anxiety summit

The Anxiety Summit – Anxiety: the role of fats, turmeric and wheat

June 5, 2016 By Trudy Scott 37 Comments

Cyndi O’Meara, Nutritionist, founder of Changing Habits, was interviewed on the Anxiety Summit by host of the Anxiety Summit, Trudy Scott, Food Mood Expert and Nutritionist, author of The Antianxiety Food Solution.

Anxiety: the role of fats, turmeric and wheat

Oils ain’t oils and fats ain’t fats: the danger of vegetable oils
The benefits of butter and other healthy fats
The impact of wheat on anxiety and depression
Turmeric for detoxification, inflammation, depression and anxiety
How to get the most out of consuming turmeric

Here are some gems from our interview:

The healthy fats for me are any fat that nature has made. So that could be a saturated fat in a plant based oil such as coconut oil or it could be a saturated fat in animal fats. So in the winter there would not be a lot of saturated fat around. It would be more in the summer.

And in culture and traditions we ate seasonal foods. So when the animals were fat they had saturated fat on them and we would consume those fats. If they were producing dairy which would usually be in the spring and right through the summer we might eat that and that had saturated fat in it. So we would have these types of fats in the summer. In the winter we had lean meats because the animals were lean. They didn’t have stored fats on them. Neither did we.

I look at the morphing of margarine and the fact that it’s been seen as a healthy fat and it’s not a healthy fat. It’s a chemicalized, manmade, manufactured, polyunsaturated fat that is normally liquid at room temperature that becomes solid because of what they do.

We also discuss inca inchi oil, a plant-based oil:

Inca inchi is very high in vitamin A and vitamin E – inca inchi seed oil is one of the most amazing plant based oils. It’s also called sacha inchi, so it’s a South American seed and it’s 86 percent essential fatty acid and 48 percent omega-3 which means that we can make our EPAs and our DHAs with it. So it’s a more sustainable omega-3 base as opposed to fish oil. And it’s one of my favorite oils and it’s got a profile that’s similar to flaxseed oil and I can use it to make my mayonnaises, my pestos. I can make all beautiful salad dressings with it. I can drizzle it over some fresh vegetables that I’ve just steamed.

We talk about Roundup/glyphosate being sprayed on wheat and canola and the research work of Stephanie Seneff (interviewed in season 1 of the Anxiety summit): looking at the effects on the gut bacteria, the shikimate pathway and hence serotonin and anxiety, depression and autism.

Here is the TEDX talk that Cyndi recommended – Jeff Iliff: One more reason to get a good night’s sleep

And a recent study on camu camu – Antioxidant and associated capacities of Camu camu (Myrciaria dubia): a systematic review.

A program to increase the visibility of camu camu can contribute substantially not only to the management of inflammatory conditions and its positive contribution to overall good health but also to its potential role in many disease states.

Here is Cyndi’s book: Changing Habits, Changing Lives

Here is a digital gift from Cyndi: Depression e-report and Changing Habits Changing Lives audio book

Here is the link to learn more about the new wheat documentary (online screening June 24-30): What’s With Wheat.

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

Missed this interview or can’t listen live? Or want this and the other great interviews for your learning library? Purchase the MP3s or MP3s + transcripts and listen when it suits you.

You can find your purchasing options here: Anxiety Summit Season 1, Anxiety Summit Season 2, Anxiety Summit Season 3, and Anxiety Summit Season 4.

The Anxiety Summit – Anxiety: The Stressed and Toxic Gut

June 5, 2016 By Trudy Scott 43 Comments

Dr. Josh Axe, DNM, DC, CNS, author of Eat Dirt, is interviewed on the Anxiety Summit by host of the Anxiety Summit, Trudy Scott, Food Mood Expert and Nutritionist, author of The Antianxiety Food Solution.

