When people think about anxiety, they often think about the underlying mental and emotional reason for it, such as stress from a new job, a problem in their relationship, financial issues, or other stressors connected to something in their life. Many people will seek out the help of a psychologist who will counsel them on ways to deal with the psychological component or thought pattern that brings on anxiety, but not the physiological component.

Insulin and Stress

Your diet is the largest physiological change you can make. The hormone insulin is often ignored, but it plays a big part in our blood sugar. Balancing blood sugar daily is something that needs to be monitored in order to keep a calm state and not bring on anxiety or exacerbate our reaction to situations that would normally cause us anxiety or worry. When a woman has not eaten for several hours, her blood sugar can begin to crash. Symptoms of this can be anxiety, irritability, or even in severe cases, panic attacks. Other things that can cause blood sugar to rise quickly and then fall sharply are abuse of caffeine, alcohol, and refined sugars.

How your Hormones Affect Stress

In addition to balancing your diet, another physiological component of stress is actually hormonal. Women in our society have an overwhelming amount of stress, and unfortunately, this has become the norm. Even girls as young as high school are expected to achieve high grades, participate in extracurricular activities, and have both a social life and a part-time job. Not to mention the added stress of getting into college, paying off their student loans, the pressure of starting their career in a saturated work force, and then, of course, becoming a multitasking mother while also focusing on their career! This constant stress raises the stress hormone called cortisol. When the need for cortisol is high, because our stress is high, the body needs to convert a secondary sex hormone, progesterone, and convert it to make cortisol. This leaves the woman in the state of “estrogen dominance.”

The Role of Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid (GABA)

Most women have plenty of estrogen but are deficient in progesterone. Progesterone is a very calming hormone. It increases the brain neurochemical called Gamma-Aminobutyric Acid (GABA). GABA is very calming and relaxing, and it is the neurochemical that many of the benzodiazepine drugs will try to increase. These drugs are of course very addicting. However, there is good news! You can balance your hormones naturally by raising progesterone levels and lowering cortisol. This is the best way to calm the body and to alleviate anxiety.

BeBalanced uses a homeopathic formula in our balancing creams. Our creams are absorbed through the skin so that the hormones are able to balance quickly. This helps provide a balanced hormone foundation to avoid excess worry and anxiety on a daily basis. Daily eating patterns are also very important to maintain blood sugar balance providing more stabilization, or as I like to say, “the icing on the cake,” in a woman feeling her best!

Some Tips on How to Balance Your Blood Sugar:

• Do not have caffeine by itself in the morning. Also, have caffeine with some type of protein or fat, as it will help stabilize your blood sugar. My favorite is to put coconut oil and some stevia in my morning coffee.
• Eat every three hours to stabilize and maintain your blood sugar. I try to eat three meals a day and an afternoon snack between lunch and dinner. And always have something to eat an hour before bedtime. This prevents waking up in the middle of night with hot flashes and night sweats, which can be triggered by crashes in blood sugar. A good vegetable protein blend with some medium-chain triglyceride (MCT) oil or coconut oil with coconut or almond milk blended or shaken will taste great and calm you so that you fall asleep easier and sleep through the night!
• Eat protein and some fat, even if it’s just a tablespoon, at each meal. Then add some carbohydrates, such as a grain. If you desire flour carbohydrates, such as bread or crackers, it is even more important to watch the protein and fat content in order to balance your blood sugar.
• Take a digestive enzyme daily to aid in breaking down your ingested fat and protein fully. This will allow macronutrients to get into the bloodstream faster and balance carbohydrates that break down quickly.

How BeBalanced Can Help

There are also ways to deal with anxiety such as meditation, sound wave therapy, yoga, Reiki, or counseling. The body cannot be ignored in this process, though, because everything is connected. By stabilizing the sex hormones, estrogen and progesterone, with natural hormone balancing, the foundation will be laid for a much calmer state of mind. By adding in simple dietary changes to monitor blood sugar, you will be able to handle normal day-to-day stress, as well as unexpected events, with a calm and rational state of mind. So get balanced for a balanced lifestyle that can truly be anxiety-free.

You deserve to look and feel your best! Let your hormones work to your advantage, not cause stress and anxiety! Balancing your hormones can stabilize your mood and help you feel more centered. To see if you have a hormone imbalance, take our free hormone assessment.  At BeBalanced, our healthy weight loss program has helped over 5,000 women reach their goals by balancing hormones and helping affect wellness in all areas of life! You could be next. Don’t lose hope, find BeBalanced!

For more information on any of the topics mentioned here, you can contact your local BeBalanced Center.