the anxiety summit

The Anxiety Summit – The Parasite/Anxiety Connection

May 9, 2015 By Trudy Scott 46 Comments

Ann Louise Gittleman PhD, CNS, author of The Fat Flush Plan and Guess What Came to Dinner, 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.

The Parasite/Anxiety Connection

How common are parasites and how do we become infected (even if we live in a first world country)
How do parasites contribute to anxiety and depression and even schizophrenia
Other symptoms of a parasitic infection
How to avoid being exposed to parasites
How to test for parasites and how do we get rid of the parasite/s

Here are some gems from our interview:

Parasitic infections in the USA are far more common than you would expect – in fact the estimates are that 1 in every 3 people have a parasite or more than one

Parasites can contribute to or cause anxiety and fear by altering “hormonal and neurotransmitter communication and/or direct interference with the neurons and brain regions that mediate behavioural expression”

According to folklore, parasites are more active around the full moon, so testing and treating around this time may yield better results

Toxoplasma gondii is one parasite that has been researched a great deal and is one that has big implications for anxiety and other mood conditions, especially schizophrenia.

Ann Louise shared this interesting article from Scientific American called Toxoplasma’s Dark Side: The Link Between Parasite and Suicide

In 2003, E. Fuller Torrey of the Stanley Medical Research Institute in Bethesda, Maryland his colleagues noted a link between Toxoplasma and schizophrenia – specifically, that women with high levels of the parasite were more likely to give birth to schizophrenics-to-be

scientists have discovered a link between suicide and parasite infection

In 2006, researchers linked Toxoplasma infection to neuroticism in both men and women.

When we are infected with a parasite like Toxoplasma gondii, our immune system goes on the offensive, producing a group of molecules called cytokines that activate various immune cell types. The exact mechanism by which cytokines cause depression and other mental illnesses is poorly understood, but we do know they are able to pass the blood-brain barrier and alter neurotransmitters like serotonin and dopamine in the brain.

Here is the parasite testing and products we discussed:

The Expanded GI panel (for testing)

Colon Cleaning kit with Verma-Plus and Para- Key (together with a probiotic)

Verma-Plus contains the Native American herb called Centaury (aerial portion) (Centaurium erythraea)

It seems to have antimicrobial properties too: Volatile organic compounds from Centaurium erythraea Rafn (Croatia) and the antimicrobial potential of its essential oil.

And gastroprotective effects: Gastroprotective effect of small centaury (Centaurium erythraea L) on aspirin-induced gastric damage in rats.

We also talked about using filtered water for washing fruits and vegetables and this is the water filter Ann Louise recommends: Countertop Ultra-Ceramic Water Filter. “It purifies your tap water for the removal of incoming contaminants including parasites, chlorine, chloramines, heavy metals, cloudiness and sediment. The ceramic filter also inhibits the growth of bacteria”

Ann Louise has written many wonderful books. Here are three of them that were mentioned in this interview:

Guess What Came to Dinner? Parasites and Your Health (this is the book about parasites)

Ann Louise Gittleman_guess what came to dinner

Before the Change: Taking Charge of Your Perimenopause (this is the one that helped me so much when I was in my late thirties and having perimenopausal symptoms – with the zinc, vitamin B6 and evening primrose oil )

The Fat Flush Plan (this is one of many her classic weight loss books)

Here is her gift: a 50-Page Report on Parasites – Still the Greatest Masqueraders of All Time

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 – Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth and Anxiety

May 9, 2015 By Trudy Scott 56 Comments

Dr. Allison Siebecker ND, LAc, SIBO specialist, 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.

Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth and Anxiety

An overview of SIBO/small intestinal bacterial overgrowth and recent research
The SIBO connection to IBS and anxiety/depression
Using a SIBO questionnaire and SIBO testing
SIBO treatment: medications, a herbal approach and diet
Gut motility and low serotonin

Here is the information on the 2015 SIBO Symposium, June 6–7, 2015.

Designed for the medical doctor, alternative medicine practitioner, and the public, the 2nd Annual SIBO Symposium features the nation’s leading experts on the topic to present an evidence-based educational program on managing small intestine bacterial overgrowth.

Here is the definition of SIBO from the SIBO Symposium site:

Small intestine bacterial overgrowth (SIBO) is a chronic bacterial colonization of the small intestine. These bacteria normally live in the gastrointestinal tract, however, in SIBO they have overgrown in a location not meant for so many bacteria. The bacteria interfere with our normal digestion and absorption of food and are associated with damage to the lining or membrane of the small intestine. These mechanisms in turn lead to myriad other disorders—gastrointestinal, systemic, and neurological.