Anxiety: The Stressed and Toxic Gut

An overview of leaky gut, the causes and the 5 gut types
Symptoms of the stressed gut and how it impacts the adrenals
Leaky gut and glutamine as a fuel source
Healing licorice root, rhodiola and ashwaganda
How frankincense fights inflammation and protects the tight junctions of the gut
Signs of a toxic gut, soil-based organisms and what we can learn from the Yanomami tribe

Here are some gems from our interview:

So imagine your intestines as a net or your gut lining is a net and it’s sort of the barrier in between your intestines and blood stream. If that little net, if those little holes get tears in them then things that are too large start passing into your bloodstream such as undigested food particles such as gluten, toxins, bad bacteria. When those get into the bloodstream that sets off an immune response in the body and really causes system wide inflammation. And just to let you know, I want to go over some of the biggest warning signs that someone has leaky gut, which you’ll see these were often times anxiety and toxicity and other issues, but bloating and gas are big warning signs that you have leaky gut. Any type of food sensitivity, if you don’t tolerate certain foods like gluten that probably means you have leaky gut. Thyroid conditions such as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, adrenal fatigue, joint pain, headaches, skin issues like rosacea, acne, eczema, psoriasis, digestive problems of any sort. And then even especially depression and anxiety, any of these issues, bipolar, those are all warning signs that somebody has leaky gut.

We discuss glutamine for healing a leaky gut and Dr. Axe mentioned his blog on the topic: L-Glutamine Benefits Leaky Gut & Metabolism

L-glutamine is the most abundant amino acid in the bloodstream and it makes up 30-35 percent of the amino acid nitrogen in your blood. It’s actually known as a conditionally essential amino acid because your body uses it in large amounts.

The most common uses of glutamine powder were to meet the following goals: to lose weight fast, burn fat and build muscle. And while that remains the case, science is now showing that L-glutamine benefits are abundant – and that this amino acid is especially helpful in treating leaky gut and improving your overall health.

We talk about the benefits of licorice root for both the gut and the adrenals:

Licorice root is another one of those herbs that’s used in Chinese medicine and it’s very effective for many things, with studies showing it helps the stomach, ulcers specifically. Other studies show that it actually helps with soothing the intestinal tract. But for the most part it’s also used as an adaptogenic herb. Many of us have heard of adaptogens such as ashwaganda, rhodiola, ginseng, certain mushrooms such as cordyceps have been labeled adaptogenic, well licorice root works in the same way. It really helps your body better adapt and deal with stress. We know stress can be very, very hard on the intestines as well as the stomach. It can be very hard on your digestive system. So licorice root is pretty amazing. It’s an herb that really helps in sort of soothing inflammation, but it also works as an adaptogen to lower stress levels, which is harming the gut. So really as a two pronged approach and why it’s so effective at both helping the digestive system as well as supporting the adrenal glands, thyroid and overall hormones.

Here are some links to some research:

Breaking down the barriers: the gut microbiome, intestinal permeability and stress-related psychiatric disorders.

The emerging links between our gut microbiome and the central nervous system (CNS) are regarded as a paradigm shift in neuroscience with possible implications for not only understanding the pathophysiology of stress-related psychiatric disorders, but also their treatment.

Dr. Josh Axe is author of a new book called Eat Dirt: Why Leaky Gut May Be the Root Cause of Your Health Problems and 5 Surprising Steps to Cure It

Here is the link to a gift from Josh Axe The King’s Medicine Cabinet eBook: A complete guide on essential oils and their history, uses, cures, and recipes that will transform your health forever!

~~And his Eat Dirt online gut quiz~~ [disabling this until I hear back from them]

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

Missed this interview or can’t listen live? Or want this and the other great interviews for your learning library? Purchase the MP3s or MP3s + transcripts and listen when it suits you.

You can find your purchasing options here.: Anxiety Summit Season 1, Anxiety Summit Season 2, Anxiety Summit Season 3, and Anxiety Summit Season 4.

End anxiety/fears/social anxiety…The Anxiety Summit starts next week!

June 2, 2016 By Trudy Scott Leave a Comment

The Anxiety Summit Season 4 (a virtual/online event) kicks off on Monday June 6 at 9am PDT. It will run thru June 16 with 2 – 3 speakers per day available for viewing at no charge. AND WE HAVE NEW SPEAKERS and some FAVORITE RETURNING SPEAKERS WITH NEW TOPICS!

Topics include the connections between anxiety and brain food, why healthy fats and turmeric feed our brains, how grass-fed red meat helps with anxiety, the impact of coffee and gluten, the best gluten testing, GABA and the blood brain barrier, serotonin and tryptophan, best forms of GABA and tryptophan, anxiety in autism, MS and anxiety, Lyme disease and anxiety, mercury and lead detox, leaky gut and the SCD diet, low cholesterol and low oxytocin, the microbiome, stomach acid and zinc, fluroquinolones, methylation, pyroluria, the importance of community and much more.

