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Food, Mood and Women's Health – Be your healthiest, look and feel great!

Smile and laugh to de-stress, calm down and boost your mood

By Trudy Scott 15 Comments

 laughter

My biggest stress-relief and mood-boosting tip is to smile and laugh! It is one of the many things I encourage my clients to do! And I personally love a good comedy and opportunity to smile and laugh! I almost feel like I need my “fix” of laughter by the end of the day. It really relaxes me, boosts my mood and helps me sleep better.

I was further inspired to make a commitment to laugh each day when I read all the research supporting the many and varied health benefits. Many days I’ll just take a break and engage in spontaneous laughter for no reason at all – just the act of laughing leaves me feeling SO good. I do food-mood presentations around the country and typically end my talks with a laugher session with the audience! It’s a great hit and they leave my talk feeling great!

A 2012 research paper in Physiological Science actually showed that if you smile, you feel less stressed. Also in a 1999 study, “Personality traits such as warmth, calmness, extroversion, and low anxiety were closely related to an attractive smile.”

Laughter falls into a similar category as smiling and is wonderful for improving mood and reducing anxiety and stress and pain. This 2012 paper. showed that laughter “is associated with feelings of wellbeing” and improved mood, likely related to “the release of endorphins.” The release of endorphins also reduced pain levels.

Recent research also shows that the “combination of a laughter and exercise program might have physiological and psychological health benefits for the elderly”. Laughter may also “be an effective strategy to motivate the elderly to participate in physical activity.”

Laughter is actually good for the heart as indicated by the title of a 2009 paper: “The effect of mirthful laughter on the human cardiovascular system.”

Here are some things to make you chuckle: a fun post I did awhile ago about a wonderfully funny and romantic blog called The Musings of a Romantic Comedy Girl and a video of a laughing baby. Enjoy!

And of course, the added bonus: if you eat foods that raise serotonin (like grass-fed read meat and wild fish like salmon), you’ll be happier and more inclined to smile too – and feel even less anxious and less stressed. Tryptophan or 5-HTP will help boost your serotonin levels and are wonderful if you do have low serotonin. You can check for low serotonin levels using this Amino Acids Mood Questionnaire from The Antianxiety Food Solution. 

Carob Coconut Avocado bites

By Trudy Scott 15 Comments

carob-coconut-bites

¼ cup coconut oil
1 ripe avocado
1 T maple syrup
½ cup carob powder
Pinch sea salt
¾ cup coconut flakes (unsweetened)
¼ cup sesame seeds

Melt the coconut oil on the stove. Remove avocado and mash. Mix in coconut oil and all the ingredients and stir well. Spoon into a glass pan and press flat. Put in the fridge until set and then cut into small bites or squares and serve with fresh blueberries. Yummy!

This recipe was inspired by a recipe of something served at the annual conference of the National Association of Nutrition Professionals. I replaced the cocoa and nibs with carob for those with caffeine issues (some people with anxiety are super-sensitive to the effects of caffeine, even that found in cocoa and chocolate). I also omitted the stevia because it spoils the taste of everything. And I added coconut flakes for crunch and sesame seeds for calcium. 

Funny thing….I love avocado! It’s possibly one of my favorite foods (together with eggs, Brussels sprouts, lamb, coconut and paw paw) and I was excited to try it out in this recipe. But it’s totally lost – no hint of avocado! It seems rather a waste! Do let me know what you think.

Amino Acids Mood Questionnaire from The Antianxiety Food Solution

By Trudy Scott 362 Comments

The targeted use of individual amino acid supplements will balance brain chemistry to alleviate anxiety, fear, worry, panic attacks, and feeling stressed or overwhelmed. They can also be helpful in addressing other problems that contribute to or exacerbate anxiety, such as sugar cravings and addictions. In addition, they can help with depression and insomnia, which often co-occur with anxiety. When you balance your brain chemistry, not only will you alleviate symptoms of anxiety, you’ll also have a great mood, eliminate cravings, sleep well, and have good energy and mental focus.

