I had an amazing long weekend. I spent time cooking food for people and really felt connected to others. This is good for our health! I thought I would post some notes I made from a book that I read a number of years ago. It is super relevant today as we are all getting older and we want to preserve our brain function. These are notes I made from the Memory Rescue Diet by Dr. Daniel Amen, MD.  Enjoy!

Foods to choose when it comes to supporting mental health…starting with spices to support your mental health. Include saffron, turmeric, peppermint and cinnamon (for attention problems and blood sugar regulation). Spices can be used raw and dried. Spices are full of antioxidants to help protect your brain from free radicals and oxidative stress. Choose organic for the dirty dozen for foods. Try to buy spices that are organic if you can afford it. Choose organic for the dirty dozen foods. The Environmental Working Group publishes a list of the Dirty Dozen and the Clean Green List every year (foods that are safer to eat if they are non-organic). Pay attention to this list every year and get familiar with it!

For support of dopamine the major motivation hormone (helps with focus and motivation) eat dopamine rich foods such as turmeric, theanine from green tea, lentils, wild fish, lamb, chicken, turkey, grass fed beef, free range pastured eggs, nuts and seeds (pumpkin, sesame especially), broccoli, spinach, protein powders from hemp and pumpkin or pea protein.

Serotonin rich foods to support mood and sleep, modulate pain and cravings. Include eggs, turkey, wild seafood, chickpeas, raw nuts and seeds, sweet potato, quinoa, dark chocolate that is dairy free if possible.

Include GABA rich foods if you suffer from anxiety such as broccoli, almonds, walnuts, lentils, bananas, organic beef liver, brown rice, wild halibut, gluten free whole oats, oranges, rice bran, spinach. I also love L-theanine for anxiety. You can get l-theanine in matcha which is green tea powder. I love drinking a matcha tea latte in the am with non-dairy milk for that reason. I tolerate green tea powder much better than coffee. Genetics typically determines how well you tolerate caffeine.

Include choline rich foods to support your memory. Choline rich foods include shrimp, eggs, scallops, sardines, chicken, turkey, cod, grass fed beef, collard greens, brussels sprouts.

Eat 8 to 10 servings of fruits and vegetables to improve mood. THe more fiber you include in your diet the better your health in general.

Maca is an herb that can help reduce depression. It is a key herb to use in menopausal women. It also works to counteract stress as it is an adaptogenic herb. It is also been called Peruvian Ginseng. 

Include antioxidant rich food such as acai fruit, parsley, cocoa powder, raspberries, walnuts, blueberries, artichokes, cranberries, kidney beans, blackberries, pomegranates, chocolate, olives or olive oil. hemp seeds, dandelion greens, green tea.

Include magnesium rich foods such as dark leafy greens, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, almonds, spinach, Swiss chard, sesame seeds, beet greens, summer squash, quinoa, black beans, cashews. Magnesium rich foods are especially beneficial if you suffer from constipation, hypertension, or anxiety. 

Include Zinc rich foods especiallly if you have suffered from eating disorders in your past. Zinc can be a common mineral deficiency as you get older. Foods rich in Zinc include oysters, beef, lamb, spinach, Shitake mushrooms, Cremini mushrooms, asparagus, sesame and pumpkin seeds. 

Include foods rich in B6, B12 and folate such as leafy greens, bok choy, cabbage, bell peppers, cauliflower, lentils, asparagus, chickpeas, Swiss chard, sesame seeds, beet greens, summer squash, quinoa, black beans, cashews.

By paying more attention to the foods that you bring into your body you can influence your mental health for the better!

Resources: The Memory Rescue Diet. Daniel Amen, MD. 

So what more can we do to calm our inflammation in the way of supplemental support? I do use Curcumin to target inflammation in the gut and the body in general. It can work to reduce pain, for instance, if a patient has arthritis. It does not inflame the gut or contribute to permeability in the gut like an antiinflammatory medication like NSAIDS or ibuprofen could do. Curcumin has antibacterial effects in the gut as well as antifungal effects. It helps strengthen the intestinal barrier which helps reduce endotoxemia which is associated with LPS. Curcumin increases alkaline phosphatase that deactivates bacterial LPS  which helps lower inflammation all throughout the body. Curcumin also increases production of antimicrobial peptides.

I use L-glutamine powder to support healing in the case of leaky gut. It is well tolerated and helps reduce inflammation after you have taken the food sensitivities out of the diet. It is instrumental in repairing the gut and intestinal lining. I usually dose it 20 minutes before a meal. It has a benign taste and can be added to water. 

Cloves also help increase intestinal mucus in the GI tract by its’ eugenol compound. Drinking a tea made from whole cloves can be a safe way to ingest some of the protective properties. William Davis, MD talks about how to make this tea in his new book “Super Gut.” I highly recommend reading it as he talks about healing the gut in an extensive way. He also describes how to make therapeutic yogurt as a way to address many health issues. 

