Live Interactive Webinar

Up on that, pat. I'd like to welcome everybody to today's presentation. We're going to continue with the Journey to Recover series for a little while longer. And today we're going to be talking about complementary interventions. We're really going to be focusing on why nutrition is important and how it's really not that difficult for clients to have good nutrition and things that we can teach them, and I say can teach them, because we're going to talk about scope of practice in a minute. So we'll review the nutritional building blocks for health and wellness, examine how these nutrients, or lack thereof, contribute to neurotransmitter balance or imbalance, identify several nutrient dense foods that people can consider including in their diet. And just kind of as a side note, so I don't have to continue to say it on every single slide, nutritional changes should always be made under the supervision of a registered dietitian or your primary care physician. All we're talking about today is information. Any nutritional prescriptions have got to be carried out by somebody for whom that's in their scope of practice. So one of the things clients want to know is why are we going over this? Why do we care? So encouraging them or helping them understand that in early recovery, nearly every person's neurotransmitters are out of balance. If you have somebody with clinical depression, what do we know? Their neurotransmitters are probably out of balance. If you have somebody with anxiety, if you have somebody with bipolar, if you have somebody with addiction, all of them, their neurotransmitters are at a suboptimal level or they're out of whack for other reasons. But we know that their neurotransmitters are not at that level that they want them to be so they can feel happy. As they define it, this neurotransmitter imbalance causes feelings of depression, apathy, anxiety, or just plain exhaustion. And there are a lot of things besides cognitive things and necessarily histories of trauma that can cause neurotransmitter imbalances. One of them is nutrition. It's important for clients to understand that understanding why they feel the way they feel is the first step in getting better. If they realize that getting good sleep and eating a healthy diet can help them towards their journey of recovery, okay, then they may be more willing to engage in the activities that they need to do and try to eat a little bit more healthfully. Figuring out how to help themselves feel better is the next step. So we're going to provide them Just general information about nutrition and why it's important. And then they can figure out. They can talk to their doctor, a dietitian or somebody, figure out how they want to go about making those changes. A lot of clients don't know what neurotransmitters is, so it's. Neurotransmitters are. So it's helpful to kind of back up and help them understand that. The brain is composed of roughly 80 billion neurons. That's a lot of neurons. These cells communicate with each other via chemical messengers called neurotransmitters. Neurotransmitters regulate. A lot of people, when they think of neurotransmitters, they think of depression. And that's it. Well, it's so much more than that. Your neurotransmitters are responsible for mood cravings, addictions, energy libido, sleep attention and concentration, memory and pain sensitivity. And honestly, serotonin is involved in every single one of those. And dopamine actually is, too, as I'm looking at it. So it's important that all of our neurotransmitters be balanced. And neurotransmitters are like running a warm bath. You don't want too much and you don't want too little. So if somebody has. You want to have this perfect balance going on. So if you add more of something, then you may end up adding too much. So then that other neurotransmitter is lacking. So you're throwing it in an opposite imbalance, which can continue to produce mood symptoms and cognitive problems. It's important, again, for clients to understand this, because SSRI is not the solution for everybody. About 86% of Americans. I'm pausing intentionally here. 86% of Americans have suboptimal neurotransmitter levels. Our unhealthy modern lifestyle is largely to blame. I talked about the fact that nutrition is only one of the reasons that our neurotransmitter levels may be suboptimal. Lack of quality sleep is another reason. Excessive stress is another reason. Lack of sufficient sunlight and disruption of circadian rhythms is yet another reason, as well as autoimmune and other things. So there are a lot of things that can contribute to suboptimal neurotransmitter levels. Well, sleep, circadian rhythms, and nutrition. Those are things we have control over. We may not be able to control all the stress in our life. You know, maybe we can control some of it, but those other things we can control. So that gives people a sense of, okay, there's something I can do. You know, it doesn't mean making huge changes. It means just making sure that all of the supplies get to the work site so they can. You can build the house that you want to build. Chronic stress, poor diet, environmental toxins, drugs, alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine. Oh, caffeine can cause neurotransmitter imbalances. I remember when I was in high school, yeah, high school, I was at the place of sleeping so little and consuming so much caffeine to stay conscious that it got to the point where when I would drink caffeine, I even get sleepier because my body was trying to basically squeeze blood from a turnip. It was trying to get adrenaline and cortisol, and there was just none left to give. And I know people who get to this point where caffeine actually makes them feel more tired or more lethargic. So it's important to recognize that what we ingest and what we do has a direct impact on our health and our mood. So encourage people to think about it. And obviously, I don't put this slide up with a hint on it right away. When I talk to clients, I say, how do you