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What does zinc have to do with anxiety? Turns out… quite a lot.

Most of us think of zinc as the thing you reach for when you feel a cold coming on, but this little mineral has its hands in a surprising number of jobs throughout the body.

In this episode of The Anxiety Compass, Sammy and Nat head East to the Chemical/Nutritional point of the Compass to unpack zinc and its role in brain and nervous-system function, taste and smell, appetite, growth and repair, immune health and digestion.

We also explore something particularly relevant for anxious humans: what happens to our nutrition when anxiety changes the way we eat? If nausea, butterflies, food aversions or a disappearing appetite leave you eating less or relying on the same handful of “safe” foods are you still getting what your body needs?

We chat about signs that may warrant looking at zinc status, why fussy eaters and restricted diets deserve a little more nutritional curiosity, zinc-rich foods, absorption, blood testing, and why simply taking a supplement isn't always the answer.

Plus: which forms of zinc are commonly used, what “elemental zinc” actually means, why men need more zinc than women, and what copper has to do with all of this.

And because this is The Anxiety Compass, the message isn't:

“You're anxious. Go take zinc.”

It's about asking better questions, looking at the whole picture and remembering that symptoms are clues, not diagnoses.

Because anxiety affects appetite, appetite affects nutrition, digestion affects absorption and your body doesn't operate in separate little boxes.

You are what you absorb.

Support the show

👉 Grab your free Anxiety Compass download here

👉 Grab a copy of Sammy's Book, Anxiety, The Best Teacher You Never Asked For here

Follow us @theanxietycompass

Connect with Sammy @nutritionwithsammy or website

Connect with Natalie @nataliemarieinbalance or book discovery call here

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What if anxiety isn’t “just anxiety”?

One year ago, we launched The Anxiety Compass with one big idea: anxiety isn’t always the enemy, sometimes it’s a messenger pointing us towards something that needs our attention.

So, one year (and a LOT of conversations and laughs 😂) later, we’re going back around the Compass.

In this anniversary episode, Sammy and Nat revisit the different areas that can contribute to how we experience anxiety, from nutrition and body chemistry to emotions, hormones, our environment, physical health, the nervous system and even our sense of connection and purpose.

We look back at some of the biggest lessons from the past year, the connections that surprised us, and why two people can experience the same word anxiety for completely different reasons.

Because the goal was never to give you another list of things to fear or “fix.” It was to help you become curious about your own body and ask:

“What direction is anxiety pointing me?”

Plus, we reflect on a year of The Anxiety Compass, what started as two friends having conversations about anxiety and mental wellbeing, and the incredible community that has come along for the ride. 🩵

Here’s to another lap around the Compass, learning, laughing and finding our way back to true north. 🧭

Support the show

👉 Grab your free Anxiety Compass download here

👉 Grab a copy of Sammy's Book, Anxiety, The Best Teacher You Never Asked For here

Follow us @theanxietycompass

Connect with Sammy @nutritionwithsammy or website

Connect with Natalie @nataliemarieinbalance or book discovery call here

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What if the fear of dying is actually stopping you from living?

In this episode of The Anxiety Compass, Sammy and Nat tackle one of anxiety’s biggest, and often least talked about, fears: death.

Sammy shares the story of the late Emmilia O’Sullivan, author of I Should Be F’N Dead!, whose extraordinary approach to life left a lasting impression on her. After brain surgeries, organ transplants, cancer diagnoses and treatment after treatment, Emmilia reminded Sammy something of something she has never forgotten:

“You cannot live if you are too afraid to die.”

Because you don’t need to be facing a life-threatening illness for fear to make your world smaller. Health anxiety, panic attacks, avoiding travel, constantly checking your body, staying close to home, Googling symptoms—the fear of something happening can quietly start dictating how you live.

So where is the line between looking after yourself and becoming afraid of life itself?

This is an honest conversation about death anxiety, health anxiety, control, uncertainty and learning to live alongside the fact that none of us gets a guarantee.

Expect some deeper moments, plenty of Sammy and Nat tangents, and one big question: Are you protecting your life… or are you actually living it?

🎧 Listen now to The Anxiety Compass.

Support the show

👉 Grab your free Anxiety Compass download here

👉 Grab a copy of Sammy's Book, Anxiety, The Best Teacher You Never Asked For here

Follow us @theanxietycompass

Connect with Sammy @nutritionwithsammy or website

Connect with Natalie @nataliemarieinbalance or book discovery call here

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Could something you're exposed to every day be contributing to the way you feel?

