7 Foods That Can Make You Feel Totally Anxious

This article was written by Stephanie Eckelkamp and provided by our partners at Prevention.

If you’ve ever found yourself pouring the crumbs from a bag of potato chips down your throat after a particularly stressful day, you know that emotions can affect what you eat. But did you know that what you eat could also mess with your emotions, exacerbating anxiety and leaving you feeling on edge, worried, and unable to concentrate?

It’s true, says Ali Miller, R.D., author of Naturally Nourished. While food may not be the main cause of these feelings, it can certainly affect their severity and how often they occur. 

“Anxiety can be caused by inadequate brain levels of the neurotransmitters serotonin and GABA, which help reduce the influence of stress hormones, as well as excessive excitatory hormones such as glutamate and epinephrine, which can cause an anxiety and stress response,” says Miller. 

And, you guessed it, certain foods help aid in the production of those feel-good chemicals, while others elevate the anxiety-inducing ones. “Processed foods especially tend to perpetuate a vicious cycle of guilt, anxiety, cravings, and overeating, making it hard to stop eating them once you start.” (Here’s how to prevent a binge before it starts.)

The good news: Quelling your anxiety may be as simple as knowing your food triggers, then cutting them out or reducing your intake. Here, we’ve identified seven surprising foods that might be throwing your anxiety and sour mood into overdrive. (Try replacing them with these 13 stress-fighting foods.)