Happy New Year everyone! On the heels of the holidays I have been getting many people in the office suffering from anxiety. If you experience anxiety, make sure you are addressing basic factors that are often overlooked; specifically, make sure to address the following:

• Your ayurvedic constitutional type. You can find out in an office visit with me what your doshas are. When vata (one of the doshas) is imbalanced, there is an increased incidence of anxiety, constipation, belching, insomnia, brain fog and restlessness. I love using Tranquil Mind (at Fern Life Center) for folks who have a vata imbalance and say their "brain won't shut off". It doesn't make your sleepy and works great to help the brain sort thoughts more efficiently.
• Your neurotransmitter balance. At Fern Life Center we can test your neurotransmitters with a simple urine test. With the data we receive from this test, we can help bring them back into balance using diet, therapy and supplements. (Note: Insurance will usually NOT pay for this test.)
• How you deal with your stress. Ajayan Borys (author of Effortless Mind Meditation) is offering a meditation retreat this weekend on lovely San Juan Island. Give yourself the gift of peace at Samadhi House, a beautiful setting for a meditation retreat! Start the new year with a new way of handling the inevitable stressors that will come your way this year: http://www.ajayan.com/meditation-retreats/weekend-meditation-retreat/
  • Too much sugar. Many studies have demonstrated the connection between a high-sugar diet and poor mental health. High sugar and starchy carbohydrates lead to excessive insulin release, which can result in falling blood sugar levels, or hypoglycemia. In turn, hypoglycemia causes your brain to secrete glutamate in levels that can cause agitation, depression, anger, anxiety, and panic attacks. Additionally, sugar fans the flames of inflammation in your body.
  • Leaky gut and poorly functioning second brain. As explained by Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride (author of the GAPs diet), toxicity in your gut can flow throughout your body and into your brain, where it can cause a variety of psychiatric symptoms, including anxiety and depression. Reducing gut inflammation is imperative when addressing mental health issues, so optimizing your gut flora is a critical piece. Your gut sends more signals to your brain than the brain sends to it. It also has more neurons and produces more neurotransmitters than the brain. So optimize your gut health by eliminating sugar and increasing beneficial bacteria. Make sure to include plenty of naturally fermented veggies in your diet to help balance your gut flora, and if that's not an option for you, consider a high-quality probiotic supplement. If we have done genetic testing with you and you know that tyramine containing foods are not good for your mood, please ignore this suggestion!
  • Inactivity. Exercising creates new GABA-producing neurons that help induce a natural state of calm. Exercise also boosts your levels of serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine, which help buffer the effects of stress. Stand up as much as possible, as compelling research now tells us that prolonged sitting has an extremely detrimental impact on your health, even if you exercise regularly. Intermittent movement may be even more important than regular exercise, so make a goal of walking 7,000 to 10,000 steps daily.
  • Animal-sourced omega-3 deficiency. Your diet should include a high-quality source of animal-based omega-3 fats, like krill oil. The omega-3 fats EPA and DHA play an important role in emotional health, and deficiencies have been linked to mood disorders. Research has shown a dramatic 20 percent reduction in anxiety among medical students taking omega-3s.
  • Food additives and GMO ingredients. A number of food additives and dyes are thought to negatively affect mental health, and many have been banned in Europe. Potential culprits to avoid include Blue #1 and #2 food coloring; Green #3; Orange B; Red #3 and #40; Yellow #5 and #6; and the preservative sodium benzoate. Recent research also shows that glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto's herbicide Roundup, which is used in large quantities on genetically engineered crops, limits your body's ability to detoxify foreign chemical compounds. As a result, the damaging effects of those toxins are magnified, potentially resulting in a wide variety of diseases, including brain disorders that have both psychological and behavioral effects.
  • EMF. Limit your exposure to radiofrequency microwave radiation, cell and portable phones, and electro-pollution. This is especially true for your sleeping environment where rest and repair occur.
  • Other toxic exposures. Avoid all known toxins as much as possible, such as MSG and artificial sweeteners including aspartame, mercury from "silver" amalgam fillings, and fluoride in the water supply, just to name a few.

Here's to your health!

Dr. Keesha

Erin Dudley, MS, Registered Dietitian

Happy New Year everyone!

The New Year is a great time to evaluate goals and aspirations and create intentions. In the field of nutrition, we often take a close look into what we eat, focusing on calories, macronutrients (Protein, Carbohydrate and Fat) and micronutrients (Organic Acids, Trace Minerals and Vitamins) to reach our health goals. In an ideal world we would all eat whole foods. Remember folks that means the food we eat only has ONE ingredient! However, many of us have very busy lives and while we have the best intentions of trying to make our own coconut milk for example, that doesn't always happen. So what about plan B?
 

The food industry has made it easy on us so now for example, we can buy coconut milk! Yipee!? Not so fast. What if I told you that what your food is packaged in could dramatically alter and disrupt your hormones, cellular structure, digestion, nutrient absorption, water retention, increase inflammation, exacerbate leaky gut, disrupt intestinal health, alter pH, stress out your organs, tax your adrenals? Would you still buy that Organic canned coconut milk on the shelf? Here's our concern with packaged foods...