feel when you're not getting enough oxygen? And most people kind of look at me kind of quizzically, and they're like, I usually try to breathe. That's one of those things I like to do. And that's true. But when we yawn, it generally means that we're not getting enough oxygen either because we're in an environment where the air quality is poor. But more often, it's because as Americans especially, we tend to breathe through our chest. We don't breathe deeply, so we breathe shallowly and slowly. So we're not getting enough oxygen in there. Plus, if we're sitting a lot, our resting heart rate is, you know, not up. So our heart is pumping less, which is circulating that blood more slowly. That's even less oxygenated. So when we're not getting enough oxygen, we tend to feel fatigued and lethargic. That's just the way it is. I encourage people to think about the effect that a low carb diet might have on mood. Now, there are some people who just swear by the Paleo diet or something, and, you know, that is their. Their choice. But as we will learn, a lot of the nutrients that are required to break down the amino acids to make the neurotransmitters come from carbohydrates. And what are carbohydrates? Well, they're complex versions and some simple versions of sugars. And what is blood glucose? Blood glucose is blood sugar. So if you're taking all that sugar out, it can affect mood, it can affect insulin levels. They found that people who have gastric bypass surgery often have major swings in mood after their gastric bypass due to A differences in nutrient absorption and B, differences in insulin levels now that the stomach is being bypassed. So these things are important. And if you look at, you can google and look at any of these articles on bariatric surgery and see the profound impact, negative impact that bariatric surgery can have on some people. What effect might a low protein diet have on mood? So we say, well, we shouldn't have necessarily a super low carb diet. What about a low protein diet and high carbs? Well, your body needs protein because protein is amino acids. Amino acids are what they make neurotransmitters from. So you need them both. Imagine that they had something with that whole food pyramid thing. Why do doctors test for vitamin D levels in patients with depressive symptoms? Because the vitamin D receptors are up there in our brain in that area that we know is responsible for mo. They're still not exactly sure how it acts, but they think it makes the monoamines, your serotonin and those chemicals more available. This is one of the reasons why some people experience seasonal affective disorder when they're not getting enough sunlight because the days are really short. They're not getting enough vitamin D. And when they're not getting enough vitamin D, it may directly impact their mood. Okay, so amino acids, we'll do some real brief stuff. Amino acids are the building blocks of what we call proteins. Two of your more common amino acids and more important amino acids are L tryptophan and L tyrosine. You don't need to know all this nitty gritty. You can always refer back to the presentation if you want to find out about it. Just kind of get the big concepts here. Tryptophan broken down into 5 HTP. Does that sound familiar? It should, because they sell 5 HTP over the counter. That can be a big problem. Some people who are trying to self medicate their depression take 5 HTP. They take too much and they can cause themselves serotonin syndrome. If they are taking 5 HTP and serotonin is not their problem, it may not help. You know, they're. It's tricky. It's very, very tricky. Anytime you get into using supplements, nature provides food in very special ratios to make them the most bioavailable to us. When we start taking megadoses of things. Our body doesn't really know what to do with it. And sometimes when we take one supplement, it means something else less available. So the take home message is generally, unless the doctor prescribes some sort of supplement, it's generally better for people to try to get their nutrients from actual food. So anyway, tryptophan broken down into 5 HTP, 5 HTP is broken down into serotonin. And you'll learn later, serotonin is broken down into melatonin, our sleep hormone. So if we're going to have good serotonin, we need to have tryptophan. Tyrosine is broken down into L dopa, then it makes dopamine, which is broken down into norepinephrine and epinephrine. So if you don't have enough tyrosine, not only do you not have the building blocks to make dopamine your pleasure chemical, but you also don't have the building blocks to make norepinephrine your focus chemical and your motivation chemical, and epinephrine your fight or flight chemical. But you know, all of these things are important. And if you don't have those two amino acids in your diet, you know you're going to be struggling. So do we have to eat all these things? I mean, we are made of muscle. And yes, your body can make certain amino acids, your body can produce certain things. That's true. But essential amino acids need to be acquired from diet. It means your body can't make them no matter how much you try. It's kind of like taurine with cats. You have to give them taurine because their body can't make it. And if they don't have it, they'll go blind. So we have to have valine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methylene, however you pronounce that, phenylalanine, theronine and tryptophan, a couple of them trip up my tongue. But the big things that we want to remember is tryptophan is the essential amino acid that you have to have. All of these are essential for something. But tryptophan is the one that we're talking about for mood specifically. Phenylalanine is involved too. But we're not going to get down in the weeds today. Complete versus incomplete proteins. And we hear about this sometimes in dietary books and it can kind of get overwhelming. Complete proteins are proteins that have all of the essential amino acids. So if you eat these things, then