Dr Siebecker has this quote on her site www.siboinfo.com (which has a wealth of information)

According to Bures et al,

It is mandatory to consider SIBO in all cases of complex non-specific dyspeptic complaints (bloating, abdominal discomfort, diarrhea, abdominal pain), in motility disorders, anatomical abnormalities of the small bowel and in all malassimilation syndromes (malabsorption, maldigestion).

I said there were no studies linking SIBO and anxiety but there are many studies connecting SIBO and IBS, and there are many studies connecting IBS and anxiety/depression

However I wrote this in my book the The Antianxiety Food Solution. (published in 2011)

Studies have found that people with digestive complaints such IBS, food allergies and sensitivities, small intestinal bacterial overgrowth and ulcerative colitis frequently suffer from anxiety and, to a lesser extent, depression (Addolorato, Mirijello, D’Angelo, Leggio, Ferrulli, Abenavoli, et al. 2008).

One study (Lydiard 2001) found that 50 to 90 percent of people with IBS who visited a doctor for treatment also suffered from various anxiety disorders (panic disorder, generalized anxiety disorder, social phobia, and post-traumatic stress disorder) and major depression.

Here is a list of the symptoms of SIBO

Here are some of the papers we mentioned:

Serotonin and Its Role in Colonic Function and in Gastrointestinal Disorders

Herbal therapy is equivalent to rifaximin for the treatment of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth

You’ll find many more papers on Dr. Siebecker’s siboinfo.com research section

This is the book Dr Siebecker mentioned: A New IBS Solution: Bacteria-The Missing Link in Treating Irritable Bowel Syndrome, written by Dr Mark Pimentel

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 – Anxiety, Depression, and the Vegetarian Diet

May 9, 2015 By Trudy Scott 46 Comments

Lierre Keith, small farmer, author of The Vegetarian Myth, 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, Depression, and the Vegetarian Diet

How young girls are being targeted by vegan groups
Lierre’s story and the health challenges she faced: hypoglycemia, anxiety, bone pain, fatigue
Moral vegetarianism or veganism and factory farming
The importance of topsoil and how it’s disappearing
The nutritional deficiencies of a vegetarian or vegan diet: B12, fats, amino acids like tryptophan, iron, vitamin D
The mood benefits of grass-fed red meat
The problems with processed soy

Lierre shares some of her story and why she wrote her book:

I get a lot of emails from people who have joint problems on this vegan diet, and I can explain to them what they’re doing and why they have to stop. And I have this sort of cautionary tale: “This is how bad it can get, and the damage can be permanent.” So there was that.

Of course, I had the depression and anxiety. It was this terrible sense of apathy, pointlessness, you know, that terrible gray fog that you get when you are experiencing that level of nutritional deprivation. There’s just no way to keep a steady mood when your brain is that deprived. So I really lost 20 years of my life just to depression. And I would say that’s probably the number one reason that I had vegans reach out to me because they’re so exhausted and they’ve got this terrible depression and anxiety, and they don’t understand why.

She shares about the horrors of factory farming:

we can start with factory farming, and I think everyone with a pulse can agree that this is a horror on every level. It’s a terrible waste of all our resources, all this ridiculous amounts of grain that goes to feed them, and the lives that they lead are absolutely miserable, it makes them sick. If you’re eating factory farm beef, you’re eating an animal that probably had liver disease, probably had holes in its stomach, was absolutely miserable for the last two months of its life, and was toxic through and through from all the horrible stuff that leaked out when their livers aren’t functioning and they’ve got holes in their stomach. Their whole system just goes septic; and that’s what you’re eating.

And a lot of the vegetarians and vegans have this strange idea – it’s just an ignorant idea – that somehow this is inevitable in the raising of meat, and it’s not. It’s actually a very bizarre moment in history.

Here is Lierre’s wonderful book – The Vegetarian Myth: Food, Justice, and Sustainability

Leirre also shares this author and book as another resource:

Denise Minger, is a wonderful young woman who’s a recovering vegan. She’s written a fabulous book about her experience, and the USDA food pyramid, and what this kind of diet has done to public health; that’s what happened to her.

Here is Denise Minger’s book Death by Food Pyramid: How Shoddy Science, Sketchy Politics and Shady Special Interests Have Ruined Our Health

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 – Real Food for Anxiety: Butter, Broth and Beyond

May 9, 2015 By Trudy Scott 34 Comments

Kaayla T. Daniel PhD, CCN, The Naughty Nutritionist®, author of Nourishing Broth, 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.

