Food and mood

The Anxiety Summit – Primal nutrition for anxiety and depression

November 16, 2014 By Trudy Scott 1 Comment

Dr. Lauren Noel, ND was interviewed by host of the Anxiety Summit, Trudy Scott, Food Mood Expert and Nutritionist, author of The Antianxiety Food Solution.

Primal nutrition for anxiety and depression

The benefits of eating grass-fed red meat
Which healthy fats to include and why
Why include nutrient-dense bone broths and how to make them
Mineral-rich foods make a difference

Here is the blog post from season 1 of the Anxiety Summit: The Research – Food to prevent and treat anxiety and depression?

out of every single dietary food grouping that I looked at including vegetables, fruits, salads, beans, etc the strongest correlate of mental health was red meat intake (grass-fed red meat of course)

I’m glad we talked about total cholesterol that is too low because the whole cholesterol question comes up a lot. Here is a blog post with some links to studies: Total cholesterol that is too low: anxiety and depression in women

Here is some research on how trans fats make us depressed and anxious

Here is my roasted spicy pumpkin seed recipe and Magdalena’s liver pate recipe

If you can’t get your meat locally, you can mail order grass-fed meat and other wonderful products like liver and pemmican from US Wellness Meats. In the interview I mentioned their Liverwurst, which is a mixture of grass-fed beef trim (30%), liver (30%), heart (20%) and kidney (20%). I really think this “is the tastiest way to incorporate healthy grass-fed beef organs into your diet!” All of their beef products are 100% grass-fed and grass-finished. They source from family farms, and endorse sustainable farming and humane practices.

Dr. Lo is the host of Dr. Lo Radio, a top rated podcast on iTunes that has attracted over 1million listens. It’s a great podcast. Here are links to 2 shows: Death by Food Pyramid with Denise Minger and Your Personal Paleo Code with Chris Kresser

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

The Anxiety Summit – Treating Anxiety in an Integrative Medicine Practice

November 14, 2014 By Trudy Scott 8 Comments

Rebecca Robb, PsyD clinical psychologist, co-founder of an integrative health care practice, Integrative Primary Care Associates, was interviewed by host of the Anxiety Summit, Trudy Scott, Food Mood Expert and Nutritionist, author of The Antianxiety Food Solution.

Treating Anxiety in an Integrative Medicine Practice

What is integrated medicine
What are the complexities of building an integrated medical practice
Incorporating neuro-nutrition/amino acids into a psychotherapy practice
Case studies using neuro-nutrition/amino acids and psychotherapy for anxiety, depression, panic attacks, family dysfunction, chronic pain, gut distress

Rebecca Robb incorporates neuro nutrition into her psychotherapy practice. This is what she says about neuro nutrition:

From my standpoint, for me, I think I use those words to describe the way in which I use supplements, specifically amino acids although I’m starting to use lithium orotate, and vitamins and supplements, vitamins and omega-3’s, that kind of thing. How I use those supplements and how I use dietary change and adjustment to affect mental health issues or to tweak mental health issues. That’s what I mean by neuro-nutrition.

I will tell you any therapist can describe to you, and I can go on and on, about what it’s like, for example, to be sitting with somebody who’s quite anxious and spending your time on deep breathing exercises and the kind of tools that I have traditionally been offered as a psychologist, and yet here’s this other tool where we can calm the patient’s body. Once they can get more of their physical symptoms under control, the level that we can go at in a psychotherapy realm is very exciting.

People come in to see a therapist and then kind of push you away because it’s too scary to deal with grief, it’s too scary to deal with the hard stuff, they’re afraid to become more depressed or more anxious or more – but when we can get the physiological symptoms more under control, we can go to really deep places and make wonderful progress from the psychological standpoint. I do it, so that I can do my work better; that’s why I’m so attracted to it. I watched people be able to grow more than I could ever imagine them growing with us just using the traditional tools of psychotherapy.

