Trudy Scott

The Anxiety Summit Season 4: All the speakers and topics

May 24, 2016 By Trudy Scott 32 Comments

The Anxiety Summit Season 4: June 6 – 16, 2016
Nutritional Solutions for Anxiety
Hosted by Trudy Scott,
Food Mood Expert and Nutritionist, author of The Antianxiety Food Solution.

Here are all the speakers, their topics and blog posts with additional information, links to studies and more. Each speaker title below links to the respective speaker blog.

“Anxiety Summit opening: benzos, electroshock, blueberries, sauerkraut and the vagus nerve” – Trudy Scott CN, author The Antianxiety Food Solution

“Anxiety: the role of fats, turmeric and wheat” – Cyndi O’Meara, Nutritionist, founder of Changing Habits

“Anxiety: The Stressed and Toxic Gut” – Dr. Josh Axe, DNM, DC, CNS, author of Eat Dirt

“Anxiety: the SCD diet, carbs, adrenals and leaky gut” – Steven Wright, creator of SCDlifestyle

“Is Coffee Your Hidden Anxiety Trigger and How to Substitute It with Delicious and Healing Drinks” – Magdalena Wszelaki, founder of Hormones Balance

“Gluten and anxiety: the testing conundrum solution” – Dr. Tom O’Bryan DC, CCN, host The Gluten Summit

“Anxiety and the Importance of Community” – James Maskell, creator of Functional Forum

“Nutrients that Fuel Brain Power and Reduce Anxiety” – Dr. Drew Ramsey, M.D., psychiatrist, farmer and author of Eat Complete

“Anxiety: The Link Between Low Cholesterol and Low Oxytocin” – Dr. Kurt Woeller, DO, integrative medicine physician

“Multiple sclerosis and anxiety: The Wahls Protocol” – Dr. Terry Wahls, MD, author of The Wahls Protocol

“The leptin obesity anxiety connection” – Mike Mutzel, MS, author of Belly Fat Effect

“Anxiety and digestion: the microbiome, stomach acid, bile and the vagus nerve” – Prof. Liz Lipski, PhD, CCN, CNS, author of Digestive Wellness

“Marijuana and anxiety: Panacea or Pandora’s Box?” – Dr. Hyla Cass, M.D., board-certified in psychiatry and integrative medicine, author of The Addicted Brain and How to Break Free

“GABA: Blood brain barrier controversy, concerns, best forms and how to do a trial for eliminating anxiety” – Trudy Scott CN, author The Antianxiety Food Solution

“Anxiety in children, adolescents and young adults: an integrative psychiatric approach” – Dr. Zendi Moldenhauer

“Anxiety and heavy metals: chelation of mercury and lead” – John Dempster, ND, host of the Mental Wellness Summit

“Addressing Anxiety in Individuals with Autism” – Julie Matthews, CNC, author of Nourishing Hope for Autism

“Serotonin and anxiety: tryptophan, 5-HTP, serotonin syndrome and medication tapers” – Dr. Peter Bongiorno, ND, author of Holistic Therapies for Anxiety and Depression

“Tryptophan for anxiety, depression and insomnia: why quality is key and the critical co-factors” – Ron Sturtz, Owner/President, Lidtke Technologies

“A functional medicine approach to eliminate Lyme disease and the anxiety it often causes” – Dr. Jay Davidson D.C, host of the Chronic Lyme Disease Summit

“Antibiotic Induced Anxiety – How Fluoroquinolone Antibiotics Induce Psychiatric Illness Symptoms” – Lisa Bloomquist, fluoroquinolone toxicity patient advocate

“Anxiety: Grass-fed beef, fermented foods and healthy snacks the Paleovalley way” – Autumn Fladmo Smith, co-founder Paleovalley

“Is My Anxiety and Depression from a Methylation, Pyrrole, or Copper-Zinc Imbalance?” – William J. Walsh, Ph.D., author of Nutrient Power

“How We Used GABA for Lyme Anxiety” – Tricia Soderstrom, Abounding in Hope With Lyme

“Anxiety Summit closing: Neurotransmitter testing, amino acid questions, hyperflexibility/EDS and pet anxiety” – Trudy Scott CN, author The Antianxiety Food Solution

Thank you for joining us on The Anxiety Summit Season 4! I hope you’ll join us again for the season 5 of The Anxiety Summit!

