Natural Anxiety Therapy

Soups On!

A marvelous creation was birthed on Oct. 3rd, 2009 – a simple soup that is so good you’ll be cheering “YUM-O” after your first spoonful!

You’ll see in many blog posts that one of the major causes of the anxiety and panic attacks for me were food allergies and blood sugar imbalances. My sugars would swing high and then plummet through the floor. When this happened, a panic attack would rush in from nowhere and I’d be flipping out for 20 minutes.  So, I strive to eat foods in combination that will keep my blood sugars even Steven.

With this pumpkin soup, you have very complex carbohydrates from the pumpkin, substantial fat from the coconut milk, and secret blood sugar balancing ingredients to make it “oh-so-good”.  Combining ingredients such as complex carbs with fat and/or protein makes our blood sugar and adrenal hormone levels very happy. Result: less anxiety!

This soup is also rich and creamy without the dairy.

This is how you make it:

2 small pumpkins (about 6″ in diameter)

1 1/2 cans of full fat coconut milk (21 ounces)

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 drop of therapeutic grade Cinnamon Essential Oil

Chinese 5 spice

3 to 4 drops of therapeutic grade Ocotea Essential Oil

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Pumpkin Prep:  Wash, cut in half, scrape out seeds (roasted pumpkin seeds are also great anti-anxiety foods!).  Lightly sprinkle flesh side of pumpkin with Chinese 5 spice then place halves flesh side down in a covered roasting pan.  I like to put just enough water in my roasting pans to cover the bottom, it helps steam the pumpkins and keeps them from drying out.  Roast for 45 minutes to an hour or until a fork can easily poke holes through the tough outer  skin. Flesh should be tender and flake out easily.  Allow pumpkin to cool enough to be handled comfortably.

Take roasted pumpkin and scrape out flesh into a large pot (4 qt or larger).  Add coconut milk, salt, pepper, cinnamon, and ocotea.  Run a hand blender through soup until creamy and smooth.  If the soup is too thick, add about 1/2 cup of water or coconut milk.

After well blended, heat soup on stove top before serving. Do not boil.  Season with additional salt or pepper if desired.

The secret ingredients for balancing sugar and helping with our sane feelings?  OCOTEA and CINNAMON essential oils.  Cinnamon has been researched heavily for it’s ability to balance blood sugar levels and help insulin resistance.   Ocotea’s potential to harmonize blood sugar levels has only been discovered recently.  About a month ago my blood sugars were a little off and I started to feel restless. When I started using ocotea in my morning smoothies and a few drops before bed, my levels balanced out again and I felt more grounded and relaxed.  I was so happy that something so simple worked so fast for me!

Pumpkin soup is really delicious anxiety therapy!

Why is it that when we know our limit on something and if we go beyond that, we’ll feel like “junk”?  For example, I experience many food sensitivities – gluten, diary (whey/casein), caffeine, sugar, nightshades (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, potato), soy, and corn. Here’s the situation: because my body prefers that I do not eat the aforementioned items I can indulge in a TINY bit of dark chocolate.  Key word: TINY (two 1″ X 1″ squares).  Any more than that it is the OPPOSITE of anxiety therapy! It is an anxiety cause.

However, I know when I should stop.  Then, I go back for a few pieces more. “Just a few more tiny squares, I’ll be fine.”  Those few pieces take me from feeling grounded to jittery, racy, and anxious.  My good friend Cynthia always knows when I’ve overdone the chocolate because I get on the phone with her I won’t take a breath as I ramble at lightening speed for 45 minutes!  She’ll say, “Have you been eating chocolate?”.  I ask if it’s that obvious and she always gives me the honest, “Yes!”.   For me, over doing it on the chocolate is equivalent to taking a handful of speed.

Yum!

Thank goodness for natural remedies that calm me down in a jiffy or I wouldn’t sleep for days.

I guess almost all of us do it. If you don’t, please do tell your secrets to self control!  Chocolate is my weakness, I confess.  At least now – after re-building the strength of my body – small amounts of caffeine don’t send me into full blown panic attacks.  Two years ago, different story. My body was so out of balance that anything stimulating (even cayenne!) would throw me into the crazy zone.  I am so sensitive to the sugar and caffeine, why do I over do it?!?  Personal boundaries? Childhood trauma?  Lack of self love? Or, something more complicated – I just love CHOCOLATE!