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amino acids

Anxiety: food based solutions with Trudy Scott on The Randy and Christa show

By Trudy Scott 7 Comments

I met Christa Orrechio at a conference earlier this year and was thrilled to be invited to speak on The Randy and Christa show. They are doing a fabulous job getting the wellness message out into the world! I also love how they have such fun doing this show!

During my segment we talked about the following:

  • Why read my book The Antianxiety Food Solution: if you’re stressed, have panic attacks, fears, phobias and even sugar cravings
  • “80-90% of my clients do better off gluten”
  • My client who went gluten-free: her eczema cleared up and she felt calmer
  • Amino acid supplements (like GABA and tryptophan) help you break the gluten addiction/craving
  • Low serotonin causes anxiety, sadness, excessive worry in the head, depression, afternoon and evening cravings, PMS, winter blues and sleep problems (see the whole questionnaire here)
  • Tryptophan (500mg is the starting dose) midafternoon and evening raises serotonin so you’ll feel calmer, hopeful and optimistic
  • Some people may do better on 5-HTP but it can raise cortisol levels
  • Too much of the amino acids can have a reverse effect – use what you need. You may need less than the starting dose
  • The amino acids are a short-term approach – you also need to be addressing diet and low blood sugar etc
  • Low GABA causes physical tension and anxiety (Randy finds GABA helps him sleep)
  • Caffeine is a problem for many people with anxiety – give it up! If it doesn’t make you anxious make sure it’s organic
  • Zinc and vitamin B6 are important for making GABA and serotonin
  • A good source of zinc and B6 is red meat. It’s also a good source of iron and omega-3s (as much omega3-s as salmon!). Of course it does need to be grass-fed!
  • The starting dose for vitamin B6 is 100mg
  • Magnesium is a calming mineral
  • Sign up for your free report “5 Simple Steps to Reduce Anxiety Now“

Be sure to listen to Randy and Christa when I drop off as they continue the discussion (12:30 minutes).

Regarding the red meat discussion they had a bit later, I’d like to add that I find many of my clients with mood issues – both anxiety and depression – do better with more red meat than just once or twice a week. Having it every day is just fine! As Christa said, it has all the amino acids to make our neurotransmitters/brain chemicals.

Christa Orecchio is a clinical and holistic nutritionist, and founder of The Whole Journey, a nutrition practice and informational website. She is on a mission to help as many people as possible to heal by addressing the root cause (and not just the symptom) of why they don’t feel good and concurrently teaches people how to use food as their medicine to heal their bodies so they can ultimately live a thriving, vibrant life.

Christa has a TV show on FOX in San Diego called “Food as Medicine” and is the co-host of her own nationally syndicated health talk show “The Randy and Christa Show”.

 

Neurotransmitters in food addiction: dopamine, endorphins, GABA and serotonin

By Trudy Scott 22 Comments

chocolate-cake-icecream

Food can be as addicting as drugs and we often see mood changes when someone has addictions or out of control cravings.

In this blog post Why do you crave and how do you self-medicate? I covered a simple way for you to figure out why you crave something or why you’re drawn to a particular food, substance, or behavior. I also said that it can be challenging to determine which part of your brain chemistry it’s affecting, and you may not associate cravings with mood issues.

In a series of connected articles I’m going to share some of the research supporting this. If you’ve read my book, The Antianxiety Food Solution, or have been reading my blog posts, you know I like to share research-based evidence. Unfortunately there are not many double blind studies on intervention and symptom management when it comes to amino acids, but I’ll be sharing the research that has been done – focusing on each neurotransmitter and amino acid individually.

Let’s start with this 2013 review titled Pharmacotherapies for Overeating and Obesity. Although the focus of the review is drug-based interventions for finding solutions to food addictions, the mechanisms of food addiction is nicely spelled out: neurotransmitter or brain chemical imbalances. I’d like to add that all of this can be in play even if you are not obese – you just have to love sugar/carbs, wine, coffee etc and eat or drink them to self-medicate.

