Hi angie baby
I hope they give you information on how to try eliminating foods from your diet. It is really good to see you are taking positive steps to getting well - with you all the way!

I must admit, personally, I am highly sceptical of this. I don't know how they can tell any of this from looking at a strand of hair. I don't even know if that is scientific - how do they know what you have eaten on a particular day in relation to a strand of hair?

anyway, if YOU yourself think that certain products make you feel less full of energy than you would otherwise feel, then it is worth replacing them with a sensible healthy alternative for a while to see if it makes a positive difference.

It is worth looking into things but proper food allergies are quite rare actually, people are always going on about being lactose intolerant, but actually this is not all that common. And someone once said to me, you don't hear about people being lactose intolerant in Africa. Or countries where they don't get enough to eat.

so don't worry unduly about it all, but try things out slowly and well, I guess, you never know.

Best of luck
bead

Hi there
Well it is interesting to watch out for isn't it?
I have read two very interesting books called Optimum Nutrition for the mind and one on Superfoods. Not all of the books are relevant eg. there is a big chapter on depression. Now you may not be depressed but conventional doctors link anxiety and depression (they treat it the same way with antidepressants to improve serotonin uptake in the brain). Well there is a lot of information in these books on improving your serotonin levels through good and sensible nutrition. Also information on the food that contain the vitamin that converts to serotonin (long name that I can't remember). Also both books give a lot of info on foods that are calming which our nervous systems need. Lots of people depend on caffeine to pick them up but I have to say i never need a pick up - always the opposite! eg. A turkey sandwich on wholemeal bread is supposed to be very calming - it ticks all the boxes, high in protein, turkey contains something really good, and if you use a spread with added omega oils (also good for the brain) you are winning with nutrition. Warm milk is also good - better than cold. Presumably why they gives babies warm milk to make them sleep.

also there is a lot of evidence to show that eating processed sugary foods is bad for people with panic and anxiety because it encourages adrenaline to be released - something to do with insulin levels fluctuating in a normal person. All hormones are related, I seem to think. So sugary foods may be something to limit in any case (sensible for everyone anyway.) There is a lot of stuff about making sure that if you do have something sugary you try to have something high in protein to slow down the release of sugar into the blood stream.

RLR may poo-poo all this but I have definitely found a link between sugar and panic attacks. If I eat chocolate or eat sugary stuff on an empty stomach because I have got really hungry - I get quite shakey and odd. I can't say I don't eat chocolate now but I save it for after meals not as a snack!

If you want more info I can dig out the full titles of these books for you.

bead x