Here is a snippet from one of the excellent interviews to get you excited if you are already signed up and to get you inspired if you are not already signed up!

Mike Mutzel, MS, author of The Belly Fat Effect
The leptin obesity anxiety connection

So low leptin levels trigger the hypothalamus in the brain to signal the rest of the body to initiate hunger and to cause people to eat and so forth. And then as we eat calories throughout the day our leptin levels progressively rise. And once they’re rising, they peak around midnight or two in the morning, it just depends on someone’s biological rhythms. Everyone is different.

And so when they peak that signals to the rest of the body that there’s enough fuel on board and we can start burning fuel. So it’s actually a good process, right, because it’s going to stimulate all these mitochondrial pathways to be turning on basically cellular breakdown of the nutrients that we’ve ingested throughout the day and then the cycle repeats.

The problem though is that people get leptin resistant and this really actually refers to the hypothalamus. So that’s really the main region of the body where the receptors become resistant. And so the problem then because people – and let me just pause and share with you kind of how people get leptin resistant. It’s just leptin is released primarily from adipocytes, from fat tissue, okay. And so the more fat you have, the more body fat you have whether you’re a man or a woman, young or old, the more leptin you’re going to be releasing.

And…

Now let’s take a deep dive into what I like to call leptin 2.0. The cool part about leptin that not many people understand is that leptin affects the immune system. It also affects the HPA axis and the hormonal system, cortisol and even sex hormones like testosterone and estrogen in a really profound way.

We all have stress. We’re just trying to balance that better. The problem though is leptin, if we have excess levels of leptin that’s going to affect our body’s ability to cope with stressors and make life seem more challenging than it needs to be.

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If you are already signed up….
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You can now see all the incredible speakers and topics at www.theAnxietySummit.com. This will be over 25 hours of top-notch anxiety nutritional solutions from people I have hand-picked! Plus 3 talks I will be doing on benzos, electroshock, blueberries, sauerkraut, the vagus nerve, GABA, neurotransmitter testing, amino acid questions, hyperflexibility/EDS, and pet anxiety. ALL NEW TOPICS!
You will, of course, have the option to upgrade and purchase digital audios, digital audios/transcripts, and data CDs with audios/transcripts.
PLUS we are also offering past season products at the current summit prices!
If you signed up for any of the past Anxiety Summits, or pre-registered for season 4, there is no need to sign up again – you will get the season 4 daily emails announcing speakers, gifts, and special offers. If you’re not sure if you are signed up, you can sign up again at www.theAnxietySummit.com, no problem. If you use the same email address you won’t get duplicate emails.

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If you haven’t yet signed up
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Join us NOW by signing up here www.theAnxietySummit.com you will get the season 4 daily emails announcing speakers, gifts, and special offers
You will be blown away by the content
And you’ll have a chance to ask questions and find solutions for your anxiety

If you have any questions about how any of this works feel free to ask in the comment box below.

GABA, the calming amino acid: expert opinions

December 11, 2015 By Trudy Scott 69 Comments

gaba-opinions

GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) is one of my top nutrient recommendations for clients with physical tension, anxiety, overwhelm and panic attacks. I’m often asked if it really works and is it even worth taking so here is some feedback from practitioners from the Anxiety Summit, all of whom I consider experts on the topic.

Julia Ross, MFT, pioneer in the field of amino acid therapy, my mentor and the author of The Mood Cure and The Diet Cure shares this wisdom about GABA during our interview: Eliminating Anxiety: Amino Acid Therapy and Adrenal Balancing on season 1 of the Anxiety Summit:

Among other things, GABA relaxes the nerves in the muscles in the body. One of the most common kinds of feedback that we get from people who are doing a GABA trial is that it seems to take effect so quickly. This may be because, unlike tryptophan, which has to be converted into serotonin, GABA is the neurotransmitter and the amino acid all in one and requires no conversion.