Want these incredible interviews for your learning library? or did you miss the summit?

Purchase the season 4 MP3s or MP3s + transcripts and listen when it suits you.

You can also find your purchasing options for season 1, 2 and 3 here: Anxiety Summit Season 1, Anxiety Summit Season 2, and Anxiety Summit Season 3.

Remember don’t tolerate how you feel. You deserve to feel your absolute best, and you can and should feel on top of the world always. You can completely eliminate your anxiety symptoms. Don’t give up hope, and just keep looking for answers until you have zero anxiety ~ Trudy

Tryptophan, red meat and baby steps for anxiety: the Brain Summit

May 1, 2016 By Trudy Scott 18 Comments

Just a quick reminder that the Brain Summit starts tomorrow, Monday, May 2nd.

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Here are some snippets from my anxiety interview with host Erin Matlock. We started out talking about diet and grass-fed red meat and why it’s so beneficial if you have anxiety (and other mood problems):

…there’s a lot of research showing now that [a Western diet] diet is not good for so many conditions, and mental health is now coming into the research. And we know this, but to see it in the research is really beneficial. Dr. Felice Jacka did a great study in Australia that was one of the first studies that looked at anxiety and depression in women and found that the Western diet was associated with a higher risk for anxiety and depression. And this whole foods, traditional diet, that actually included grass-fed red meat, was more beneficial for anxiety and depression. And in her thesis, they actually looked at red meat thinking that they would find that red meat was actually detrimental. And, lo and behold, they found that grass-fed red meat was one of the most important predictors for good mental health. So a lot of people say, “I don’t eat red meat any more. I’m being healthy.” And in actual fact, not eating it is doing them harm.

So red meat is wonderful! And it needs to be grass fed because then you’re getting the good levels of the Omega-3s. The Omega-3 three profile of grass fed red meat is very similar to what you would find in salmon. Obviously, fish is great, so while fish like salmon or sardines are great as well, the reason I like the red meat is it’s something that most people enjoy eating. And as well as the Omega-3s, we’re getting the iron, and iron is a co-factor for making serotonin and making GABA, and it’s needed for energy and so many other functions in the body.

It’s also got zinc, and zinc is a common deficiency, way more common than we realize. And when you are anxious, you may have high copper level, and low zinc level. So getting those zinc levels up will push the copper down, and that can help with your anxiety, as well.

We also had a long discussion on serotonin and tryptophan/5-HTP:

…we often associate serotonin with depression. And a lot of people don’t realize that it’s very closely tied to anxiety, as well. So we’ve got two types of anxiety when it comes to the brain chemicals. One is the low-serotonin type, and this is the anxiety in the head, where you’ve got the ruminating thoughts, and the busy mind, and the negative self-talk, and just this monkey mind that you can’t switch off — this worry, and sort of reprocessing things. And then we have the low-GABA kind of anxiety, where it’s in your physical body and you’re feeling stiff and tense, and you can feel it in your body, and you may feel it in your gut….

I have people do a questionnaire, and depending on how you score on that questionnaire, that’s a clue as to whether serotonin may be a factor. So all of those symptoms I’ve just mentioned, you would rate yourself on a scale of one to ten. And then I use individual, targeted amino acids. So it’s a supplement, and the other things that obviously have an impact are food, and diet, and everything we just talked about. Getting exercise, getting outside in the light, all of those are factors.

But for quick, immediate results, and pretty profound results – people just say to me, “Could this really be happening so quickly?” that’s how quickly we get results, you know, within 30 seconds to two minutes they’re getting results – is to use these individual amino acids as supplements. And the reason they’re called “targeted” is because it’s targeted to your unique needs. Like when you do the questionnaire and it says, yes, you need some serotonin support, and then you would use either tryptophan or 5-HTP as a supplement. And again, targeted, because you need it, but also targeted to your unique biochemistry.

