Nutrition and Anxiety: What Not to Eat If You Have Anxiety?

October 16, 2025 •

4 min read

Research indicates that dietary choices can significantly influence mental health, with certain foods exacerbating symptoms of anxiety and stress. This guide explores what not to eat if you have anxiety, highlighting the specific foods and beverages that can heighten feelings of nervousness and worry. Making informed nutritional choices is a powerful step towards improving your mood and overall well-being.

Quick Summary

This article details specific foods and drinks to avoid or limit when managing anxiety, including highly processed snacks, sugary beverages, caffeine, and alcohol. It explains how these choices can negatively impact blood sugar, neurotransmitters, and gut health, while promoting healthier alternatives to support mental well-being.

Key Points

Avoid Sugar and Refined Carbs: These cause blood sugar spikes and crashes that trigger mood swings and amplify anxiety symptoms.
Limit Caffeine: Excessive caffeine intake overstimulates the nervous system, which can mimic or worsen anxiety and disrupt sleep.
Steer Clear of Alcohol: Although it provides temporary relief, alcohol is a depressant that ultimately disrupts sleep and neurotransmitter balance, leading to heightened anxiety.
Minimize Processed and Fried Foods: These are often low in nutrients and high in unhealthy fats, which can increase inflammation and negatively impact gut health and mood.
Support Gut Health: A healthy gut microbiome, supported by whole foods and probiotics, is crucial for mood regulation and reducing anxiety.
Prioritize Nutrient-Dense Foods: Focus on magnesium-rich foods, omega-3 fatty acids, and complex carbohydrates to promote steady energy and stable mood.

The Powerful Link Between Diet and Anxiety

For many years, the connection between our gut and our brain, known as the gut-brain axis, has become a central focus in mental health research. What you eat directly impacts your mood, energy levels, and brain chemistry. The modern 'Western' diet, high in processed foods, refined sugars, and unhealthy fats, has been consistently linked to increased rates of depression and anxiety. Conversely, diets rich in whole foods, like the Mediterranean diet, are associated with lower risks of these conditions. By understanding which foods can trigger or worsen anxiety, you can take a proactive approach to managing your mental health.

The Top Foods and Drinks to Avoid

To help alleviate anxiety symptoms, it is best to limit or eliminate the following items from your diet:

Sugary and Refined Foods

Excessive sugar, particularly from refined sources like candy, pastries, and sweetened beverages, causes rapid spikes and crashes in blood glucose levels. This 'sugar rollercoaster' can lead to symptoms like irritability, fatigue, and intense mood swings, which mimic or intensify anxiety. This is because the body's response to these fluctuations involves the release of stress hormones. Furthermore, a high-sugar diet can fuel inflammation in the body and disrupt the delicate balance of your gut microbiome, both of which are linked to mental health issues.

Caffeine and Energy Drinks

Caffeine is a stimulant that can trigger your body's 'fight or flight' response, increasing your heart rate and making you feel jittery and restless. While a small amount might be fine for some, high doses can amplify existing anxiety and even trigger panic attacks, especially in sensitive individuals. Energy drinks are particularly problematic as they combine high levels of caffeine with large amounts of sugar and artificial additives, creating a potent anxiety-inducing cocktail.

Alcohol

Many people use alcohol as a temporary coping mechanism for anxiety, but this provides only fleeting relief. As a depressant, alcohol slows down the central nervous system, creating an initial sense of calm. However, as its effects wear off, it can cause a rebound effect, heightening anxiety and disrupting sleep patterns. Chronic alcohol consumption alters brain chemistry, including the balance of neurotransmitters like serotonin, leading to increased anxiety and a vicious cycle of dependency.

Processed and Fried Foods

Foods like fast food, packaged snacks, and fried items are often loaded with unhealthy trans fats, sodium, and artificial additives. These ingredients can promote inflammation throughout the body, including the brain, which is strongly linked to anxiety and depression. These foods also lack essential nutrients and fibre, disrupting the gut microbiome and negatively impacting mood. Instead of nourishing the body, they tax its systems and contribute to feelings of lethargy and brain fog.

Artificial Sweeteners

Found in 'diet' sodas, sugar-free snacks, and many other processed foods, artificial sweeteners like aspartame and sucralose can disrupt gut bacteria and influence the brain-gut axis. This can alter neurotransmitter activity, with some studies suggesting a link between artificial sweetener consumption and anxiety or mood swings. Given that these sweeteners don't provide the body with real energy, they can also confuse the body's hunger signals.