you're getting all of Those amino acids that your body can't produce. So, bada bing, you know, try to get these. And meat, fish, dairy products and eggs contain all of the essential amino acids. Quinoa, buckwheat, chia seeds and spirulina also do. Now, I don't know if you've ever tried spirulina. I have, and I won't try it again. It's a seaweed derivative. Chia seeds are actually pretty good, especially if you mix them into instant pudding. But whatever it takes for you, so your vegetarian clients, as well as your, you know, omnivore clients can manage to get all of their essential amino acids. There's. There's no problem with that. Incomplete proteins are proteins that don't contain all nine essential amino acids. Nuts and seeds, legumes, your beans, grains, and vegetables, but they still have some proteins in them. Protein digestibility. And I'm getting to your point. Just a second, Pat. Protein digestibility. You can eat 20 grams of protein from egg whites, and you can eat 20 grams of protein from peanut meal. Your body's ability to synthesize and digest that protein is very different. Your body will get roughly 100% of the protein from the egg white. Your body will only get roughly 50% of the protein from the peanut meal because it's harder to digest. So it's important for clients to be aware of that, especially if they are strict vegetarians, that they may need to talk and they may need to find out if they need additional protein over and above the recommended daily amount for their age, gender, and body size. So food sources of tryptophan, egg whites, chia seeds, sesame seeds, wheat germ, and turkey. It needs iron, magnesium, B6, and vitamin C to convert it to serotonin. So you can't just eat turkey and go, okay, I'm going to make serotonin. No, you need to have these other vitamins and minerals with it. Interestingly, tryptophan is more readily absorbed when it's eaten with a high carbohydrate meal. Because when you eat the carbohydrates, the insulin causes competing amino acids to be absorbed into the tissues. Otherwise, the tryptophan gets absorbed into the tissues, which is why after Thanksgiving dinner, you get more tired. Because a lot of times at Thanksgiving dinner, you're eating turkey, but you're also eating sweet potato casserole and pumpkin pie and all kinds of high carbohydrate things. So your insulin levels are through the roof. And there's nothing competing with that tryptophan Getting to your brain. The take home message with tryptophan, it's available in most proteins, especially most animal based products. It is the only precursor to serotonin. You can't substitute anything else for it. So it's important that people find some sort of source of tryptophan. Little graphic here just to kind of bring home what we're talking about. When you eat tryptophan, you need iron, magnesium, calcium, vitamin B6 and folic acid to break it down to 5 HTP. So tryptophan is like the gasoline, if you will, and your vitamins and minerals are kind of like the spark plugs that make it work, but without one or the other, your engine ain't going to start. So Once it becomes 5 HTP, then it goes through another conversion process that requires vitamin C, more vitamin B6, zinc and magnesium in order to convert it to serotonin. So, okay, now what did we say earlier about serotonin? Serotonin is involved in a ton of stuff. Low serotonin means low pain threshold. Low serotonin means low mood. Low serotonin means high cravings for carbohydrates and certain drugs. Because when you eat those things or you take certain drugs, it causes your brain to release more serotonin, to go back into the stores and go, all right, we gotta find some of it somewhere. Low serotonin produces poor quality sleep. When people are depressed, what do they talk about? A lot of times feeling fatigued and having poor quality sleep. They may sleep a lot, but it's not good sleep. So we want to look at what's going on with that particular person. Again, we're not going to diagnose it, but if we educate and inform them about how important it is to have a reasonably healthy diet, then they can go from there. Important non essential amino acids. Arginine helps with insomnia. Glutamine is broken down to make glutamate, which is an excitatory neurotransmitter. Glutamate is broken down to make gaba, which is our main calming neurotransmitter. It's our main natural volume. Theanine increases GABA and serotonin levels. Theanine is an amino acid, interestingly enough, you can find in green tea. Tyrosine is used to make dopamine, norepinephrine and thyroid hormones. So and you can find tyrosine and a lot of your white cheeses like Parmesan, mozzarella, Swiss. I was getting hungry just making this PowerPoint lean meats your high omega 3 fishes like salmon and mackerel. Chicken breast, you know, again, white meat, pumpkin seeds. Those are white, too. Sunflower seeds, dairy, and certain beans, especially the white beans. Beans. So, you know, that kind of covers our introduction into amino acids. Most Americans don't have a problem getting enough protein. It's the other stuff that they have difficulty with. Most Americans actually get too much protein. But especially if your clients are vegetarian or on a highly restrictive diet or have some sort of autoimmune disease like celiac disease that prevents adequate absorption, it might be something for them to look at while we're on the topic. You cannot measure brain neurotransmitter levels, period. You just can't do well until the person is dead. And we don't want that. So it's important to recognize that if you test neurotransmitter levels, you're testing the amount of neurotransmitters in the entire body. Like 80% of our serotonin is in our gut. That does nothing for our mood. So it's not. You're not able to do a blood test to figure out what psychotropic medications people need to be on. Okay. B vitamins. Low levels of B vitamins have been linked to depression. Vitamin B3 or niacin. This is the one that makes you flush if you take too much of it can be found in