There’s a standard starting dose for tryptophan, which is 500 mg, while 5-HTP is 50 mg.

Be sure to tune into the interview with Debbie Hampton. She is the survivor of an acquired brain injury (from a pill overdose when trying to commit suicide) and the author of the upcoming book, Sex, Suicide, and Serotonin. Her story and resilience is inspiring! Here is Debbie’s wonderful answer to Erin’s question: “What advice would you give to someone who feels like it’s too late to do what they want to do? I’m already so deep in, there’s no way that I could possibly have the life that I wanted or do the work that I really wanted to do.”

debbie-hampton

It’s never too late. And those limitations, you’re putting on yourself. Those limitations are in your mind. If you think you can’t, and you think it’s too late, then it is. You’ve got to change your mind first and if your mind thinks you can, you’re halfway there.

My advice would be to start small … I’m not big on long-term plans. I’m big on a long-term bigger goal. But what you’ve got to do is you’ve got to take a little step in the right direction towards that goal, and when you get there, you look around and you say, “Okay, what is my next best step?” And when you get to that next step, there may be opportunities that you can see that you couldn’t even see back here.

So you’ve got to take it one step at a time and get there and assess your opportunities. And then figure out the next best step, and then get there and figure out the next one. And it may be a zigzag path, and you may even have to go back sometimes, regress, but as long as you just keep moving forward and keep positive momentum and positive thoughts and be your own cheerleader, and encourager, and supporter— be your own friend—that is the most important thing.

I could not agree more – there is an answer, you can do whatever you set out to do and just take baby steps!

You can register for the Brain Summit here:
http://www.brainsummit.com?orid=45505&opid=12

Healing Anxiety through the Gut on the Heal Your Gut Summit

December 28, 2015 By Trudy Scott 8 Comments

Gut dysfunction can be linked to virtually every disease and can cause conditions like autoimmunity, fatigue, depression, anxiety and panic attacks, food sensitivities, chronic pain, allergies and many more. These conditions are by and large preventable.

Gut issues and anxiety often go hand-in hand and my interview addresses Healing Anxiety through the Gut:

Can you relate to the following phrases? “I have butterflies in my stomach,” “I can feel it in my gut,” or “I just have this awful feeling in the pit of my stomach.” These aren’t just figures of speech.

It can be difficult to assess which came first. Is the anxiety affecting your digestion, or did poor digestion lead to anxiety or make anxiety worse? Sometimes it’s a mixture of both, and both need to be addressed.

Digestive disorders are very common in the United States. Over a third of all adults are affected by some kind of digestive disorder, and each year forty-five million people visit the doctor for reflux, constipation, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), liver disease, and other digestive complaints.

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 also depression too.

One study 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.

There are many factors that can be considered when it comes to anxiety and gut health: the microbiome and psychobiotics (or good bacteria), low serotonin and an amino acid like tryptophan, low levels of stomach acid, low zinc, food sensitivities and much more.

Join us for this fabulous upcoming online event that is being hosted by 3 of my favorite people: Dr. Josh Axe, who specializes in functional medicine and is on a mission to transform the health of millions all across the world; Donna Gates, the international best-selling author of The Body Ecology Diet and Dr. Eric L. Zielinski, a sought-after natural health educator, motivational speaker and author, and host of the well-known Essential Oils Summit.

I’m honored to have been invited to present with this excellent line-up of speakers that include:

Josh Axe, DNM, DC, CNS: 5 Steps to Heal Leaky Gut
Leo Galland, MD: Why Allergies Could Be Signaling Bigger Problems
David Perlmutter, MD: Heal Your Gut by Going Grain Free
Ty Bollinger: Boost Immunity with Gut-Immune-Cancer Connection

Here are some of the great speakers who I’ll be presenting with on day 5 of the summit:

I hope you can join us! You can register here https://ju127.isrefer.com/go/healyourgutreg/trudyscottcn/

GABA, the calming amino acid: products and results

December 18, 2015 By Trudy Scott 57 Comments

gaba

GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) is a calming amino acid that when taken orally works to relax, calm, ease anxiety and social anxiety, quiet the mind, help with sleeping better, reduce neck tension, remove uneasiness and worry, and give hope.