  • “Research has shown that obesity can and does cause changes in behavior and in the brain itself that are very similar to changes caused by drugs of abuse”
  • “While food addiction is not the causal agent of all obesity, it is clear that many people no longer eat to survive, but instead survive to eat.”
  • “This review considers the importance of the brain’s reward system in food intake.”
  • “…research has recently demonstrated that each of these nutrient elements affects specific neurotransmitter systems in the brain providing the potential for targeted pharmacologic treatments” [instead of targeted drug treatments, we can use targeted amino acid supplements]
  • “The American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) now recognizes addictions as a brain disorder, and as such, treatments aimed at addressing food addiction must address the dysfunctions at the level of the brain”
  • “There are a number of such therapies under investigation targeting neuropathways and neurotransmitters implicated in addiction, including: dopaminergic [i.e. low or high dopamine, a catecholamine], opioid [i.e. low endorphins], GABAnergic [i.e. low GABA or a need for glutamine], cannabinoid, serotonergic [i.e. low serotonin], and other novel treatment options.”

If this scientific information is of interest to you, I encourage you to read the whole paper here.

In this 2014 study looking at food addiction, in 233 participants, they did find a relationship between food addiction and negative mood i.e. there was: “an inclination toward behaving irrationally while experiencing negative mood states (Negative Urgency) and low levels of task persistence (lack of Perseverance)”

As a reminder here is the table again:

How you feel before

How you feel after

Brain chemistry imbalance

Amino acid to supplement

Anxious or stressed

Calm or relaxed

Low GABA

GABA

Depressed or anxious

Happy or content

Low serotonin

Tryptophan or 5-HTP

Tired or unfocused

Energetic, alert, or focused

Low catecholamines

Tyrosine

Wanting a reward or sad

Rewarded or comforted

Low endorphins

DPA (d-phenylalanine)

Irritable and shaky

Grounded or stable

Low blood sugar

Glutamine

 

As I said, the research is important, but more important are the incredible results my clients get when they have brain chemical deficiencies and use the amino acids in a targeted manner addressing each area of deficiency.

Meme Grant, GAPS Practitioner, Nutritional Therapist, FNTP, givennewlife.info participated my Amazing Aminos for Ending Emotional Eating program and this is what she said afterwards:

“I still am amazed at how quickly the panic attacks, binge eating, and mood swings disappeared. Tyrosine enabled me to focus and gave me energy to do things again, glutamine allowed me to walk past the gluten and dairy free junk foods, d-phenylalanine [DPA] stopped my comfort eating, tryptophan enabled me to stop my negative thoughts and helped me sleep but the best was when GABA was introduced, the panic attacks disappeared.”

This is why I call them the amazing amino acids. And this why addressing neurotransmitter deficiencies can end food addiction and out-of-control sugar cravings (and at the same time they help to eliminate or reduce anxiety, mood issues and insomnia).

Update June 24, 2016:

Research is now further highlighting the connection between food addiction and depression and anxiety.

In this May 2016 paper, Food addiction associations with psychological distress among people with type 2 diabetes  they looked at the relationship between food addiction and psychological distress among 334 patients with type 2 diabetes and found that those:

meeting the FA [food addiction] criterion had significantly higher depression, anxiety, and stress scores as compared to participants who did not meet the FA [food addiction] criterion.

This applies whether or not you have type 2 diabetes and whether or not you are overweight.

As you can see in this blog post: GABA for ending sugar cravings (and anxiety and insomnia), Melissa started taking Source Naturals GABA Calm in anticipation of stressful holiday travel and holiday gatherings.  She felt much calmer when she used GABA Calm and discovered that a wonderful side-benefit (we like side-benefits vs side-effects!) was reduced cravings (as well as improved sleep):

An unexpected result was that I stopped craving sweets after about a week of taking it! I didn’t even realize this until I was grocery shopping and out of habit walked towards the ice cream – I stopped and realized I didn’t want ice cream. So I walked toward the chocolate – same reaction. For once in my life, I was not craving sweets. I made truffles for a NYE party and only ate two. But what is really shocking is that the leftovers are still in my refrigerator two days later and I haven’t touched them. I don’t understand what is going on! Can this be the GABA Calm?

She was pleasantly surprised as many of my clients are – she felt more calm, she had better sleep and saw an end to her cravings!

If this is new to you this is what I do with my clients:  

  • Have them do the Amino Acid questionnaire  so they can figure out if they may have low brain chemicals that are affecting both mood and playing a role in food addiction or cravings.   
  • Review the Amino Acid Precautions
  • Have them do a trial  of the relevant amino acids, one at a time and monitor how they feel in terms of reduced cravings, less anxiety, improved mood and sleep

Let us know if this resonates with you and if you have tried the amino acids for food addiction or sugar/carb cravings? And what results you have seen?