Consuming fresh herbs and spices like oregano, rosemary, ginger, cinnamon and cumin help stimulate the proliferation of Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium species in the gut by their polyphenol constituents. Taking probiotic bacteria that contain Lactobacillus acidophilus and Bifidum bacteria can help support the residence population of gut bacteria. I use HMF Intensive as a good combination of these 2 strains. It has been shown to be clinically effective in the treatment of Irritable Bowel Sydrome in studies. The GI Map is a stool test that can taken a close look at the bacteria populating your gut if you are interested,

I also stock Megaspore probiotics which is a game changer for gut function in my opinion. Megaspore helps seal up the gut in just 30 days. It also helps reduce circulating levels of LPS levels shown to have a disruptive effect on serotonin and dopamine function. It inhibits LPS from accumulating in the brain where it can damage neurons and increase inflammation. LPS otherwise known as lipopolysaccharide originates in the cell walls of organisms of gram negative bacteria like E. Coli and Klebsiella common inhabitants of the colon. When these microbes die, their cell wall contents can be liberated and pass into the blood. This drives a lot of inflammation in the body not to mention the blues. Megaspore helps reduce LPS therefore can be helpful in improving gut health. To learn more and have a consultation about yout gut health, please come and see me at Parallel Wellness.  Dr. Robin Vinge  4032321283

References: Super Gut, William Davis, MD, Eat Dirt, Josh Axe, MD, Microbiome Labs, Megaspore probiotics, Genestra HMF Intensive probiotics.

To reduce inflammation, it is necessary to eat more fibre. Eating fibre causes the production of short chain fatty acids by gut microbes. These short chain fatty acids inhibit inflammatory signals in your body like TNF-alpha, NF-KB and IFN-y. Short chain fatty acids also communicate directly to our T regulatory cells to cool off our immune system and suppress inflammation.  Butyrate is one of the short chain fatty acids produced by eating fibre. It improves integrity in the gastrointestinal system. Fibre is found in both insoluble forms as well as soluble forms of fiber. Think the color of the rainbow when you choose foods -eat more foods that are coloured and increase the variety- red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple, golden, white.

Choose  polyphenol rich foods like green tea,  pomegranates, purple cabbage, unsweetened cranberries, wild blueberries, leafy greens, organic  kale, whole unprocessed gluten free grains like red rice, black rice, wild rice, quinoa, buckwheat. Eat 12 cups of low glycemic fruits and non starchy vegetables including the cruciferous family (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, Brussels Sprouts, kale, radish) which is so esteemed for its cancer fighting properties. Raw nuts and seeds, lentils and legumes if tolerated are a great source of fiber. Soaking these foods in water overnight can assist digestion as can soaking whole grains in a little water.

Some people that are really inflamed may benefit from following a vegan diet. It is important to have an experienced practitioner provide you with guidelines for doing that. It is easy to run into deficiencies when following a vegan diet like B12, zinc, omega 3 fatty acids, iodine. Always use non-GMO  organic soy sources when following a vegan diet and make sure you are using fermented sources like miso if possible. Miso has strains of bacteria that support gut function. 

Make bone broth in your slow cooker regularly. Bone broth contains gut healing amino acids like glycine, proline, glutamine and collagen which is well assimilated by the body. Eat prebiotic foods (asparagus, jicama, artichokes, leeks, onions, garlic, spices. etc regularly. Eat organic spices such as oregano, rosemary, turmeric, cumin, etc. which help keep bad microbe counts down in the gut. Eat probiotic foods like fermented sauerkraut and kim chi regularly too. This will help you provide the right bacteria for your microbiome. Fermented foods offer more species of bacteria in your gut. The increased diversity of species introduced tend to lower inflammation. Also include resistant starch which can be found in cooked and then cooled rice or cooked and then cooled potatoes. This type of starch does not get digested like regular starch. It does not spike blood glucose and provides food for the microbiome.

So just to recap, we are going to reduce inflammation by cutting out foods and inflammatory factors in the diet.  We are going to lower inflammation by eating more fibre. Once inflammation subsides, you can work with your personal trainer or your chiropractor who can assist you further to achieve your goals whether it be by implementing stretching into your routine or regular chiropractic adjustments. 

Others things that may help you include food sensitivity testing, targeted supplements like l-glutamine, curcumin. I will talk more about this in Part 3. To book an appointment to discuss your inflammation, call Parallel Wellness at 4032321283 Thanks! Dr. Robin Vinge, ND

References:  The Peigan Diet Mark Hyman, MD; Fiber Fueled Will Bulsiewicz, MD