Even though we have recent research that it does work we still hear the naysayers saying “why bother to take GABA, it just doesn’t work unless you have a leaky blood brain barrier.”

The blog post from last week – GABA, the calming amino acid: expert opinions generated so much interest and feedback, so I’m sharing some of this feedback so you can hear first-hand from people who have tried various GABA products. I’ve corrected typos but what follows is their actual feedback.

As you’ll see, it does work extremely well for many people. You’ll also see that there are many different products that work well. I’m sharing all of them even though I have my favorites.

There are some people that don’t benefit from it. I share some questions below and you may want to go through these if GABA doesn’t work for you.

Here is the feedback for many of the products that were mentioned. It starts with products I like/recommend and have experience with.

Allergy Research 200mg of Zen product contains 500mg GABA and 200mg Theanine 200 mg per 2 capsules. Dee likes the instant calm and compared how it worked as well as Xanax had worked for her in the past:

I have taken Xanax in the past for panic attacks. My functional medicine doctor suggested this product as I wanted a natural product. I was amazed how it works just like the Xanax did – instant calm feeling within 10 mins of taking 2 capsules. I use them as needed when I am having heightened stress and anxiety.

I’ve had a number of clients who really liked this GABA/theanine combination. This product together with Nutritional Fundamentals GABA-T SAP, also a GABA/theanine combination, comes highly recommended by me. They both contain a small amount of GABA, the theanine works really well with the GABA and the capsules, when opened on to the tongue, are pleasant tasting.

Source Naturals GABA Calm was only mentioned once which surprised me! Together with GABA/theanine combination products above, it’s the GABA product I use most with my clients because it’s sublingual, easy to take, great tasting and works so exceptionally well. It contains GABA, taurine and glycine, and a small amount of magnesium and tyrosine. The tyrosine means this product cannot be used if you have melanoma, high blood pressure or bipolar disorder. You can see all the amino acid precautions here.

Country Life GABA Relaxer contains GABA, taurine, glycine, inositol, niacin and vitamin B6. Melissa shares how much it helped her:

After my first panic attack I thankfully found Julia Ross’s work. I began taking 250 mg GABA every night. That really helped! Now a few years later I don’t need it every day, and I take a half pill during my cycle anxiety – more like uneasiness and over worried now, just as needed. I then heard you speak Trudy and share more info, bought your book, and put into place supportive lifestyle changes, and I have my life back. GABA is a great supplement for some of us!

I really like this product and used it when I worked with Julia Ross in her clinic. It was also a product I personally used when my anxiety and panic attacks started. I used this at night and GABA Calm in the day.

Seeking Health GABA 500mg was mentioned by a few people. Sherie said she loves it and takes it 2-4 times a day (she also takes theanine). This is what she shares:

It helps lower my overall anxious feeling all day (anxiety for no reason). I just started increasing the dose slightly and am beginning to take it a few times a day to help with social anxiety. I have lifelong problem of severe blushing and sweating from social anxiety and need that to stop.

I asked her if she’s looked into pyroluria and she said hadn’t but said it fits her to a T so this would be the next thing for her to address. It’s seldom just one underlying cause and the great thing is that the zinc, vitamin B6 and evening primrose oil of the pyroluria protocol help us make more GABA (and other brain chemicals).

I’d like to add that 500mg can be a high amount for many anxious individuals so it’s not something I typically start with. I like to have my clients start on either Source Naturals GABA Calm (which has 125mg of GABA) or one of the GABA/theanine combination products that have around 200mg GABA, and increase as needed.

I recommend GABA over pharmaGABA because over the years I’ve simply found more people seem to do better on GABA. But clearly, pharmaGABA does work for some individuals.

Thorne PharmaGABA-100 contains 100mg pharmaGABA and Cheryl shares how this product works great for her:

I usually only take it at night only when I know I need it, to quiet my mind and relax my body so I can sleep better. I need it less now because I am following MTHFR and adrenal fatigue supplement protocols and diet.