Worry and anxiety can be a result of low GABA and also low serotonin, so you may check off anxiety in both sections. Low GABA tends to result in a more physical anxiety, while low serotonin tends to result in more anxiety in the head, ruminating thoughts etc.

Low GABA

Low Serotonin

  • Anxiety
  • Panic attacks or phobias
  • Feeling worried or fearful
  • Obsessive thoughts or behaviors
  • Perfectionism or being overly controlling
  • Irritability
  • Anxiety that’s worse in winter
  • Winter blues or seasonal affective disorder
  • Negativity or depression
  • Suicidal thoughts
  • Excessive self-criticism
  • Low self-esteem and poor self-confidence
  • PMS (premenstrual syndrome) or menopausal mood swings
  • Sensitivity to hot weather
  • Hyperactivity
  • Anger or rage
  • Digestive issues
  • Fibromyalgia, temporomandibular joint syndrome, or other pain syndromes
  • Difficulty getting to sleep
  • Insomnia or disturbed sleep
  • Afternoon or evening cravings for carbs, alcohol or drugs

Low Catecholamines

  • Depression and apathy
  • Easily bored
  • Lack of energy
  • Lack of focus
  • Lack of drive and low motivation
  • Attention deficit disorder
  • Procrastination and indecisiveness
  • Craving carbs, alcohol, caffeine, or drugs for energy

Low Endorphins

  • Heightened sensitivity to emotional pain
  • Heightened sensitivity to physical pain
  • Crying or tearing up easily
  • Eating to soothe your mood, or comfort eating
  • Really, really loving certain foods, behaviors, drugs, or alcohol
  • Craving a reward or numbing treat
  • PMS (premenstrual syndrome) or PMDD (premenstrual dysphoric disorder) * (Mar 2022: research published in 1989)

Low Blood Sugar

  • Crave sugar, starch or alcohol any time during the day
  • Irritable, shaky, headachey – especially if too long between meals
  • Intense cravings for sweets
  • Lightheaded if meals are missed
  • Eating relieves fatigue
  • Agitated, easily upset, nervous
  • Waking in the night or early hours with a jolt of anxiety/shakiness * (Feb 2024: case studies)
  • Binge eating and/or food addiction * (Feb 2024: research and a case study)

(* New additions that are not in my book. I’ve linked to some case studies above but there are many more on the blog so be sure to use the search feature)

Each of the above sections on specific neurotransmitter or brain chemical imbalances are found in The Antianxiety Food Solution: How the Foods You Eat Can Help You Calm Your Anxious Mind, Improve Your Mood and End Cravings. They were reprinted from The Mood Cure (2004) with permission from Julia Ross. They do contain some of my own modifications based on my experience with working with many clients, and the new additions as mentioned above.

Individual amino acids are used based on the above questionnaires and the results are profound and often felt within a few minutes:

Resources if you are new to using amino acids as supplements

If you suspect low levels of any of the neurotransmitters and do not yet have my book, The Antianxiety Food Solution – How the Foods You Eat Can Help You Calm Your Anxious Mind, Improve Your Mood, and End Cravings, (as I mentioned above) I highly recommend getting it and reading it before jumping in and using amino acids on your own so you are knowledgeable. And be sure to share it with the practitioner/health team you or your loved one is working with.

There is an entire chapter on the amino acids and they are discussed throughout the book in the sections on gut health, gluten, blood sugar control, sugar cravings, anxiety and mood issues.

The book doesn’t include product names (per the publisher’s request) so this blog, The Antianxiety Food Solution Amino Acid and Pyroluria Supplements, lists the amino acids that I use with my individual clients and those in my group programs. You can find them all in my online store.

If, after reading this blog and my book, you don’t feel comfortable figuring things out on your own (i.e. doing the symptoms questionnaire and respective amino acids trials), a good place to get help is the GABA QuickStart Program (if you have low GABA symptoms too). This is a paid online/virtual group program where you get my guidance and community support.

