Holistic Hope Anxiety Solutions

The next session of The Holistic Anxiety Solution starts Jan 6th! To register, head to: https://holistic-hope.mykajabi.com/hasvideosseries

3 Ways that PMS Affects your Anxiety. So many of my clients share that the week before their period, their anxiety symptoms feel so much worse. More heart palpitations, hot flashes, dizziness and nausea are just some of the complaints.... So what’s going on? What causes this? Here are 3 ways that PMS can affect your anxiety: #1. High levels of Cortisol: Cortisol is one of the stress hormones that is released during fight, flight or freeze, and you get a ton of it in the body immediately before menstruation starts. High levels of cortisol release cytokines which are inflammatory proteins. Cytokines can travel through the blood-brain barrier and create neuroinflammation, which you guys know, is one of the roots of anxiety that I work with. #2. Blood Sugar Levels: The second thing that can affect our anxiety during our period is our blood sugar levels. And this happens in two ways. First is because of the excess cortisol in our bodies. When cortisol is released our blood sugar levels go up, even though we haven’t eaten anything. In response to this, our bodies release insulin which brings the blood sugar levels down. So excessive cortisol equals excess insulin which results in period of hypoglycemia. Hypoglycemia means low blood sugar. This happens when there isn’t enough glucose in the body to meet the brain's demand. It can give you that Hangry feeling and cause symptoms like excessive yawning, fatigue, irritability, dizziness, shakes, heart palpitations, sweating, etc. So those all FEEL like anxiety, right? So that is enough to make us feel extra anxious and even trigger the stress response. And side note, excess insulin ALSO creates inflammation. The second way our blood sugar levels can affect our anxiety is because of fluctuating estrogen and progesterone levels which affect how our cells respond to insulin, creating major blood sugar fluctuations. #3. Less GABA. Just before your period, something called allopregnanolone or THP, which is a metabolite of progesterone sharply drops, which affects the GABA receptors in our brain making them temporarily less effective. So less GABA. And GABA is a neurotransmitter that’s main role is to reduce excitability in the nervous system. Low levels of GABA are associated with anxiety. Interesting, right? And of course, if any of your symptoms are new or increase in severity, it is always a good idea to get them checked out by your MD or ND. A reminder that our Masterclass this month is all about the our cycles and anxiety. We are going to talk about the 4 phases in our cycles and different dietary and lifestyle changes that you can implement to balance out those hormones and keep your anxiety in check. Check out all the class details and register at the link below: https://holistic-hope.mykajabi.com/masterclass

A lot of the language around anxiety focuses on struggle. I often hear my clients saying that they just have to push through it, fight it, or feel the fear and do it anyway. It is so important to change our language around this. Fighting anxiety never works. Pushing through some anxious feelings may get you into the door of something you are avoiding, but it is never going to get you real anxiety relief. We need gentleness. Patience. And understanding. An und...erstanding about what is going on in your body and WHY it is doing what it is doing. Having this, can help you learn to how to sit with it and release the power of the fear behind it. (If you are new to anxiety, you can start here:https://www.holistichope.ca//feeling-anxious-this-is-what-) It is also helpful to learn how to use EFT and/or Somatic Containment poses so that you have tools to use to help lower your anxiety when it does rise. The symptoms we experience during anxiety and panic can be intense and are often automatic via the stress response, so can feel out of our control. It is so empowering to be able take back some of that control and bring some safety back into the body.

We use this APP all the time in our program! If you have recently lost your jobs, work in a school or in healthcare, check this out!

Have you ever heard of the expression Hangry? It describes a person who gets angry and irritated because they are hungry. Interestingly enough, it isn’t the hunger that is causing the anger. Those feelings are because of low blood sugar which is AKA hypoglycemia. Low blood sugar occurs when there isn’t enough glucose to meet the brain and body’s demands. It can happen because blood sugar levels fall too low or too quickly. Low blood sugar can be the cause of a lot of un...comfortable symptoms including fatigue, confusion, headache, dizziness, heart palpitations, sweating, hot flashes and more. Remind you of anything? Yup, many low blood sugar symptoms feel the same as anxiety symptoms. And sometimes those low blood sugar symptoms can be enough to trigger the stress response Keep reading below: https://www.holistichope.ca//how-your-blood-sugar-levels-a

It can be challenging to get proper rest when your mind is racing, here are a few tips to help: https://www.holistichope.ca//10-ways-to-better-sleep-with-

So many people think that anxiety is "in their heads", but the stress response activates before you even have a conscious thought! Learn all about what is happening in your body when you experience anxiety in this week's blog. https://www.holistichope.ca//feeling-anxious-this-is-what-

Meet Elizabeth! Elizabeth is Holistic Hope's Registered Psychotherapist and we are so grateful to have her! She teaches the Cognitive Behavioural Therapy portion of The Holistic Hope Program and does Q and A's in both our HHP community and Calm Club.