PharmaGABA Stress Relax from Natural Factors is another pharmaGABA product and Gina chewed two 100mg tablets and said this is how they helped:

It changed my life in minutes! Take it every day now. No more hopelessness!

April also finds that the Natural Factors pharmaGABA works great for her:

I take 100mg a day for about a week and then take time off until I feel I need it again or I feel I have too much. I know if I take too much, I get spacey, unmotivated, depressed even. Helps a ton with head/neck tension and anxiety.

I just want to add that this product does contain sugar (3.5 g with 300mg pharmaGABA) and fruit flavors (which sensitive folks may have an issue with) so this one would not be high on my list of recommendations. But if it’s the only one that works for you then go for it!

Quicksilver GABA is a liquid that contains GABA, theanine and sunflower lecithin, and is promoted as being a very effective form of delivery. Candy shares:

It is a liquid that I keep in the fridge. I squirt and leave it under my tongue for a couple minutes. It has been helpful.

I look forward to hearing if you or your clients have found this to be superior to other forms. I’d like add that it’s not suitable for children and alcoholics due to the ethanol.

A few other products were mentioned (neither of which I’ve had feedback on until now):

Source Naturals Theanine Serine which has GABA, theanine, taurine, magnesium and holy basil.
Pure Tranquility from Pure Encapsulations contains GABA, theanine and glycine. One person was suspicious that it was triggering migraines. I wonder if it could be related to one of the other ingredients like the natural apple flavor, potassium sorbate or purified stevia extract?

GABA won’t work for everyone and a few people said GABA didn’t work at all.

Karen appreciated me dispelling the blood-brain-barrier-GABA myth and pointing out that phenibut is not GABA. But GABA didn’t work for her and she shared this:

I have tried GABA, my mother swears by it and my husband uses it. It has a calming effect on me, but I like holy basil better.

I checked with her and she hasn’t tried it sublingually, which I find to be more effective for most of my clients. This could be something like Source Naturals GABA Calm or one of the GABA /theanine combination products opened on to tongue and held there for 1-2 minutes.

GABA also didn’t work for Sheri and she said:

I’m one of those folks for whom it seems to do nothing. Zip. I have found some relief using niacinamide, however.

Dr. Jonathan Prousky really likes niacinamide for anxiety and I find it helps a lot with my clients who have runaway thoughts and paranoia.

If GABA doesn’t work for you that’s fine, not everything works for everyone. But if you really feel GABA should work for you or feel you need additional support for your anxiety then I wouldn’t give up and ask these questions:

do you have an underactive thyroid (amino acids may not be as effective)
did you take it sublingually (it’s often more effective taken this way)
did you take it away from protein (it needs to be taken this way)
how much did you take (amounts can vary by person)
do you have low GABA symptoms/physical anxiety (it will only work if you do) or
are you taking a benzodiazepine (for some people on benzos many supplements don’t work or are just too much for them)

Here is the facebook post if you’d like to read the whole discussion. I’d like to thank everyone who contributed to this great discussion!

I’ll cover phenibut (which is not GABA) in a future blog post. It’s always a hot topic and is not something I recommend but more on that next time.

A heads up that I’ve shared links to the products that were mentioned so you can check them out. Some of the links are from Emerson, the online distributer I use. If you’d like to order from them you can find out how to set up an account here.

Now I’d love to hear from you. Have you used any of these GABA products (or had your clients use them) with good results? How much did you/they use and what were the results?

If GABA doesn’t help do you say “yes” to any of the 6 above questions?

My Anxiety Gift ideas for you!

December 15, 2015 By Trudy Scott Leave a Comment

giftboxes-pastel

I’ve got some great gift ideas for you for the anxious person in your life, and for you too because you deserve a gift (or two) too!

