Here’s How to Get Stress and Anxiety Hormones Out of Your Body!

This week’s guest post is brought to by author and certified nutritionist Terry Givens. Terry is the author of the book Reset Your Body which details how you can reverse years of unhealthy living. To learn more about Terry and his series of detoxes visit Resetyourbody.com. – Paul Dooley

In America, we, as a society tend to downplay the physical impacts of stress and anxiety. THEY ARE REAL! And they manifest into physical ailments just as easily as bacteria and viruses manifest into ailments. Believe it.

HOW?

Your body is a very simple machine. When your brain needs to send signals through your nervous systems, many times it uses chemicals to get the message across. Stress produces chemicals called hormones – e.g. cortisol and epinephrine. The chemicals themselves aren’t bad (we’re not talking about Clorox bleach) but just like any other chemical, it is a toxin (your body can’t digest or assimilate it). But as long as we flush the chemicals out as fast as stress produces them, they don’t build up and cause any harm.

Imagine you’re in a tiny row boat. As you get stressed, water leaks into your boat through a little hole in the bottom. But as long as you stick to your cleansing, detoxifying lifestyle that removes those chemicals, you are able to bail out the water in your tiny boat, without it filling up. BUT if that hole gets larger (lots of constant stress) and you aren’t “bailing” fast enough (not removing the chemical hormones fast enough), it’s simple logic, your boat will fill (starting with your body’s weak spots) and eventually you will sink. Simple as that! What can we tweak in our daily diet to keep the “hole in our boat” from growing larger?

What to put in your mouth to reduce anxiety and stress

#1 Drink more water

How? Drink half an ounce of water per pound you weigh. Daily. PERIOD. For example, I’m 200lbs, half of that is 100, so I drink 100 oz of water daily. You either just said “I drink a lot of water now” or “Whoa, that’s a lot of water!” My 10 Day Water Challenge makes it crystal clear if you REALLY are drinking enough water AND it’s a fool proof way to increase your daily water consumption to where it needs to be. (1) In the mornings, fill up a single large jug with your daily amount of water. (2) Finish it by the end of the day…BOOM (Ninja tip: add ½ teaspoon of sea salt or Himalayan salt per 64ozs of water for better absorption and less peeing!)

Why? Your body is 70%+ water. Water is how your body transports nutrients to your cells. Water is how your body removes wastes and toxins from your cells. Water is the body’s river of life. Dehydration leads to accumulation of residual stress hormones. IMPORTANT: Sodas and energy drinks and juices are NOT the same as H2O, water. It’s fast! Try the Water Challenge for 10 days and see for yourself.

#2 Eat more fat

How? Eat natural, unprocessed, not man made foods that are high in fat. How do you know if something is natural, unprocessed, and not man made? A) it doesn’t come in a box or a can, B) you might find one growing on a tree! Eat these daily: At least 1 avocado, 1 tablespoon of coconut oil, a handful of nuts or seeds (almonds, Brazil nuts, sunflower seeds), at least a glass of whole fat milk, a serving of whole fat yogurt.

Why? Eating fat does NOT make you fat! Does eating muscle give you a 6-pack? Hm. But eating these Omega-3 fatty acids are CRITICAL at halting inflammation in the brain thus reducing stress DRAMATICALLY! The whole low fat craze for the past 30 years…was a bad bad idea for Americans. Heart disease has skyrocketed since then. Add the above foods to your diet daily and see how you feel!

#3 Cut out added sugar

How? Stop adding sugar to your foods and stop eating foods that have sugar added to them. Don’t confuse natural sugars (fruits have sugar) those natural sugars are fine. It’s the white crystals, the super concentrated stuff that is wreaking havoc on your nervous system. Sound like a daunting task? IT IS! You need a system. You need a way to work this into your already busy life. Try my 10 Day No Sugar Challenge. You’ll notice quickly. You’ll have structure. You’ll be able to “try it out” temporarily and see how it helps you.

Why? Imagine you are a police chief and you have 5 police officers. But you have 6 crimes that need an officer there. Which 5 do you send someone to and which crime to you let happen simply because you are undermanned and overwhelmed? That is what sugar is doing to your body, by the billions, of “crimes” each day. The average American consumes 150lbs of sugar in one year!

Who do you know that weighs 150lbs? That’s a lot sugar! The white table sugar that is added to SO many foods is so far processed and modified from the natural sugar cane plant it came from (there are 12 steps a sugar cane plant goes through in a factory to become the crystals we eat) it is LITERALLY a chemical to your body. It’s no different than ingesting a highly potent drug.

