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When Anxiety Hits: 5 Soothing Foods to Light a Candle Next To …

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When Anxiety Hits: 5 Soothing Foods to Light a Candle Next To …

…… a slightly misleading post-title if there ever was one.  Not misleading per se – just leaving out a huge part of the “discussion”. But then I couldn’t very well have put diarrhea and anxiety right there in the heading for all to see, could I?  Or could I?…. Read on dear reader, read on.  We’ll eventually get to the soothing foods.

When anxiety hits, all kinds of psychological and medical symptoms can show up, some more severe than others, depending on the level of anxiety and the way in which it is, um, manifested in your body. In this post I’d like to address one of the symptoms that my body (and millions of other bodies on this planet) suffers, and a symptom that is a clear sign of anxiety and stress.  This particular of symptoms being – ah, well – let’s just say it together folks:  diarrhea.  There. It’s been said twice in the very first few lines of this post.  Out with it I say (no pun intended)!  If you’re going to write about something just go ahead and write about it.  As somebody who suffers from anxiety and anxiety-caused diarrhea in my own life, I’ve sought to understand what is going on, and to figure out how to deal with it so I can both help myself and others.

Often the diarrhea phenomenon has to do with anticipation of some kind of performance.  This kind of anxiety is normal.  It’s perfectly normal to feel somewhat scared prior to a big event. Actually, this kind of anxiety is even helping us to prepare to meet the challenge at hand. Research has clearly demonstrated that having some anxiety enhances how we perform. However, if the anxiety gets too high then we run the risk of decreasing performance because we get to a point in which we become overwhelmed. Athletes and other performers learn to regulate this anxiety so that they can have just the right amount. If they don’t have any stress they won’t perform up to their potential.  But if they have too much, it will interfere.

Unchecked anxiety can easily become overwhelming given the right high-pressure situation. Anxiety can cause the many systems in the body to undergo changes that may include an increase in heart rate, elevation of blood pressure, and slowing of the gastrointestinal activity. We may forget to eat, work ourselves into a psychological tizzy by dwelling too much on the source of our anxiety, be unwilling to let little daily annoyances go, or indulge feelings of negativity, all of which will only increase our stress level.  These changes occur in preparation for the flight or fight response.  When we get to that point, of feeling overwhelmed and super stressed-out, we are in danger of allowing both our bodies and our minds to endure a kind of melt-down.  When we are feeling the stress, and close to some kind of collapse, it’s really important to stop, breathe, and pay attention to our bodies.  We need to recognize that we are undergoing stress that has the capacity to bring us down in a not-so-graceful way, and if left unattended, may really cause problems with our overall health and wellbeing.  It’s important to stop, try to put things in perspective, and to take care of ourselves.

Which brings me back to diarrhea.  While the causes of diarrhea are myriad, anxiety-caused diarrhea is a special case and I’ve come to understand that two things are happening simultaneously when anxiety-caused diarrhea sends you in the direction of the loo (hoping that using British-isms will distract from the frequency with which I write the word “diarrhea” in this post.  Constipation anyone? ).

 

When anxiety hits, input from the brain sends a message to decrease digestion and input from the brain also simultaneously sends a message to increase motility of the colon, resulting in the rapid passage of incompletely digested food.  Since digestion is not quite needed at a time when danger is felt, most of the blood supplying the digestive tract is routed to the muscles where it is needed the most, away from the digestive system.  This whole process of fighting or flighting, of manifesting an anxious response to danger, slows down our normal digestive functions, thereby disrupting the absorption of water and all of the beneficial nutrients in our food in the large intestine.  Quite simply, the process of digestion is badly affected because we are passing undigested food in an anxiety-ridden hurry that our bodies haven’t had a chance to properly deal with.  We are missing out on the full nutritional value of our food.

So what can you do about this terrible churning and immediate distress?  If you’re dealing with severe, uncontrollable anxiety, and have experienced multiple panic attacks and/or anxiety that lead to severe depression, you will want to seek help from a doctor or therapist. Don’t even worry about it!  There is no shame in asking for help and this is what therapists and doctors are for.  You might also seek help from yours truly, the Integrative Health Coach. I am trained to help in exactly this kind of situation and can aid you, step by step, in looking at all of the contributing factors to your anxiety, how it is affecting your health, and forging a new path of loving yourself both in, and outside of, the anxiety in your life.

