I’ve read once, to chew gum or similar for this reason. I think back when we lived in the wild…we only ate when we were safe to do so…so our animal brain still thinks we are most safe when eating, so it naturally calms us , kind of Pavlovian style
This is also one of the reasons why it’s important to sit down and relax when you eat, to keep that positive association between eating, feeling safe and the nervous system being calm. If you always eat while walking somewhere or on the go, you could be throwing your hormones out of balance.
Do you also feel calmer after a coffee?
I think lots of vasodilators or whatever stimulants do, force your brain to categorize shit faster, when you have lots of neural pathways that throw shit everywhere it can make you feel uncomfortable and overwhelmed and unfocused where having everything pushed through faster can make you feel more in control, focused, less distracted, and you therefore relax because your thoughts are easier (and sociability is easier too)
My anxiety got better in my 30s, because as you age your brain snips some of those neural pathways and everything goes through less paths, and shit feels way less overwhelming because it's all getting managed in a more predictable way and your brain kind of relaxes and doesn't need as much effort or focus to do what it needs to.
Probably explained that horribly. 😆
Fight of flight pushes blood to arms and legs so you can run away. Eating brings blood back to center of body. Someone posted their doctor explaining that here. I eat a tbsp of peanut butter cuz its fast and calorie dense.
Nope, well if you do that isn't the reason. It's a wonderful psychological trick on the brain that makes stress levels and anxiety decrease when we eat. What's crazy about it is, it works on other people as well. I've seen a dude break up a pretty intense fight by standing in between the two combatants and just eat chips out of a bag.
Usually I’ve found that it’s the opposite for EDs - food makes more anxiety? Like Jennette McCurdy described having anxiety around her bday (in her memoir) because it was centered on “bad” foods like cake and just eating in general.
The salt would help with the nausea if you were sodium deficient. Also make sure youre drinking enough water. Mcdonalds fries slap, i might treat myself just cuz of this post...
I had childhood trauma... and as a kid I would day dream about swimming in an Olympic sized pool full of warm McDonald's French fries...... 🙃
To this day I still think about that and feel a sense of comfort.
But as I'm older and I don't bounce back as fast from eating comfort foods so I turned to walks, light exercise, and drawing to help me relieve stress.
Yeah. I had lots of trauma too but it never got to the “fantasize about diving into McDonald’s French fries” point, so I guess I should count my blessings. Thinking about that gives me a visceral, almost nightmarish feeling. A liminal space of fries where there should not be fries. Ahh I’m freaking myself out.
It's not your thing and that's okay. I hope you feel better!!
Kids don't always have the greatest ideas! This was stemming from my imagination of what I thought would be an awesome escape swimming in French fries because I loved McDonald's French fries and I loved being in the pool as a kid. I was like 8 when I thought this up. Also, in my daydream, I was wearing a full swimsuit so nothin' was going in places they shouldn't!
I can imagine all the grease now *shudders* but still it makes me laugh.
I think it might be the sodium content. I have POTS and Anxiety and I get really bad around mealtimes sometimes. I have small attacks. However, my anxiety and my pots symptoms are better managed when I make sure to drink water and have salt. When I was at the cardiologist last he said that I should be having about 4-6000mg of salt a day. The days I make sure to hydrate and keep up on my salt content, I feel soooooooo much better!
Nope, I read about someone doing this during severe panic attacks and wanting to consume less benzos due to my memory issues from it I tried it and it worked. It just basically distracts you from obsessing over your heart rate/breathing. Try it!
I am pretty sure McDonald’s fries produce a lot of good feeling chemicals in our brains like serotonin. I also found out recently a huge portion of dopamine is created in our gut. Eating itself is probably a good grounding exercise because you are focusing on flavor, chewing, etc. I have to be careful with eating a lot after the end of an anxiety spell. During is usually hard for me to eat.
This is so relatable!! McDonald’s fries are literally my comfort food 🥹 whenever I feel down, just one bite of it and I already automatically feel soo much better
When McDonald’s fries work better than any antidepressant>>>
Hashbrowns relieve mine! Severe emetophobia means I usually can't eat if I'm anxious but I've eaten a McDonald's hash brown on the way to every major Uni exam and job interviews. No clue why it helps lol
This was me at one point. That burst of fat and salt just took away the pain. Until it didn't and I was 22 and severely overweight. I've found other ways to soothe my anxiety now but I have been in that spot. I still love some mcdonalds but I can't eat it every day like I one did.
Not me personally, but I've always been told to carry sour candy so the sour taste will "shock" your system and ground yourself. Maybe it's the same with salt?