There isn’t often a GABA discussion when the topic of the blood-brain-barrier doesn’t come up and whether GABA actually does work. Of course Julia addresses this too:

There is a myth going around, based on one old study, that GABA doesn’t cross into the brain, that it doesn’t cross the blood-brain barrier. But there are other studies that show that it does [here is a paper published earlier this year], and our clinical experience is overwhelming. This is the most popular trial that we do, the GABA trial, using only 100 mg. It zips right into the brain, and people immediately feel relaxed physically and mentally.

I see this with my clients on a daily basis and I can certainly attest to that personally too. I like to share that I was a “GABA girl”: when I had my terrible anxiety and panic attacks in my late 30s anxiety, GABA worked beautifully for me. It was amazing and life-changing! Zero anxiety and no more panic attacks!

We are all individual and you may find that theanine works better for you than GABA. Julia talks about this too:

I would say about 15 to 20 percent of people who need this GABA-type relief of the tension and stress, don’t seem to get it from GABA. In those cases, most of them do get it from the amino acid, l-theanine, instead, in our experience.

Dr. Josh Friedman, is dear friend, colleague and integrative psychotherapist who uses amino acids and other nutritional approaches in his practice. I also had the honor of interviewing him on season 1 of the Anxiety Summit. I ask him if he uses GABA with his patients and what he thinks about the naysayers. I just love his answer:

[GABA] is definitely something I use. I am not a biochemist, so I actually don’t really know whether it crosses the blood/brain barrier, nor do I care actually. The first question should be, is it harmful? Are any of these things going to cause harm? And the answer with all the amino acids are no, they’re not going to cause harm, especially when compared to psychiatric medicines. The second question is, does it work? Is it helpful for our patients that we see in our practice?

GABA certainly worked for Meme Grant, GAPS Practitioner, Nutritional Therapist, FNTP, and fellow African. She had anxiety, panic attacks, didn’t enjoy speaking in public, had insomnia and was an emotional eater. I also interviewed her in season 1 and she shared this:

I took GABA for the first time in the afternoon and had no panic attacks that afternoon, and I took one in the evening and I did that for a couple of weeks, and I haven’t seen a panic attack since.

I find that many people do well with a combination of GABA and one or more of theanine, taurine and glycine. All of these are calming amino acids and since we are all unique you may find that one of these combinations work better for you.

Dr. Hyla Cass, M.D. board-certified in psychiatry and integrative medicine and the author of Natural Highs and The Addicted Brain and How to Break Free, talks about this in our interview: The Addicted Brain and How to Break Free

If someone has anxiety, it’s not a Valium or a Xanax deficiency. It could be a GABA deficiency. And that could be due to stress. So if you’re low in GABA, there are some really cool things to take – theanine, glycine, taurine. The different nutrients work together and when we add them together, it’s more than the sum of its parts. So adding glycine and GABA together is going to give you a better result and you don’t have to use as much as each of the individual ones. So that’s nature’s Valium.

Jonathan Prousky, ND, MSc, editor of the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine and author of Anxiety: Orthomolecular Diagnosis and Treatment shares this in our season 2 interview: Tapering off psychiatric drugs so they do not ruin your life

I have found GABA to be invariably helpful and I don’t really know exactly how GABA works but I know it to be very, very safe and, to me, that is fundamentally important. It’s not associated with any withdrawal, with any tolerance, with any habituation, so people can try it without a lot of concern.

Dr. Prousky uses both regular crystalline GABA and pharmaGABA but prefers the latter. He uses it as part of his SRR model for helping his patients taper of psychiatric drugs such as benzodiazepines. SRR stands for sedation, relaxation and regulation:

Sedation: one gets the sedating effects of GABA (he uses pharmaGABA at a dose of 100-200 mg)
Relaxation: niacin at a dose of 250-500 mg (immediate-release)
Regulation: melatonin (generally about 3mg) to helps regulate the sleep-and-wake cycles

GABA really does work if your anxiety is a result of low GABA levels. As Julia so wisely says:

On a scale of zero to ten, zero is not an unrealistic goal when it comes to anxiety. It’s really the human potential and GABA [and tryptophan] give us access to it.

So we have many expert opinions but the best way to figure out if GABA works is to try it. You’ll know within 5 minutes if it’s working for you. This is one of the reasons I love the amino acids: you get results right away and it makes you feel less anxious right away, giving you hope while you deal with other factors that may be contributing to your anxiety.