And if this is something that you are dealing with and you are aware – you know the cause of your anxiety, can see its obvious impact on your daily life and your digestive system, and you are looking for in-home ways to help yourself, I’d like to suggest that actively nurturing yourself when these moments arrive, can be the soothing salvation you are looking for.  Again, it’s time to stop, reflect, and care for yourself.  The act of caring for ourselves when we are in distress can be just the powerful antidote that we need to put things in perspective and calm ourselves.

Light a candle. 
Cook some food.
 

Here are 5 Soothing Foods to Light a Candle next to:

Replace a Burger with Old-fashioned Chicken Soup

Eating fatty foods while undergoing significant stress may trigger diarrhea due to the body’s reaction to external conditions. High fat foods can also exacerbate existing diarrhea. So light a candle, breathe deeply, put on some music, and make some chicken soup (see recipe at the end of this post).  And if you are a vegetarian, make it miso soup.  Chicken broth and miso broth are both clear fluids, which are essential for avoiding dehydration when suffering from diarrhea. They both provide protein and iron. And both contain tryptophan which is most commonly associated with turkey at Thanksgiving and the sleepy drowsiness that often follows the big meal.  The truth is that tryptophan is in a lot of foods and it is actually a mood elevator because it converts to serotonin in the brain. Serotonin is the all-important neurotransmitter that, among other things, promotes feelings of relaxation and calmness and can help depression and anxiety, as well as digestion.  Besides, what is more fundamentally relaxing and nourishing than preparing a comforting brothy soup?

Replace Fried Greasy Carbs with Complex Carbohydrates like Squash

Starches like squash are also rich in tryptophan and can therefore also stimulate the release of serotonin, your feel-good brain chemical. The main thing here is that you want to nourish your body with complex carbs and stay away from the ones that hit your body with a rush of sugar and fat (e.g., French fries).  Simple carbs turn to sugar quickly in your body, and can only increase your anxiety, especially if you are already anxious.  Opt for whole grains, such as quinoa and oatmeal, which deliver more fiber and nutrients than refined ones.  Other nutrient-rich carbohydrate choices include fruits–such as apples, bananas and melons–and vegetables, including starchy, root vegetables such as sweet potatoes, corn, carrots, broccoli and tomatoes.

Replace Potato Chips with Dried Blueberries

Reportedly, dried blueberries have a long history of use in Sweden as a treatment for diarrhea. The helpfulness of blueberries for diarrhea appears to be due to the fact that they contain tannins, which act as an astringent, contracting tissue and reducing inflammation and secretion of liquids and mucus. Blueberries also contain pectin, which is a soluble fiber that works against diarrhea by increasing the volume and viscosity of the waste. Pectin is actually an ingredient in several commercial diarrhea remedies. Pectin derived directly from fruits such as blueberries and apples, provides nutrient to beneficial bacteria in the colon and helps stimulate repair of damaged tissue.

Replace Ice Cream with Yogurt

It is generally recommended that dairy products be avoided during acute diarrhea episodes. Yogurt is a major exception to this rule. Look for yogurt that contains live or active cultures, or more specifically Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidobacterium bifidum. These active cultures are probiotics and they help to establish a healthier balance of bacteria in the digestive tract that both soothe and nourish.

Replace Coffee with Herbal Tea

While coffee can have its perks when consumed in moderation, now is not the time for increasing your heart rate and significantly elevating your cortisol levels. Cortisol is the hormone secreted by the adrenal glands when your body is experiencing stress.  It has many functions, one of which is to prepare the body for fight or flight.  You don’t need more cortisol.  You are already experiencing stress.  Now is the time to turn to a gentler tonic for the system.  There are many herbs known for aiding digestion.  And I can’t think of a more nourishing act (ok – I did mention soup earlier, didn’t I) than the preparation of a soothing cup of herbal tea. In particular, ginger, peppermint, and chamomile are known for their soothing qualities.  Chamomile acts as one of nature’s most safe and effective sedatives and can relax the body and mind.  Herbs in the mint family, especially spearmint and peppermint, add a refreshing flavor and mild sedative action to herbal teas. They are especially soothing to an upset stomach and digestive system. Since ancient times, ginger has a long tradition of being very effective in alleviating symptoms of gastrointestinal distress.