A national tradition of Iceland is called Jolabokaflod or the “Christmas Book Flood”. It involves giving books as presents on the night of the 24^th and people spend the night reading. I love books and just love this so I’m starting with some book ideas for you:

(1) A wonderful new book by my friend and colleague Susan Albers, PsyD: 50 More Ways to Soothe Yourself Without Food: Mindfulness Strategies to Cope with Stress and End Emotional Eating. It is wonderful and includes many techniques that are new to me – like Skull-Shining Breath, Madras, Power-posing, Mala Bead Meditation (and more) and so many of my favorites like smiling, forest bathing, yoga, and thalassotherapy (the therapeutic use of seawater). There are 50 of them! I love it!

(2) An excellent new book edited by Dr. Kelly Brogan MD, Holistic Psychiatrist and Dr. James Greenblatt MD: Integrative Therapies for Depression: Redefining Models for Assessment, Treatment and Prevention. There are contributions from some of my other favorite integrative/holistic practitioners: Dr. Kat Toups MD, Julia Rucklidge PhD, Dr. William Shaw (Exposure to Toxic Chemicals as a Cause of Depression), Dr. Sara Gottfried MD (The Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal Axis in Mood Disorders), and Dr. Peter Bongiorno ND (Stress, Fear, Trauma, and Distress: Underlying Factors in Depression). I have not yet read it but based on the table of contents I can’t wait and I’ve placed my preorder. Great for you as a practitioner or as a gift for your favorite practitioner! [you can also get it here – use promo code AMQ21 and SAVE 25% plus FREE Shipping Worldwide]

(3) A new book by Anxiety Summit speaker Dr. Peter Bongiorno ND: Put Anxiety Behind You – The Complete Drug-Free Program. I have a copy and it’s excellent! This blurb sums it up so well: “he offers his holistic approach to healing anxiety and avoiding relapse, with a toolkit that includes foods and plant-based medicines, plus anxiety-reducing yoga poses, massage techniques, and acupressure points you can try on your own for lasting relief.” He also “tackles how to safely wean from anti-anxiety medication.”

(4) Here is a new book that will be released in early January – Smart Fat: Eat More Fat. Lose More Weight. Get Healthy Now by Dr. Steven Masley MD and Jonny Bowden PhD. Here is some information from the summary blurb: “The innovative guide that reveals how eating more fat – the smart kind – is the key to health, longevity, and permanent weight loss” and they explain “the amazing properties of healthy fat, including its ability to balance hormones for increased energy and appetite control, and its incredible anti-inflammatory benefits” all of which is key for a good mood and reducing anxiety.

(5) And of course my book: The Antianxiety Food Solution – How the Foods You Eat Can Help You Calm Your Anxious Mind, Improve Your Mood, and End Cravings. It’s remarkable how much the foods we eat can impact our brain chemistry and emotions. What and when we eat can make the difference between feeling anxious and staying calm and in control. But most of us don’t realize how much our diets influence our moods, thoughts, and feelings until we make a change. It also contains whole chapters on brain chemicals and pyroluria, with detailed protocols.

(6) If you’re looking for a digital gift, the Anxiety Summit season 1, season 2 and season 3 is on sale for the holidays. Learn about nutritional and biochemical causes of anxiety: gut health and the microbiome, hormone imbalance, methylation issues, low neurotransmitter levels (amino acids are amazing for this), pyroluria (causing social anxiety), oxalates/gluten (special diets), pyschoneuroendocrinology, heavy metals, poor liver health, adrenal issues like high cortisol, mold, candida, parasites and much more. Note: We extended the holiday 54% off prices until Wednesday December 16^th at 12 midnight eastern time.

Check out your purchase options here: https://www.theanxietysummit.com/holiday2015/

(7) For the gadget-loving person check out the new Nima sensor, a portable device that tests liquid and solid foods for the presence of gluten in about two minutes. It’s an “easy, fast, chemistry test for your food that can be done at the table, discreetly.” They’re taking pre-orders for the Nima sensor and should start shipping sometime in Spring of 2016.

(8) This is one of my favorite tech tools for stress reduction: HeartMath. It’s cool meditation tool that “scientifically monitors your emotional and physical health – and helps you improve it.” There is the Inner Balance™ for iPhone & iPad (pictured below) or emWave2® in hand or at your computer (perfect for the busy person who is on the computer a lot). Heartmath is offering 25% off products through December 31, 2015.

