To think that certain fads are a product of our anxiety

[mingtea]

I can only speak from my own experience here, and I'm wondering if others have realised the same.

I am trying to manage what I have only very recently realised now is anxiety - a general extreme fear of my death - through a number of positive changes in the way I think and act.

Previously I have tried the paleo diet (to the extreme, including using only 'natural' products in the home), I have doomsday prepped, I have gone all-out trying various superfoods and supplements and yoga and so on.

None have assuaged my anxiety, in fact after I gave up the paleo diet in particular I realised that I had actually stressed myself out more trying to find the correct ingredients and that all my IBS symptoms were down to anxiety rather than sugar or wheat or gluten!

Can anyone else relate to this? I am now concentrating on trying to heal my mind rather than try and solve things externally...which may be fun to organise at first but swiftly seem like more hassle than they are worth.

For me? Yes. But not on fear of death - smoking and drinking doesn't bother me in the slightest, as an example, but food does (exercise to a lesser extent). I know that my own issues come from a combination of eating disorders and anxiety and a general need for control. It's fixing the base need (control?) that you need to focus on.

Yanbu