 

Speaking of ginger, here is that recipe for chicken soup, with the addition of this soothing spice:

Gingered Chicken Soup

1 1-inch piece fresh ginger
2 medium cloves garlic, unpeeled
1 onion finely chopped
1 large carrot, chopped into small rounds
1 lb chicken thighs (with bone and skin)
1 Tbs. soy sauce
1 quart organic chicken broth
1 Tbs. fresh lime juice
1/4 cup packed fresh cilantro
2 Tbs. thinly sliced scallion (green tops only)
Real Salt
1 cup greens (spinach or swiss chard)

Peel the ginger and use a microplane zester (or any fine grater) to grate all of the ginger into a fine paste. Press in a garlic press or finely mince the garlic.

In a medium saucepan, com­bine the ginger, garlic, chopped onion, carrot rounds, chicken, soy sauce, and enough broth to just cover the ingredients. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Reduce the heat to low and gently simmer for 40 minutes. Using a pair of tongs, transfer the chicken to a plate. When cool enough to handle, take the chicken meat off of the bones.  Return meat to soup pot.

Return the soup to a simmer and season with salt to taste.

Finely chop the cilantro.

Add the greens to the broth and continue to simmer until it’s wilted, 1 to 2 minutes more.  Add the lime juice, cilantro, scallions and serve.

The Pragmatic Magic of the Potluck

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A few evenings ago I again bore witness to the phenomenon of the potluck, that ubiquitous of occasions in our part of the country, often associated with church basements or club-like functions. It was impressed upon me, as it is each and every time I attend one of these events, that a potluck that occurs as it was meant to occur – with minimal planning – always works out.  Always. I have no photos to share for this post.  I was too busy completely enjoying myself….

On this particular evening four of us were getting together.  Four you say?  Isn’t that a bit of a risky move?  How do you know you won’t all bring dessert?  And to make things even more interesting, two of the four were vegetarians.  For those of us who are planners, who need to know that all bases are covered, who shudder at the thought of leaving things up to fate, the stage set might have been cause for worry.  I’m so happy to say that in my home that evening, the results were truly spectacular.

First, I should be clear that there was “mention” over email of what we would like to bring.  So, it wasn’t all a complete surprise.  But I’d like to stress that we simply announced what we would bring in no particular fashion.  We didn’t really ask each other what the other was doing.  Nobody requested that we plan things so that all the basic parts of a meal would be covered.

Chris just announced that she would like to bring lentil soup.  Then Monica announced that she would like to bring a fennel-apple salad with mustard vinaigrette.  Then Angie responded “you had me at mustard vinaigrette” and announced that she would bring dessert, bread, and a champagne hard cider made by her friends who own an orchard  in Webster, Minnesota called Sweetland Orchard.  And then I was like, “Are you kidding me?!!!  I love lentils, fennel, apples, and hard cider and all of you are blowing my mind.”  I figured I’d fill in the rest and didn’t think about how I would contribute til the day before.  Ok. So it was kinda planned.  But not really.  Folks expressed what they’d like to offer, and others went with the flow and built a delicious, healthy, locally sourced meal that I will never forget.

 

Pre-Meal snacks by Bekah

Almonds pan-roasted in olive oil with thyme, red pepper flakes and Real Salt

Missouri Northern Pecans pan-roasted in local butter with Real Salt and Ames Honey

“Cheezy” Kale Chips (taste cheezzzzy because they are baked with a paste/coating of sun dried tomatoes, nutritional yeast, cashews, garlic, and other tasty spices)

Local Seckle and Starkrimson Pears with Milton Creamery Prairie Breeze Cheese

Main Dishes

Lentil Soup by Chris – a simple, delicious lentil soup “kicked up a notch” with the addition of dijon mustard and red wine.