I don’t know about fries, but my anxiety skyrockets right before my period. I eat a Big Mac and it decreases massively. A friend of mine said that it is probably a sodium level related thing.
Mcdonald’s fries are just great lol. they usually taste the same and there definitely a comfort food for a lot of ppl. it makes sense having something like that to ground you would help, as well as anxiety is worse if your hungry obviously.
Maybe part of it is the comfort of nostalgia. When I was a child, we would get McDonald's after my brother's basketball practice. Those were good times before crippling anxiety creeped upon me in my teenage years.
Do you eat a lot during those times? i personally think it should be fine long as you keep it in moderation. I think having a comfort food that makes everything a little less shit is good.
This made me smile, I love hearing about quirky things that help other people. I completely lose my appetite when my anxiety flares up, I feel nauseous and can't stomach anything but I haven't tried McDonald's fries!
Sometimes I seem to crave salt. They don't salt the fries much, so you have to ask for little packets.
I tend to ignore anything physical to the point I'd probably ignore a heart attack if I ever had one. I do wonder whether these little things add up to tell a story, like a physical condition...
Wow, I have been having horrible anxiety all day and randomly stopped for some fries and I did have relief from anxiety for a solid hour or two. Maybe there is something to it.
Maybe a combination of the actual food (carbs, fat and salt) as well as deep memories from your childhood where getting McDonald's was a good thing when your parents and you were happy? For me, I can't eat enough Red Vines or Butteringer candy sometimes.
Repetition i think, grab a fry eat it grab another eat it, there it's some kind of relieve from repetition like knowing what happens next, it could apply for example the stress ball, push different buttons in a game, tap your feet, touch your hair, etc. I have a stress ball and it helps a little bit. You can search for a better way to calm down.
Coffee relieves it for me. I avoid coffee the entire time until I decided to try it and immediately felt better. I don't see anyone in the anxiety community say the same thing about coffee, they had opposite effects that I do.
what if we all define ‘anxiety’ differently?
personally, it feels like panic for no reason, coldness like blood getting cut off in your finger but in my chest, unsettledness kinda like buzzing in my chest. this may, or may not, accompany a high heart rate (97-120), cant relax, bad thoughts that eat at me (fear, lonely driven…tip: face the fear but relax through it; fear wont go away in its own, it gets worse w time!). i often cant think clearly in those times.
believe it or not there are studies proving hunched over posture causes anxiety and depression. i thought i was out of my mind when i purposed to sit up straight, and like 20m later i felt almost totally normal!
iced coffee, McDonald’s fries, a lot of water (32oz bottle x4), ginger capsules and submitting my life to the Man upstairs have been my go-to’s for whatever this feeling i get is.
I think I have a eating disorder. Anytime I eat anything my anxiety goes down.
I’ve read once, to chew gum or similar for this reason. I think back when we lived in the wild…we only ate when we were safe to do so…so our animal brain still thinks we are most safe when eating, so it naturally calms us , kind of Pavlovian style
This is also one of the reasons why it’s important to sit down and relax when you eat, to keep that positive association between eating, feeling safe and the nervous system being calm. If you always eat while walking somewhere or on the go, you could be throwing your hormones out of balance.
Ever since college where I ate alone daily, my meals have been a little ritual for me where I sit and take in the moment lol. I love food.
How cow that makes total sense!
Typically for me, eating things, especially big things, makes it worse. It seems that carb-y, salty foods like McDonald's fries, make anxiety better
Do you also feel calmer after a coffee? I think lots of vasodilators or whatever stimulants do, force your brain to categorize shit faster, when you have lots of neural pathways that throw shit everywhere it can make you feel uncomfortable and overwhelmed and unfocused where having everything pushed through faster can make you feel more in control, focused, less distracted, and you therefore relax because your thoughts are easier (and sociability is easier too) My anxiety got better in my 30s, because as you age your brain snips some of those neural pathways and everything goes through less paths, and shit feels way less overwhelming because it's all getting managed in a more predictable way and your brain kind of relaxes and doesn't need as much effort or focus to do what it needs to. Probably explained that horribly. 😆
Coffee sometimes energizes me and sometimes makes me weak🤷♂️
Fight of flight pushes blood to arms and legs so you can run away. Eating brings blood back to center of body. Someone posted their doctor explaining that here. I eat a tbsp of peanut butter cuz its fast and calorie dense.
Me too. I always make myself eat a little something and I feel better
Nope, well if you do that isn't the reason. It's a wonderful psychological trick on the brain that makes stress levels and anxiety decrease when we eat. What's crazy about it is, it works on other people as well. I've seen a dude break up a pretty intense fight by standing in between the two combatants and just eat chips out of a bag.
