37 - How I Manage My Anxiety

In Part 2 of this anxiety series, Courtney shares exactly how she manages and reduces her anxiety using food, nutrition, and nervous system regulation. Building off Part 1, where she shared her personal experience with anxiety, this episode is packed with practical, doable tools you can start using today to calm your body, regulate your blood sugar, and step out of fight-or-flight.

This episode is especially for you if you feel anxious, irritable, overwhelmed, or stuck in your head and want natural, supportive ways to feel calmer and more grounded.

In This Episode, We Cover:

Nutrition Tools to Reduce Anxiety

• Why blood sugar regulation is foundational for anxiety
• Why skipping meals or eating carbs alone can increase anxiety
• Courtney’s experience with refined sugar and anxiety
• Why eating before coffee matters for nervous system health
• How to start noticing which foods personally trigger anxiety for you

Nervous System Regulation Practices

• Vagus nerve massage (and how to do it)
• Grounding barefoot in nature
• Journaling to release anxious thoughts and identify triggers
• Breathwork

Important Reminders

• You don’t need to do all of these tools at once
• Different tools will work at different times
• Anxiety management is about practice and repetition, not perfection
• Regulating your nervous system is not about fixing yourself, but supporting your body

Free Resource

Everything shared in this episode starts with nervous system regulation, which is why Courtney created her free 10-Minute Calm Morning Routine.
This simple, doable routine helps teach your body that it’s safe—before the day starts asking too much of you.