We discussed the amino acid questionnaire created by Julia Ross, author of the The Mood Cure. Here is the link to the blog from my talk: Targeted individual amino acids for eliminating anxiety: practical applications. You can get a copy of the questionnaire from here and read up more information on GABA. I am a big fan of GABA and find it to be very effective.

Rebecca has found phenibut (and Kavinace – a combo product that contains phenibut) to be more effective than GABA with her patients. This is one of the case studies that has me concerned about phenibut: Phenibut dependence

We present a case of a patient who used phenibut to self-medicate anxiety, insomnia and cravings for alcohol. While phenibut was helpful initially, the patient developed dependence including tolerance, significant withdrawal symptoms within 3-4 h of last use and failure to fulfil his roles at work and at home.

Rebecca mentioned two books: the book that covers a paleo style diet Practical Paleo: A Customized Approach to Health and a Whole-Foods Lifestyle by Diane Sanfilippo and The Defining Decade: Why Your Twenties Matter–And How to Make the Most of Them Now by Meg Jay, a guide for 20-somethings.

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

The Anxiety Summit – How Changing My Breakfast Cut My Anxiety in Half

November 13, 2014 By Trudy Scott 8 Comments

Angela Savitri, OTR/L, Freedom from Chronic Stress Coach was interviewed by host of the Anxiety Summit, Trudy Scott, Food Mood Expert and Nutritionist, author of The Antianxiety Food Solution.

How Changing My Breakfast Cut My Anxiety in Half

How amino acids helped (5-HTP, and GABA)
How yoga and mindfulness meditation helped her anxiety
The research supporting yoga and mindfulness meditation for anxiety
How changing to a 90% whole foods diet helped her anxiety
What the biggest game-changer was for her anxiety?

It warmed my heart when I read this in a recent newsletter that Angela sent to her community. I contacted her right away and asked if she would come and share this on the summit and she said yes!

If you’ve been part of this community for a while, you’ve heard some of my personal struggles with anxiety.

When Lexapro, Buspar, and Doral were not helping, I sought alternatives.

I got some relief with taking amino acids, 5-HTP, and GABA.

I found some relief in yoga and mindfulness meditation.

I found some relief from eating a 90% whole foods diet.

I received the most relief from eating animal protein within one hour of waking.

Seriously…my anxiety went from a daily 6 to a 2 with this one nutrition adjustment.

And I learned it from Trudy!

This is going back to basics! This is simple and yet so powerful!

Here is a great blog post from Angela: 5 Tips to Avoid Depression and Anxiety

And an audio gift from Angela 3 Secrets to Self-Care Without Feeling Guilty

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

The Anxiety Summit – Targeted individual amino acids for eliminating anxiety: practical applications

November 10, 2014 By Trudy Scott 126 Comments

Host of the Anxiety Summit, Trudy Scott, Food Mood Expert and Nutritionist, author of The Antianxiety Food Solution. was interviewed by Dr Lauren Noel, host of Dr Lo radio.

Targeted individual amino acids for eliminating anxiety: practical applications

Glutamine: how it’s calming and helps with blood sugar balancing
GABA: how it eases physical tension
Tryptophan: how it eases anxiety in the head/busy ruminations (and when not to use 5-HTP)
DPA and tyrosine: how they help you quit the comfort-eating and coffee
Precautions when using individual amino acids
Factors that make them more effective and factors that make them less effective

Here are some snippets from our interview:

You’ll hear some practitioners say GABA molecules are too large to cross the blood brain barrier so GABA won’t work or if it does work you must have a leaky blood brain barrier

Some practitioners are talking about and using a “test” for leaky brain called the GABA Challenge which recommends taking1000- 2000 mg of GABA at night. If the blood brain barrier is intact, you supposedly won’t feel any effect from the GABA. If you do feel a change (drowsiness /feeling drunk or even jittery) then you will need to repair your leaky blood brain barrier.

I have not used the GABA Challenge and only recently learned about it but I am concerned with the very high dose of 2000mg of GABA. That is a lot of GABA for most people and I would expect severe drowsiness for most people or even a reverse effect. I find 125mg (in GABA Calm) is a good starting dose for my anxious clients.