Real Food for Anxiety: Butter, Broth and Beyond

Butter and the “fats of life”
How vegetarian diets can contribute to anxiety and other mental health disorders
Why soy is NOT a health food and why it can contribute to anxiety, ADHD and other mental health challenges
Paleo diet and “nose to tail eating”
Broths help to cure melancholy/depression and help us deal with stress
A simple broth recipe
The component in broth that helps calm the mind and quell anxiety
How broths heal the gut and how this heals our brains

We started with a discussion about the harmful effects of soy:

What I would say for sure is that soy has a disastrous effect on gut health. We all know now that the gut and the brain are very, very connected.

The component in the soy bean that has such a terrible effect on the gut is the trypsin inhibitor or some people would call it protease inhibitors. Trypsin or protease are the enzymes we need to digest protein properly. If we’re inhibiting that process, the fact that soy beans are high in protein is a problem because we’re inhibiting the ability to digest that protein very well. You end up with a lot of digestive distress.

Then the inability to digest the protein and the stress on the pancreas can lead to what we often see with people is pancreatitis.

That’s where you start seeing some of the anxiety problems, for example, because chronic pancreatitis is a long-term progressive inflammatory disease, and it can cause distress including anxiety

We talked about one of my favorite replacements for soy-based energy bars: pemmican. I just call pemmican the energy bar of the twenty first century. It’s just a wonderful snack to have. It’s healthy. It has good fats, and it sustains you. You can purchase pemmican from US Wellness Meats.

Then we talked about broths and glycine:

there’s a lot of different definitions of broth and stock, but basically we’re taking animal bones, and they’re going to come complete with cartilage and some skin. We’re going to make a broth with that. The main ingredients would be those bones plus a good quality water and a little bit of apple cider vinegar or a different kind of vinegar. Actually, any kind of vinegar or perhaps a wine that will help pull the collagen or the gelatin out of the bones and cartilage as well as some of the minerals.

We’re going to have a very, very delicious and rich broth. From that, we can go and make soups and stews. There’s also ways we can do things like start from the beginning with, say, lamb skanks and vegetables and make that into a dish. The point is we’re pulling all the minerals and the cartilage and the marrow from the bones into our diet in terms of a delicious broth, soup, or stew.

we have some science behind it quelling the stress and anxiety too. One of the factors would be there’s some evidence that broth will help us sleep. Now, that’s pretty interesting because broth is actually completely devoid of tryptophan and we think we need tryptophan to sleep well. We do, but broth does contain glycine and glutamine and that can help us sleep

I mentioned that I had found a large amount of research looking at a specific antibiotic called Cycloserine

it’s actually an antibiotic that is used for tuberculosis and is sold under the brand name Seromycin. They discovered that this antibiotic can actually penetrate that central nervous system via the blood brain barrier and is effective for anxiety, social anxiety, phobia, and fear of public speaking. It affects the glycine bonding sites. Wow, if we’ve got this drug that will affect the glycine binding sites, why not just incorporate more glycine into our diets in the way of beautiful broths.

Here is one of the 2015 papers: D-cycloserine augmentation of cognitive behavioral therapy for anxiety disorders: an update.

And an older one: Dose-related anxiogenic effect of glycine in the elevated plus maze and in electrodermal activity.

Here are Kaayla’s books:

The Whole Soy Story: The Dark Side of America’s Favorite Health Food

Nourishing Broth: An Old-Fashioned Remedy for the Modern World

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 – Sauerkraut for Gut Healing and Reducing Anxiety

May 8, 2015 By Trudy Scott 36 Comments

Summer Bock, Master Fermentationist, 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.

Sauerkraut for Gut Healing and Reducing Anxiety

Summer’s journey and recovery from allergies, gut problems, anxiety and panic attacks, and how fermented foods turned things round for her
The good bacteria we get from fermented foods: psychobiotics and anxiety
Sauerkraut: a “promising nutraceutical for the treatment of malnutrition-induced diseases” and how it helps with asthma, IBS and inflammatory bowel disease
The 3 categories of fermented foods: Functional Ferments, Increased Assimilation Ferments and Primarily Preservation Ferments
The history of kefir
How to buy sauerkraut in the store
How to make your own sauerkraut at home and why

Summer discovered that all the symptoms she was having (food and environmental allergies, anxiety and panic attacks, skin problems) were connected to her gut and that she needed probiotics.