Apple Fennel Salad by Monica – Monica followed Mark Bittman‘s simple instructions from the New York Time’s 101 Simple Salads – “Slice fennel and crisp apple about the same thickness (your choice). Combine, then dress with mustardy vinaigrette and chopped parsley. Come fall, this will be even better.”  Monica likes the bite of a little bit of extra red-wine or balsamic vinegar when using a basic mustard vinaigrette.

Rustica Bread by Angie – Rustica Bakery was named one of the top 10 Bread Bakeries in America by Bon Appetit Magazine

Birchwood Cafe Pumpkin and Walnut bars by Angie

Drink

Sweetland Orchard Champagne Cider by Angie – This is the real stuff!  Raw and unpasteurized honest-to-goodness hard cider made by folks who own their own orchard.  Phenomenal!

 

Candles were lit.  Delightful conversation was had.  The best that television has to offer was discussed (i.e., Homeland, The Forsyte Sage, Downton Abbey, Breaking Bad).  Experiences as creative “educators” (we had teachers, a photographer, academics, scholars, cooks, and a nutrition coach among us) were shared.  Later, while sipping hard cider, a fire was crackling.  I’m still shaking my head and smiling as I reflect on how a good ole’ potluck can really deliver the magic. You never know what you’re gonna get!

 

Here is the recipe for the lentil soup:

Hearty Lentil Soup
From: Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison
Serves 4 to 6

2 tablespoons oil
2 cups finely diced onion
3 large garlic cloves
Salt and pepper
3 tablespoons tomato paste
1/3 cup finely diced celery
1/3 cup finely diced carrot
2 bay leaves
1/2 cup chopped parsley
1 1/2 cup brown lentils, sorted and rinsed
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

Heat the oil in a soup pot over high heat. Add the onion and saute until it begins to color around the edges, 5 to 7 minutes. Meanwhile, mince the garlic with 1 teaspoon salt. Mix the tomato paste with the onion, then add the garlic, celery, carrots, bay leaves and parsley and cook for 3 minutes. Add the lentils, 2 quarts water and 1/2 teaspoon salt and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, partially covered, until the lentils are tender, 25 to 35 minutes.

Stir in the mustard and vinegar. Taste and add more of either as needed. Check the salt, season with pepper (and more salt, if needed), remove the bay leaves, and serve.

Stone Soup – A Gift from My Mom

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Stone Soup – A Gift from My Mom

It was my mom’s birthday this week and as I have been reflecting on how much I appreciate her, and how much she has influenced me over the years, my memories linger on a very specific formative moment when I was in 4th grade and we made stone soup together.

Perhaps you know of that old story about a wanderer who comes to a poor village looking for food and comfort.  He knocks on the villagers’ doors one by one, only to be turned away on each and every occasion.  The excuses have to do with scarcity: “We only have a few carrots”; or, “we only have a bag of onions and nothing more”.   He lights a fire in the village square and fills a pot with stones and water, saying something along the lines of, “It’s ok, I’ll just make stone soup.  But a sprinkle of salt would really enhance the flavor.”  Somebody shows up with some salt to spare.  Then, “… a bit of onion would also be lovely”.  The family with the onions ventures forth and adds to the pot.  A few folks with turnips follow.  Soon there are carrots.  Little by little, he encourages each family to contribute the one ingredient they have to a gorgeous pot of communal soup (my mom uses the adjective “gorgeous” frequently when referring to food).  A little cabbage,  and so on …

At age 8 I asked my mom if we could make soup exactly the way it happened in the book in the order of the ingredients listed … in the order…of the ingredients…listed.  Upon adult reflection, I do believe she did manage to convince me that we could skip the stones.  Who knows what really happened – she may have intervened with other adjustments here and there – but my stubborn memory (of course) is that we followed the progression of ingredients exactly as they were in the book.  I remember  good beef stock and then a little milk near the end.  I remember potatoes and carrots.  I remember a sense of deep satisfaction when I ate the soup I had made.  I remember LOVING that soup.  And I know with great certainty that this is when my passion for food and cooking was ignited. At a very young age my mom facilitated an intense appreciation in me for the simplest of ingredients and how they can warm you in a little apartment on a snowy day in Minneapolis.

