Disclaimer: I NEVER promote or encourage a product I have not personally tried myself and had success with. It is important to me to speak from a place of personal experience in order to be authentic.

A few months ago I found myself under an enormous amount of stress that I was having difficulty managing. The New Yiddish Kitchen was launching, I was knee deep in edits for Paleo Kids Cookbook, finishing up the manuscript for my Instant Pot Paleo Cookbook, all while juggling daily life as a stay at home mom to my 3 littles and trying to pull together a book tour. While all of my stressors were ultimately positive, that didn’t mean they weren’t impactful in making me feel overwhelmed.

Not only do I have a history autoimmune disease (read my story here), I also have a history with panic attacks and anxiety. While it has been years since I suffered full blown panic, it is certainly something I am sensitive to and NOT a road I want to go down again.

So I started playing around with my supplements, both on my own and in collaboration with my integrative physician. I upped Magnesium, Potassium, Vitamin D, added adrenal support like rhodiola and other herbs. They helped but something was still amiss. I pursued research for natural supplements I could incorporate for my anxiety, racing thoughts, and for a general feeling of being overwhelmed and stressed.

Somehow I landed on INOSITOL and began reading the research. Like anything else I realized that what works for some doesn’t work for others and that trial and error is a necessary component of finding what works for each individual. That said, I was awestruck by the reviews and literature I came across.

Commonly nicknamed Vitamin B8 (it’s not really a B vitamin at all), INOSITOL is found in both plants and animals. The highest amounts can be found in the heart and brain as it works with neurotransmitters for message circulation. DING DING DING! No wonder it aids in alleviation of symptoms associated with anxiety! It also aids in clearing fats from the liver (can you say detox?!), and  converts nutrients to active energy. Here are a few of the reported benefits of inositol:

• Improved sleep
• Decreased anxiety
• Reduction of OCD symptoms
• Lessening of hair loss and itchy scalp
• Helps improve depression
• Liver Detox when combined with choline
• Improved blood circulation
• Weightloss
• Used in cancer treatments
• Increased fertility
• Decrease in blood pressure
• Blood sugar regulation
• 

If you are experiencing anxiety or OCD type behaviors and are curious about a natural alternative to rx medications, or looking to use something natural in conjunction with an rx, INOSITOL could very well help. It is something you can research on your own and bring up to your healthcare provider.

So I gave INOSITOL a try for myself. Based on how innocuous it seemed to be (minus a few side effects like loose stool if taken in excess), I figured it cost next to nothing, figuratively and quite literally. My experience was this:

Within 1-2 doses, I felt oddly calmer. I was not completely without anxiety or worry but I noticed that I felt more like “everything is going to be okay.” I actually thought it was either a placebo effect to be honest because it kicked in so quickly. I even laughed it off until I read similar stories online from those who experienced something similar. So I kept taking it amidst some of the highest stress of my life – my husband actually said this was the most stress I’d been under in our entire marriage and that includes chronic illness! I continued feeling better and better to the point where I had my first public speaking engagement for a Lyme group on Annapolis and I was so oddly calm that THAT freaked me out! I get very nervous in front of people since becoming ill because I was always having to “fake” wellness at my worst. I know many of you can attest to this same feeling.

I did not have to take much to achieve these results. I chose to take the powder because that way I could easily titrate up instead of figuring out how to open and divide pills. I saw results after 1/4 teaspoon as indicated on the bottle and worked up to 1-2 teaspoons, splitting them throughout the day. Please keep in mind I am not recommending dosage as this is something for you to determine with your healthcare provider. But I am sharing because it took so little to achieve such significant results. Here is the link to the one I personally take and have had success with: INOSITOL POWDER

I shared my experience on my Predominantly Paleo Facebook page and since have heard from several of my readers who have had similar results. These are actually my personal readers, not reviews found online. Here are a few of them:

Carol (from Ditch the Wheat): “I bought some to try. After a week of taking it I was at two family functions and I felt zero social anxiety. It was such a foreign feeling for me to be so calm. I have also noticed that I have more glowy skin and I have lost 5 pounds since I started the pills. I’m not even taking that much of it. I’ve been losing weight anyways but I noticed I started losing a lot of weight suddenly and I kept think it was because I was less stressed. Then today I researched inositol and weight loss and read all about how it balances your hormones and improves liver health etc. WOW! Thank you Thank you Thank you!!!! I feel like a normal person again…”

Annette: “I’m fairly sensitive to stuff in general but even if it’s a placebo effect I’ll take it! I definitely feel much calmer in the face of stress.”

Lindy:  “I have seen the same great effects for anxiety. I also was diagnosed with PCOS and had irregular cycles. I started taking it in august. I was pregnant by the middle of october and due in July.”

Sunnie: “This was a great help with my anxiety. I take it as a preventative.”

Annie: “I’m very excited. I tried it for the first time! I was having panic attacks, this arrived in the mail, took 2 tablespoons (I know, it’s a lot, but I saw how high the therapeutic dose was for panic disorder), and the panic attacks stopped. Ativan or Xanax are usually the only things that have this effect, but I try to avoid them. No poops yet, but even if I do, it’s worth it. Chinese herbs, supplements, etc. usually don’t help even at high doses. Thank you sooo much for sharing!” ❤️

Alicia: “I couldn’t remember what you had said you were using it for but I bout it and have been working it in and take it pretty much everyday, at least every week day and I can tell a difference in my anxiety now that I know why I got it in first place!”