Archives for January 2019

Green tree-lined streets reduce anxiety, making you feel more positive and calm, improving your attention and help with recovery from stressful situations.

January 11, 2019 By Trudy Scott 8 Comments

I’m a nature-lover and don’t need to be told that seeing trees or walking under them or driving along a tree-lined street has research supporting their benefits. I just feel the sense of wonderment, the calming effects and a heightened sense of joy and pleasure as soon as I’m in amongst trees in a street like the one above.

This is a quiet side street in the small town of Richmond in NSW, Australia. It runs perpendicular to a really busy road that heads up to North Richmond and beyond. Now the traffic doesn’t come close to comparing with Los Angeles traffic but for a small town it can be rather hectic from 4pm. If we happen to be heading towards North Richmond, we always take a detour along this wonderful tree-lined road and other similar tree-lined roads to get to where we’re going. As well as avoiding the bumper to bumper traffic we get this sense of ahhhhh!

I mentioned that I don’t need to be told there is research supporting the calming effects of tree lined-roads. But you know me: I’m always curious about the science so when I heard there was research I was of course intrigued about it and wanted to understand why they make us feel so good.

Here is some of the research I found: In Benefits of nature: what we are learning about why people respond to nature we discover that in general we respond in a positive way to nature and to trees in particular, especially “trees with spreading forms” reminiscent of trees on the African savanna. I was born in Africa and spent 32 years there so I find this so interesting! This paper also reports that

all colors were calming, but bright green trees were more calming than other tree colors, including less bright greens and oranges

and that

Adult responses to plants are also influenced by their childhood interactions with nature. We have shown that the more interaction people have with nature as children, the more positive are their attitudes towards nature as adults.

In this study: Stress recovery during exposure to natural and urban environments, the 120 participants were exposed to “color/sound videotapes of one of six different natural and urban settings” after watching a stressful movie. Watching the natural settings had a measurable impact on parasympathetic measures such as heart rate and muscle tension and they felt more positive, experienced improved attention and had better stress recovery.

In another study The View From the Road: Implications for Stress Recovery and Immunization, drivers were presented with a stress-causing stimulus and their reactions measured as they recovered from the stress. The Safe Streets report from the University of Washington summarizes the outcome:

Those viewing built-up, strip-mall-style roadside environments in a simulated drive after the stressful experience showed a slower and physiologically incomplete recovery and reported more negative feelings. Study participants seeing more natural roadside scenes (forests or golf courses) returned to normal baseline measures faster. An “immunization effect” was also detected, as initial exposure to a natural roadside setting decreased the magnitude of response to a subsequent stressful task.

And finally, the research about forest-bathing (known as Shinrin-yoku), although not directly related to stress-reduction from driving along tree-lined streets is worth mentioning. Just the word “forest-bathing” makes me smile.

Research on forest-bathing shows how spending time in forests can lower high blood pressure, and help ease modern-day “stress-state” and “technostress”. In one study, Effects of Short Forest Bathing Program on Autonomic Nervous System Activity and Mood States in Middle-Aged and Elderly Individuals:

The Profile of Mood States negative mood subscale scores of “tension-anxiety”, “anger-hostility”, “fatigue-inertia”, “depression-dejection”, and “confusion-bewilderment” were significantly lower, whereas the positive mood subscale score of “vigor-activity” was higher.

In summary, in this study, the 128 middle-aged and elderly individuals spent only 2 hours in a forest setting and felt less tense, had reduced anxiety, experienced less anger and hostility, felt less fatigued, were not depressed or dejected, felt less confused/bewildered and had more vigor and energy. This was after only 2 hours of forest-bathing!

Here are some ways you can get the most out of this information for your own sense of calm:

Take a detour like we do if at all possible and enjoy the calming effects of driving along a tree-lined street. Better yet, take a moment to get out the car and soak in the beauty while walking down the road. And best of all, take a full-day hike on a weekend or go camping for 2 days.
Plant a tree (or more than one) outside your home or get involved with a tree-planting committee at your child’s or your grand-child’s school or place of work to do the same
Talk to your local mayor and council members to make tree planting in your community a priority
If you live in a built-up city and can’t do any of the above, make an effort to spend quiet time in a nearby park
Find a tree-planting charity that is a good fit and make a donation in the name of a loved one in lieu of a gift or just do it for yourself
If you’re housebound (with agoraphobia for some other reason), find some pictures or a poster of green trees or dig out some old photos. Just looking at pictures of nature and greenery have a stress reducing effect.

On that note here is the bigger version of my Richmond tree-lined street image so you can enjoy looking at it while reading this blog AND get some of the stress-reducing benefits…until you’re in your own tree-lined street or out in nature.