When we think of heavy metals, most of us imagine industrial exposure, contaminated workplaces or something that surely couldn't apply to us.

But metals such as mercury, lead, cadmium and arsenic can potentially enter our environment in ways we might not expect.

In this episode of The Anxiety Compass, Sammy and Nat head North-West on the Compass into Environmental Roots with Clinical Nutritionist and Functional Medicine Practitioner Maria Allerton, founder of True Foods Nutrition.

We explore heavy metals, the ways we're exposed to them, and their potential relationship with the brain, nervous system and symptoms that can overlap with anxiety.

But one of the most fascinating parts of this conversation is not just about what gets IN.

It's about what gets OUT!

Maria explains why two people with similar exposures may not necessarily handle them the same way, and why testing for heavy metals isn't always as straightforward as seeing a low number and assuming everything is fine.

We unpack:

• Which heavy metals Maria commonly investigates and where exposure can come from
• How heavy metals may affect the brain, nervous system and mitochondrial function
• Symptoms that can potentially overlap with anxiety
• Why your ability to eliminate toxins matters
• What an HTMA (Hair Tissue Mineral Analysis) can (and can't) tell us
• Why Maria also uses urine challenge and stool testing
• Why there may not be one test that tells the whole story
• The dangers of jumping into an aggressive “heavy metal detox” without understanding what's happening
• Practical ways to support the body's normal elimination processes
• And our Heavy Metal Rapid Fire round

Most importantly, this episode isn't about giving you one more thing to be anxious about. Heavy metals aren't the explanation for anxiety.

But for some people, environmental exposures may be one more clue on the Compass worth exploring with an appropriately qualified practitioner.

Because sometimes anxiety is the thing that gets our attention, and curiosity helps us work out what's underneath it.

CONNECT WITH MARIA ALLERTON

Maria Allerton is a Clinical Nutritionist and Functional Medicine Practitioner and founder of True Foods Nutrition. Connect with her online and on her website.

🧪 Learn more about Functional Medicine Testing: Functional Medicine Tests

Support the show

👉 Grab your free Anxiety Compass download here

👉 Grab a copy of Sammy's Book, Anxiety, The Best Teacher You Never Asked For here

Follow us @theanxietycompass

Connect with Sammy @nutritionwithsammy or website

Connect with Natalie @nataliemarieinbalance or book discovery call here

Send us Fan Mail

Do you ever feel like everyone around you is moving WAY too slowly?

You think fast. You move fast. You make decisions fast. And when somebody else can't keep up… the frustration kicks in.

In this episode of The Anxiety Compass, Sammy and Nat jump aboard the Anxiety Express and explore a brilliant analogy: what happens when you're travelling through life on the express train, while the people around you are happily riding the scenic route?

Do you try to drag them onto your train? Slow yourself down to match them? Stand at the platform getting increasingly annoyed? Or accept that sometimes you're simply travelling at different speeds?

We explore the difference between being naturally fast-paced and feeling like you can't slow down, including how rushing, urgency, control and impatience can sometimes connect back to the nervous system and anxiety.

We chat about:

• Why being fast-paced isn't necessarily a bad thing
• The difference between choosing speed and being stuck in it
• Why other people's slower pace can make us so frustrated
• Whether we sometimes try to calm our own anxiety by controlling other people
• What constantly rushing can feel like in the body
• When it's worth jumping off the express train and taking the scenic route
• And when you should happily stay on your own bloody train 😂

This isn't an episode telling you to slow down.

It's about recognising which train you're on, why you're on it, and whether you can change trains when you need to.

Because not everybody has to travel through life at your speed. 🚂

So… are you on the express or the scenic train?

Support the show

👉 Grab your free Anxiety Compass download here

👉 Grab a copy of Sammy's Book, Anxiety, The Best Teacher You Never Asked For here

Follow us @theanxietycompass

Connect with Sammy @nutritionwithsammy or website

Connect with Natalie @nataliemarieinbalance or book discovery call here

Send us Fan Mail

If anxiety was an Olympic sport… what event would YOU win gold in?

With the Brisbane Olympics heading our way in 2032, Sammy and Nat have decided it's probably time to start training.

Not for swimming. Not for athletics.

For the ANXIETY OLYMPICS.