poultry, fish, meat, whole grains, and fortified cereals. It helps with digestion and changing food into energy and helps the body conserve tryptophan and convert it to serotonin. So niacin is good. And if you look at a lot of your energy drinks, you'll see that niacin is in that, too. So if people are drinking Powerade or anything like that, they're probably getting more than enough niacin. Vitamin B5 or pantothenic acid is found in beef, mushroom, eggs, vegetables, legumes, nuts, pork, saltwater fish, whole rye flour, whole wheat. Okay, so there's lots of things. And yes, you. When you go into the classroom, you can download the PDF of this PowerPoint. So you do have access to all the nitty gritty about which foods have which nutrients. You can also go to the website World's Healthiest Foods and just put in like, world's healthiest foods pantothenic acid, and it will tell you 10 of the foods that are highest in pantothenic acid. If none of these suggestions seem to suit somebody's fancy. So anyway, pantothenic acid helps control the secretion of cortisol it's really important for people who are starting to show signs of early adrenal fatigue. It helps with migraines and chronic fatigue. But supplementation in very high doses can increase panic attacks. So if people are taking high levels of pantothenic acid through sublingual complex B vitamins supplements, they can actually trigger a panic attack. Now the awesome thing with B vitamins not to say that there isn't a toxic level because anything taken too much, you know, eventually you can reach that toxic level. But B vitamins are water soluble. That means whatever your body doesn't use, you're going to excrete at a certain point. Whereas your fat soluble vitamins can build up and build up a lot of toxicity. So if people are taking too much pantothenic acid, it's important and they start having panic attacks, once they cut back on that, they will probably find that their symptoms subside pretty quickly. And we can also, if you look on like monsters and things like that, there's actually, on those drinks, there's actually not as much caffeine as you would think, but they do have things like taurine, tyrosine, vitamin B6 and pantothenic acid in them. And I'm not sure on Monster if it's got all of those, but you know, looking at different ones that I've seen. So it's important again to have clients recognize where the, the sources of these vitamins that they're getting and the fact that too much can be just as much of a problem as too little. Vitamin B6 is found in fortified cereals, fortified soy based meat substitutes, baked potatoes, bananas, light meat, poultry, eggs, peas and spinach. Now the things that you see bolded are things that have a lot of various nutrients in them. So like eggs will keep coming up. So if somebody is trying to just add one food or make one small change, maybe they can look for a food that has multiple different nutrients. You know, a real healthy food to add vitamin B6 supports the nervous system by helping the body break down proteins into amino acids so they can be used to make neurotransmitters. Folate reduces depression when taken in conjunction with B12. Again, the ratio is important, but you can also get it from foods like spinach, kale, lentils, asparagus, black eyed peas, broccoli, avocado, and even French bread. If you're one of those bread people, you can get it from that vitamin B12. Food sources include beef, eggs, shellfish, salmon, poultry, soybeans, yogurt, tuna, fortified foods Some people get vitamin B12 shots. Some people take vitamin B12 sublingually. Again, too much is not necessarily good. It does help with cell division and helps make red blood cells. And deficiency can lead to mood problems, including depression, anxiety, poor memory and difficulty concentrating. But think about how much you eat and what things you eat and how much beef, eggs, yogurt, and fortified foods. That includes all of your cereals and your breads and stuff. How much of that do you eat? Is it that you're B12 deficient? Especially if you're drinking, you know, energy drinks on top of it, you're probably getting even more B12. So, you know, could it be a reason for lethargy and difficulty concentrating? Could be, but that's not usually the case. Vitamin C is, you know, a wonderful vitamin. It's not just for immunity. Food sources include citrus berries, tomatoes, potatoes. Potatoes are actually really high in vitamin C. Broccoli, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, bell peppers, cabbage, and again, spinach. It does promote a healthy immune system. It helps make collagen. But in terms of mood, it's needed to regulate norepinephrine, our focus chemical, dopamine, our pleasure chemical. And serotonin are kind of everything chemical. Adequate levels of vitamin C has been associated with significant reductions in anxiety. Vitamin C is another one of those that is water soluble, which is why when people get sick and they start taking something like emergency, they're getting a whole lot more vitamin C than they probably need. They've got really expensive urine at that point, but they may find that their mood actually improves a little bit despite being sick. Vitamin D3 is your sunlight vitamin. And your body really accepts and synthesizes vitamin D from the sun better than anything you can take orally. That's just the way it is. And my father had melanoma. He passed away from melanoma. So I am a freak about being out in the sun. And I'm like, but I can't go outside. The sun is bad. And no, it's not bad. It's bad in huge doses. But all you really need is 15 minutes three times a week to get enough vitamin D. So a lot of us get that walking to and from our cars every day, going to work in the grocery store and stuff like that. If you're doing it during daytime hours when the sun is out, the sun's not out, then that's a whole different story. Try to get sunlight. Try to expose yourself to 15 minutes. That's not so bad, especially if you do it before 10am or after 4pm when the UV rays are