whole foods and things that are going to give you those nutrients you need as opposed to just sugar you up.

Julia Zumpano:

Absolutely. I mean, those foods are going to make their way into our diet here and there, but when you're in control and you're shopping and you're choosing, try to choose whole foods as often as possible if you can't 100% of the time would be great, because we're going to go to a party or go out to eat. Some of those foods will infiltrate into your diet and that's okay here and there. But if you are consuming 80 to 90% of these whole foods, you are going to feel better physically and emotionally.

When you have these other maybe not so healthy foods, you won't want them as much. You might just have a smaller amount and then you may even realize how your body's reacting to them even more. So, just whatever you can control, try to do the best you can in consuming as many whole foods as possible.

Dr. Melissa Young:

Yeah, I think we also, from my perspective, always want to urge patients to be cautious of... There's even in the health food stores, so many of those packaged foods are presented as healthy and they're really not. Your dietitian can help you learn how to read labels to be a good consumer for yourself.

Julia Zumpano:

Really stick to the outside, right? Whole foods, one ingredient food. As I always tell people, one ingredient food, that's what you're looking for.

John Horton:

Well, you always say shop the perimeter of the store, right, Julia?

Dr. Melissa Young:

If you notice on a label that number one, there's more than maybe two or three ingredients and you don't recognize the name of it, put it back.

Julia Zumpano:

I completely agree.

John Horton:

So it truly is amazing, just the effect that food has on our bodies and minds. I want to thank both of you for giving us such a great look at it and a focus. So, before we part ways though, is there anything else you'd like to add regarding the connection between food, stress, and anxiety?

Dr. Melissa Young:

So I think just as a physician, we all experience stress, but if someone really starts to feel overwhelmed all the time or noticing they're really feeling anxious, they're having trouble sleeping, they're overeating or can't eat enough, then it's time to actually really talk to your primary care doc, look at additional options. So, I think that's important to know.

Julia Zumpano:

Great point, Dr. Young. From a nutrition perspective, we provided so much great information here and it can be overwhelming. So, one simple step I would recommend starting is taking one processed food out of your diet and replacing it with a whole food. Whatever your choice might be, just start there one step at a time and then begin to take a step two and replace it with another one and just continue at your pace and every little change will make a positive impact.

John Horton:

Well, that's a great note to end on, Julia. I want to thank both of you for spending time with us today and just sharing so much fabulous information.

Dr. Melissa Young:

It's always a pleasure. Thank you.

Julia Zumpano:

Thanks, Dr. Young. You had a lot of great, phenomenal information to share. Really appreciate your input.

Dr. Melissa Young:

Thank you both.

John Horton:

If you're regularly feeling stressed or overwhelmed, take a moment to consider what's on your plate. Changing your diet may address what you're experiencing. In many cases, the key to feeling better may be eating better. If you liked what you heard today, please hit the subscribe button and leave a comment to share your thoughts. Until next time, eat well.

Speaker 4:

Thank you for listening to Health Essentials, brought to you by Cleveland Clinic and Cleveland Clinic Children's. To make sure you never miss an episode, subscribe wherever you get your podcasts or visit clevelandclinic/he-podcast. This podcast is for informational purposes only and is not intended to replace the advice of your own physician.