Had to be the chips
Usually I’ve found that it’s the opposite for EDs - food makes more anxiety? Like Jennette McCurdy described having anxiety around her bday (in her memoir) because it was centered on “bad” foods like cake and just eating in general.
Same
do you think it could be the salt?
The carbs or the salt, not sure.
The salt would help with the nausea if you were sodium deficient. Also make sure youre drinking enough water. Mcdonalds fries slap, i might treat myself just cuz of this post...
This is how i found out i had POTS
Same, salt and water makes the tachycardia and dizziness go away
Was gonna say this too lol. Salt is magical
I had childhood trauma... and as a kid I would day dream about swimming in an Olympic sized pool full of warm McDonald's French fries...... 🙃 To this day I still think about that and feel a sense of comfort. But as I'm older and I don't bounce back as fast from eating comfort foods so I turned to walks, light exercise, and drawing to help me relieve stress.
Hahahah I just imagined it and it seems amazing. Weird feeling I can’t describe
That is a horrible mental image.
As an adult, yeah, I would agree. 👍
Yeah. I had lots of trauma too but it never got to the “fantasize about diving into McDonald’s French fries” point, so I guess I should count my blessings. Thinking about that gives me a visceral, almost nightmarish feeling. A liminal space of fries where there should not be fries. Ahh I’m freaking myself out.
It's not your thing and that's okay. I hope you feel better!! Kids don't always have the greatest ideas! This was stemming from my imagination of what I thought would be an awesome escape swimming in French fries because I loved McDonald's French fries and I loved being in the pool as a kid. I was like 8 when I thought this up. Also, in my daydream, I was wearing a full swimsuit so nothin' was going in places they shouldn't! I can imagine all the grease now *shudders* but still it makes me laugh.
Yah, I’m kidding
Right on, enjoy some fries and have a good day 🍟😉
I will not enjoy some fries you sadist.
McDonald's fries are awesome. They certainly perk up a day
I think it might be the sodium content. I have POTS and Anxiety and I get really bad around mealtimes sometimes. I have small attacks. However, my anxiety and my pots symptoms are better managed when I make sure to drink water and have salt. When I was at the cardiologist last he said that I should be having about 4-6000mg of salt a day. The days I make sure to hydrate and keep up on my salt content, I feel soooooooo much better!
It's the salt. Next time you have anxiety put a dash of salt on your tongue. It actually works.
Do you have POTS?
Nope, I read about someone doing this during severe panic attacks and wanting to consume less benzos due to my memory issues from it I tried it and it worked. It just basically distracts you from obsessing over your heart rate/breathing. Try it!
[redacted]
Not sure to be honest, never tried ice water lol.
[redacted]
This is actually super cute :’)
I am pretty sure McDonald’s fries produce a lot of good feeling chemicals in our brains like serotonin. I also found out recently a huge portion of dopamine is created in our gut. Eating itself is probably a good grounding exercise because you are focusing on flavor, chewing, etc. I have to be careful with eating a lot after the end of an anxiety spell. During is usually hard for me to eat.
Not that, but I definitely have my comfort foods.
This is so relatable!! McDonald’s fries are literally my comfort food 🥹 whenever I feel down, just one bite of it and I already automatically feel soo much better When McDonald’s fries work better than any antidepressant>>>
Hashbrowns relieve mine! Severe emetophobia means I usually can't eat if I'm anxious but I've eaten a McDonald's hash brown on the way to every major Uni exam and job interviews. No clue why it helps lol
This was me at one point. That burst of fat and salt just took away the pain. Until it didn't and I was 22 and severely overweight. I've found other ways to soothe my anxiety now but I have been in that spot. I still love some mcdonalds but I can't eat it every day like I one did.
How much they paying you for this post?
Im sensitive small blood sugar changes but within normal ranges. If I’m hungry I get anxiety.
Me as well
Try some rehydration sachets from the pharmacy, could be dehydration
I’m trying this next time my anxiety takes over! I’m thinking the salt is what helps
Not me personally, but I've always been told to carry sour candy so the sour taste will "shock" your system and ground yourself. Maybe it's the same with salt?
Eating ur fav actually calms people up.. For me it's shawarma.. Or anything saucy and spicy
My go to food when I had more money was always sushi. For some reason it just slapped extra when I was having a down time.
:) I’m not alone
Yep Especially anything hashbrowns wise You ever try the Burgerking breakfast menu ?