not quite as strong. Vitamin D maintains bone health and helps the body process calcium, which is one of those things that's important for making neurotransmitters. It's important for immune system function and it's related to a reduction in depression as it affects the amount of the monoamines, like I said before, that are available and how they work in the brain. So it's kind of, kind of gives an assist, if you will. Calcium is found in dairy products. We all know that. Dark leafy greens. If you're not a dairy person, not everybody is. Calcium is found in dark leafy greens like spinach and kale. And I just discovered this year because I have a bumper crop of sweet potatoes. Sweet potato greens. If you take them and you bake them, you can make sweet potato green chips. Oh, those are really good, but they are really dark green. And so they, they have a certain amount of calcium in them and very few calories. But you can also get it from some grains and certain juices. A lot of times you'll see orange juice that's fortified with calcium. Now be careful with calcium because too much calcium can end up leading to one type. There are lots of types, but can lead to one type of kidney stones. And those are horrifically painful from what I've heard. So again, too much of a good thing can be bad. Too much protein in your diet can actually cause your body to leach calcium. So if somebody's eating too much protein, they may not have enough calcium and, or they may be getting kidney stones. Calcium helps build and maintain strong bones and teeth, helps muscles work, and it's just support cell communication deficiency causes nerve sensitivity, heart palpitations. So if you've got a client who already has anxiety issues and they start having heart palpitations, then you know, it could exacerbate their anxiety. It can cause irritability, anxiety, depression and insomnia. If you remember back to that serotonin chart that I had, calcium is required to break down tryptophan in order to eventually make it into melatonin. So it can cause problems with sleeping. Excess calcium, too much of it can cause depression and difficulty concentrating. So too little, you kind of get anxious. Too much, you may get depressed and foggy headed chromium. Food sources include some cereals, beef, turkey, fish, broccoli and grape juice. So broccoli is going to come up a lot. Broccoli is really good food. It helps maintain normal blood sugar and influences the release of norepinephrine. And serotonin researchers at Duke University. And this is not something. This part is just for you. It's not something I generally share with clients. Researchers at Duke University have found that a daily dose of 600 micrograms of chromium led to a significant decrease in symptoms among those with atypical depression, especially their tendency to overeat. Now, why don't I just, like, freely tell them that? Because I don't want them running out and starting to get chromium supplements and take them by the handful. And in answer to your question, Christina, in order to explain to clients how to balance getting enough with not getting too much, I really, really encourage them to talk with a dietitian or their doctor. If they're getting their nutrients from actual foods, the chance of overdoing it is pretty small. You know, you're probably not going to drink enough milk or eat enough cheese in order to get too much calcium, protein. You can overdo it a little bit. But, you know, I stay on the very conservative side of saying if you're eating a healthy diet, you're probably, you know, going to be fine. You're not, probably not going to overdo it on any particular nutrient. But if you have concerns, talk with your doctor about what is, what is enough. How much should you be getting? Copper is found in seafood. Cashews. Love cashews. Sunflower seeds. Sunflower seeds comes up a lot. Wheat bran cereals, whole grain products, avocados and cocoa products. I use dark chocolate. Dark chocolate. Hershey's dark chocolate powder. It doesn't have any sugar in it, doesn't have any fat in it. It's just dark cocoa powder in my coffee. And I happen to love it. But copper and magnesium are both found in it. And so that's my excuse for why I drink it all the time. Copper helps break down iron, makes red blood cells, produces energy for cells, and helps maintain bones, connective tissue, and blood vessels. High copper, too much of it, and low zinc can contribute to depression. So again, if somebody has radically changed their diet and they start having symptoms of anxiety or depression, one of the first things to do is think back. What changed when my mood started to change, you know, maybe I started eating a whole lot more chocolate or, you know, taking a supplement that had a lot of copper in it or whatever it is. So it's definitely something to consider. You know, you don't want, again, you don't want too much. And I use a lot of journal articles. I use a lot of, as you can see through the citations in here that really informative. Most clients wouldn't want to read through those. I really strongly recommend that they talk to a dietitian. And like Carolyn points out, most insurance companies will cover at least a consult with a dietitian. Most people aren't going to have to go, you know, for repeated sessions, but it may help them kind of get a plan if they go see a dietitian once. Iodine. Interestingly, because so many people have switched away from iodized table salt to sea salt, we're seeing a increase in deficiencies in iodine in the American population. Who knew? Well, evidently some researchers knew. But food sources of iodine include iodized salt, some seafood, kelp and seaweed. Depending on people's dietary preferences, I'm certainly not going to tell them to just ramp up their table salt because that has its own problems associated with it. Some people choose to get it from seaweed, get it from kelp supplements, or just eat seafood periodically, especially shellfish. What it does it works to make thyroid hormones. When we have