Ask The Doctor: Anxiety Edition—Everything You Need To Know About Treating Anxiety Naturally with Ellen Vora, MD

This is the second edition of Ask the Doctor, where I ask functional medicine doctors a ton of questions in a single episode so you can reap the benefits of all of their knowledge (check out the first episode, featuring Dr. Will Cole talking about inflammation, hormone balance, birth control, and more, here). This episode is all about anxiety, and features one of my favorite people in the wellness world, Dr. Ellen Vora.

Ellen is a holistic psychiatrist who did her undergrad at Yale, then went to medical school at Columbia. Now, she has a private practice, is regularly featured on sites like goop and mindbodygreen, and she speaks around the country about natural ways of dealing with mental health. She’s also a yoga instructor and a licensed acupuncturist.

I wanted to create an episode that was THE go-to episode for anyone suffering from anxiety, whether it’s chronic or more situational, or even if you want to help with someone you love who’s dealing with anxiety. This episode is SO comprehensive—I tried to ask Ellen literally any question I’ve ever had about anxiety, and I asked all of you on Insta for your questions too. We talk about:

• The top 3 low-hanging fruits for anxiety
• The one supplement Ellen recommends to everyone
• How to tell if hormone imbalances are at the root of your anxiety — and exactly what to o if they are
• How to treat anxiety or reduce stress when you’re living paycheck-to-paycheck
• How to actually find and build community and friendships
• How blood sugar massively impacts your anxiety—and the hack and definitive solution to fix it
• The ideal diet for someone with anxiety, including what a day on a plate actually looks like
• How caffeine impacts anxiety, and whether coffee can fit into an anti anxiety lifestyle
• How to taper off medication (and how to tell if you should)
• How alcohol impacts anxiety
• What to do about social anxiety
• Why you get anxiety the morning after drinking
• How to improve sleep but not let the idea of not sleeping making your anxiety worse
• How to stop spiraling when you feel like you’re hitting that point of no return with anxiety
• The one neurotransmitter that’s the key to alleviating anxiety
• How exercise impacts anxiety, and what types of exercise are best for anxiety
• How to help your partner when they have anxiety and how to tell your partner how to help you when you have anxiety
• Coronavirus, climate change and how to deal with REAL external things that cause anxiety

You can find out more about Ellen at ellenvora.com. We’d both of course love to hear your thoughts and reactions to this episode, so please tag her (@ellenvoramd) and me (@lizmoody) so we can continue the conversation over there.

A great kichadi recipe: https://www.mynewroots.org/site/2018/01/kichadi-realistic-reset/

Enjoy!

PS: Healthier Together is officially a number one best-seller! You can get your copy on Amazon or at lizmoody.com/cookbook. Please keep sending me your creations on Instagram—they make me so happy!

Healthier Together cover art by Zack. Healthier Together music by Alex Ruimy.

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