Aug. 18, 2025

Anxiety, Genes, and the Methylation Puzzle

Anxiety, Genes, and the Methylation Puzzle

Anxiety, Genes, and the Methylation Puzzle: How 40% of the World Carries a Hidden Mutation “Welcome back to Chasing Eden, the show where we rediscover health and harmony through a mix of ancient wisdom and modern science. I’m your host, Caroline...

Anxiety, Genes, and the Methylation Puzzle: How 40% of the World Carries a Hidden Mutation
“Welcome back to Chasing Eden, the show where we rediscover health and harmony through a mix of ancient wisdom and modern science. I’m your host, Caroline Thompson. Today, we’re tackling a hidden cause of anxiety that may be affecting you—or someone you love—without you even knowing. According to human biologist Gary Brecka, up to 40% of the world’s population carries a genetic mutation that impairs how their body processes folate. It’s called the MTHFR mutation, and it can lead to a condition known as methylation deficiency.
Why does that matter? Because methylation touches almost every system in the body—from how you make neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine, to how you detoxify, to how calm or anxious you feel every single day. If you’ve struggled with unexplained anxiety, depression, brain fog, or fatigue… this episode could shine a light on the missing piece.
We’ll discuss the symptoms, how to test for it, and, most importantly, what difference the right supplementation can make. So stay tuned—because by the end of this episode, you’ll understand how a tiny genetic change could have massive effects on your mood, your mind, and your life.”See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
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WEBVTT

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Welcome back to Chasing Eden, the show where we rediscover

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health and harmony through a mix of ancient wisdom and

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modern science. I'm your host, Carolyn Thompson. Today we're tackling

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a hidden cause of anxiety that may be affecting you

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or someone you love without you even knowing. According to

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human biologist Gary Brecca, up to forty percent of the

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world's population carries a genetic mutation that impairs how your

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body processes fulate. It's called the mthfr mutation, and it

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can lead to something called methylation deficiency. Why does that matter, Well,

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because methylation touches almost every system in your body, from

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how you make neual transmitters like serotonin and dopamine, to

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how you detoxify, to how calm or anxious you might

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feel every single day. If you've been struggling with unexplained anxiety, depression,

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brain fog, or fatigue, this episode could shine a light

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on the missing piece. We'll talk about the symptoms, how

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to test for it, and most importantly, what difference the

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right supplementation can make for you. So stay tuned because

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by the end of this episode, you'll understand how a

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tiny genetic change could have massive effects on your mood,

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your mind, and your life. So what is the methylation mutation. Well,

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here's some methylation basics that we're going to talk about.

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Methylation is a biochemical process where your body adds a

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methyl group that's one carbon and three hydrogens to a molecule.

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It sounds small, it may seem insignificant, but it's actually

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foundational for your health and mental well being. Without efficient methylation,

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your body can struggle with so many things like making

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neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine, and nera epinephrine, detoxifying your hormones

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and your toxins, producing energy at the cellular level, repairing

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your DNA, and the MTHFR gene. Now, the MTHFR gene

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codes for an enzyme that actually helps convert folic acid

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into methyl fol eight. This is the active form that

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your body actually uses. Mutations in this gene can slow

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down the process and leave you short in the methyl groups.

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Gary Brecca's statistic, He says this about forty percent of

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the global population carries some form of the mthfr mutation,

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and many of them don't know it. For these individuals,

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folic acid in fortified foods does more harm than good

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because they can't convert it properly. So the key point

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here is that people with this mutation don't just need

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more folate, they need the right form of folate, which

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is methyl folate. So here are some symptoms of methyl

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folate deficiency when the body can't methylate properly. The symptoms

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look like several things mental health and mood. They can

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cause chronic anxiety depression, resistant to standard treatments. It can

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give you racing thoughts and panic attacks. It can cause

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irritability and mood swings. It also can affect your cognitive

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and neurological processes. It can give you brain fog. It

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can cause poor memory and concentration. It can cause you

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to have difficulty handling the stress in your life. And

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that's just basic stuff that other people might think is

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no big deal, like maybe trying to find a parking

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space in a busy parking lot, or perhaps being just

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a few minutes late to an appointment, or maybe just

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having to deal with traffic. Other people might be able

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to just blow that off or handle it normal. But

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somebody with this particular deficiency is it's going to be

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a much bigger deal to them. There are physical symptoms

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that are very important and a lot of people suffer from.

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Now keep in mind he did say forty percent of

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the population has this mutation. That's a significant amount. It

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can cause fatigue, muscle aches, headaches and or migraines, insomnia.

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It can cause higher homocysteine levels, which are linked to

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your cardiovascular health, and as Gary Bereca says, if you

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have the mt HFR mutation, your neurotransmitters are starved. You're

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not making serotonin and dopamine efficiently, which means you wake

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up anxious, overwhelmed, and you don't know why. So here's

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an example. If you're someone who eats healthy, exercises and

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even takes multi vitamins, but you still feel chronically anxious

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and foggy, you may unknowingly be taking folic acid that

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you cannot process. It's really important that you test for

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this mutation, so there is genetic testing. Direct to consumer

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DNA tests like twenty three in meters or ancestry can

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also show the MTFR variants. Functional medicine doctors often run

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targeted panels. Functional medicine doctors are becoming more common in

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the cities now that they didn't used to We didn't

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used to have that many of them, but I'm noticing

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more and more I'm hearing about them near me. I'm

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hearing about several of them, and they're becoming a norm now.