If you are a practitioner, join us in The Balancing Neurotransmitters: the Fundamentals program. This is also a paid online/virtual program with an opportunity to interact with me and other practitioners who are also using the amino acids.

Do you resonate with symptoms in more than one area? This is not unusual.

Do you resonate with some of the more recent additions to the low GABA section?

Feel free to share how the amino acids have helped you and if you found this symptoms questionnaire helpful for figuring out where to start.

If you have questions and other feedback please share here too.

Amazing Amino Acids for Ending Emotional Eating – No Willpower Required! Really!!

By Trudy Scott 7 Comments

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We start Monday with this live course where I am going to share the five brain chemical imbalances and respective amazing amino acids that can end cravings and emotional eating.

If you have these symptoms, then amino acids may help:

  • LOVING a certain food (do you just LOVE pizza or really LOVE cookies as a reward or to numb!?)
  • wanting caffeine or sugar for a pick me up in the afternoon
  • afternoon or night time cravings for carbs
  • poor sleep
  • feeling anxious and irritable (and wanting sugar/starches/alcohol to calm you down)
  • depression and low self-esteem (and wanting sugar/starch/alcohol for soothing)

Yep, all of those can be caused by a lack of some key amino acids that we either don’t get in our food or don’t get enough of.  I have amazing results with my clients!

I recently participated in the incredible Loving Food Loving Life Emotional Eating telesumit hosted by Aimee Serafini. The participants were so wowed by this new information that Aimee asked me to create a group program that would be affordable AND where participants could all support each other.

I’m going to share exactly what and how much to take and what brands based on your own brain chemical imbalances.  Plus we’ll also talk about diet, breakfast, getting enough protein, meal timing, your adrenals and thyroid, food intolerances and much more!

Here is the complete overview of the course:

  • Five Live Classes covering each of the 5 neurotransmitter deficiency categories (low serotonin, low GABA, low catecholamines, low endorphins and low blood sugar) and recordings for your library after the calls (live class dates are 5pm PT / 8pm ET: Mondays May 13 & 20, Tuesday May 28 (due to holiday), and Mondays June 3 & 10)
  • Bonus Live Q&A call after course to answer questions (Monday, June 17)
  • If you cannot attend the live classes, you will get the recordings to download so you can listen when you have time and refer to them later, plus you can ask questions on Facebook. Please do not let scheduling affect your being able to start getting relief now
  • Amino Acid Precautions questionnaire (to address contraindications)
  • Amino Acid Deficiency questionnaire
  • Food Mood Log – to figure out how food affects you and how you are feeling prior to eating
  • Supplement Sheet for amino acid timings
  • Membership in a private Facebook Group for peer support.  Support is super important and hearing the experiences and questions of other participants will surely be of great benefit
  • A Bonus audio interview with Mira Dessy, Nutrition Educator and Whole Food Advocate: The Pantry Principle, How to Read the label and Know What’s Really in Your Food 

If you’re still on the fence

Are you in or out? 

Aimee and I hope to have you join us (Aimee enrolled for this class too!)  If you would like to enroll in this 6 week live virtual class you can still register here 

[7/8/13 update: this event has concluded and this program is now available as a 6 week homestudy program: The Amazing Amino Acids for Ending Emotional Eating – No Willpower Required! Really!! (Home Study Program – with or without Live Q&A calls) ]

 

Gluten, leaky gut, LPS, anxiety and Dr. Tom O’Bryan at NANP

By Trudy Scott 12 Comments

Spaghetti and Elbow Macaroni

I’m just back from a great few days at THE best nutrition conference – the annual conference of the National Association of Nutrition Professionals http://www.nanp.org/conference/speakers-sessions/

Dr. Tom O’ Bryan, DC, an expert on gluten, presented the following in his very interesting talk:

  • “One particularly detrimental consequence of increased intestinal permeability” (or leaky gut) caused by gluten sensitivity or celiac disease “is the translocation of bacteria (e.g., E. Coli) and bacterial products (lipopolysaccharides or LPS) also known as endotoxin which creates a proinflammatory environment and increases the oxidative stress burden in the enteric nervous system”
  • “Even minute doses of microbes within the gastrointestinal tract, levels that do not trigger an immune response, are capable of influencing neurotransmission in the paraventricular hypothalamus, the central nucleus of the amygdala and the bed nucleus of the stria terminalis. All three of these regions are involved in the processing of emotions related to anxiety and mood.”
  • “It is suggested that patients with” depression “should be checked for leaky gut by means of the IgM and IgA panel used in the present study and accordingly should be treated for leaky gut”.