hypothyroid, what happens? People have symptoms of depression. People who have hyperthyroid tend to have feelings of anxiety. So generally, if iodine is out of whack, you're going to see the hypothyroid where they're experiencing weight gain, fatigue, difficulty concentrating and just apathy feelings of depression. So iodine something to consider especially maybe they just switched over to this really healthy diet and they're not using table salt anymore and yada yada. Something for them to consider. It's important for them. Most nutritionists are going to say keep a food journal for at least a week, if not two weeks before your appointment so we can go over it together and see what you're eating and get a rundown. Some of your apps, like if you download My Fitness pal, maybe I don't remember. There are a lot of apps that you can download that have nutrition calculators in them. You keep your food diary and it will tell you each day what percentage of each vitamin and nutrient you got. Oh, spark people, that's the one I use. And you can set it so you track specific nutrients like magnesium or whatever to see how much you're getting and to identify if there's one particular nutrient that you're regularly only getting 10% of or something. Iron is found in leafy green vegetables. You don't just have to eat lean, lean red, red meat, beans, shellfish, red meat, eggs again, poultry again, soy foods and some fortified foods. Making sure you're Getting enough iron is important to prevent iron deficiency anemia because iron carries oxygen to all parts of the body through the red blood cells. And it's important. Again, go back to that serotonin diagram. If we're even if we're just talking about serotonin, you gotta have it to make serotonin. You gotta have it to make a lot of neurotransmitters. But it's really important that your body has iron for those two reasons. It makes neurotransmitters and it helps your body carry that oxygenated blood around so you feel energized, so you feel clear headed. Magnesium is found in whole grains, leafy green vegetables, almonds, Brazil nuts, soybeans, halibut, peanuts, hazelnuts, liba beans, black eyed peas, avocados, bananas and cocoa. Bananas and cocoa come up again. It helps muscles and nerves work. It optimizes thyroid function. So magnesium and iodine help with thyroid issues. It steadies heart rhythm. So if somebody tends to have a heartbeat you can dance to instead of one that's just kind of steady, you know, magnesium may be the culprit, but that's something for a cardiologist to say. It maintains bone strength and helps the body create energy. Was one of the common complaints with people who are depressed. I am so tired all the time. So magnesium is an important nutrient for them to track. Again, I can't emphasize enough to my clients not to just start monkeying with supplements because they can really throw themselves into a tizzy. And a lot of these, especially your minerals, are not water soluble, so you can develop toxic levels pretty easily. Omega 3 fatty acids, we've heard a lot about these, but what are they and where do you find them? Well, omega threes are found your daily dose. You can get in a third of a cup of walnuts, 4 teaspoons of chia seeds, 2/3 of a cup of mackerel, 9 ounces of tuna, or 1 tablespoon of salmon fish oil. Salmon fish oil just doesn't sound appealing to me. I'd much rather do chia seeds, but any of those will get you your pretty much your daily dose of omega threes. People can also use canola, olive and flax oil, flaxseed oil, to increase omega threes. They need to recognize, though, that flaxseeds aren't nearly as efficient at producing the positive effects because the ALA needs to be broken down and be converted to EPA and dha. It's not really all that important. Flaxseed has to go through another breakdown process in order to produce the useful omega 3 fatty acids. Omega 3s help your body transmit nerve signals, maintain serotonin balance, and reduces inflammation. They found that a lot of people with mood disorders, as well as people with health problems like cancer and stuff, have a lot of inflammation. They found that people who have a history of trauma have ramped up high levels and persisting high levels of inflammatory cytokines, so they're more prone to inflammation. So omega 3s can be really helpful for them for a lot of reasons. The ideal ratio for omega 3s and omega 6s, and again, I told you this could get really complicated, is 1 or 2 to 1 omega 6 to omega 3. The American diet is generally flooded with omega 6 fatty acids, mostly in the form of vegetable oils such as corn oil and safflower oil. So if people want to start adjusting their omega 3s, you know, they can start looking at maybe adding something like chia seeds or walnuts and, you know, maybe cutting back on some of the corn oil. But that's a decision that they've. They've got to decide to make based on their preferences, their cholesterol profile, and all kinds of other stuff. Lycopene, it's an antioxidant and it prevents brain degradation. I like that it's found in red foods like watermelons, pink grapefruit, apricots, and tomatoes. Tomatoes are one of the very few foods where cooked is better because lycopene is more bioavailable when the tomatoes are cooked, which is great for me because I make all kinds of different tomato dishes. That's one of those that can help, especially with cognitive issues. Potassium is found in broccoli and potatoes, prune juice, orange juice, leafy green vegetables, bananas, raisins, and tomatoes. So you see broccoli, potatoes with the skin, leafy green vegetables, bananas and tomatoes, and fortified cereals come up a lot. Potassium is required to activate neurons and maintain a healthy balance of water. Without the electrical charge sparked by potassium, neurotransmitters like serotonin cannot be utilized to make us feel better. They've also found that when people have heart attacks, their potassium levels are often out of whack. So potassium is really important to keep your, keep your ticker going as well