How much GABA do we need and how do we take it? I find that GABA is most effective when taken sublingually. Source Naturals GABA Calm is a great sublingual that contains 125mg GABA, 50mg Glycine, 20mg taurine, some magnesium and 25mg N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine. I also really like Nutritional Fundamentals for Health GABA-T SAP which contains 300mg GABA 300 mg and 150mg theanine. This is pleasant-tasting when opened on to the tongue and seems to be most effective when held there for about 2 minutes. GABA products that contain 500mg and 750mg are often too much for most of my clients.

You can find these and other GABA products that I recommend here

If you’d like to learn more about GABA from the above experts, you can get details of the Anxiety Summits here

You’ll also learn about many other nutritional and biochemical causes of anxiety: gut health and the microbiome, hormone imbalance, methylation issues, other low neurotransmitter levels, pyroluria (causing social anxiety), oxalates/gluten (special diets), pyschoneuroendocrinology, heavy metals, poor liver health, adrenal issues like high cortisol, mold, candida, parasites and much more!

Have you used GABA or any of the other calming amino acids and found benefits? Please share what product and how much worked for you?

If you have not tried GABA, were you a naysayer but now feel more inclined to look into this?

Kindness and oxytocin: a mystery memory box of treasured memories

August 7, 2015 By Trudy Scott 14 Comments

This is a story of kindness and warm and fuzzy feelings all around. There is plenty of oxytocin-boosting happening here!

On Tuesday around 6:30pm I received excited emails from Anxiety Summit fans in San Diego about a story that had just aired on the CBS8 show: Return to Sender The Mystery Memory Box.

Here is one of them:

I just watched my local San Diego Ch. 8 KFMB news and saw old pics of you from the 80’s. A lady in this area has evidently kept a couple of “mystery boxes” that appear to be yours for 17 yrs. She moved from South Africa years ago and mistakenly received these boxes. She’s wanted to return them, the name she found among the items… Trudy Hatfield!

Contact Jeff Zevely, reporter at the KFMB station, cbs8.com. I’m sure you’ve received lots of emails and calls about this. YIPPEE!

one of your many Anxiety Summit fans

You’ll see the video she’s referring to at the link below – enjoy the mystery, and a glimpse of my laughing, smiling adventurous youth!
Part 1: Return to Sender The Mystery Memory Box

Ninety minutes hours after the story is aired the mystery is solved – the box DOES belong to me! I find out via the emails from my fans (like the one above) and Barbara (the anchor) connects with Crombie (my brother).

What a trip down memory lane to see all those photos! There are many from my trip to Europe when I was in my 20s, plus postcards I sent to my family. There are also special family photos, the the last one of me hugging my baby sister Wendy. How very special!

I connect with Jeff at CBS8 and they arrange the follow-up video/story the next day. Here is the Wednesday video where I “meet” Jeanette via skype and get to give her a virtual hug and thank her for her kindness!

You can read the full story of part 2 here: Return to Sender: Mystery Memory Box Owner Found

It’s such fun to see pictures of my bother Crombie and hear how it all came together – his tennis connection to Barbara and my fans reaching out to me.

If you’ve been reading some of my recent blogs you’ll see I’m fascinated by oxytocin and it’s connection to social anxiety, postpartum depression, and autism.

I feel so good right now and am on such an oxytocin-high that I’d like to share how this act of giving and kindness is connected to oxytocin.

Paul J. Zak is the author of a book called “The Moral Molecule.” It’s all about oxytocin and here is what he says about this molecule:

It is a “feel good” hormone that increases when we do simple, feel good things like giving or receiving a hug, or when we give generously

The act of giving stimulates this hormone resulting in the recipient desiring to trust the giver
[It] accounts for why some people give freely of themselves

The above snippets come from a Wall Street Journal article: The Trust Molecule. It is a fascinating read.

Wow wow wow! So we all win, we all get to feel good, and we all get all get an oxytocin boost!

