What do amino acids, protein, and enzymes all have in common in relation to anxiety relief?  When our digestive tract is healthy, the protein we eat (beans, fish, beef, chicken, nuts, cheese, certain grains, and dairy) is broken down into amino acids via enzymes.  Our body uses the amino acids to make all sorts of stuff, including BRAIN CHEMICALS that make us feel calm, cool, and collected.

Under physical or emotional stress, our digestive system shuts down.  The process of food being broken down and absorbed properly can come to a screeching halt if the stress becomes chronic.  Even short stints of stress creates problems. How many of us have had bowel problems under stress? I’ll refrain from any graphic details!

This is why part of finding anxiety relief permanently is to heal the digestive tract.  How can we make brain chemicals if our intestines look like Swiss cheese? It’s not possible.

This is what I did to heal my gut so I could make my own neurotransmitters and feel like a human again.

1. Identified using the ALCAT.com test what foods I was having allergy to and I strictly eliminated them.

2. Ramped up on high levels of a super strain probiotic (Life 5) to start healing the leaky gut and rid my body of yeast overgrowth.

3. Took potent enzymes with every meal. I used a combo of Allegany Nutrition and Young Living’s.

4. I did not eat any sugar or refined grains.  Well … any grains for that matter.

5. Used gentle fiber to cleanse my digestive system, my favorite are fresh ground flax seeds and apples.

6. For the first year and a half, I took a custom amino acid formula by Metabolic Maintenance because I couldn’t digest protein on my own. It was spendy but worth EVERY penny.  If anyone is having severe anxiety problems, I highly recommend having this done!

This process took a few years. Yes, that is a long time. However, my body endured decades of abuse through stress, poor eating, and lack of supplementation and it wasn’t going to heal overnight. But I can say now that I did it because most of my food allergies are gone, my body isn’t anxious anymore, and I lost a bunch of weight.   How is your body’s protein inventory? More on that in my next post!