(9) If you’re looking for a yummy edible gift, here are the highest quality organic spices from Primal Palate. This says it all: “These are the highest quality spices available. Period. Our spices are certified USDA-Organic, Whole30 Approved, Certified Gluten-Free, Kosher, Non-GMO, and Non-Irradiated. In other words, they are un-messed-around-with, and just as nature intended!” Beautiful! This one is our favorites – Meat & Potatoes Seasoning, their “signature blend for seasoning home fries and meatballs. It adds wonderful flavor to just about anything. Unsure how to season a certain dish? Try this!” Check out the ingredients: Pink Himalayan Salt, Paprika, Onion, Garlic, Black Pepper, Oregano.

primal-palate primal-palate2

(10) How about a gift card from a non-profit? KIVA is a wonderful non-profit that offers microfinancing that “helps to empower women, thus promoting gender-equity and improving household well-being.” My passion is educating women about how important real whole food is, so I choose to lend money to women who have businesses related to food and farming. You can read more about KIVA here and some of the women I have chosen to support here and get information about gift KIVA cards here.

(11) And finally how about fostering a baby elephant? I’m a born and bred African (born in Zimbabwe and grew up in South Africa) so I can’t resist adding this one: Foster an Orphan Elephant as a Christmas Gift – from the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust. As they say on the site it’s a “truly unique and novel gift that can be enjoyed throughout the year.” And contributes to the future of these magnificent creatures!

(credit: David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust)

I hope this has given you some ideas for gift-giving this holiday season! Happy shopping!

GABA, the calming amino acid: expert opinions

December 11, 2015 By Trudy Scott 69 Comments

gaba-opinions

GABA (gamma-aminobutyric acid) is one of my top nutrient recommendations for clients with physical tension, anxiety, overwhelm and panic attacks. I’m often asked if it really works and is it even worth taking so here is some feedback from practitioners from the Anxiety Summit, all of whom I consider experts on the topic.

Julia Ross, MFT, pioneer in the field of amino acid therapy, my mentor and the author of The Mood Cure and The Diet Cure shares this wisdom about GABA during our interview: Eliminating Anxiety: Amino Acid Therapy and Adrenal Balancing on season 1 of the Anxiety Summit:

Among other things, GABA relaxes the nerves in the muscles in the body. One of the most common kinds of feedback that we get from people who are doing a GABA trial is that it seems to take effect so quickly. This may be because, unlike tryptophan, which has to be converted into serotonin, GABA is the neurotransmitter and the amino acid all in one and requires no conversion.

There isn’t often a GABA discussion when the topic of the blood-brain-barrier doesn’t come up and whether GABA actually does work. Of course Julia addresses this too:

There is a myth going around, based on one old study, that GABA doesn’t cross into the brain, that it doesn’t cross the blood-brain barrier. But there are other studies that show that it does [here is a paper published earlier this year], and our clinical experience is overwhelming. This is the most popular trial that we do, the GABA trial, using only 100 mg. It zips right into the brain, and people immediately feel relaxed physically and mentally.

I see this with my clients on a daily basis and I can certainly attest to that personally too. I like to share that I was a “GABA girl”: when I had my terrible anxiety and panic attacks in my late 30s anxiety, GABA worked beautifully for me. It was amazing and life-changing! Zero anxiety and no more panic attacks!

We are all individual and you may find that theanine works better for you than GABA. Julia talks about this too:

I would say about 15 to 20 percent of people who need this GABA-type relief of the tension and stress, don’t seem to get it from GABA. In those cases, most of them do get it from the amino acid, l-theanine, instead, in our experience.

Dr. Josh Friedman, is dear friend, colleague and integrative psychotherapist who uses amino acids and other nutritional approaches in his practice. I also had the honor of interviewing him on season 1 of the Anxiety Summit. I ask him if he uses GABA with his patients and what he thinks about the naysayers. I just love his answer:

[GABA] is definitely something I use. I am not a biochemist, so I actually don’t really know whether it crosses the blood/brain barrier, nor do I care actually. The first question should be, is it harmful? Are any of these things going to cause harm? And the answer with all the amino acids are no, they’re not going to cause harm, especially when compared to psychiatric medicines. The second question is, does it work? Is it helpful for our patients that we see in our practice?