So your body is literally spending amazing amounts of energy to fight billions of sugar inducted, “drug crimes” and side-effects all over your body. To the point where there is just more sugar then you have resources to fight…and that’s when your weak spot, your stress, your anxiety ends up being the 6th crime. The crime that your body has to let happen so it can fight more dangerous, IMMEDIATE threats. Try my 10 Day No Sugar Challenge. It’s a simple DOABLE system to temporarily try and see for yourself!

#4 Deep breathing exercises

How? Find a quiet place. Sit down. Take a slow deep breath in your nose for a 5 second count. Hold that breath in for 7 seconds. Set a timer. Start with 5 minutes, then keep working your way to 10 minutes, then 20 minutes over a couple of weeks’ time. Then exhale through your mouth deeply for 5 seconds. Do that first thing upon rising each morning, or do it right before bed. FOCUS ON YOUR BREATHING. FOCUS ON COUNTING. (TIP: Breath this way during yoga as well)

Why? Have you noticed how your breathing is related to your anxiety or stress level? Faster, shallow breathing = high stress, high anxiety. Slower, deeper breathing = more relaxed you. Your body and your emotions are inseparable, so we can use that coupling of body and emotion to take control! If you’re in a bad mood and someone forces you to smile or laugh, what happens? YOU FEEL A LITTLE BETTER!

You can’t help it. We are hacking into your body to FORCE a certain emotion. Deeper breathing not only forces your body to THINK it’s more relaxed than it is, it also hyper oxygenates your cells. Cells need oxygen, water, and waste removal to live longer and slow their aging process. You are literally extending the life of your cells (and thus your body) by performing these deep oxygenating breathes daily!

How to repair cellular damage from years of anxiety and stress

What can we do to “bail out years of built up water from our boat” at a hyper accelerated rate?
What is a way to force your body to expel microscopic level hormone chemicals? Many of these chemicals have literally become PART of you. Your body has wrapped them in fat cells (to keep you safe from this toxin).

These chemicals have become part of your muscles, your organs, your body. Billions of these residual chemicals are even encased in old impacted fecal matter in your digestive tract.
The only method that I am aware of that can clean and remove toxins at a CELLULAR level like that? Cleansing.

And more specifically, fasting. Yep…no food for a while. “What does not eating having ANYTHING to do with stress or anxiety or detoxing toxins?” “Why can’t I just take some herbs, eat some vegetables and have the same detoxification?” I’ll tell you why.

Eating is very very expensive. And I’m not talking about money. By far the MOST energy intensive task your body performs daily is digesting food. Think about it. Your body is magically taking in solid food, running it through a 30 foot digestive tract and 24 hours later is excreting the same amount of mass that you ate BUT somehow it has pulled some magical, invisible, weightless “energy” from it, enough to change your mood and performance in seconds (Remember how fast the morning coffee kicks in? Or how you feel within in seconds of eating candy?)

After 24-36 hours of not eating solid food your body switches to autophagy mode. Your body basically scavenges itself. What does it eat first? Fat, crystal deposits, toxins, cysts, lumps, garbage. The stuff you don’t want. So the key is to make it past day 3 (the hardest day typically) and then every day after that your cleanse is providing maximum benefit to your body.

That is what devours and removes the fat cells and the chemical hormones within. That is what softens and removes the years of impacted fecal matter that never quite made its way of you. Many times you will actually FEEL that emotion being released during the cleanse. Many have reported being very emotional or spontaneously crying – for a few minutes to a few hours – while cleansing…then it passes. The chemicals were released and stirred up. Then they were flushed out…gone from the body forever.

No drug can do that. No special super food and do it to that level. No exercise will have such microscopic precision. You need a 5 to 10 day fasting type cleanse to produce those kinds of results.

My favorite cleanses:
The Master Cleanse
The Juice Cleanse

The fact that you are reading this post means that this is important to you. If you’re like most people some of these suggestions are scary to you. You’re thinking “Maybe it will hurt. Maybe I won’t have the will power. Maybe this will cause me MORE stress!”

I encourage you to not let FEAR stop you from taking ACTION. Be careful you don’t take more comfort in STAYING as you are versus TRYING something new. Don’t let the FEAR of the unknown out weight the PAIN that you are currently becoming accustomed to.

Try these suggestions one at a time. They are temporary. Let the results that you experience be your guide to continue them or not. YOU CAN DO IT. BE WELL…

In this week’s episode of The Anxiety Guru Show Valerie Murphy visits with Terry to discuss what foods are damaging your health and stress levels. Listen below.