GABA

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.

How to figure out what’s causing your depression with Dr. Kharrazian

June 11, 2015 By Trudy Scott 12 Comments

The Depression Sessions officially starts on Sunday June 14th.

To give you a taste of what is to come, this week is a pre-summit kick-off with some great interviews airing RIGHT NOW!

TODAY (and the next few days), you can watch Sean Croxton’s excellent interview with Dr. Datis Kharrazian, author of Why Isn’t My Brain Working.

Dr. Kharrazian’s full-length session is available for EARLY BIRD viewing and downloading (video, mp3 and transcript).

Dr. Datis Kharrazian: How to Figure Out What’s Causing Your Depression

Why there is more to correcting mood disorders than only boosting neurotransmitter levels. A lot more!
Why traumatic brain injuries often show up as depression … years down the road.
How chronic gut inflammation can cause brain inflammation, leading to depression.
How the “other” symptoms presenting with depression — anxiety, insomnia, brain fog –can help determine its cause.

This free EARLY BIRD viewing will be available until Sunday morning June 14th at 8am PST/11am EST when the Depression Sessions online event officially kicks off.

Here are a few gems from this interview:

Depression is decreased frequency of firing of areas the frontal cortex, pre-frontal, orbitofrontal, and the cingulate gyrus. At the end of the day, someone’s clinical depression is that part of their brain not firing. Then our goal as a clinical workup is why? What’s not making that area of the brain fire?
Every single case of depression is uniquely different
If you have depression and you notice it and you want to change it, that’s a really positive sign. If you have depression and you don’t even care anymore, you don’t even recognize it, that’s when things get really scary for us. That’s where all the neurodegenerative diseases have to be ruled out.

I’m so pleased to hear that Dr Kharrazian is not in favor of urinary neurotransmitter testing and do agree that depression (and anxiety) is often a lot more than only neurotransmitter deficiencies.

I see such incredible results with amino acids that I must say I do disagree with him on this one: “If you take an amino acid, like 5-HTP or tyrosine you do get a boost of brain function that doesn’t last.”

It may just be that he is working with people who have very complex issues like a history of brain injuries and neurodegenerative diseases. The whole discussion on head injuries is so interesting! And the wonderful thing is that there are certain nutrients that can help so much (fish oil, turmeric and others)!

The GABA blood-brain-barrier discussion comes up later (and I get a mention!) so be sure to listen out for that section. I’m still not convinced about the leaky brain GABA information but I am planning to have to look into the Cyrex blood-brain-barrier test Dr. Kharrazian mentions. I’m also going to look into the Cyrex GAD autoimmunity test he talks about.

My interview on the amino acids (GABA and tryptophan) and pyroluria/social anxiety/introversion airs on Day 1 so be sure to tune in for this one too. You can see a preview snippet on this blog called: Can Social Anxiety Be Reversed with Nutrition?

If you haven’t yet registered you can simply register here:
https://at105.isrefer.com/go/depreg/trudyscott/

I do hope you enjoy this one and all the others in the Depression Sessions!

The Anxiety Summit – Pyroluria, Amino Acids and Anxiety: Real Cases, Real Solutions

May 16, 2015 By Trudy Scott 22 Comments

Karla A Maree CNC, Neuronutrient Therapy Specialist, is interviewed by host of the Anxiety Summit, Trudy Scott, Food Mood Expert and Nutritionist, author of The Antianxiety Food Solution.

Pyroluria, Amino Acids and Anxiety: Real Cases, Real Solutions

How pyroluria affects mood and anxiety and introversion
Amino acids GABA and tryptophan: how they can help you feel less anxious and happier in as little as 5 minutes
What is a pixie dust person
Gina, case study 1: social anxiety/pyroluria, birth control pill, vegetarian, low GABA, low serotonin and low iron
Mark, case study 2: social anxiety, pyroluria, claustrophobia, low serotonin, very sensitive to noise, gluten sensitivity

Here are some snippets from our interview:

When we do a trail of an amino acid, you open the capsule into water and hold this in your mouth for 30 seconds to 2 minutes. It bypasses the digestive system and you can expect results in 5 minutes or less

“Pixie dust” people are very sensitive to the environment or vitamins and we have them do finger touches of the opened capsule [of an amino acid] and that small amount can literally shift their brain chemistry

Here is the Amino Acids Mood Questionnaire from The Antianxiety Food Solution. I encourage you to do it and see which sections may be an issue for you. And as Karla mentioned re-do it frequently to see how much you’ve improved if you’ve been using amino acids.