There are a lot of new people experiencing anxiety over the last couple of months and this is the #1 thing that I wish they all knew. There is a very physical thing happening when you are anxious, and in this week's blog, we are talking about what is happening. https://www.holistichope.ca//feeling-anxious-this-is-what-

Want to learn more about my system of addressing the "roots of anxiety"? Grab your free e-guide at the link below! https://holistic-hope.mykajabi.com/opt-in-b08207a1-3952-4c0

Wow, the world has changed a lot in just a few weeks. Even people without anxiety are feeling anxious, so for those of us with anxiety disorders, it can feel overwhelming. If you are struggling, I invite you to come join our free facebook community at the link below. I have been posting free videos on things that you can too to help lower your anxiety like EFT, containment poses and will continue to, until we are on the other side of this. Reach out if you need some more su...pport. https://www.facebook.com/groups/thehhanxietycommunity/

Inflammation is one of the first things we work on with our clients. This is a great article introducing how inflammation can affect our thinking. https://www.psychologytoday.com//how-inflammation-changes-

I am doing free coaching in my facebook group today! Join the group, ask me your question and I will send you a personalized voice memo with some suggestions. Can't wait to chat with you! https://www.facebook.com/groups/thehhanxietycommunity/

Meet the newest member of our Holistic Hope team, Ashley! Ashley, is our new Community and Social Media Manager and is also a Registered Holistic Nutritionist. She is going to be helping me create new content and yummy recipes and be in our communities supporting our clients. I am really excited to have Ashley on the team. Not only has she had her own experience with anxiety, but she is a wonderful nutritionist, has the most amazing sense of humour and is one of the kindest people I know. She is a perfect fit!

A reminder that today is the last day to get the founder's rate for Calm Club! Only $20 a month for monthly tools, training, support and community! For the month of Dec, you will receive: -A 7-day sample meal plan -A holiday sweet and treats guide that won't leave your blood sugar levels spiking and crashing... -Two new EFT videos and scripts (holiday travel and social phobia) -A guided meditation (progressive relaxation) -2 Live Q and A's -An extensive live training session on the MTHFR gene and a handout on diet and lifestyle tips if you are a carrier -The 12 Days of Stress Less fb event with 12 daily tips to keep your anxiety low these holidays -And more! Price goes up to $30 at midnight tonight! Grab your space and secure that founder's rate at the link below:) https://rimes.clickfunnels.com/calm-club-sales-page

When I am teaching a new group how to use EFT for the first time, I often get the same response: How on earth is this going to help my anxiety? Which quickly changes to:... Amazing, I can’t believe this really works. I share some of my favourite studies on the benefits of tapping and my personal story with it in this week's blog. Enjoy! https://www.holistichope.ca/blog/eftforanxiety

This week in our free facebook community, we talked about 3 reasons why your anxiety may increase just before your period. Join us and catch the video by joining the group below: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thehhanxietycommunity/

Just a few of the amazing results my clients had from The Holistic Hope Program. Our next session starts a week today and registration closes tonight! Take a look at the full program below and message me if you have any questions:)... https://www.holistichope.ca/theprogram

While real and lasting anxiety relief takes time, there are a few things you can do to lower your symptoms today. Here are 5 of my favourite tools: https://www.holistichope.ca//lower-your-anxiety-symptoms-q

When the stress response is activated (aka fight, flight or freeze), our immune system is deemed not essential and temporarily shuts down. If this only happened once in a while it wouldn't be a big deal. BUT, if you are dealing with chronic anxiety, this can happens dozens of times a day. Here are some tips for staying healthy when your immune system is sluggish from anxiety.... https://www.holistichope.ca//how-to-stay-healthy-when-your

How are you sleeping? It can be challenging to get proper rest when your mind is racing. Here are a few tips to help: https://www.holistichope.ca//10-ways-to-better-sleep-with-

