You are fine. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, you are not.

Your heart starts racing. Your hands feel shaky. You are suddenly sweaty, irritable, or hit by a wave of dread that seems to have come from nowhere. Twenty minutes ago, you were laughing at a meme. Now your body feels like something is terribly wrong.

Sometimes, the answer really is anxiety. Sometimes, it might be something a little more basic: you haven’t eaten in a while.

How Low Blood Sugar can Mimic Anxiety

Our brains run on glucose, the simple sugar that circulates in your blood after you eat. It is one of the brain’s primary energy sources. When blood sugar drops, your body brings it back up using various hormones, including adrenaline and cortisol.

The catch is that those same hormones can make you feel anxious. Faster heartbeat. Shakiness. Sweating. Restlessness and a sudden edge. If you didn’t realize you were hungry, or that your blood sugar was falling, you might reasonably read those sensations as anxiety.

This does not mean every anxious moment is hunger. If these symptoms are persistent, distressing, or disrupting your daily life, it is worth reaching out for support. But for passing waves of anxiety, it can help to check the basics before assuming something more serious is happening.

It Is Not Just Anxiety. Food Can Affect Your Mood, Too.

There is a growing body of research on the connection between nutrition, blood sugar, and mental health. None of it means you can eat your way out of depression or anxiety; food will not explain every anxious day, and it does not replace therapy, medication, or medical care. Even so, it is one of the first things people forget to check when they are busy, stressed, or running on caffeine.

In one controlled study, healthy adults following a high-glycemic diet, meaning one that raises blood sugar quickly, reported greater mood disturbance and more depressive symptoms than when the same people ate a lower-glycemic diet.

Nutritional psychiatry has gone further and asked whether improving diet can improve depression itself. In the SMILES trial, the first randomized controlled trial to test dietary improvement as a treatment strategy for depression, adults with moderate-to-severe depression were assigned to receive either dietary counseling or social support, in addition to their existing standard care. After 12 weeks, 32% of the dietary group achieved remission, compared with 8% of the social support group.

The relationship likely runs both ways. When we are stressed, depressed, or anxious, we are less likely to eat regularly or well. We skip meals because we are busy, reach for fast sugar when we are exhausted, or go hours without noticing we are hungry.

Turns out “hangry” is more than a funny word. It is your body asking for fuel.

Practical Ways to Balance Your Blood Sugar

Start by noticing the relationship between when you eat and how you feel. If you are consistently more anxious, irritable, shaky, or foggy after several hours without food, that might be a sign that your body needs fuel, and it’s time to eat.

Next, consider what you pair with your carbohydrates. Think of it as giving every carb a bodyguard. Instead of eating fruit alone, add nuts or nut butter. Pair toast with eggs, or add chicken, tofu, or beans to your rice or grain bowl.

Protein, fiber, and healthy fats slow digestion and influence how quickly glucose enters your bloodstream. A 2024 study  of 154 controlled crossover trials found that adding protein to carbohydrate-containing meals reduced the blood glucose fluctuations, with dairy and plant proteins showing particularly notable effects.

You do not have to avoid carbohydrates. Just pair them with something that makes the meal more balanced. The goal is not perfection, it’s consistency.

The Surprising Power of a Balanced Snack

The next time you feel suddenly anxious, irritable, or overwhelmed, run through a short checklist:

• When did I last eat?
• Have I had enough protein and fiber today?
• Am I running on caffeine and stress?

Anxiety does not happen in a vacuum. A skipped meal, poor sleep, and a stressful day can all stack up in the body.

So when it seems to come out of nowhere, pause. Take a breath. Check in with yourself. Consider having a balanced snack. It might not fix everything, but it can be a surprisingly good place to start.

How Lavender Can Help

If you notice these waves of anxiety becoming more frequent, or if food, stress, and anxiety feel tangled together for you, it’s worth exploring further.

At Lavender, all of our clinicians are Psychiatric Nurse Practitioners, meaning they are equipped to  consider your mental health in the broader context of your life. If you’re struggling, our Psych NPs can help you look at the full pattern—anxiety symptoms, appetite, sleep, nutrition, medications, stress, and medical history—and then build a treatment plan that fits what is actually going on.

If you could benefit from support, fill out our intake form and you’ll be connected with an NP within the week.

References

Breymeyer, K. L., Lampe, J. W., McGregor, B. A., & Neuhouser, M. L. (2016). Subjective mood and energy levels of healthy weight and overweight/obese healthy adults on high- and low-glycemic load experimental diets. Appetite, 107, 253–259. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2016.08.008

Jacka, F. N., et al. (2017). A randomised controlled trial of dietary improvement for adults with major depression (the “SMILES” trial). BMC Medicine, 15(1), 23. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-017-0791-y

Wolever, T. M. S., et al. (2024). The effect of adding protein to a carbohydrate meal on postprandial glucose and insulin responses: A systematic review and meta-analysis of acute controlled feeding trials. The Journal of Nutrition, 154(9), 2640–2654. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tjnut.2024.07.011