GABA certainly worked for Meme Grant, GAPS Practitioner, Nutritional Therapist, FNTP, and fellow African. She had anxiety, panic attacks, didn’t enjoy speaking in public, had insomnia and was an emotional eater. I also interviewed her in season 1 and she shared this:

I took GABA for the first time in the afternoon and had no panic attacks that afternoon, and I took one in the evening and I did that for a couple of weeks, and I haven’t seen a panic attack since.

I find that many people do well with a combination of GABA and one or more of theanine, taurine and glycine. All of these are calming amino acids and since we are all unique you may find that one of these combinations work better for you.

Dr. Hyla Cass, M.D. board-certified in psychiatry and integrative medicine and the author of Natural Highs and The Addicted Brain and How to Break Free, talks about this in our interview: The Addicted Brain and How to Break Free

If someone has anxiety, it’s not a Valium or a Xanax deficiency. It could be a GABA deficiency. And that could be due to stress. So if you’re low in GABA, there are some really cool things to take – theanine, glycine, taurine. The different nutrients work together and when we add them together, it’s more than the sum of its parts. So adding glycine and GABA together is going to give you a better result and you don’t have to use as much as each of the individual ones. So that’s nature’s Valium.

Jonathan Prousky, ND, MSc, editor of the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine and author of Anxiety: Orthomolecular Diagnosis and Treatment shares this in our season 2 interview: Tapering off psychiatric drugs so they do not ruin your life

I have found GABA to be invariably helpful and I don’t really know exactly how GABA works but I know it to be very, very safe and, to me, that is fundamentally important. It’s not associated with any withdrawal, with any tolerance, with any habituation, so people can try it without a lot of concern.

Dr. Prousky uses both regular crystalline GABA and pharmaGABA but prefers the latter. He uses it as part of his SRR model for helping his patients taper of psychiatric drugs such as benzodiazepines. SRR stands for sedation, relaxation and regulation:

Sedation: one gets the sedating effects of GABA (he uses pharmaGABA at a dose of 100-200 mg)
Relaxation: niacin at a dose of 250-500 mg (immediate-release)
Regulation: melatonin (generally about 3mg) to helps regulate the sleep-and-wake cycles

GABA really does work if your anxiety is a result of low GABA levels. As Julia so wisely says:

On a scale of zero to ten, zero is not an unrealistic goal when it comes to anxiety. It’s really the human potential and GABA [and tryptophan] give us access to it.

So we have many expert opinions but the best way to figure out if GABA works is to try it. You’ll know within 5 minutes if it’s working for you. This is one of the reasons I love the amino acids: you get results right away and it makes you feel less anxious right away, giving you hope while you deal with other factors that may be contributing to your anxiety.

How much GABA do we need and how do we take it? I find that GABA is most effective when taken sublingually. Source Naturals GABA Calm is a great sublingual that contains 125mg GABA, 50mg Glycine, 20mg taurine, some magnesium and 25mg N-Acetyl L-Tyrosine. I also really like Nutritional Fundamentals for Health GABA-T SAP which contains 300mg GABA 300 mg and 150mg theanine. This is pleasant-tasting when opened on to the tongue and seems to be most effective when held there for about 2 minutes. GABA products that contain 500mg and 750mg are often too much for most of my clients.

You can find these and other GABA products that I recommend here

If you’d like to learn more about GABA from the above experts, you can get details of the Anxiety Summits here

You’ll also learn about many other nutritional and biochemical causes of anxiety: gut health and the microbiome, hormone imbalance, methylation issues, other low neurotransmitter levels, pyroluria (causing social anxiety), oxalates/gluten (special diets), pyschoneuroendocrinology, heavy metals, poor liver health, adrenal issues like high cortisol, mold, candida, parasites and much more!

Have you used GABA or any of the other calming amino acids and found benefits? Please share what product and how much worked for you?

If you have not tried GABA, were you a naysayer but now feel more inclined to look into this?