I’ve truly valued and learned so much from your videos Wow, that was incredible to actually understand what’s going onThank you for your help, it’s offered me a peace of mind that there is hope & I can change! Knowing that there is an actual physical process happening in the brain and body and how and why it is happening is such a relief from that feeling of being a crazy person.... It all makes so much sense. Treating the whole system instead of just the symptoms Thank you for doing these videos! You have given me so much hope. These are just some of the aha moments coming from The Holistic Anxiety Solution free video series. And you can still catch the replays for 5 more days! Register below to see what all the buzz is about: https://holistichope.lpages.co/has-video-series/

Hands up if you are still a coffee drinker! People with anxiety can have a love hate relationship with caffeine. It can mimic a lot of anxiety symptoms like rapid heart beat, shakiness, heart palpitations, sweating and trigger panic. In addition to those surface symptoms, caffeine can also deplete important nutrients like magnesium, the B vitamins, and affect blood sugar and hormone levels. But many people with anxiety reach for it because they have such low energy and it gi...ves them a quick fix. In my early twenties, I used to drink a lot of coffee, like 2 pots a day. I would drink 20oz cups throughout the day and fill them with cream and sugar. When I started to get anxiety, it was one of the first things to go. I couldn’t tolerate it at all and all these years later I still can’t...and that is ok. It’s nice to wake up in the morning and not have to reach for coffee. To have balanced energy throughout the day instead of peaks and dives. So the key to doing it? Go slowly. Don’t go from 2 pots a day to nothing or you will feel terrible. Start tallying how many cups a day you drink and cut back one cup a week. Replace it with water or herbal tea. Once you get down to 1 or 2 cups a day, try swapping out for green tea. It has a small amount of caffeine but is filled with beneficial antioxidants. To keep those energy levels more stable throughout the day, eat more healthy fats! Avoid processed sugars and refined grains and drink at least 2 litres of water a day. Let us know in the comments below are you a coffee drinker? Or do you avoid it?

My anxiety story. How I went from not being able to get the mail to teaching others how to get anxiety relief.

I tried a LOT of things during my struggle with Panic Disorder and Agoraphobia. Traditional treatments, alternative treatments, truth be told, some of them were pretty weird lol. But after all the years and all the failed miracle cures, I kind of gave up for a while. I settled into the idea that this was just my life. I was going to have anxiety forever. And then I got pregnant. And my whole world changed.... I am telling my whole anxiety story here on my facebook page tomorrow at 10:30AM MT/ 12:30PM ET. Come and learn what happened when I got pregnant and how it lead me down a path of healing I didn’t think was possible for me. See you there!

Crying in Wal-Mart and other things only people with anxiety will understand.

Hands up if you have cried in Wal Mart in the last month because you were so happy? *crickets Just me? ... Let me explain. Sometimes I still get so overwhelmed with gratitude because I can DO ALL THE THINGS. Like go into Wal Mart, on my own, without panicking. That is the kind of thing only people with anxiety could understand. Tomorrow on this page, I am going to be talking about a lot of other things I bet you can relate to. See you at 12pm MT/2pm ET

Hippies and Green Juice and Scienceoh my! AKA What does Holistic Healing actually mean and how it can help anxiety.

Are you looking for solutions for your anxiety, but think that holistic health is all rainbows, unicorns and glitterie, fluffy stuff that doesn’t actually work. But what if the RIGHT kinds of holistic solutions could give you your life back? Tomorrow, I am going live on this page to talk about what the word Holistic actually means, how it can be based on science (when done correctly) and how holistic healing can change your anxiety.... Join me at 12:00pm MT:) See you there!

Did you know that every Tuesday we do a free live training in our free facebook group? Tonight we are talking about exercise! Which exercises are beneficial for anxiety and which to avoid. Join in at 6:30pm MT or catch the replay in the group below.... https://www.facebook.com/groups/thehhanxietycommunity/

Click the link below to join the waitlist. https://holistichope.lpages.co/hhpwaitlist/

If you deal with anxiety or panic attacks you will want to check this out. I'm offering a free 5-day challenge to teach you how to use tapping to lower anxiety, and it starts in 2 weeks! EFT is one of the tools that helped me finally get anxiety relief after almost 13 years. I love teaching it to my clients because, while things like nutrition take a little of time, EFT can help you to feel relief in minutes.... I will be teaching: -How and why tapping actually works -Tapping 101 AKA how to actually DO it -Tapping to stop a panic attack And much more! Plus I will be giving away some of my favourite anxiety resources, books, essential oils and more. The challenge starts on April 22nd. Click below to save your spot. https://holistichope.lpages.co/tappingforanxiety/

