Anxiety and Dieting

Do you struggle with anxiety? I would say the majority of my clients do. While anxiety is an issue that obviously occurs independent of your food intake, it is exacerbated by dieting, disordered eating, and eating disorders.

In some cases, dieting and disordered eating directly cause anxiety, while in others, they simply make it worse. There are studies showing that individuals engaging in “rigid” diet strategies develop more anxiety than those engaging in “flexible” diet strategies (I am happy to provide references), but any form of dieting or disordered eating can cause or make anxiety worse.

What’s more interesting is that for many people, eating certain foods or eating to the point of discomfort can help soothe anxiety. This is part of what drives clients who fall into the restrict/binge cycle to do so.

It’s not surprise so many people suffer from food-related anxiety. We receive millions of messages everyday about which food are good or bad, both for health reasons and aesthetic reasons, that it’s virtually impossible to NOT feel anxious about what we’re going to eat.

The thing is, I can tell you something wrong with every food out there. There is no perfect food or perfect way of eating. But most people eat at least three times per day. That’s at least three times per day to overthink and increase feelings of anxiety. And I would argue that anxiety is more damaging than any one thing you can eat.

If you’ve been struggling with anxiety but haven’t examined your relationship to food as potentially part of the problem, I’d urge you to do so.