as to stabilize neurotransmitters. Selenium. And you're like, will this never end? Yeah, there are a lot of vitamins and minerals, which is why, again, I encourage people to find a few really healthy foods, and then they're build their meal plan around that but selenium can be found in Brazil nuts, brown rice, turkey, chicken, spinach, and sunflower seeds. It's an antioxidant. It regulates the thyroid hormone and helps regulate circadian rhythm. So energy, you know, people's energy levels and levels of fatigue can be impacted by selenium imbalances. But toxicity is super easy. The upper limits are only 55 to 60 micrograms a day for adult females, which is the equivalent one Brazil nut in Brazil nuts. When you get those mixed nuts, they're the bigger nuts that kind of look like little tiny bananas. You eat one of those, and that is your daily dose. If you eat too much, if you get too much selenium, then people, people often report feeling nauseous, confused, you know, those sorts of things. So toxicity is easy, even with foods for selenium and if you're eating Brazil nuts. But zinc is found in red meat, fortified cereals, oysters, almonds, peanuts, chickpeas, soy foods and dairy products. It supports immune. The immune system, the reproductive system, and the nervous system. So it's in there for a lot of things. And it balances with copper. So you've got to have both of them. But they're. They're going to need to be in some sort of ratio. Not enough zinc can produce feelings of anxiety. So we've gone through all of these, and these are things, you know, if you print out the slides and you hand them to your client and you're like, okay, here, just for your own knowledge, it is what it is. It's important to talk with your doctor before you or a nutritionist before you make any changes. And by the way, there are a lot of personal trainers out there who have a certificate in nutrition. Most states. I'm not going to say all, because it's been a long time since I looked at it. Most, if not all states require that for someone to make a prescription about what to eat, they have to be a registered dietitian or a medical doctor. So just a certificate in nutrition that a personal trainer has is not adequate nor acceptable in the eyes of the state to make nutritional prescriptions or recommendations. And a lot of people fall into that trap that they're seeing a personal trainer, and then their personal trainer starts changing their diet all around. And, you know, that can get pretty dicey pretty quickly. So eating foods with a low glycemic index improves the quality and duration of intellectual performance. Now, that doesn't mean eating low carbohydrate foods all the time. That means eating foods that don't spike your insulin levels. So you want to eat foods with complex carbohydrates. You want to eat foods that have some protein in them. And you can look at the glycemic index. When you eat high glycemic index foods, your blood sugar spikes. You know, that's like eating table sugar. Low glycemic index foods tend to have a more gradual increase in energy and decrease. Your brain is one of the biggest users, utilizers of blood glucose. So it makes sense that in order to have sustained intellectual performance, we want to have sustained blood glucose levels. Dietary proteins contribute to good brain function, and tryptophan is necessary for serotonin and melatonin creation. Brain cell functioning, just the simple functioning, requires omega 3 fatty acids. Think of omega 3s as the lubricant that keeps things going. You know, you wouldn't run your engine, your car, without having oil in it. Well, you wouldn't run your brain as effectively without omega 3s. Omega 3s have also been found to help prevent and or treat mood disorders, particularly depression. And there, you know, some of the citations you can find in this presentation, or you can just go on to PubMed and find the support for that. If a client has an idea like this and they think, well, I'm depressed and maybe Omega 3s can help, yada, yada, Sometimes it's helpful for them to present to the dietitian armed with research that says, okay, I've read this, and so I'm thinking it might help me. So if they want to have informational resources, you know, by all means, we can certainly provide them. Iron is necessary to ensure oxygenation and for the synthesis of neurotransmitters. Iodine is necessary for energy metabolism in the brain cells. So once the blood glucose gets there, we need to have iodine to help, you know, do something with it. So iodine not only does thyroid, but also energy metabolism in the brain cells. Vitamin B1 is necessary for the utilization of glucose in the brain. B6 and B12 are directly involved in the creation of neurotransmitters. And vitamin E is necessary for effective transmission of neurological signals. When people get nutrients from real foods, there's much less danger of toxicity. I mean, you can eat a whole bag of spinach and get a lot of nutrients, but it's probably not going to be enough to get any sort of toxicity, because by the time you eat a bag full of spinach, the only thing that's going to be making you nauseous is the fact that you just ate a whole Bag of spinach. Generally, nutrients from foods are more bioavailable because they're in a useful ratio. So if magnesium needs iodine to be absorbed in the body, then a lot of times the foods will have them together. That's kind of just the way they're made, which is why the foods are so nutritious. Nature is all about balance, though. Increases in one may decrease others. So like I said, increases in protein decreases calcium. You know, you want to have enough calcium, but, you know, make sure there's a balance. Buy or grow organic fruits and vegetables to maximize nutrient value. Unfortunately, the farming practices that we use here and possibly elsewhere depletes the soil of so many nutrients that a lot of the stuff that you buy, whereas it's supposed to have really high levels of certain vitamins and minerals and nutrients, it just wasn't