 

 

 

Why do you crave and how do you self-medicate?

By Trudy Scott 23 Comments

Sometimes it’s difficult to figure out why you crave something or why you’re drawn to a particular food, substance, or behavior. It can be challenging to determine which part of your brain chemistry it’s affecting, and you may not associate cravings with mood issues. Here is a way to figure out why you may crave certain things.

Your drug-of-choice is something you self-medicate with and it is something that makes you feel good or “normal.” It could be candy, chocolate, starchy foods like bread or pasta, cookies, ice-cream, coffee, sodas or wine/beer. It could also be cigarettes, marijuana, a prescription medication like Prozac, street drugs, or even shopping or exercise.

Cravings for these substances (or behaviors) typically indicate a brain chemistry imbalance, so it’s very helpful to identify how the substances you crave affect you. This will help you determine which amino acids you might supplement to address the imbalance.

For example, a glass of wine may be calming for one person but energizing for another, or chocolate may be calming for some people and comforting for others. Certain prescription medications also offer clues. If you have many symptoms of low serotonin and have found that prescription SSRIs help, it’s possible that low serotonin is an issue.

Taking chocolate as an example, here’s what I suggest: Before you eat some chocolate, think about why you want it. Is it because you’re sad or tired or anxious? Or do you feel like you deserve a reward or feel irritable and shaky? Then, once you’ve eaten it, think about how it made you feel.

Use your drug-of-choice (candy, chocolate, starchy foods like bread or pasta, cookies, ice-cream, coffee, sodas or wine/beer etc) and the chart below to help you determine what brain chemistry imbalance may be affecting you and which amino acid you may benefit from.

How you feel before How you feel after Brain chemistry imbalance Amino acid to supplement
Anxious or stressed Calm or relaxed Low GABA GABA
Depressed or anxious Happy or content Low serotonin Tryptophan or 5-HTP
Tired or unfocused Energetic, alert, or focused Low catecholamines Tyrosine
Wanting a reward or sad Rewarded or comforted Low endorphins DPA (d-phenylalanine)
Irritable and shaky Grounded or stable Low blood sugar Glutamine

Feel free to share in the comments section: your drug-of-choice and how it makes you feel before you indulge and how you feel afterwards. If you’ve used any of the amino acid supplements to end the craving or addiction, I’d love to hear your feedback too.

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) ]

 

The biochemistry of self-confidence, anxiety, motivation and focus

By Trudy Scott 12 Comments

Nutrient and neurotransmitter deficiencies (as well as hormonal imbalances) can contribute to poor self-confidence, low motivation and the blahs, feeling negative and being overly self-critical.

Poor self-confidence, worry, overwhelm, anxiety and negativity could all be signs of low serotonin.  Serotonin levels can be increased by:

  • Eating enough good quality protein since protein provides amino acids for making neurotransmitters.  Some examples of good quality protein: grass-fed organic beef, New Zealand lamb (which is always grass-fed and free of hormones and antibiotics), pastured eggs and chicken (preferable) or second best, organic, wild fish and seafood.
  • Eating plenty of veggies, fruit, good fats – all part of a whole foods diet – provides all the cofactors necessary for making neurotransmitters.
  • Exercise, sunshine and the use of a full-spectrum lamp also raises serotonin.
  • And of course you’ll feel more confident, less overwhelmed and anxious, and more optimistic very soon (5-10 minutes) after taking one of the amazing amino acids tryptophan or 5-HTP.

With sufficient levels of serotonin you will also sleep better, and you will not have the afternoon and evening sugar cravings that are common with low serotonin.

If you have low motivation, the blahs and feel depressed (the kind of depression where you don’t want to see anyone), these could be signs of low catecholamines. If this is the case, you’re also likely to also have low energy and poor focus, and possibly feel like you are all over the map (kind of like ADD).  Just so you know, negativity can be a sign of low serotonin and low catecholamines and many people have deficiencies in both areas.

  • Again, eating enough good quality protein and eating real food is crucial.
  • The amazing amino acid tyrosine can do wonders (also in 5-10 minutes) to raise catecholamines and get you super-motivated, laser-focused and full of energy.

And with good levels of catecholamines you won’t be drawn to sugary foods or beverages for an energy pick-up.

Here is additional information on the amino acids and how to do a trial