Free Yourself from Anxiety by Emma Fletcher Read Free Book Online

miles, and I spend half an hour on my exercise bike.’
A NDREA
    ‘It does help me to take exercise. Exercise has a way of taking that ball of tangled string that’s your mind and untangling it. It’s something about the steady rhythm that soothes me. I like to use a treadmill or a bike.’
A NDREW
    ‘I don’t feel that exercise helps me because I don’t enjoy any kind of adrenaline rush – it feels like I’m losing control. I do love to swim, because I find it calming and I like to go 3 or 4 times a week, but if I’m anxious I don’t enjoy it and I don’t feel it works. So I don’t use exercise as a recovery tool, but it does help me to maintain good mental health.’
J ULIE
    ‘Exercise helps. I go jogging and go to the gym, walk, cycle. At one time I exercised too much and it made me ill, but it helps to go for a run or a walk to take my mind off anxious thoughts. Doctors have told me about serotonin and endorphins. It really does help me.’
S ARAH

10
Examining Your Diet
    Task – recording what you eat
    Use your notebook to keep a record of everything you eat and drink for a few days. Write down the time of day as well as what you have. Here’s an example:
      
TIME
FOOD/DRINK
 
07.30
Tea with milk and two sugars
 
09.00
Biscuit
 
12.30
Cheese sandwich, apple
    and so on through the day.
    You don’t have to make a precise record of quantities, because this isn’t a weight loss, or weight gain, exercise.
Food and drink
    Somebody who is well nourished will feel stronger and more able to face life’s challenges, and yet Anxiety often brings with it a lack of appetite, or a desire to eat comfort foods that may have little nutritional value.
    Many of us are drawn to sugary foods, such as cakes, sweets, biscuits and chocolate. They taste nice and give us a quick fix by producing a little burst of energy. This is because of the effect the sugar has on blood sugar levels. Unfortunately it wears off just as quickly, leaving you down in the dumps again.
    What’s more, a sudden change in blood sugar can make you feel a bit light headed or shaky, which is the last feeling you need if you’re on the alert for the next panic attack.
    The natural sugar (or fructose) that occurs in fruit doesn’t have this effect on your body. Because of the way your body processes fructose it doesn’t cause a big increase in blood sugar or the sudden drop in blood sugar that follows. This means that eating fruit can satisfy your sweet tooth without having a bad effect on your Anxiety.
    When you have kept a record for a week or so, compare it with the model below.
Model
    (this model is for Anxiety management, not nutrition or weight loss)
    Eat something within 20 minutes of waking up – remember your body will have been without food for several hours overnight. This doesn’t have to be a full breakfast, but once you are fully awake it is good to eat breakfast – it will give you energy for the next few hours.
    Have a snack mid-morning, a light lunch, another snack mid-afternoon and an evening meal, then finally a snack before bedtime. In other words, eat little and often throughout the day and keep the night time fast as short as possible. If you are worried about being overweight, then make your meals smaller so that you can have snacks.
    Avoid cakes, biscuits, sweets and sugary drinks both at mealtimes and for snacks. Snacks can be fresh fruit, milky drinks or dried fruit and nuts. If you have a really sweet tooth, then have a dessert after your main meal – because you have eaten a meal, the sweet food won’t have such a dramatic effect on your blood sugar. Here’s an example:

    TIME
FOOD/DRINK
07.30
Cereal with milk and sugar
08.15
Fruit smoothie
11.30
Fruit juice, apple
13.00
Water, tuna sandwich, yoghurt
15.00
Decaffeinated coffee, handful of raisins
17.00
Water, apple
19.30
Stir-fried chicken, almonds and bean sprouts, rice, stewed apple
21.00
Banana
    If you have a very active lifestyle you may need to eat more