👉 Grab the free Calm Morning Routine here

Work with Courtney

Transcript

0:00

Welcome to the Nourished Living Podcast, where we go beyond diets and quick fixes, and reconnect with what it really means to feel good in your body. I am Courtney Podany, nutritional therapist, personal trainer, energy worker, type one diabetic, and mom here to guide you toward health that feels simple, sustainable, and aligned. Each episode will explore how to nourish your body. Balance your energy and strengthen your intuition so you can thrive and actually understand what your body is telling you. So grab your favorite drink. Take a deep breath, and let's jump into your new nourished life. What's up everyone? This is Courtney Podany, your host of the Nourished Living Podcast. I am back and we have a part two episode for you today. We are going to be chatting about how I personally manage and cope with my anxiety through food and nutrition and nervous system regulation. In the Part One episode that is the most previous episode. I just explore and share my experience with anxiety growing up and thus far. So it is there if you would like to catch up on that first before diving into today. We're gonna start with food because, you know, that's my jam. I have four nutrition tips to share today about managing and reducing anxiety. And then honestly it was really hard to narrow it down. So I have seven nervous system regulation tips for you that I personally do myself. So let's get into it. For food, if you are already experiencing anxiety, the foods you eat can absolutely. Increase your anxiety, or it could even help to reduce some of those symptoms. However, even if you aren't already anxious going into your meal, you know the foods that you choose do matter, because when our blood sugar is not regulated, let's say for example, our blood sugar gets too high, or our blood sugar gets too low. Uh, we get irritated and anxious. So if we are already an anxious person, you know, we don't need these other sources that we are in control of making anxious feelings arise, right? Like we just want to try to mitigate that as much as possible. So, how do we regulate our blood sugar? We want to eat. Protein, carbs and fat together every single time you are putting food into your mouth. Every single meal, every single snack you need to be eating protein, carbs, and fat. And this is something that I have shared on previous episodes. This is kind of like my bread and butter, what I talk about and. Blood sugar is not only important for diabetics. Blood sugar affects everyone because in addition to those anxiety like symptoms, blood sugar is also responsible for our energy levels, our mood, our emotions, our reactions. So. It is very important to focus on some examples of eating protein, carbs, and fat together would be like eating scrambled eggs with some toast and avocado. I always like to mention think charcuterie boards, right? If you are not cooking a big meal or something, but you just have time to throw a little quick meal together, make sure you've got some Salami or Turkey. Some cheese. Some fruit. You could throw olives in there for dinner. It could look something like salmon, quinoa, and broccoli. You're getting the idea. Um, and then for snacks, it also is important to not go too long without eating. When we go hours and hours without any type of food, our blood sugar will crash, and that's when we can get the most anxious feeling. I think it's always important to carry snacks with us that will support our blood sugar, not harm it.'Cause of course stuff comes up where you're like, oh shoot, I have now been outta the house for like six hours and I was not planning on that. So. That's when you need some snacks. That's why um, having a diaper bag as a mom has been like the greatest thing. Right? Because I just always amount of snacks on me. And even now when my kids don't need diapers, I'm still tend to bring the diaper bag because it's a big backpack and I have room for all my snacks. But anyway, when we eat. Carbs by themselves. That is when our blood sugar spikes and coming down from that spike, we will go into a low and we want to try to just keep our blood sugar in a nice controlled range, which is what eating the protein, carbs and fat does for us. It slows our digestion, it keeps our blood sugar well maintained. But if we just eat carbs by themselves, which unfortunately are the source of a lot of the grab and go snacks that are out in the grocery stores and stuff, we eat the carbs, our blood sugar spikes, and then our blood sugar crashes and it's just like a total roller coaster of energy. Of mood, of emotions, right. It is stressful. So some snacks that would be more supportive than just the carbs by themselves would be. Like string cheese, beef sticks. You could have carrots and cucumbers with some hummus. You could have like a little salami wrap with some cheese. And I don't say, you know, don't eat carbs. You can still eat those carbs, but just pair them with protein and fat. So like the string cheese and the meat sticks are super good, they travel well. Um, and you're getting protein and fat with both, so. So those are nice and easy. Some nuts and seeds will provide protein and fat as well. They're also, good for energy levels, so just try to prepare as best you can so we can avoid the anxious, like feelings coming in. Okay, that was blood sugar regulation. Eating well balanced meals and trying not to go too long without food. As much as in your control, and I know some people are not going to like this one, but for me, I am speaking from experience, so I know this to be true. And also if it affects me, it's gonna affect other people, but refined sugar always makes me anxious. It does not matter if I have just eaten a very well balanced meal, and then I have some type of dessert afterwards. Like I was noticing on Christmas, you know, Christmas it's like whatever, I'm going to eat what I want. I had a well balanced dinner and then I had a slice of pie afterwards and boom, within 10 minutes I was anxious. And so I've been noticing that. Regardless of the situation, it could be the most perfect circumstances. Some refined sugar gets me anxious within like 10 minutes. So of course I'm not avoiding it at all costs, but I do look at, okay, well if this is in the morning and I need to. To watch the kids for the whole day and I need to have, good energy, good mood, no anxiety or a small amount of anxiety. Um, I'm not going to have the donut or whatnot. Typically, you know, if you're eating dessert after dinner, then you might not have much time left in your day where you don't mind feeling like that for a little bit. I would try to avoid refined sugar when you can, and if you bake yourself at home, there are, more natural sources that you can swap out for, like honey and agave syrup or maple syrup. So definitely look into that. If you love your sweets, but you bake them at home, that's nice. Okay. And then I would also recommend eating before you drink your coffee. No coffee on an empty stomach. Since we have just slept for, let's just say seven to nine hours, and we don't have anything in our stomach. It's hard to just put caffeine and something acidic into that stomach environment without anything in there to help. Mitigate the caffeine, right? So it's kind of like a quick spike of caffeine and anxiety right in the morning. Which, if you're like me, I was sharing that once I get anxiety, it's hard for me to get rid of. So if it happens in the morning, some of that anxiety is just kind of like ever present with me throughout the whole day, which is not fun. So I would recommend eating something. It could be small. Um, we were just talking about well-balanced meals, though. I was gonna say, oh, you could just have like one. To two bites of toast. But if you're gonna have toast, please add butter to it and one bite of egg too, so that we are still balancing things out. And then you can start drinking the coffee and finish up the rest of your breakfast. But I would start to notice how you react to certain foods. S everyone's physiology is different, so different foods affect us differently, right? No person is the same, but if you are finding that a food continually is making you anxious when you eat it, I would try to avoid it and substitute it with something else so you don't have to deal with that, right? The things that we eat, the food that we eat, are in our control, so. Try to make your best choices so that you don't have to continually have anxiety all the time. Right? And just because you are sensitive to something where it does make you