Your best self comes with peace throughout the entire body so I brought a guest on the podcast today for more on anxiety and am also giving you an anxiety self care checklist as a bonus!

You are no stranger to this conversation around stress, anxiety, depression and all things mood-related as they relate to the gut.

We are constantly talking about them in the A Gutsy Girl community because they are 100% part of you healing your gut; or vice-versa.

The good news is that I have so many awesome experts to help address both to continue providing information for you to utilize in the best way possible.

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Anxiety Self Care Checklist {Episode 46 with Kerri Axelrod}

Click HERE to save this episode for later.

Resources

1. Vagus Nerve Home Remedy {11 Ways for Stimulation}
2. Anxiety and Your Gut (Episode 36 with Alison Seponara)
3. Why Stress May be Your Worst Enemy {Episode 39, Short #1}
4. Best Teas for Stress and Depression {11 Teas to Boost Mood}
5. Enteric Nervous System information HERE
6. Butyrate Foods
7. Self-Care During Massive Grief
8. Self-Love Guided Journal {21-days of prompts for your healing journey}
9. Types of Magnesium
10. Kerri recommends a beef liver capsule. THESE are the ones I love. (When you use this link you’ll automatically save 15%. PLUS, when you order 3 bottles or more you’ll receive FREE shipping and handling.)
11. Kerri’s Instagram HERE
12. Functional Nutrition and Lifestyle for Mental Health (Kerri’s website) HERE
13. Work with Kerri HERE

Digestive system are overlapping with emotional symptoms. – Kerri

Don’t Miss These Thoughts

1. Who is Kerri Axelrod?
2. After becoming a Functional Medicine Nutritionist, what made Kerri want to help women focus on anxiety in their daily life + gut issues?
3. What are some signs and symptoms, both with physical health and emotional health, that there might be an anxiety and gut problem overlap?
4. Besides poor gut health, what are other root causes of anxiety?
5. What is the correlation between food, a balanced diet, and gut + anxiety problems? And how does gut health affect mental health?
6. When someone comes to Kerri with gut and anxiety concerns, where does she start? What testing does she find to be most valuable?
7. Why does Kerri think there are so many gut and anxiety problems?
8. What are three mistakes making anxiety worse and what to do instead?
9. Does Kerri find there are certain supplements that can help address the gut-brain axis?
10. When it comes to anxiety and the gut, what is something Kerri thinks most people get wrong?
11. Does Kerri have tips for a daily self-care checklist or a self-care routine that people might find helpful? (This one is also expanded upon below.)
12. All about Kerri’s course, “The Anxiety Blueprint.” What is it? Who is it helpful for?
13. Kerri’s 3 convictions around gut health and gut healing.

The gut and the brain are physically, chemically, and emotionally connected. – Kerri Axelrod

Anxiety Self-Care Practices

Click HERE to save this checklist of the things described below.

As promised, I wanted to put together a checklist of sorts so you can utilize it for your personal needs.

Here is a routine checklist for many different aspects of your life to consider:

1. Get adequate sleep. Yes, this all starts with getting enough sleep at the end of the day, and taking small steps towards getting more. If you are highly anxious, sad, depressed, stressed, etc. ask yourself, “When was the last time I got a sound 8+ hours of sleep?”
2. Develop a morning routine. Get fresh air, journal, sit in silence, meditate, whatever. The point is to devote enough time for setting your day’s intentions on the right track. And, in fact, did you know that this is also one of my constipation hacks? Watch it HERE for exactly how I do it.
3. Adequate mineral support. This one Kerrie provided in detail during our conversation. Minerals: calcium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, chloride, magnesium, iron, zinc, iodine, sulfur, cobalt, copper, fluoride, manganese, and selenium.
4. Circadian rhythm support. Kerrie also provided this one, which goes along with other simple acts on this list, but she says” 20-30 grams of protein in the morning, natural, bright morning light, and proper sleep hygiene.”
5. Get regular exercise. This is, in my opinion, one of the very best stress relief activities out there. But do remember that if you are also desperate for healing your gut, you need to make it easy exercise vs. strenuous. You don’t need intense workouts in order to reap the benefits of exercise for overall health.
6. Tap into emotional needs. Kerrie mentions that one root cause of anxiety is unprocessed emotional needs and neglecting these basic needs.
7. Deep breaths. Breathing is a basic human need. And yet, how often do you find yourself not breathing? HERE is a very simple breathing exercise that you can implement today.
8. Learn a new skill. Find something new to enjoy for overall better health. There are a million things to choose from in our leisure time; you just have to find something for you. HERE are 21 ideas.
9. Self care journal. I swear by journaling for every last thing we can do to increase our health and happiness. More on this below.
10. Create personal goals. There is nothing quite like believing in yourself. YOU are your own best friend and there is no one in the world who can take better care of you than you. So create some personal goals for yourself based on any specific needs. These can include different things like: a) Read three personal development books in the next 6 months. b) Walk 1 mile, 3 days per week. c) Write 100 words in a journal every single day for 30 days.
11. Get off of social media. Seriously. Get. off. of. social media. If you can’t live without it, then at least create some guidelines for yourself around your online habits. i.e. read a blog post that will provide me value, “scroll” for 20 minutes or less each day, connect with awesome online community groups who provide productive ways for healing my gut or healthy habits for overall mental health care.
12. Therapy sessions. Whenever possible, I highly recommend regular visits with a therapist. They can truly change your life and address anything and everything for your own needs in all areas of your life.