We discussed why Urinary neurotransmitter testing falls short and why we use the above questionnaire instead.

Here is the Pyroluria Questionnaire from The Antianxiety Food Solution. Karla has pyroluria and having it helps her identify with her clients. She also used to be an introvert but when she is on the pyroluria protocol she can easily walk up to people and talk to them.

[please stay tuned for the Dalai Lama vegetarian article]

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, and Anxiety Summit Season 3.

The Anxiety Summit – Foods to balance your hormones and ease anxiety

May 11, 2015 By Trudy Scott 77 Comments

Magdalena Wszelaki, founder of Hormones Balance, is interviewed by host of the Anxiety Summit, Trudy Scott, Food Mood Expert and Nutritionist, author of The Antianxiety Food Solution.

Foods to balance your hormones and ease anxiety (part 1)

Magdalena’s own journey with Graves’ disease, Hashimoto’s disease, adrenal fatigue, estrogen dominance and anxiety
How hormonal imbalances can cause anxiety: low progesterone, low/high estrogen
How over and underactive thyroid can cause anxiety
The adrenals and anxiety and depression

Foods to balance your hormones and ease anxiety (part 2)

How to test for hormonal imbalances
The foundation to all hormonal health being: healthy gut, healthy blood sugar levels and optimal liver health
Foods that support the production of the different hormones
Seed rotation for balancing estrogen and progesterone
The role of coffee in liver health, hormone metabolism and anxiety

In part 1 we discussed this 2015 paper: Sex hormones affect neurotransmitters and shape the adult female brain during hormonal transition periods.

Here we review the evidence from animal experiments and human studies reporting interactions between sex hormones and the dominant neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, dopamine, GABA and glutamate

The brain represents an important target for estrogen and progesterone effects.

major shifts in sex hormone levels seem to be paralleled by the incidence rates of mood disorders such as unipolar depression

A subgroup of women suffers from clinical level of premenstrual mood changes called premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD)… core symptoms include anxiety, irritability and depressed mood

Estrogen has been reported to have potent serotonin-modulating properties

progesterone and its neuroactive metabolites (allopregnanolone, pregnanolone) seem to facilitate GABAergic transmission

To summarize, neurotransmitter systems do not work in isolation and sex hormones act on multiple sites, highly intertwined with serotonin, dopamine, GABA and glutamate.

Magdalena shared these low estrogen symptoms:

Forgetfulness
Incontinence
Skin elasticity problems
Loss of muscle strength
Feeling really blah
Osteoporosis/osteopenia
Warm flashes and/or night sweats

Magdalena shared these low progesterone symptoms:

Tender breasts
PMS
Irregular periods
Puffiness and water retention
Mood swings and anger
Anxiety and sleep issues
Problems falling pregnant

In part 2:

Magdalena shared how the foundation of hormone balance is a healthy gut and talked about food intolerances, the microbiome, bone broths and quality animal protein.

I loved the discussion on using seed rotation for hormonal balancing: flax seeds and pumpkin seeds for the first half of your cycle and sesame and sunflower seeds for the second half of your cycle/luteal phase (the cracker recipes are in the gift download – see below).

Coffee does affect our hormones and here is a great guest blog post by Magdalena: 12 Ways Coffee Impacts Your Hormones

If you had to give up either coffee or the internet for 2 weeks, which one would you choose? How about either coffee or sex for 2 weeks? If you’d rather relinquish anything to keep your coffee, you’d be on par with the majority of the people around you.

Be sure to check it out and try out her delicious Roasted Chicory Root Latte recipe.

I shared my recipe: Carob Cinnamon Delight instead of coffee – a calming hot beverage and mentioned rooibos tea how it’s A Functional Food in the Management of Stress (an interview from a prior anxiety summit)

Magdalena mentioned the EWG/Environmental Working Group’s Skin Deep site for checking your cosmetics – simply enter the name of the product in the search area.

We also mentioned Annmarie Gianni Skin Care, which is a natural skin care line made with organic ingredients that you can trust – and that actually work. This is the best and most natural skin-care line I have come across – anywhere! It’s organic, uses absolutely zero toxic ingredients and features gorgeous essential oils! You can try your Annmarie Gianni Skin Care sample kit here.

Magdalena’s gift: How to Rebalance Your Hormones with Food and Recipes

magdalena gift image

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, and Anxiety Summit Season 3.

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