Here is my recipe for Stone Soup

2 qt.  beef broth simmering on stove (the original story uses water)
1 lg. smooth stone, scrubbed and boiled to sterilize
Salt and pepper
4 carrots, peeled and cut in chunks
2 turnips, peeled and cut in chunks
3 c. cut-up cabbage or kale
1 lb. stew meat, cut into small pieces
4 potatoes, washed and cut in half in two large chunks
1 c. rinsed barley
1 c. milk

Cook all the ingredients together in large soup pot for about 1 hour, until meat is tender.   At the very end add the milk but don’t bring to a boil lest it curdle.  Yields 5 generous servings.

 

At its most basic, cooking is about being thankful for what we’ve got and using the ingredients that we have on hand to work with.  For me, the real fun of cooking is about searching to make dishes taste wonderful when you are limited by the season and what is available to you.   This is the creative magic that scarcity can bring, whether with cooking, art, or revolution, and one must dig deep to find just the right balance with ingredients, elements, circumstances and yes, (even) the political atmosphere, to make something truly delicious.  The satisfaction and delight that can come from this kind of cooking is one of a kind.

There are dishes all over the world that have been born of scarcity.  I spent the formative years of my late 20s far from my mom, in Italy, studying the regional cuisine. Creativity in the face of limitation is the story of many of the local and often – specific to one village – dishes that are absolutely cherished in that country.  The same is true for the rest of Europe, Latin America, China, etc…..basically, everywhere but mainstream America where whatever is fast, cheap, and uniform is often that which is most valued.

Perhaps the knowledge that the most beloved dishes in Italy were born of poverty, dispels the typical romanticism that many associate with this beautiful country.  I mean, these are a people that eat fish with the heads on and serve sheep head to tourists in humble hosterie outside of Rome.   But for me, this mentality is exactly what brings on the romanticism and excitement.  It’s about coming home to potato gnocchi (flour, potato, egg, salt) served with browned butter, sage, and a sprinkle of grated parmesan and black pepper.   It’s about the contorno (side dish); a little sautéed chard with garlic and salt and a squeeze of lemon, simply served with a piece of a local wild boar salumi.   It’s about the glory of acquacotta (literally, “cooked water”) in the northern reaches of Lazio, in which a crust of day old bread is toasted, rubbed with garlic, drizzled with olive oil, set in a bowl, and a vegetable soup is poured on top full of delicious greens and savory vegetables. Right before serving there’s the crack of an egg with flaming orange yoke, meant to gently poach in the liquid, another drizzle of olive oil, a final crackle of black pepper and a spoonful of pecorino:  Ecco!  Dinner.  Now this is cooking!

 

This is why nothing excites me more than the prospect of a crawfish boil in Louisiana, or a pig roast in Hawaii served with poi, a Polynesian purplish fermented taro root mash with pudding-like consistency.   Here at home it’s all about native Minnesota Wild Rice, the delicious soups and hot-dishes we make out of it, and the many immigrant traditions (pickles and smoked fish anyone?!) that have enriched this part of the country.

But back to Italy, because I really can’t say enough about this country and how it’s culinary traditions have inspired me.  When enjoying the beautiful Appian Way just outside of Rome, I would often witness an older generation of Romans walking the fields in search of wild edible greens.  I’ve asked myself what motivates these people to do this, in a day and age of supermarkets and bagged and washed greens.  I believe the answer is something like this…first, it’s gorgeous out there in those fields; second, back before the supermarket and refrigeration, wild bitter greens were one of the few sources of essential minerals and vitamins available to bodies that craved them.  These folks intuitively knew how good these greens were for them and sought them out when there were no supplements or spinach to be found on the shelves of the supermarket in December.  They gathered what they could and included a little bit of greens in their everyday meals, because it was exactly the nutrition their body needed.  These elderly Romans still do this.  For whatever reason, so does my mom.  And so do I.

This way of thinking doesn’t understand Cheetos, Pop-Tarts, instant rice, or Velveeta cheese.  It definitely doesn’t get high fructose corn syrup and McDonalds, or hormone/ antibiotic-pumped beef.  It’s about real food, real ingredients, real artistry, and a real approach to living on this planet while we’re here.  My mom instilled this in me and I can’t thank her enough.