anxious, it doesn't mean that you are a allergic to that food. It just means that it might not be best for your specific physiology. Okay, we are going to move into the nervous system regulation. I compiled some of the things that I do for myself when I am either noticing that my anxiety is starting to pick up a little bit, um, or if I'm already in the depths of anxiety. To help, get me back into my body, get me out of my head, out of the worrying, the fear, the doubt, the nonsense, right? And just pull me back into the present moment and get me out of fight or flight. So the first one is the vagus nerve massage. Again, I've probably talked about some of these, especially on the episode where I talk about reducing stress. But the vagus nerve is a cranial nerve that runs from our brain down to our gut, and it is responsible for our parasympathetic nervous system, which is our rest and digest nervous system, which is what we want to be in, not the fight or flight. So the vagus nerve, it runs down both sides. It kind of comes like. Down behind our ears and then down into the sides of our neck. So it's on both sides. And I just start massaging away, like behind my ears, come down into my neck. I'll go up and down for a minute or two. It's really nice because it's easy and quick to do. I have even done it, you know, in the car when I'm driving my kids, I'm stopped at a stoplight and they're just screaming back there stressing me out. I will massage my vagus nerve and feel a sense of calm come over me. Another way to massage the vagus nerve is by humming. So since the humming comes from your. Throat and the vagus nerve runs down both sides of your neck. Humming is actually similar to doing the massage, so you could just hum your favorite song and by the end of those two to three minutes you should be feeling calmer. Next grounding barefoot in the earth. If you can just step your bare feet into some grass. Even dirt, sand, anything that's not cement or like a floor in your house. That way you can just come in contact with the earth. The earth provides, negative ions and when we absorb those through connecting with the earth, it has the power to improve our overall wellbeing. Reduce anxiety, and just overall make us feel better. And even just a few minutes, like we do not need to be like, oh, I feel anxious, and I have to go stand outside in bare feet for 20 minutes. No, just do it for what you can try like three minutes and see how you feel. Piggybacking off of that, you know, just getting outside seriously is so underrated, but can make an immense difference on your mental health. We are not supposed to just be in a box, AKA your house or your job or whatever forever. And I know when you have a full-time job, they give you a lot of times for breaks. So get outside, get some fresh air, some sunlight, some vitamin D, walk around, move your body like It honestly does wonders because especially if you are just spiraling in your head, you need to break that pattern and move your body and get outside. Journaling has also really helped me. And you could like find some prompts online, but maybe just journaling and trying to figure out what the source of your anxiety is so that you can, work through that. Get some thoughts out of your head. Even just writing things down with pen and paper, you're kind of removing them. From your brain and releasing it, releasing those thoughts. Or you could journal about your day, see what comes up. Sometimes I'm writing and I write something down and reread it and I'm like, whoa, I didn't even know I was thinking about that. Right? So you could be surprised, but it is helpful to just have that relief. Get some things out of your head that are constantly running around in there. Breath work is great. This will for sure get you out of that fight or flight mode and into our. Parasympathetic nervous system. I like to do you inhale for a count of four. 1, 2, 3, 4. Hold it for seven. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and then exhale for eight. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. The longer exhales signal safety to our body. I'm gonna say that again. When you exhale longer, then you inhale. That signals safety, because if we think about it, let's say you're running from a lion, you're gonna need to be inhaling. And exhaling very quickly to keep up with your running the cardiovascular aspect and to get oxygen to your muscles so you can keep running. So when we have short exhales, our body does not think we are safe, and you're gonna inhale no matter what. Our body is trying to keep us alive. And survive. So we will always inhale. So if you just focus on the exhale intentionally making it longer than your inhale, you will feel a sense of calm. Next. I love shaking out my cortisol. Cortisol is our stress hormone. And sometimes, you get worked up and you feel stressed that cortisol is released. But let's say an hour later, you are no longer stressed, but that cortisol can still be present in your bloodstream and we don't need it anymore. So if you literally just shake. Shake like a dog after a bath, they're running around. They get the zoomies. Just shake it out for a minute. You can actually like physically shake that cortisol out of your bloodstream. Again, it's quick. You don't need to do this for 20 minutes. That would then at that point, be a workout that you're doing. Just like a minute or two. You can put your favorite song on, shake it out, dance around. Whatever you have to do. But this will help to decrease our stress levels as well. And then the last one I have for you is gratitude. Our body cannot be in fight or flight mode when we are in the state of gratitude, when we are grateful for things. This could be something that you are writing down, like when you're journaling, if you feel anxious. Or something that you are just saying in your head, you're repeating a few things. I am so thankful for the safety that my home provides. I am so thankful for my family. Thank you for my amazing car that drives my family around, you know, something like that. If you just take a minute or two and really think about it and feel that feeling that will get you out of the tailspin that you might've just been in a few minutes ago with your thoughts and brings you back into the present moment. So either saying them or writing them down, using pen to paper can be really powerful as well. So. I don't want you to think, okay, now, you need to do all of these things together in a certain sequence to start feeling some relief. No, just keep these in your back pocket. I know sometimes you're gonna feel anxious and you can't always get outside, so can you hum? Can you think of some gratitudes? Can you work on your breath work? Right. What will be best for you in one moment will be different the next time you feel it. The trick is trying to remember to use them when you are feeling anxious so you can try to decrease that anxiety. I know it's hard when you're in that fight or flight mode because when you are, your brain isn't running on logic, it's running on survival. However, the more that you start to use these tactics, the easier it will get to remember them when you need them most, and they will become easier as well. So it's just like working out strengthening those muscles. You have to put the reps in. And it will get easier. So try to notice when you start to feel that anxiety creep in and try out some of these tools. Let me know how it goes. I would love to see how they help you in your life, or if you have something that you swear by. I would also like to learn about, so. You can tag me Healthy with Courtney two Y's on Instagram. Please share. And everything I have provided in this episode, starts with nervous system regulation, so that is exactly why I created my free 10 minute calm morning routine. It's a simple, doable way to teach your body that it's safe before the day starts asking too much of you. Managing your anxiety isn't about fixing yourself. It's about regulating your nervous system. And this is. How you can do so. So I have the link in the show notes. Thank you so much for being here with me today. I hope you enjoyed it and I will see you in the next episode. I. Thanks for hanging out with me today and tuning into the Nourished Living Podcast. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and found something you can start implementing right away to kickstart your nourished transformation. If you loved this episode, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, or share it with someone who could benefit from these insights. Until next time, stay nourished.