One of the symptoms of a panic attack is shortness of breath or the feeling that you can't get enough air. This causes us to over breath and in many cause hyperventilate. The imbalance of oxygen and carbon dioxide can create a whole load of other symptoms like heart palpitations, dizziness, tingling extremities etc. Here is some great information on hyperventilation and what you can do to prevent it. https://www.calmclinic.com/anxie/symptoms/hyperventilation

You are what you eat. How many times did you hear that growing up? But it couldn’t be truer. The nutrients in your food and your body’s ability to digest and assimilate those nutrients impact you on a cellular level. Healthier cells, create healthier tissues. Healthier tissues create healthier organs. But food can also impact us in dozens of different ways. It can fight OR create inflammation, feed the good OR bad bacteria in our body and yes, it can exacerbate our anxiety s...ymptoms. When you are dealing with anxiety, I recommend starting out by cutting out the following 3 ingredients: https://www.holistichope.ca//4-ingredients-to-avoid-when-y

Hands up if it feels like you are catching EVERY cold this year... Did you know that when your stress response is triggered (which happens A LOT with anxiety), your immune system shuts down temporarily? It can leave you much more susceptible to illness.... Here are a few tips that you can do to protect yourself. https://www.holistichope.ca//how-to-stay-healthy-when-your

Winter is almost done, right? If you want a warm treat but are sensitive to chocolate, try this hazelnut hot "chocolate". In a saucepan warm up:... -2 cups of hazelnut milk -5 tsp of carob powder -2 tsp raw honey Stir on low heat until dissolved. Serves 2. For an extra treat, top with coconut cream and cinnamon.

Have you joined our facebook community yet? It is free to join, just click "Join" below! Yesterday I posted one of the slides from my upcoming webinar in there, with one of my favourite studies that showed an over 90% success rate of helping reduce anxiety symptoms. Come on over and take a look! https://www.facebook.com/groups/thehhanxietycommunity/

I've just finished creating the most extensive free training I have ever offered, that is going to teach you ALL about anxiety, including the three roots I address in my practice and 4 holistic strategies to help you get relief ASAP. I am running it live twice in the next 2 weeks so you can pick between the following two dates: For Sunday, February the 24th at 2 pm MT register below:... https://holistichope.lpages.co/freedomfromanxiety/ OR For Thursday, February 28th at 11 am MT register below: https://holistichope.lpages.co/anxietyfree/ Both sessions will be recorded and a replay will be sent out, but everyone who attends live will get a free Intro to Tapping For Anxiety E-Guide. Hope to see you there!

There are so many benefits to meditation, but it can be challenging to do when you have an anxious mind. Walking meditations can be a great alternative. Here it is demonstrated by Dr. Christiane Northrup.

" I was really late to the essential oils game. I rolled my eyes at my peers who were recommending them and scoffed at all the constant barrage of people selling them online and at vendor shows. Not that I had ANY reason to be. I didn’t take any time to look up any of the science behind how they work or look into any of the THOUSANDS of studies that have been published on them (Over 17,000 on PubMed alone). I based my skepticism on a cheap bottle I had bought in a grocery st...ore years ago that did nothing and that I reacted to. I thought that essential oils were overpriced home air fresheners. Boy was I wrong." Read more below including my 3 favourite oils for anxiety! https://www.holistichope.ca/blog/2018//28/another-blog-post

Anything else you would add to this list?

"A lack of sleep can not only exacerbate your anxiety symptoms, but it also can lower your immune system and impair your memory and cognition (hello foggy thinking)." Here are my favourite tips for getting a good night sleep when you are dealing with anxiety: https://www.holistichope.ca//10-ways-to-better-sleep-with-

"Most pre-packaged breakfast foods are FILLED with processed sugar and contain very little protein or healthy fats. These kinds of foods are not only deficient of any nutrients, but they set you up for big blood sugar crashes, which can make you feel anxious and start a cycle of panic." Smoothies are my favourite breakfast food and this is the recipe I make almost every day. https://www.holistichope.ca//17/blueberry-cinnamon-smoothie

"Researchers from Stanford University have proven that just 8 weeks of mindfulness meditation is enough to decrease reactivity in the amygdala, the area of the brain where the stress response AKA Fight, Flight or Freeze begins." Are you meditating regularly? It can be challenging when you have an anxious mind, but the health benefits are incredible. Read my article below for some ways to get meditating when you have an anxious mind.... https://www.holistichope.ca//how-to-meditate-when-you-have

Get the FREE Panic Attack Tool Kit by clicking the link below: https://holistichope.lpages.co/free-panic-attack-tool-kit-/ And visit our website for more information!... http://holistichope.ca See more