 

My mom, Debbie Clapp, in her garden in Moorhead, MN (Summer 2011)

Sunflower Pesto

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Most of us know that Vitamin D is the “sunshine” vitamin but what you may not know is that Vitamin D can be found naturally in a few specific foods: fortified foods such as dairy products, fatty fishies such as canned sardines, herrings, and tuna, fish oils, liver, offal, egg yolks, shellfish, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds and sunflower seeds.  While I should be clear that the levels of Vitamin D that are found in these foods are are not very high, and we still need to get out in the sun and in some cases supplement this important Vitamin, its worth knowing about those foods such as sunflower seeds that contain Vitamin D.

Enter a good friend of the sunflower seed, basil, specifically the basil in my garden and yours that is about to be annihilated by the first frost.    Leafy greens contain calcium and basil is no exception. The thing is that our body must have Vitamin D to absorb calcium and promote bone growth.  These two ingredients go hand and hand:  calcium is needed for strong bones, but your body cannot absorb it properly without the help of Vitamin D. The combination of calcium and Vitamin D  increases bone mineral density and decreases fractures.  Which brings me to pesto……

A couple of weeks ago we were perilously close to the first frost and outside the Twin Cities some farmers did get zapped.  While some veggies benefit from a first frost (e.g., Kale), basil just plain dies.  Picture basil basking on the beach in Liguria, lazily sunning itself before taking an unhurried passegiata down to a seaside hosteria where it happily leaps in slow motion into a bowl of pasta to meet its life-has-been-good-to-me demise.   Envision the same basil stepping outside into the brutal cold after landing at the Minneapolis airport and doing a lot of crying and sulking.  It’s the primadonna of herbs and is very touchy about this Minnesota climate.   It’s exactly the right time to harvest all that basil before it dies and put up a little bit of tasty sunshine that can nourish your body through the winter.  When the dead of January is upon you, finding a little jar of sunflower pesto in the corner of your freezer brings the kind of joy that only those from very cold climates can understand.

Sunflower seeds meld beautifully in pesto for many reasons:

  • Sunflower seeds are inexpensive – especially when compared with the pine nut.
  • Sunflower seeds are relatively local – I went to high school in Enderlin, ND, proudly named, “The Sunflower Capital of the World”.
  • Sunflower seeds are a source of Vitamin D – as is liver –  pate anyone?
  • Sunflower seeds are delicious – take me out to the ball game!

 

Here’s a basil pesto recipe from my Vitamix recipe booklet adapted with the swapping out of sunflower seeds for pine nuts.  Utilize a local parmesan cheese like the award-winning Sartori SarVecchio Parmesan and you’ve got a delicious, inexpensive, local pesto that you can freeze and enjoy throughout the winter.  As for me and my house, we love to put dollops of the stuff on home-made pizza.

Pizza topped with Sunflower pesto, Buttercup Squash,
Haralson Apples, and Donnay Dairy Fresh Goat Cheese

Pesto Sauce – Recipe yields enough sauce to coat 1 pound of pasta

½ cup olive oil
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese
2 medium garlic cloves
2 cups fresh basil leaves
2 tablespoons sunflower seeds
Salt and pepper to taste

1) place all ingredients, except salt and pepper, into the Vita-Mix or your own blender in the order listed and secure lid.

2) Turn machine on and quickly increase the speed.

3) Blend until desired consistency (smooth and creamy or a bit on the rustic side).

 

I like to put my pesto in little glass jelly jars or plastic Ball freezer jars and then freeze those jars in ziplock bags for extra protection from freezer frost.  Alternatively you can mush the pesto into ice cube trays and then pop out the pesto chunks and freeze those in ziplock bags.

This is a recipe you can really go seeds over (hehehe – see what I did there?) in that you can experiment with other seeds such as pumpkin seeds and different leafy greens or herbs like spinach or kale. For example, you could lose the cheese and go more of a Latin route with cilantro, pumpkin seeds, and some lime zest.

 

There’s a kind of logic here that I care a lot about: that it makes sense for those of us in the northern reaches of the planet  to seek out those local foods that contain Vitamin D; that we should know more about the foods that grow outside in our backyards and learn how to utilize them in our own kitchens.  But when all is said and done, let’s just do our part to save that primadonna of herbs and give her something to do out here in the tundra.