in the ground. The. The plant couldn't absorb those vitamins and minerals and nutrients because it just, it wasn't there. So a lot of times they're finding that the food that we think we're eating that's really nutritious doesn't have as much nutrient value. It's kind of like colored cardboard, which is kind of depressing. But organic fruits and vegetables tend to have more. And most people, most farms that farm organically practice something called crop rotation. So we deplete a certain nutrient. Like we grow corn one season in a plot, and then we'll grow squash the next season in that plot because they use different nutrients to give the soil time to replenish itself. Download an app such as Spark People or MyFitnessPal to track your nutrition and know what you're getting. Remember that small changes are longer lasting. Try to add more of one type of food that has multiple vitamins, like eggs or broccoli or spinach or walnuts, whatever it is that strikes your fancy when you were going through the presentation and you're like, oh, that sounds really good. Well, start adding that one thing. Other changes clients can make when they're eating, trying to eat colorfully because different nutrients are found in different colored foods. So you can actually find on the Internet lists for eating by color. But if they're eating colorfully with three colors on their plate at every meal, they're probably getting a pretty broad spectrum of the vitamins and minerals that they may need to feel happy and healthy and as energized as possible. Deficiencies of nutrients such as calcium, magnesium, zinc, omega threes, vitamins A, B complex, C, D3, and E are common with people who eat A lot of refined foods. You know, Americans, we tend to be really bad about eating really refined grains and not eating much in the way of fruits or vegetables. So we're eating a lot of protein, really refined foods, and, you know, not a lot else. So it's important to try to get those colors in there and those whole foods. There are a variety of different vitamins and minerals involved in addiction and mental health disorders. It's not always about increasing a vitamin. Sometimes you need to decrease it. The human brain tries to maintain homeostasis. So too much of anything and too little of anything can both be bad. And a balanced diet will provide the brain the necessary nutrients, synergistic combinations, so they work the best and most efficiently for your body. So this nutrient summary chart, you can look at it later, but I took some of the more common foods and I put them down here and obviously kind of color coded them. Your browns, like your almonds and walnuts and your brown rice, lentils, oatmeal, peanut butter, potatoes and wheat germ. If you're going to eat by colors, you can see what nutrients are more prevalent in those. And you could look across, you can see, like banana is useful in producing dopamine, norepinephrine, gaba. It's high in vitamin C and B complex. So, you know, that's one of those nutrient dense foods. So it gives people something to look at to kind of think about more than anything. So there are some other resources that you can take a look at if you're really interested in nutritional approaches to managing depression. And let's see that. Is it, Is there anything else? Are there any questions? Do you guys have any two cents you want to put in? One thing I didn't mention in nutrition is water, a 1% level of dehydration. So if you're 1% dehydrated, it can actually start causing memory and cognitive problems. So if clients are feeling a little bit foggy headed and sluggish, encourage them to think about drinking a little bit more water. I have never met a doctor or dietitian that's had an issue with that. And obviously staying away from caffeinated beverages, because those are diuretics, we want to increase somebody's water. By the time you're thirsty, you know you're actually going, ooh, I really need a drink. You're already half a percent dehydrated or more. So that's one of those interesting little tidbits. Yes, Christina, I have found significant changes in clients who actively work to change their diet. If their diet was inefficient or insufficient to begin with, if they were already eating pretty well, then they may not experience, you know, much of a change. But for those clients who were eating really poorly, and a lot of times when people are depressed, they're gravitating towards highly processed, highly refined, high fat, high sugar foods with very little nutrient stuff in it. So not only are they depressed, but they're compounding it by not giving their body the building blocks it needs to make serotonin. So a lot of times I do find that they feel improvements pretty, pretty quickly. Alrighty, everybody, have an amazing weekend, and I will see you next week. And yes, Bill, I just saw your comment. People, whether children have autism or people who have autism or children who are just picky eaters, it can be a real challenge to get a good nutritional meal in front of certain people. So, yeah, that. That was always a challenge for me when my kids were little because my son would eat chicken nuggets, but he wasn't real fond of any green vegetable but peas. And I'm like, it's green, but you got to eat something besides peas, buddy. So encouraging people and figuring out how to sneak it in. I got real creative at pureeing broccoli and sneaking it into things or chopping it up really fine and putting it in a marinara sauce in order to try to get them to ingest it. But he was very finicky about texture as well as he didn't like to chew. You know, if it was something he actually had to work to chew, he didn't want it. So I was like, okay, whatever. But, yeah, you have. As parents, we have to be really creative sometimes because of both taste and texture. Kale chips, and like I said, sweet potato leaf chips are also. They're actually pretty tasty. And that can be one way to get around the both. Both the taste and texture objection of some kids. Okey dokey. See y' all next.