A Simple Case Of Sugar
by Brien Cole ( September 2006 )
As much as I love the simple cases, the well directed advice, the dietary adjustment which turns it all around, sometimes it is the perplexing cases which open your eyes. Toni was an unusual client. Firstly, Toni couldn’t leave her house as driving or being driven made her extremely anxious, so our first few consultations took place through a combination of email and phone. Toni began my anti-anxiety diet, which she stuck to with considerable resolution; avoiding all the common agitators including artificial sweeteners, flavour enhances, MSG, preservatives and colouring agents; cutting out wheat products; and increasing her intake of fish, fresh green vegetables, natural yogurts, nuts and alternative whole grains, such as oats and barley. Meanwhile, with calming techniques practiced and able to be called upon, she began simply (but not simple for her) driving around the block.
Toni was always racing way ahead of herself. What prevented her from driving was the thought that she would have a panic attack in the car, and when she did, wouldn’t know what to do. The first drive was a fearful affair, but as she readily accepted, she felt much more fear anticipating the event than actually facing the event itself. And while she didn’t feel calm driving for the first time in years, she didn’t feel overwhelmed either. She was beginning to operate from a calmer place, a place where she felt slightly safer, slightly more the “boss” of her anxiety rather than the anxiety being the “boss” of her.
Over the next few months, Toni began driving further and further afield. She allowed her husband to be in the car with her, something she didn’t want to do before - “What if something happens to me which hurts him?” - and allowed him to drive her places, which was actually harder for her, since if she wasn’t in control of the car how could she turn around if she was about to have an attack? Driving, or being driven, made Toni extraordinarily anxious, yet in nearly every other aspect of her life she is a capable and skillful person. She had found a way to run her own business from home, she had a good marriage and a supportive, if slightly dysfunctional, extended family.
The one other aspect of her life which wasn’t okay was that Toni wanted to, but couldn’t, fall pregnant. Anxiety decreases the libido and can, in and off itself, cause infertility. How many times have you heard of people giving up trying to fall pregnant only to find that the moment they give up, they succeed? The stress of trying had become the problem. Toni, however, was not about to leave any stone unturned in her quest to become pregnant. She began having a battery of tests to find the problem. It is the fertility which was the enlightening part of this case. I had explained to Toni how simple sugars mimic anxiety. When we are anxious our bodies are flooded with sugar, to provide energy for our muscles in order for us to run from danger. If we flood our bodies with simple sugars, usually in the form of some kind of “sweat”, we create a state identical to anxiety in our bodies. Unfortunately, our bodies are very subtle but not very discriminating; a state identical to anxiety is anxiety as far as our bodies are concerned. Toni was very resolute with her diet; when I suggested dropping anything with simple sugars she did exactly that. What emerged from the fertility tests was that Toni was in fact too low in sugars - her body didn’t metabolize sugars adequately. And that “low sugar” is just as much a stress as “high sugar” is a mimic. The right amount of sugar is the key, but what is right and how do we achieve it?
The right amount of sugar is not something we have to invent. Anyone who has suffered, or knows someone who suffers, from diabetes knows that balancing sugar intake can be accomplished through diet. The same rules apply, avoiding peaks and troughs of sugar intake and availability by eating complex sugars and shunning simple sugars. Complex sugars break down slowly in the body, releasing energy over longer, more sustained periods, while simple sugars are absorbed easily into the bloodstream as quick spikes of energy. Quickly absorbed and quickly used, they mimic anxiety on the way up and induce stress on the way down and yet we continuously reach for them as our comfort foods. The bar of chocolate or bag of lollies which seems to give us a lift is unfortunately doing the exact opposite, increasing rather than appeasing our anxiety. Our anxiety leads us to feeling fatigued once again and we reach for a sugar hit which locks us into a cycle of energy peaks and troughs with an anxiety profile in both directions. What we need to do is the opposite; eat complex carbohydrates which release energy slowly, avoiding the peaks and troughs and buffering us against the “four o’clock munchies”. Low GI and High GI is a convenient index of the speed which sugar is digested and thus released into the bloodstream. High GI foods break down quicker, enter the bloodstream faster, and contribute to the anxiety-provoking peaks and troughs of sugar availability. Low GI foods are the opposite; they break down less quickly and release energy over a longer period. Following a Low GI diet will stabilize our sugar metabolism and help us avoid a significant anxiety trigger.
Aided by this realization, Toni and I fine-tuned Toni’s diet, adding the mineral supplement Chromium plus a combination of Licorice and Ginseng to help stabilize her blood glucose levels. Toni’s anxiety diminished considerably and I had been reminded of the subtlety of our physical reactions. Take a good close look at sugar; how does it work for you? It may be an important part of your anxiety. Two months later, Toni and her husband drove away together for their first holiday in six years.
Brien Cole suffered from anxiety for most of his life, until over three years ago when he attended Bev Aisbett’s anxiety recovery program and began a journey of recovery.
Brien brings his skills as a Naturopath, plus his personal experience and understanding, to his treatment of anxiety disorders. The aim of his approach is based on the knowledge that you cannot be anxious in a relaxed body and through a combination of skills counselling and natural therapies we can learn to calm the body and quieten the mind.
Brien practices Naturopathy in Kooyong Rd, Caulfield.
He can be contacted on mobile 0427 957 605
Phone 9532 9897
Email brienLcole@hotmail.com
Website www.naturalanxietyrecovery.com
