Gisele Bündchen Claims She Cured 'Severe' Panic Attacks & Depression... By Changing Diet!

Gisele Bündchen is crediting a dietary lifestyle change for helping her get rid of “severe” depression and anxiety! Wow!

In Thursday’s episode of The View, Tom Brady‘s ex-wife joined the roundtable to promote her new cookbook, Nourish. Despite it being somewhat of an unexpected project for the supermodel, she explained that she’s been inspired by nutrition ever since embarking on a “long journey” to overcome her mental health struggles via food. The former Victoria’s Secret Angel dished:

“I had severe depression and panic attacks in my early 20s, but I had no idea that it was correlated with my lifestyle, and food was a big part of it.”

Even though she was emancipated from her parents at just 14 years old to pursue modeling, which had her “traveling the world” the next year, she felt “really independent” and thought she was living “an amazing life.” As for her diet, she was always on the go, often gravitating toward “comfort food.” But everything changed as she got older.

When she reached her twenties, panic attacks became so debilitating, she sought out all kinds of specialists in hopes someone would figure out a solution. If you don’t know, panic attacks are “sudden, intense feelings of fear that cause physical symptoms like a racing heart, fast breathing and sweating” and “may feel like you’re having a heart attack,” according to the Cleveland Clinic. They come on suddenly, which often creates a ton of fear since a patient never knows when the next one is going to strike. They’re usually treated with therapy, medication, or a combo of both. But in this case, a healthier lifestyle also did the trick!

Gisele continued:

“I wanted to feel better … so I found this amazing naturopath and he said to me, ‘Gisele, we have to change your diet.’ And I was like, ‘Diet, what does that have to do with panic attacks?’ And he’s like, ‘No, it has everything to do with it.’ I told him about my day. I drink, I smoke, I have coffee — and he said ‘Listen … stop right there.’ He says, ‘You’re not sleeping. You’re in different time zones all the time. You’re eating, like, terrible all day.’”

Her doc instructed her to switch up her foods, get “at least eight hours of sleep” every night, and exercise daily — and it worked! The 43-year-old shared:

“After having a year and a half of what I would say one of the worst times in my life, everything changed. I became a different person. I started practicing meditation. I started practicing yoga. I started practicing breath work.”

Not rocket science, but it goes to show how important healthy habits really are! And it was an eye-opening journey for the mother of two, who mused:

“And it’s incredible how, just by changing… We’re habitual beings. If we do something every day, we’re just going to be comfortable with that and continue doing that, which is what I was doing. But what I was doing was actually destroying my health and creating the condition I was in. But I wasn’t correlating until he told me, and to experience it in my own body. So, it was the first time I started experimenting with food.”

Pretty impressive that changing her diet made such an impact! Though, these days, it can be a luxury to buy only the best foods and prioritize sleep and exercise, so we hope she knows how privileged she is! Just saying!

Gisele’s book will be out on Tuesday. Will you be buying it? Let us know (below)!

[Image via Tonight Show /The View /YouTube]