Food scares & your anxiety

EL PASO, Texas (KVIA) --More than 41-hundred lab confirmed domestic cases of cyclosporiasis have been reported nationwide since May first. That's enough to make anyone guess what they're eating. Experts say outbreaks like this one can have major mental health consequences.

There's a difference between food caution and food phobia, and there are reasonable precautions that can be taken without letting food anxiety rule your life. Each week in the U.S., the CDC can coordinate up to 36 investigations into food borne illnesses, like salmonella, listeria or E. Coli.

Clinical psychologist Susan Albers says taking recommended precautions like washing food, avoiding specific produce of concern, and staying up to date on recall information is healthy.

"Food phobia or extreme anxiety goes beyond the normal level of concern or caution. It begins to take control of your life," Albers says. Examples would be things like avoiding restaurants, food preparation and grocery shopping. One could also have extreme intrusive thoughts, and repeatedly and excessively checking for recalled foods, and feeling anxious when they do eat.

She says focus on fact rather than fear, and avoid doomscrolling.

Albers says people who already have health anxiety OCD and those with disordered eating or an eating disorder may be more vulnerable to food phobias around these outbreaks.

"If you notice that your behavior is changing to the point it is affecting your health, your emotions, your relationships, this is the time to check in with a therapist," Albers says.

She adds that those with health anxiety can also hyper-focus on some of the natural digestive clues, like fullness or a gurgling stomach, making them more significant than they are. That can also create an intense amount of anxiety that can become overwhelming.