Jeanette Smith for keeping that box safe for 17 years and trying to locate me over the years! How do you repay kindness like this? I just hope she finds her missing box too
CBS8 reporter Jeff Zevely for running with the story, CBS8 anchor Barbara Lee-Edwards for immediately thinking of her tennis coach Crombie Hatfield (my brother!), and the power of TV and the internet
My Anxiety Summit fans who recognized me in the video and emailed right away. How thoughtful and kind!
Me for being at the center of this AND getting my box of precious memories back! You hear of this type of thing happening to others and never imagine it could happen to you!!
Everyone who watches the videos and loves the heart-warming story. My Facebook friends are blown away and are saying how this restores their faith in humanity. I could not agree more!

A BIG thank you to everyone involved!

We need more feel-good stories like this don’t we?Have you had a complete stranger be kind to you? Or shown kindness to a stranger. Please share in the comments.

For now, smile and enjoy the feel-good oxytocin boost! And then go and spread the kindness!

And please share the story so we can help Jeanette find her missing box too!

Holistic Solutions for Anxiety and Depression: review

June 12, 2015 By Trudy Scott 84 Comments

Although it is written for therapists I feel that Holistic Solutions for Anxiety and Depression: Combining Natural Remedies with Conventional Care, written by Dr. Peter Bongiorno, ND, is a great resource for anyone working with individuals with anxiety or depression, and this includes nutritionists.

As a nutritionist who works primarily with women with anxiety, I was so pleased to receive a physical review copy of this wonderful book. I did purchase the kindle but a real book is just so much nicer!

It’s also perfect for the anxious individual who taking charge of their own health and wants to become more empowered. It would also be a perfect book for the anxious person to share with their open-minded therapist or doctor.

Here are some of the reasons why I really enjoyed this book:

The extensive coverage of diet – Dr. Bongiorno favors a Mediterranean diet and cites research supporting this way of eating for mental health (I’d add more red meat and skip the grains, especially gluten)
The recommendation to eat crunchy vegetables based on the research about crunchy foods making us feel happier and calmer
The coverage of nutrients such as 5-HTP and tryptophan. Dr. Bongiorono will use 5-HTP first (he feels its “more effective at crossing the blood brain barrier) , whereas I tend to start with tryptophan. But he does say that “when dosed accordingly, tryptophan appears to be quite safe and effective.”
The coverage of GABA: “GABA supplementation helps open chloride channels in neurons, which hyperpolarizes them, so that the positive charges remain on one side of the membrane, which inactivates the nerve cell. This slows firing and calms the brain.”
The coverage of vitamin B3: one way it helps mood is “its ability to inhibit the liver enzyme tryptophan pyrrolase. This enzyme breaks down tryptophan making it less available to produce serotonin. Vitamin B3 is also responsible for activating the enzyme that converts tryptophan to 5-hydroxytryptophan.”
The coverage of lithium orotate: “It is suggested that lithium’s beneficial effects on mood may be due to its oxytocin-raising properties.” He suggests using it with an oxytocin-raising massage! Oxytocin also helps with social anxiety: Oxytocin and social anxiety, pyroluria and depression?
The fascinating discussion of the 5-HT1A receptor and oxytocin
The history of the discovery of serotonin (clams used it to keep their shells closed)
The coverage of light therapy, getting house-plants and a mind-body approach

As you can see, it includes plenty of geeky science, something I really love!

I had the pleasure of interviewing Dr. Bongiorno on The Anxiety Summit – our topic: Serotonin and Anxiety, Happiness, Digestion and our Hormones. Dr. Bongiorno’s speaking is as eloquent, factual and caring as his writing.

Dr. Bongiorno has been kind enough to offer a copy of his book as a giveaway. We’ll do a drawing and select one lucky reader and announce the winner next Friday. If you’d like to be entered in to the drawing simply comment below and share:

~~why you’d like to win the book~~
~~which section you’re most excited about reading and why (just go to the Amazon preview and check out the table of contents)~~
~~which holistic approaches you already use with patients/clients or you’ve used yourself~~

~~This drawing is open to practitioners and non-practitioners alike.~~

Peter Bongiorno, ND, a doctor of naturopathic medicine, is co-director of InnerSource Natural Health and Acupuncture in New York City. President of the New York Association of Naturopathic Physicians, he is a contributor to numerous blogs and online magazines, including DrOz.com and Sharecare.com, and is regularly interviewed as a natural medicine expert on national television and radio.