Because some of us have been training our entire lives for events like overthinking something we said three days ago, preparing for disasters that haven't happened, reading way too much into someone's facial expression and lying awake while our brain suddenly decides NOW is the perfect time to revisit every awkward thing we've ever done.

In this lighter episode of The Anxiety Compass, we're having some fun with the weird, wonderful and sometimes downright ridiculous things an anxious brain and body can do.

But underneath the laughs is something important.

Anxiety isn't something to be ashamed of, and it isn't the enemy. These patterns are often our body's way of trying incredibly hard to protect us.

So instead of judging ourselves for them, we're putting them on the podium.

Which leaves just one question…

If the Anxiety Olympics started tomorrow, what event are YOU bringing home the gold medal in?

🎧 Join Sammy & Nat for one of our funnier episodes of The Anxiety Compass

Support the show

👉 Grab your free Anxiety Compass download here

👉 Grab a copy of Sammy's Book, Anxiety, The Best Teacher You Never Asked For here

Follow us @theanxietycompass

Connect with Sammy @nutritionwithsammy or website

Connect with Natalie @nataliemarieinbalance or book discovery call here

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Heart pounding. Breathless. Dizzy. Exhausted. Brain foggy. Overwhelmed.

Sounds a lot like anxiety, right?

But what if some of those sensations are actually coming from something happening inside your body?

In this episode of The Anxiety Compass, Sammy and Nat share their own experiences with iron deficiency and anaemia and explore why low iron, along with B12 and folate deficiencies, can create physical symptoms that feel remarkably similar to anxiety and panic.

And don't worry... we're not sending you back to biology class. 😂

Instead, we're turning your bloodstream into a public transport system.

Exploring many queries we received in clinic but most importantly, we ask a question that goes far beyond simply taking another supplement:

WHY are you deficient in the first place?

This episode isn't suggesting that anxiety is “just low iron,” and it's definitely not telling everyone to rush out and start taking iron.

It's about getting curious.

Something physiological may be placing extra stress on the body first, and the racing heart, breathlessness, exhaustion and strange sensations that follow can give an already anxious brain plenty to worry about.

Maybe instead of immediately asking: “Why am I so anxious?”

we can also ask: “What is making it harder for my body to cope right now?”

As always, your body may not be working against you.

It might just be pointing the compass towards something worth paying attention to.

Please note: This episode is for education only and isn't intended to diagnose or treat iron, B12 or folate deficiency. Iron supplementation isn't appropriate for everyone, so speak with your doctor or healthcare professional about testing and treatment that's appropriate for you.

Support the show

👉 Grab your free Anxiety Compass download here

👉 Grab a copy of Sammy's Book, Anxiety, The Best Teacher You Never Asked For here

Follow us @theanxietycompass

Connect with Sammy @nutritionwithsammy or website

Connect with Natalie @nataliemarieinbalance or book discovery call here

Send us Fan Mail

🎉 It's our 50th episode!

And for this one, we wanted to look at anxiety a little differently.

We spend so much time talking about everything anxiety takes from us, the overthinking, racing heart, sleepless nights, fear, overwhelm and those spectacular worst-case scenarios our brains can create.

But what if anxiety has also helped shape some of your greatest strengths?

In this special 50th episode of The Anxiety Compass, Sammy and Nat explore 10 surprising anxiety superpowers, qualities that can sometimes grow alongside an anxious, highly alert and deeply feeling brain.

We talk about things like Empathy and Compassion, Intuition, Humour Resilience, Creativity and more...

This isn't about pretending anxiety is wonderful or ignoring how debilitating it can be. It's about recognising that you are more than the difficult parts of anxiety.

Maybe that brain you've spent years wishing would just calm down has also helped make you observant, prepared, compassionate, creative and incredibly resilient.

And perhaps instead of only asking: “What has anxiety taken from me?”

We can occasionally ask: “What has it taught me?”

Thank you for listening, laughing, learning and navigating alongside us for 50 episodes of The Anxiety Compass. 🧭❤️

Here's to finding our True North...one wonderfully anxious step at a time.

Support the show

👉 Grab your free Anxiety Compass download here

👉 Grab a copy of Sammy's Book, Anxiety, The Best Teacher You Never Asked For here

Follow us @theanxietycompass

Connect with Sammy @nutritionwithsammy or website

Connect with Natalie @nataliemarieinbalance or book discovery call here