In summary, gluten sensitivity or celiac disease can lead to leaky gut which can in turn allow endotoxins called lipopolysaccharides/LPS to relocate into the blood stream. This causes inflammation, oxidative damage, neurotransmitter deficiencies and depression and anxiety.

The study above, refers to depression, however, research also shows that LPS plays a role in stress and anxiety too.

Dr. O’Bryan also discussed the role that LPS plays in rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune and musculoskeletal disorders.

Dr. O’Bryan recommends IgG food intolerance testing to identify leaky gut (if you show up with food intolerances to many foods then leaky gut may be an issue) and then to first heal the gut.

These foods will need to be eliminated for at least 3 months and then added back slowly and one at a time.  Many people are surprised to find out that they have issues with seemingly healthy foods like salmon, green beans, peas, strawberries, almonds etc.  Of course, eliminating gluten goes without saying. This is the approach that I use with my clients and is part of the holistic approach that must be used when someone has any mood or physical health problem.

He also talked about LPS antibody testing from Cyrex labs and I look forward to learning more about this.

It was a really great conference, with locally sourced gluten-free meals included in registration! I am gluten-sensitive and it was such a pleasant change to be able to attend a conference and know that what I’m eating won’t affect me!

All the presentations were recorded and will be available for purchase from NANP next month.

Glutamine for low blood sugar and calming effects

By Trudy Scott 85 Comments

Nicole is an NTP (Nutritional Therapy Practitioner) and fire-fighter paramedic and has problems with blood sugar control. Diabetes runs in her family. We met at the recent 2013 NTA (Nutritional Therapy Association conference) where I had a booth to promote my services and book The Antianxiety Food Solution. I also presented on the Role of Inflammation in Anxiety, Stress and Depression – which covered amongst other factors, the amino acids.

Nicole came by my booth after my presentation and she wanted to try the glutamine because of low blood sugar symptoms. The results she experienced were great!

You can watch this video to hear how powerful glutamine was for Nicole – she saw results in around 5 minutes. I really like to get testimonials like this because when I talk about the profound and quick effects of the amazing amino acids it almost sounds too good to be true! But in this case (and the majority of cases), it really is true!

Nicole says “I get irritable, I get shaky and I get to the point that if I don’t get food NOW I think I’m going to hurt something!”

She tried the glutamine and in under 5 minutes she went from that feeling to: “I’m ok. I feel happy, I feel calm, I feel I can make it longer without needing food right away.”

She finished up by saying “I’m impressed at how well that worked for me” and she plans to share the benefits of this amino acid with her clients who may have blood sugar issues and the associated symptoms of shakiness between meals, irritability, a frantic need for something to eat and often an intense desire for something sweet.

Signs of low blood sugar include:

  • Irritability, agitation, nervousness
  • Shaky between meals or when you skip a meal
  • Poor memory, focus and fatigue
  • Intense sweet craving at various times of the day
  • Feeling stressed & overwhelmed
  • Waking in the night (low blood sugar is one of many causes of insomnia)

When you have stable blood sugar, you will feel grounded, experience less overwhelm and stress and have no cravings – if your cravings are blood sugar related. Cravings can also be due to low serotonin, low endorphins, low catecholamines and low GABA, and even as a result of candida or yeast overgrowth. For many of my clients it may even be a combination of the above.

Naturally, making food changes can help a great deal as you can read in this blog post on low blood sugar and anxiety.