Comparison of Unhealthy vs. Anxiety-Friendly Foods


Type of Food	High-Anxiety Option	Anxiety-Friendly Option
Carbohydrates	White bread, pastries, sugary cereals	Whole grains (oats, brown rice, quinoa)
Beverages	Caffeinated coffee, soda, alcohol	Water, herbal tea, unsweetened sparkling water
Snacks	Candy, fried chips, cookies	Nuts, seeds, fresh fruits
Fats	Trans fats (margarine), processed oils	Healthy fats (avocado, olive oil, walnuts)
Proteins	Processed meats (sausage, deli meat)	Lean proteins (fish, chicken breast, beans)

Supporting Your Mental Health with Better Nutrition

Focusing on what you can eat is just as important as knowing what to avoid. A balanced diet provides your brain and body with the nutrients needed to regulate mood and reduce stress. Whole foods are key. Filling your plate with a variety of vegetables, fruits, lean proteins, healthy fats, and complex carbohydrates provides a steady supply of energy and essential vitamins and minerals.

Magnesium-Rich Foods: Magnesium plays a vital role in regulating neurotransmitters and stress hormones like cortisol. Incorporate foods such as leafy greens, nuts, seeds, and legumes to boost your intake.
Omega-3 Fatty Acids: Found in fatty fish (salmon, mackerel), walnuts, and flaxseeds, omega-3s help reduce inflammation and are crucial for optimal brain function. Studies suggest that supplementing with omega-3s can significantly reduce anxiety symptoms.
Probiotics and Gut Health: As processed foods disrupt the gut microbiome, it's beneficial to consume probiotic-rich foods like yogurt or kefir to support a healthy gut. A diverse and healthy gut is linked to better mood regulation.
Hydration: Staying properly hydrated is fundamental for overall health and can impact your mood and energy levels. Dehydration can trigger cravings and worsen feelings of fatigue and irritability.

Making gradual changes is often more sustainable than a complete overhaul. Start by replacing one unhealthy snack or beverage per day with a healthier option. Keeping a food journal can also help you identify personal triggers and see how certain foods affect your mood and anxiety levels. For more information on the link between food and mood, the UCLA Health newsroom offers valuable insights into why caffeine can make you feel more anxious.

Conclusion

Managing anxiety is a multifaceted process that involves therapeutic strategies, lifestyle adjustments, and, critically, dietary choices. While individual triggers may vary, research consistently points to certain food groups that can exacerbate symptoms. By reducing your intake of sugar, processed foods, caffeine, and alcohol, you can stabilize blood sugar, reduce inflammation, and support healthy neurotransmitter function. Combining these dietary changes with nutrient-rich whole foods, sufficient hydration, and other healthy habits empowers you to take control of your mental well-being and build greater resilience against anxiety.

Frequently Asked Questions

While food doesn't directly cause anxiety disorders, certain items can trigger or worsen symptoms. Sugary foods, processed snacks, caffeine, and alcohol are known to cause blood sugar fluctuations, inflammation, and nervous system stimulation that can increase feelings of anxiety.

High sugar intake leads to rapid blood sugar spikes and subsequent crashes. This unstable blood sugar can cause irritability, fatigue, and mood swings, which can intensify anxiety. Long-term, it can also disrupt gut health and neurotransmitter production.

Excessive caffeine consumption, found in coffee and energy drinks, can trigger the body's 'fight or flight' response, increasing heart rate and restlessness. For people with anxiety, this can amplify symptoms and even induce panic attacks.

While alcohol may initially feel relaxing, it is a central nervous system depressant that disrupts neurotransmitters and sleep cycles. As the effects wear off, it can cause rebound anxiety and perpetuate a cycle of using alcohol to cope.

Processed and fried foods often contain additives, unhealthy fats, and refined ingredients that promote chronic inflammation and disrupt the gut microbiome. Since the gut and brain are linked, this imbalance can negatively affect mood and increase anxiety.

A balanced diet for managing anxiety should focus on whole foods. This includes omega-3-rich fatty fish, magnesium-rich leafy greens and nuts, fruits, vegetables, and complex carbohydrates like oats and brown rice.

Artificial sweeteners can disrupt the gut microbiome and potentially affect brain chemistry, contributing to anxiety or mood swings in some individuals. It is often better to opt for natural sweeteners or, preferably, whole fruits.