Self-Care Planner Meets Gut Healing Journal

In case you’ve never had Healing Bloom from Within, the 90-day gut healing journal, let me share with you why it’s called that to begin with because it will give you context for why it’s also a self-care planner meets gut healing journal:

Healing really does bloom from within.

Without properly planting, watering, and nurturing the inside, it’s hard to flower on the outside. In other words, if you don’t take care of everything going on inside (physical, mental, and emotional), the outside struggles.

This journal is not just for teaching you how to record food for healing, but it also includes:

1. Space for writing a short gratitude line on a daily basis.
2. Inspirational quotes for further inspiration and motivation.
3. Mini vision board. A page for you to create a mini vision board that you can constantly have with you. I believe the vision board is one way to see our self-care goals come to fruition.
4. Customizable. This journal is a bullet meets healing meets regular journal. In other words, everyone has different needs but I know the pieces that make for a successful gut healing + life journal. My method allows for it no matter what your daily routine is.

Take a closer look at this journal, Healing Blooms from Within HERE.

p.s. my book, A Gutsy Girl’s Bible: a 21-day approach to healing the gut is also a journal of sorts for personal growth. There are 21-days of prompts for your healing journey. Read more about it HERE.

More from A Gutsy Girl

Want to learn even more about the gut and ways to heal it?

Learn all the secrets via my signature book, A Gutsy Girl’s Bible: a 21-day approach to healing the gut. Grab your copy on Amazon HERE.

1. Welcome to A Gutsy Girl Podcast
2. Hang out on Instagram
3. BFF’s on YouTube
4. Free resource: The Master Gutsy Spreadsheet
5. Rated-G Email Club

Wrap Up

Time to wrap this up. As always, a huge goal for this show is to connect with even more people. Feel free to send an email to our team at podcast@agutsygirl.com. We want to hear questions, comments, show ideas, etc.

Did you enjoy this episode? Please drop a comment below or leave a review on Apple Podcasts.

Kerri Axelrod Bio

Kerri Axelrod is a functional medicine nutritionist and a leading expert in a holistic approach to gut health and mental health. She has been featured in PureWow, Real Simple, Byrdie, Reader’s Digest, Prevention Magazine, and Well + Good.

Kerri trained at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition, has completed numerous advanced trainings in functional medicine nutrition, received her 200-hour yoga training from Boston School of Yoga, her Ayurvedic training through Boston Ayurveda School, and completed the Stress Management and Resiliency training at Benson-Henry Institute for Mind-Body Medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital.

She is currently completing her degree in dietetics at Simmons University in Boston, MA.

Before her work in nutrition, Kerri has over a decade of experience as a media spokesperson and marketing communications strategist and began her career in political communications.

She served as the Pennsylvania Communications Director for Organizing for America, where she handled communications on behalf of the Democratic National Committee in one of the country’s key battleground states.

She holds a B.S. in International Relations focusing on U.S. Foreign Policy from American University in Washington, DC.

To connect with Kerri, follow her on Instagram or visit her website.

If you liked this episode, you might also enjoy:

1. What Role Does the Gut Play in Mood and Brain Health {Episode 37 with Tina Anderson}
2. Your Brain on Food {Episode 19 with Dr. Uma Naidoo}
3. No More Fight or Flight Digestion {Is How We Eat as Important as What We Eat?}

Xox,
SKH