I have also seen research indicating that GABA’s relaxing effect may be due to peripheral effects rather than the effect on/in the brain

Here are some of the papers about there being GABA-receptors in peripheral tissues (these are older papers and I’d love to see some newer research).

“GABA and its receptors are found in a wide range of peripheral tissues, including parts of the peripheral nervous system, endocrine, and non-neural tissues such as smooth muscle and the female reproductive system” (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2162457)
“GABA is widely distributed in endocrine tissues including the pituitary, pancreas, adrenal glands, uterus, ovaries, placenta and testis” (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16338174)

Here is the research on oral GABA being a natural relaxant for 13 subjects who crossed a suspended bridge as a stressful stimulus

GABA could work effectively as a natural relaxant and its effects could be seen within 1 hour of its administration to induce relaxation and diminish anxiety.

Here is the research on the stress-reducing effect of chocolate enriched with gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA) in humans

the participants performed an arithmetic task and those that were given the GABA choc made a quick recovery to the normal state from the stressful state.

It has been reported that ordinary doses of GABA by oral ingestion do not permeate the blood brain barrier. Therefore, it has been considered that GABA may act on the peripheral nervous system of the digestive organs and not the central nervous system

Here is the blog post that discusses why I don’t use urinary neurotransmitter testing.

There are some precautions to be aware of when taking supplemental amino acids. Here are the Amino Acid Precautions.

Meme Grant shared her success story with the amazing amino acids (and the pyroluria protocol) in season 1. She had anxiety, had panic attacks, didn’t enjoy speaking in public, had insomnia and was an emotional eater.

glutamine allowed her to walk past the gluten and dairy free junk foods

tyrosine helped her flutterby mind, gave her energy, focus and a desire to do things again
DPA stopped her comfort eating for too much of the “healthy” sweeteners
Tryptophan stopped her mind talk, got her sleeping through the night for the first time in 11 years and helped reduce the frequency of her panic attacks
GABA was the best amino acid and how the panic attacks disappeared
zinc, vitamin B6 and evening primrose oil helped her pyroluria symptoms

Enjoy the bonus audio of my interview with Meme. You’ll be able to hear first-hand from someone who experienced amazing results.

Here is a video of Nicole trying some glutamine for low blood sugar

The questionnaires are also on the blog – amino acid questionnaire and pyroluria questionnaire. Both have many comments that are invaluable.

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

The Anxiety Summit – Psychoneuroimmunology, the new psychiatry

November 5, 2014 By Trudy Scott 9 Comments

Dr. Kelly Brogan, MD. Holistic women’s health psychiatry was interviewed by host of the Anxiety Summit, Trudy Scott, Food Mood Expert and Nutritionist, author of The Antianxiety Food Solution.

Psychoneuroimmunology, the new psychiatry

The role of inflammation in anxiety and depression
Hormones and where the endocrine system fits in
Where inflammation comes from
What a healthy microbiome looks like
Natural lifestyle interventions to reverse symptoms and favorite nutraceuticals
Why psychiatrists don’t know about this

Here are some snippets from our interview:

What psychoneuroimmunology refers to is essentially the inherent inter-connectedness between multiple systems. So, it’s about no longer looking at psychiatry as a head up phenomenon, which at best can result in limited outcomes and at worst, can be quite dangerous. And what psychoneuroimmunology implies is that there is a relationship between neurology – so, between brain science – and the immune system. It is sometimes called psychoneuroendocrinology – it also sort of ropes in the gut and the endocrine system with the implication being that you cannot treat one without knowledge about the others. So, I think it’s very exciting and really is a term that embodies functional medicine, or naturopathy at its best.

What many are speaking about is something called the cytokine model, which has been around since 1991, the first paper hypothesizing about this model. So, it’s been a growing literature for some time. And what it refers to is essentially it looks at depression or anxiety, for example, as this non-specific sort of fever that tells us actually very little about what’s causing the body to react, but tells us that there’s is an expression of imbalance and that the body is working to recalibrate. So, there’s some sort of stressor or triggers or assault and the compensatory response on the part of the body is what we are seeing as these psychiatric symptoms.