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A lot of people are starting to go to functional

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medicine doctors. You typically pay out of pocket for them.

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As far as my experiences, they're not as expensive as

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you might expect, So don't necessarily throw out that possibility

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for yourself. Do a church and find some function medicine

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doctors nearby you, or maybe a little ways out if

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you have to drive. Make a few phone calls see

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if you can't find somebody who could run this test

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for you at a reasonable cost. Blood work is another

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way that they will test for the mutation. Homo sistine levels.

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High homoisting often signals poor methylation, so they will oftentimes

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will test you your homo sistine levels. Your full eight

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and B twelve levels can also indicate this. Your blood

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levels may look normal even if your cells can't use

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them properly. A functional medicine doctor is going to be

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able to spot that. Gary Bereca's approach is he's a biologist,

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is a human biologist, and he's very knowledgeable. He's done

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a lot of interviews. He's been on The Joe Rogan

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Show a few times. You might want to go look

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up the earliest show and just listen to the shows

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building up to it. You're gonna get a lot of information,

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a lot of encouragement. It's gonna make a lot more

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sense when you hear him talk about it. He emphasizes

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testing homocysteine, methyl melanic acid, and specific gene markers. He says,

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the data doesn't lie. Your biochemistry tells the story of

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your mental health. Supplementation can make a huge difference in

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your mental and physical health. You don't want to take

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that for granted. Methyl fol eight, also known as five

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mt HF, the active form of folate your body needs.

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It helps lower homocystine, boost neurotransmitter production, and stabilize your mood.

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The dosage varies. It's often four hundred mcgs to five

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hundred milligrams or five milligrams. I'm sorry, four hundred mcgs

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to five milligrams, but it's best guy testiny by getting

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tested and having a recommendation by a practitioner. Other key

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methylation nutrients methyl cobalomin, which is just B twelve it

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works with folate in neurotransmitter production. Vitamin B six it's

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a cofactor in neurotransmitter pathways, and vitamin B twelve also

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helps with the MTHFR function. Now this is a big one.

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I've done another podcast just only on magnesium. Magnesium is

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essential for methylation reactions. Gary Bereca says this, when someone

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with mt HFR deficient deficiency takes methyl folate and methyl

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B twelve, the lights turn on, anxiety lifts, sleep improves,

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and energy comes back, often within weeks. There's a lot

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of success stories out there. Gary has a video I

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believe it's on his Instagram. It is I think it's

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called The Ultimate Human. I can't remember for sure, but

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it's Gary Breca, human biologist. And there are testimonials where

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people talk about, for instance, this one gentleman's daughter who

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had chronic anxiety who went from total anxiety and introverted

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to yelling across the barn at her horse instructor, and

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many other success stories like that one. People have reported

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reduced panic attacks, improved mood, stability, and clearer thinking and energy.

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So consider the genetic testing or the functional lab panels.

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Now avoid follic acid in fortified foods are multivitamins and

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choose the methyl full eight instead. If you're just going

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to go run and grab a full AI supplement, pick

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the methyl folate one. Your lifestyle can help support your results.

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Eating leafy greens, asparagus, and liver, which is a natural

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source of folate, can be very beneficial. Keep in mind

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that alcohol use will deplete your full eate levels. Manage

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your stress. As your stress goes up, your methyl groups

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are eaten up in the body. It's really important for

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you to work with a practitioner, especially if you have

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a history of mood disorders, infertility, or cardiovascular disease. Anxiety

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doesn't always come from trauma, stress, or circumstance. Sometimes it

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comes from chemistry. If nearly forty percent of the world

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carries a genetic mutation that affect how we process folate,

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then millions of people are waking up every single day

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with the brain and body running on empty through no

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fault of their own. Oftentimes, these people will go seek

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out the help of psychiatrists and psychologists and end up

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on a medication for depression or anxiety or whatever else

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they might be feeling, and it's the wrong remedy. It

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could just be something as simple as a nutritional deficiency.

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The good news is this awareness leads to action. Testing

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can uncover the hidden mutation. The right form of supplementation

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like methyl folate, methyl BE twelve, and nutrients that support

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you can transform your anxiety into clarity and your panic

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into peace. As Gary Breca says, biology doesn't guess, it reveals.

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If this episode helped you connect the dots, please subscribe

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to the Chasing Eden podcast and share it with someone

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who struggles with unexplained anxiety, and don't forget to visit

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our website Chasing Eden dot net for more resources and

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recommendations to help you take your next steps. Until next time,

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remember your genes are not your destiny. They are simply

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the garden you're given. With the right nourishment, even anxious

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soil can grow peace.