Sayer Ji, researcher, author, founder of Greenmedinfo was interviewed by host of the Anxiety Summit, Trudy Scott, Food Mood Expert and Nutritionist, author of The Antianxiety Food Solution.
Deconstructing medical anxiety and evidence-based natural solutions
- how modern medical screening and interventions are based on an outdated evidence-base and lead to fear and anxiety
- the top evidence-based natural interventions for anxiety: lavender, aromatherapy, flowers, plants, forest bathing, probiotics (and the gut-brain axis), magnesium
- foods that can cause anxiety: gluten/all grains
- what foods to include: real whole foods, healthy fats, eggs (and issues with statins)
- ‘alternative’ non-invasive modalities to reduce stress/anxiety – yoga, EFT, music, shiatsu, dancing and aromatherapy
Here are some snippets from our interview
The science shows that lavender and other flowers are very helpful for anxiety. A clinical study from Rutgers University, found that when they gave subjects flowers, they had 100 percent positive result in their emotions.
Lavender has been studied both as an aromatherapeutic agent where you have these small molecules in the volatile fragrance that go right into the olfactory lobe and then start modulating all these different pathways in the brain. Now there are many different ways of looking at this. There’s actually research in the animal model specifically on it being serotonergic, meaning boosting the serotonin levels or preventing their turnover so they last longer, but the reality is there are so many other mechanisms that have been identified. For example, it inhibits what is known as a voltage-dependent calcium channel in a way similar to the drug Pregabalin, also known as Lyrica. And then there’s probably 10 or 20 other different ways in which is likely modulates traditional drug targets in the brain and that’s because the brain is so complex. We’re dealing with hundreds of different biomolecules, many of them classified as neurotransmitters that are making the magic of the chemistry of our brain-produced emotions and feelings so I don’t ever imagine we’ll ever fully understand how it works.
Here is a great blog post from greenmedinfo: Evidence-Based Aromatherapy: Stress Relief And Much More
Here is more information on the Rutgers flowers study, that offered convincing evidence that flowers may be potent mood elevators. I really love this one! How did you feel the last time you received flowers? And when did you last give someone flowers?
I often blog about the joys of nature and getting outdoors and just love this study on forest therapy (also sometimes called forest bathing): Psychological relaxation effect of forest therapy: results of field experiments in 19 forests in Japan involving 228 participants
these results suggest that the forest environments have significant beneficial and relaxing effects on human’s moods compared with the urban environments.
Here is the study that found participants experienced empathy when they smelled the anxiety of another participant: Induction of empathy by the smell of anxiety
You can get access to Sayer Ji’s Wisdom of Food eCourse here (use code: cureanxiety)
If you are not already registered for the Anxiety Summit you can get live access to the speakers of the day here www.theAnxietySummit.com
I like lavender, sometimes I find it a little calming. But I have crohn’s disease and they tell me to stay away from lavender (and melatonin supplements) because it worsened crohn’s. Is this true??
Jules
I have not heard of an issue with Crohn’s disease and lavender. Have you found that it worsens your symptoms? If it does, I’d suggest looking for another source or possibly using it as aromatherapy if you haven’t tried that
Trudy
After the Spring Anxiety Summit, I ordered the Silexan oral lavender extract from one of my suppliers. I did not have good luck with it….trembling, nausea, vomiting, and abdominal pain. Clearly not for me. I don’t have Crohn’s or other AI disease, but I would say if you have a sensitive digestive system, stay away from it. I took it twice just to verify that it really was the culprit, and got the same result both times. I’m glad it works for somebody, it just doesn’t work for me!
Lea
Thanks for sharing and sorry to hear about this reaction you had. There really is no one-size fits all – and this is clearly not for you
Trudy
Sayer Ji is wealth of information. I always love to hear the latest from him. This was a great interview. Thank you for sharing!
Glad you enjoyed it Danielle! I loved interviewing him and agree – he is a wealth of information
Thank you for this great talk as well as recapping on the variety of healthy food available. Throughout the summit I have come across so many new ideas.
Our older children have mercury in their bodies and I was suggested that amino acids would be useful for neuro transmitter deficiencies, is that deficiency linked to Mercury? and I was wondering what healthy food would be good to help instead of the amino acids?
Our children have always been early risers normally 5 or 5.30am and are now on dairy free diets and one has a fructose intolerance too and the other likes fruit and has a sweet tooth. They both like rasins and have had gut difficulties and one is a cold child.
I struggle with what to give them for snacks at school and home as I have heard soy and corn products can be a problem do you have any suggestions as they are not allowed nuts in school?
I have heard a variety of speakers recommend that a protein breakfast is good, we have busy mornings and don’t have time for a cooked or a meaty breakfast? Can you recommend anything else?
I look forward to hearing your thoughts as we are trying to keep our healthy natural diets and adapt to support our childrens on the go movements.
Finally we have a 1 year old and I am thinking about introducing bread, I always give our older children wholemeal bread is the suitable for the baby?
Many thanks in advance,
Debs
Debs
Glad you picked up new information.
Kris Homme shared how mercury can affect GABA and serotonin production (and many other processes in the body).
Animal sources of protein provide all the amino acids but sometimes supplements are needed. With kids I like to focus on food first – left over dinner-for-breakfast could be an option or making a veggie quiche once a week or simply boiling some eggs and steaming some spinach (5 minutes!) Good snacks: cheese, boiled egg, jerky, a piece of chicken etc.
I’d encourage you to listen to Dr Tom O’Bryan’s gluten talk and then make your own decision about gluten/bread.
Trudy