Cytokines in the blood, or inflammatory messengers, such as CRP, IL-1, IL-6, and TNF-alpha are predictive and linearly related to depression and anxiety, especially in women.

Here is Dr. Brogan’s wonderful blog post on the topic of Psychoneuroimmunology, the new Psychiatry

What is driving this inflammation? How does it get kicked off? And how does it induce depression? With the limited clinical applications and revelations that came with the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2002, we have begun to focus on where we have outsourced our physiologic functions.

The microbiome has become an important consideration, and particularly, the gut, which houses at least 10 times as many human cells as there are in our bodies, and 150 times as many genes as are in our genome. These microbes control many vital operations and are responsible for synthesis of neuroactive and nutritional compounds, for immune modulation, and for inflammatory signaling.

Here is one of the studies on how traditional diets can impact the microbiome: Intestinal microbiota, probiotics and mental health: from Metchnikoff to modern advances: Part II – contemporary contextual research

researchers reported less potentially pathogenic bacteria, yet a far greater degree of biodiversity and microbial richness in rural Africans living a traditional lifestyle and consuming traditional high fiber foods

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

The Anxiety Summit – The latest food and nutrient research on anxiety, music and more

November 2, 2014 By Trudy Scott 37 Comments

A very very big welcome to The Anxiety Summit, season 2, day 1!! We’re going to share expert interviews on nutritional approaches for eliminating anxiety, social anxiety, panic attacks and OCD.

This is what you’ll learn in the Anxiety Summit – how you can eliminate:

full blown anxiety, panic attacks, social anxiety, OCD, phobias
constant low grade fear, feelings of dread, the racing heart, the busy mind you can’t switch off and the ruminating thoughts
the constant worry, perfectionism, procrastination, the who-am-I-to-do-this or imposter syndrome

The first talk is: “The latest food and nutrient research on anxiety, music and more” and airs live on Monday November 3^rd from 9am PST for a 24 hour window.

Trudy Scott, Food Mood Expert, is the host the Anxiety Summit, and author of The Antianxiety Food Solution.

Why The Anxiety Summit
New research on food and nutrients for reducing anxiety and depression
Why changing our diets and addressing nutritional deficiencies is so important
Music for mood and some inspiration for you
Gems from each of the upcoming speakers

A recent paper in BMC Psychiatry titled “Lessons from obesity prevention for the prevention of mental disorders” proposes that

common mental disorders like anxiety and depression “should be considered as a form of non-communicable disease,” like obesity “preventable through the modification of lifestyle behaviors, particularly diet” and exercise.

One of the authors of the above study, Dr. Felice Jacka, a well-known food and mood researcher, co-authored another 2014 paper “Nutritional psychiatry research: an emerging discipline and its intersection with global urbanization, environmental challenges and the evolutionary mismatch” that stated:

“the clear message is that in the midst of a looming global epidemic” of mental health disorders, “we ignore nutrition at our peril.”

If you joined us in June during season 1, you’ll recall Dr. Jacka shared The Research – Food to prevent and treat anxiety and depression? She shared:

We’ve now seen data from right around the world right across every continent and across age ranges, showing that diet really does matter to the prevalence and incidence of depression and anxiety.

This is the ATA blog post I mentioned: Five Ways the New ATA Hypothyroidism Guidelines are Bad for Thyroid Patients

Music has mood benefits. I blogged about this in this Anna Clendening post. Check it out to see the links to the research and hear Anna sing.

Grab your copy of “Top of the World ” song here. This is your own copy of my custom song co-created by me and Amma Jo and sung by the lovely Amma Jo. I want this to be an inspiration for you! And as someone said during the first season: “a bouquet of hope.” Because you deserve to feel on top of the world all the time! Enjoy!

And stay tuned for my interview with Amma Jo later in the summit.

Do you sing or play a musical instrument? How does it make you feel? Does it help with anxiety, depression, stress?

Have food changes helped your anxiety, depression, stress?

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