I hope this motivates and inspires you to drive down more tree-lined streets and to do something tree-related in your life in addition to all the nutritional changes you’re making to eliminate your anxiety!

We’d love to hear how much you love trees and the outdoors. Do you have a favorite tree-planting charity? Feel free to share your feedback and questions too.

Fasting for hormone balance, improved mood, mental clarity and gut repair

January 7, 2019 By Trudy Scott Leave a Comment

Fasting can improve hormone balance and mood, lead to mental clarity and play a role in gut repair – and much more. Dr Jocker’s shares this about fasting:

It is an ancient healing practice that dates back to the beginning of mankind, when our bodies were forced to adapt to times of famine and food scarcity on a regular basis — it STILL costs nothing to practice and could transform the health of every cell in your body!

Our ancestors once lived in a way that created robust health to help them survive the rigorous wear and tear of life. We’ve lost those life skills. Today, more and more people are struggling with their weight, chronic pain, memory loss, digestive problems, cancer, poor mental health and autoimmune diseases.

If you’re not familiar with the many benefits of fasting (and the many types of fasting) then be sure to grab a copy of The Fasting Transformation Quickstart Guide that Dr. David Jockers is giving away when you register for The Fasting Transformation Summit.

I snagged this image from The Fasting Transformation Quickstart Guide so you can see all the benefits!

Here are a few quotes from some of my favorite interviews on The Fasting Transformation Summit (which airs Jan 14 – 20)

Dr. Michelle Sands shares how fasting CAN work well in women and dispels the belief that fasting doesn’t work as well for women as it does for men. Here is one example she gives:

Intermittent fasting or a longer fast during this time period (2 weeks before menstruation) can really improve menstrual-related issues

In her interview,“Fasting for Younger Women” she covers exactly how fasting impacts female hormones – in both perimenopause and menopause – as well as precautions to consider before fasting. They also discuss why fasting is so key for gut repair (I love her pothole road analogy) and how fasting boosts the anti-aging hormone HGH (human growth hormone).

Dr. Marcelle Pick, MSN, OB-GYN, NP discusses menopause and how to reduce symptoms and optimize hormones in her interview “Intermittent Fasting for Menopausal Women.” She shares that premenopausal women and menopausal women who are

under chronic stress produce more cortisol and less DHEA and this causes imbalances in our sex hormones

Dr. Gez Agolli discusses leptin resistance and hunger, cravings and overeating in his interview “Using Fasting Strategies in the Clinical Setting” (leptin is the hormone that regulates satiety or your feeling of fullness)

If you are leptin resistant then you’ll have trouble with hunger, cravings and overeating

Interestingly leptin resistance also impacts cognitive function and increases your risk for depression. Leptin resistance also increases anxiety/depression in menopausal women.

Cheryl Burdette, ND covers inflammation and how it impacts you and the “Impact of Fasting on Chronic Inflammation.” She shares that

Eating too often and eating the wrong types of foods damages the tight junctions in the gut, and that tips the inflammatory potential.

Dr. Jockers shares this about improved mental health in his talk:

As ketones elevate in the body, most people experience improved mood, mental clarity and creativity. Many people observe that they feel the most productive at the peak of their intermittent fast or after 3-4 days of extended fasting.

I’ve personally adjusted my eating to do regular intermittent fasting and am surprised at how much it helps my mental clarity and energy levels. It also leads to much more restful sleep. I’m still recovering from the harms of EMFs and fasting helps so much!

I remember feeling a bit overwhelmed by it all and thinking it was a daunting venture (especially when I wasn’t feeling great) but I learned a lot during Dr. Jocker’s Ketogenic Summit and then did his keto program. It’s really quite easy to do once you understand how to do it well.

In case you’re curious, I’m doing what he calls a Strong Fast and consume all food (2 meals) in a 6-8 hour eating window each day and fast through breakfast. Dr. Jockers describes 16 different types of fasts in The Fasting Transformation Quickstart Guide which you get access to when you register.

Join Dr. David Jockers as he interviews fasting experts, so you can learn everything you need to know about this transformational health tactic!

Have you found health benefits from fasting? And have you felt challenged when fasting? Feel free to share your insights and questions in the comments below.

Why does chewable GABA make me run to the bathroom and what GABA do I use instead?

January 4, 2019 By Trudy Scott Leave a Comment

The amino acid GABA (gamma-amino butyric acid) helps to raise GABA neurotransmitter levels and ease the physical symptoms of anxiety: stiff and tense muscles as well as feelings of stress, overwhelm and often panic attacks and overthinking/unwanted thoughts too. It can also help with the visceral pain of IBS/SIBO and insomnia. GABA eases symptoms very quickly, often within 5 minutes but is most effective when taken sublingually, is chewed or is opened on to the tongue.