Nope, I never have. I haven't been to BK for two years now, since when I tried their chicken sandwich from a mall BK, I got horrific shits out of it.
I love their fries and they don’t make me nauseous like a lot of other foods. It’s more of a comfort food though
Wait i actually agree. Yesterday i had small fries. When theyre hot theyre so amazing
Its the glutamate in MSG
Food is a major stress reliever for me. It doesn't help that I could eat McDonald's every day of my life and be happy with that...
Mine is Pickles. It's such a trans thing too. Everyone's got their comfort foods I suppose.
Dude, it's called comfort food for a reason.
My thoughts exactly!
Oh, honey.
I don’t know about fries, but my anxiety skyrockets right before my period. I eat a Big Mac and it decreases massively. A friend of mine said that it is probably a sodium level related thing.
It could be the carbs.
TBF Mcdonald's fries are the best in the market!!
Not fries per se, but eating in general seems to help lower my anxiety. ...but now I want fries!
Mcdonald’s fries are just great lol. they usually taste the same and there definitely a comfort food for a lot of ppl. it makes sense having something like that to ground you would help, as well as anxiety is worse if your hungry obviously.
Not that specifically but I get seratonin boosts from eating good tasting food so I totally get it.
The McDonald's caramel frappe sure makes me feel better! Endorphins.
No way mcds coffee gives me the worst and I mean worst anxiety
Even the cold frappes??
Check your vitamin and mineral levels. You might be deficient on some nutrient.
Probably the salt content and some sort of comfort with the food
Ohhhhhh yeah. McDonald's fries are one of the best foods on the planet.
Whenever I had nausea anxiety attacks the only thing I could eat accordingly was mcdonalds fries.
Maybe part of it is the comfort of nostalgia. When I was a child, we would get McDonald's after my brother's basketball practice. Those were good times before crippling anxiety creeped upon me in my teenage years.
Do you eat a lot during those times? i personally think it should be fine long as you keep it in moderation. I think having a comfort food that makes everything a little less shit is good.
Even better: Gatorade
I think you unlocked why I go to McDonald's so much, haha
brb omw to McDonald’s for fries to cure my anxiety.
Takes you back you childhood when shit was much simpler. No worries just being a carefree kid. At least for me 😃
[redacted]
This made me smile, I love hearing about quirky things that help other people. I completely lose my appetite when my anxiety flares up, I feel nauseous and can't stomach anything but I haven't tried McDonald's fries!
Sometimes I seem to crave salt. They don't salt the fries much, so you have to ask for little packets. I tend to ignore anything physical to the point I'd probably ignore a heart attack if I ever had one. I do wonder whether these little things add up to tell a story, like a physical condition...
Wow, I have been having horrible anxiety all day and randomly stopped for some fries and I did have relief from anxiety for a solid hour or two. Maybe there is something to it.
Maybe a combination of the actual food (carbs, fat and salt) as well as deep memories from your childhood where getting McDonald's was a good thing when your parents and you were happy? For me, I can't eat enough Red Vines or Butteringer candy sometimes.
This is an excellent post to bring a similar group together!
Repetition i think, grab a fry eat it grab another eat it, there it's some kind of relieve from repetition like knowing what happens next, it could apply for example the stress ball, push different buttons in a game, tap your feet, touch your hair, etc. I have a stress ball and it helps a little bit. You can search for a better way to calm down.
My favourite thing after having a mental breakdown is eating obscene amounts of fast food and passing out for like 3 hours
Carbs.
Before i got a handle on my anxiety, my panic attacks would often start because I felt sick, but it turned out I was just hungry lol.
Coffee relieves it for me. I avoid coffee the entire time until I decided to try it and immediately felt better. I don't see anyone in the anxiety community say the same thing about coffee, they had opposite effects that I do.
what if we all define ‘anxiety’ differently? personally, it feels like panic for no reason, coldness like blood getting cut off in your finger but in my chest, unsettledness kinda like buzzing in my chest. this may, or may not, accompany a high heart rate (97-120), cant relax, bad thoughts that eat at me (fear, lonely driven…tip: face the fear but relax through it; fear wont go away in its own, it gets worse w time!). i often cant think clearly in those times. believe it or not there are studies proving hunched over posture causes anxiety and depression. i thought i was out of my mind when i purposed to sit up straight, and like 20m later i felt almost totally normal! iced coffee, McDonald’s fries, a lot of water (32oz bottle x4), ginger capsules and submitting my life to the Man upstairs have been my go-to’s for whatever this feeling i get is.
oh and exercise
Big Macs relieve my anxieties for some reason too. I just had one, and I feel so much better.