When you have OCD, managing everyday can be overwhelming. You might be feeling drained by symptoms like cleaning rituals or seeking reassurance, or disturbed by constant intrusive thoughts and images. Getting the daily exercise you enjoy, spending time with the people you love, and maintaining a healthy diet can feel impossible—you might notice your OCD symptoms getting worse as a result.
Lifestyle choices like diet are sometimes discussed as a way of boosting brain function and addressing OCD symptoms. But understanding the difference between internet fads and treatments backed by research can save you time and help you find relief faster. Keep reading to learn more about whether diet can affect OCD symptoms, and more tips for managing OCD.
Can diet impact OCD symptoms?
Scientific research on diet and OCD remains limited. While there isn’t evidence that people with OCD have a deficiency of serotonin, the brain chemical that regulates mood, drugs that increase serotonin have been shown to effectively relieve symptoms for many people. Similarly, eating healthy, balanced meals has been shown to help promote serotonin production, which regulates sleep and appetite, prevents mood swings, and lowers inflammation.
Low blood glucose, also called hypoglycemia, can also negatively impact mood, causing irritability, anxiety, or worry. That’s because the brain relies on glucose as its primary source of energy. Hypoglycemia may simply be the result of being hungry, or a more serious condition like diabetes, which requires diagnosis from a clinician.
“A good diet and exercise are generally good for mental and physical health,” Dr. Patrick McGrath, psychologist and Chief Clinical Officer at NOCD. “We know that those alone can have the impact of an antidepressant. If you want to do everything you can do to help your OCD, eat well, exercise, and get good sleep. Those all matter a lot.”
What to eat and drink if you have OCD (and what to avoid)
First and foremost, it’s important to have a balanced diet and avoid being overly restrictive. It’s perfectly okay to have dessert, as long as you also include fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and protein into your diet. With that in mind, the following diet habits may help address symptoms of OCD like anxiety, mood changes, and stress:
- Eat breakfast that includes protein. This will keep you full throughout the day and prevent blood sugar drops. Protein sources include eggs, nuts, and yogurt.
- Get enough fiber. These should come from foods like fruits, vegetables, and whole grains, thought to increase the amount of serotonin in your brain.
- Avoid ultra-processed foods. According to several studies, processed foods like candy, packaged chips, and sugary cereals can increase your risk of anxiety and depression.
- Reduce sugar intake. Excessive sugar intake can interrupt the function of the neuroendocrine system, which regulates stress and metabolism. Too much sugar, therefore, can increase stress on the body and is associated with higher risk of depressive symptoms.
- Avoid too much caffeine. Overdoing it on caffeinated drinks can make you jittery and interrupt healthy sleep patterns, which increases symptoms like anxiety and insomnia.
- Limit alcohol consumption. While alcohol can temporarily be calming, it also interrupts sleep and can exacerbate OCD compulsions like rumination and reassurance-seeking.
What are the worst diet habits for OCD?
Alcohol
Alcohol is effective in slowing your brain down, because it interferes with the brain’s communication pathways, and this can lead people to think that a bit of a buzz takes the edge off their obsessions. But in the long term, it actually increases stress and interrupts sleep patterns. And in higher volumes, it can impact OCD symptoms in more distinctive ways.
If a person with OCD drinks a lot and then they don’t remember things well, their OCD can jump on that and say “what if I did this and don’t remember what I did,” Dr. McGrath explains. “That’s why I advise people not to use alcohol or drugs. They might get an hour of relief and then not know what behaviors they did while under the influence. Then they’re going to check and obsess over all sorts of things.”
Alcohol is especially problematic for people with OCD when it’s relied upon to minimize obsessive thought patterns on a regular basis, Dr. McGrath says. After a long night of drinking, a person with OCD who starts to obsess about the previous night’s events “might want to restart the cycle by drinking again to slow down their brain.”
Caffeine
Most clinicians suggest that you limit caffeine consumption if you have OCD, an anxiety disorder, or both. This is because the stimulant effects of caffeine can boost the activity of your nervous system. Caffeine can also interfere with sleep when it’s consumed late in the day, further contributing to feelings of stress and anxiety.
Overall, the effects of caffeine can vary from person to person. Trial and error, with the help of a clinician, may be the best way to find out if it’s helping or harming your OCD symptoms.
“Maybe you can have a cup of tea and not notice anything, while the next person goes off the charts,” says Tracie Ibrahim, LMFT, CST. “I often recommend trying a couple of days or a week where the person doesn’t use caffeine, and see if they notice a difference. More times than not, they come back saying, ‘Oh my gosh, I didn’t realize how much the caffeine was affecting me.’”
I often recommend trying a couple of days or a week where the person doesn’t use caffeine, and see if they notice a difference.
Sugar
While added sugar in small quantities won’t exacerbate your symptoms—we all deserve a treat from time to time—daily consumption of sweet treats and packaged snacks may alter emotional states.
The body relies on healthy sugars from foods like fruits and vegetables for everyday functioning. But added sugars in packaged foods like cookies and candy, known as refined sugars, have been found to cause inflammation and put stress on the body. That kind of stress is linked to a range of mental health symptoms like anxiety and depression.
Vitamin B12 Foods: Should you eat them if you have OCD?
Low levels of vitamin B12, which is found in foods like eggs, meats, and fortified cereals, may contribute to OCD symptoms. According to a meta-analysis of studies published in Frontiers in Psychiatry, inadequate B12 levels in the blood can increase OCD symptoms. That’s because B12 is necessary for certain biochemical processes that affect neurotransmitters—chemical messengers in the body that can impact mood regulation.
While increasing your meat consumption or adding B12 supplements to your routine doesn’t necessarily mean your OCD symptoms will vanish overnight, it may be worth speaking with your therapist about getting a simple blood test to measure your levels, so you can determine whether B12 supplementation might help.
What are ways of managing OCD symptoms other than diet?
Maintaining a balanced diet and keeping an eye on your sugar, alcohol, and caffeine consumption certainly won’t hurt your OCD symptoms or your overall health, but diet and lifestyle changes alone are not nearly as effective as evidence-based treatment. The best way to manage OCD long-term is exposure and response prevention therapy (ERP).
ERP involves confronting OCD-related obsessions or fears—under the guidance of a licensed therapist—by putting yourself in situations that typically trigger compulsions or discomfort. Your therapist will help you make the choice not to engage in compulsions, a process which helps you learn that your obsessions are nothing to fear, and that you can tolerate the discomfort that comes with OCD. You’ll develop tools for response prevention, so that you can avoid relying on compulsions each time an intrusive or uncomfortable thought arises. In time, you’ll experience obsessions less and less, and they won’t cause as much distress.While ERP may be the only thing you need to treat your OCD symptoms, medication is also used for treatment in some cases. Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), which help increase the amount of serotonin in your brain, are most commonly prescribed for OCD, often in conjunction with ERP therapy.