I often get feedback from individuals in my community saying GABA doesn’t work for them for one reason or another. Digestive issues are a common problem and one question I often hear is the one about chewable GABA and gas, bloating and/or diarrhea.

Rav asks this question on the blog:

What about individuals with IBS (irritable bowel syndrome) or Colitis who cannot take chewable tablets? I used to take the GABA-Pro by Bioclinic Naturals and it just made me run to the bathroom. Should those with digestive trouble steer clear from chewable forms of GABA?

This is an excellent question and something you always need to consider when having digestive upset: is it due to a new supplement I’ve recently added? You have to find a product that works for you and we’re all different. Just like we need to read labels with food we need to read and understand the labels of supplements too.

There are a number of factors to consider: sugar alcohols, natural flavors and plant-based cellulose ingredients.

Let’s look at sugar alcohols first

Many of the chewable or sublingual forms of GABA contain sugar alcohols which can be problematic and cause digestive upset and often explosive diarrhea. Sugar alcohols include xylitol, sorbitol, mannitol and erythritol. Your reaction will depend on the amount of sugar alcohols used, how many chewable tablets you use and how accustomed you are to sugar alcohols. You may get used to them and eventually be fine with consuming small amounts and yet for others the tiniest amount is an issue.

Many of the chewable forms also contain natural flavors which could potentially be problematic for you.

Let’s now look at cellulose and rice flour

I’m also starting to see more and more folks have digestive distress and gas from products with plant-based cellulose ingredients, especially when someone has IBS or SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth). For example, you may see hydroxypropylcellulose on the label. This helps the chewable keep its shape and stay intact longer when in the mouth.

With capsules you may see cellulose, methylcellulose or hypromellose on the “Other Ingredients” section on the label, with these vegetable-based ingredients replacing the gelatin capsule. This also often causes bloating and gas when IBS/SIBO is an issue.

The rice flour filler in many products can also be problematic for some folks with IBS/SIBO.

Reading the label

The product Rav mentions – GABA-Pro by Bioclinic Naturals – is not one I’m familiar with but a quick check shows these ingredients in addition to the GABA:

Xylitol, stearic acid, hydroxypropylcellulose, silica, natural tropical fruit flavour (banana, pomegranate, pineapple, mango, passionfruit, orange, tangerine, mandarin), citric acid, vegetable grade magnesium stearate (lubricant).

The xylitol is a sugar alcohol, the hydroxypropylcellulose is plant-based cellulose and there are many natural flavors in this product. Any one or all could be the issue.

Magnesium stearate, a bulking agent and lubricant, is often reported as being problematic but since it’s in so many products, it’s unlikely to be causing digestive distress in this case. If you’d like to learn more, Dr Josh Axe has a great blog addressing some of the hype around magnesium stearate concluding it’s safe to consume.

Interestingly, the product label says GABA (gamma-amino butyric acid) when in actual fact it contains pharma GABA (a fermented form of GABA). It’s unlikely that this is the issue for Rav but I do find it a strange way to label a product.

Finally, it’s always important to check quality and make sure there are no artificial colors, preservatives, or sweeteners, no dairy, no gluten and no GMO ingredients in the supplement. This product passes this test.

What GABA do I use instead?

One option is to switch to another chewable such as GABA Calm. This is one of my favorite GABA products because it works so well, is a nice low dose of GABA, is convenient when you’re out and about and actually tastes good. This one does contain the sugar alcohols sorbitol and mannitol, as well as a natural flavor which may well also be an issue, although I’ve had few complaints from clients and those in my community.

The other option is to use a GABA-only product or a combination GABA and theanine product (such as NFH GABA-T SAP) opened onto the tongue. It’s not as convenient but if it gets you the calming results you’re looking for then it’s a non-issue.

And finally, you could do a trial of using the chewable during the day and the opened GABA capsule at night so you’re consuming less sugar alcohols overall (if that’s your issue).

You can find the GABA Calm, NFH GABA-T SAP and Enzymatic Therapy GABA on the supplements blog here. To be clear, I’m not saying the GABA-Pro product isn’t a good choice in general, rather that it may not be ideal for you, based on your unique needs and what is going on with your gut at any one time.

How do you do with these chewable GABA products (or others like this). Do you do well on them or do you end up running to the toilet or battle with gas and/or bloating?

Or do you prefer a GABA-only or GABA/theanine combination product (opened onto the tongue)?