With me being a herbalist and purist, I wanted to know how my ancestors did it. If I don’t have probiotics in my diet how do I get them? What is the whole food version of probiotics? It was when I discovered sauerkraut and kefir and all of these fermented foods and started including them in my diet, that’s when I started to see improvements in my health.

Sauerkraut is a whole food version of probiotics. The probiotics are one thing but raw (unpasteurized) sauerkraut also contains lactic acid which serves as a natural antibiotic.

I mentioned my season 2 interview with Dr. Ted Dinan, MD, PhD. Professor of Psychiatry at University College Cork: Microbes in the gut and psychobiotics as a potential treatment for anxiety and depression

we define a psychobiotic as a live organism that, when ingested in adequate amounts, produces a health benefit in patients suffering from psychiatric illness

This is Dr. Dinan’s most recent paper, published April this year: Gut Microbiota: The Conductor in the Orchestra of Immune-Neuroendocrine Communication

We discussed this paper at length: A MINI REVIEW ON THE MICROBIOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF SAUERKRAUT.

Healthy colons of humans contain some beneficial bacteria which feed on digestive wastes, thereby producing lactic acid. Without these beneficial bacteria, the digestive tracts become a thriving zone for pathogenic bacteria and yeasts, resulting in candidiasis. However, it is suggested that the consumption of lacto-fermented sauerkraut could help re-establish lactobacilli.

could be a promising nutraceutical for the treatment of malnutrition-induced diseases. Also, it could be suggested that the consumption of lacto-fermented sauerkraut could help reestablish lactobacilli-opportunistic infective agents equilibrium

lacto-fermented sauerkraut provides an array of lactobacilli probiotics, vitamin C, dietary folates, manganese and pyridoxine

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 – Your Brain on Food: The Science and Alchemy of Yum for Alleviating Anxiety!

May 6, 2015 By Trudy Scott 18 Comments

Rebecca Katz MS, culinary translator, author of The Healthy Mind Cookbook, 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.

Your Brain on Food: The Science and Alchemy of Yum for Alleviating Anxiety!

The wonderful definition of alchemy
Brain boosting ingredients from Rebecca’s culinary pharmacy: lentils, mint, pumpkin seeds, cauliflower, #goodmoodsardines
The tricks to building flavor great taste and flavor
How to make the most of your time in the kitchen
Tips and tricks to feel less overwhelmed in the kitchen and how to prevent recipe reading anxiety
The secret of dollops for yum and why they are like edible makeup

Here are a few snippets from my interview with Rebecca Katz, the queen of yum!

Pumpkin seeds are “nature’s smallest antidepressant next to a snowflake”

Pumpkin seeds are a source of iron which has been shown to boost cognitive performance, especially in women of childbearing years. Iron is also a co-factor for making our neurotransmitters

Parsley and mint are so accessible and eating them “is like eating oxygen”

What we put on the end of our fork does affect our brain

Cooking can be a meditation in motion and stress-relieving project

Sardines are like Prozac in a can

I recently shared the delicious pomegranate olive mint salsa recipe from Rebecca’s new Healthy Mind Cookbook. Here it is on top of the yummy salmon we made!

Here is a new recipe for you…it’s what Rebecca calls My everything drizzle

After interviewing Rebecca I have a new appreciation for mint and parsley and use it way more than I used to! I just love this picture of her with mint – lots of it!

Rebecca and I both LOVE sardines and she mentioned her wonderful source for great quality sardines and other fish: Vital Choice. They are “a trusted source for fast home delivery of the world’s finest wild seafood and organic fare, harvested from healthy, well-managed wild fisheries and farms.”

I have met the founder Randy Hartnell a few times, had him speak on season 2 of the Anxiety Summit, and I love this company and everything that they stand for!

“We capture the fresh-caught quality of fine, sustainably harvested Alaskan salmon and other Alaskan and northwest Pacific seafood by cleaning and flash-freezing it within hours of harvest.

The fisheries that supply most of our seafood are certified sustainable by MSC (look for their blue logo) or the State of Alaska, or are widely considered sustainable.”

After our interview I saw this great picture of Rebecca “in front of the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC, after delivering a talk at DHHS for their White House Panel on Alzheimer’s & Dementia. The topic? Food for a Healthy Mind.”

This is just so exciting to hear! Bravo Rebecca! When I asked her about it, this is what she said:

There were 30 members on the panel and standing room only in the room. The talk, which centered around 25 slides of “food porn” was very well received. They even got a chocolate cherry walnut truffle out of the deal. Perhaps what was most touching was a man in his late 50’s with early on set dementia that gave us a look into his world. I felt humbled by the whole experience.

Here are two of her wonderful books:

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.