Do you find yourself eating ice-cream or high carbs snacks during evening when both light and seratonin production starts to sink? Ice-cream, cereals, milk and hot chocolate are favourite nightime fixes because they contain seratonin production ingredient. But, these sweet foods are additive and can quickly turn into uneeded pounds. More importantly, they raise blood sugar and will eventually lead to Diabetes and other hosts of life threatening diseases. If any of you wakes up at night and eat carbs, you are certainly low in seratonin.
Do you sometime need a glass of wine or beer before dinner? Alcohol is another carbohydrate commonly used as compensation for low seratonin levels. Ironically, alcohol actually reduces production of seratonin in the long run. If sleep is a problem for any of you, melatonin supplements can relieve the drain on your seratonin store. FYI, melatonin is made out of seratonin. Melatonin is a sleep hormone produced by the pineal gland in the body.
If supplements or high protein diets do not work for restoring seratonin levels, it could point to low thyroid factor. Your thyroid may be too sluggish to convert the nutrients into seratonin in your brain. Women have higher rates of up to 7 times to experience Hypothyroidism compared to men.
Catecholamines. Do most of you depend on coffee early in the morning or throughout the day while at work? I'm sure this sounds familiar to people who needs stimulants/caffeine while trying to stay focus and energized while at work. Caffeine raises your mood for a short time, only to bring it crashing down later. To make things worse, it robs you of a crucial morning appetite, that would otherwise lead you to eat a good catecholamines-stimulating breakfast.
If your brain is producing lots of catecholamines, you should feel energized, upbeat and alert. There are three types of catecholamines: dopamine, norepinephrine and adrenaline. All these 3 types of catecholamines can arouse and excite you emotionally, mentally and physically. Dopamine, the parent of all three, produces the other two and is the most prolific in the brain. The other two are also popular for their activity in adrenal glands, which provides jolts of energy that help you response to stress. Catecholamines task are to help you stay alert and focus, so that you can act quickly and decisively. Imagine cheering squad and drill sergeant combined!
These chemicals are particularly active when under high stress conditions, but any exciting prospects can elevate their levels. If you are low in catecholamines, you may not react to almost anything, and you will often experience difficulties to concentrate and focus. You will usually score poorly in attentiveness. For instance, if you are unable to read a book for period of time, you might have low in catecholamines. These brain chemicals are usually busy when you are trying to concentrate on reading a book.
The sources of food which are high in catecholamines production are seaweed, fish, eggs, cottage cheese, turkey and beef. Again, we need a high quality protein intake day in day out to replenish the fuel needed for this mental energy supply. Vitamins, minerals and fats are important in assisting the production of catecholamines. By eating more fish and fish oil supplements(Omega 3 fatty acids), you can boosts the catecholamines levels to 40%. Avoid soy, corn, canola and other omega 6 vegetable oils which are harmful to the brain and body as well as they easily turn rancid.
People who in on Vegan Diet (vegetarian) tends to suffer from catecholamines deficiency. Most people I know, tells me that soy products do have high protein and it is a good source of protein. Folks, soy is not a health food! Wake up everyone! We have been told for years that soy is a godsend food from heaven and it is good source of protein and beneficial to our health. Soy has a substance called trypsin inhibitor. It blocks the absorption of protein into our body system. Soybeans and Lima beans are some of the plant food which have this substance. I will write a cover story about soy in other post, which debunk the myth of soy food products.
Anyway, lets leave soy story for now and back to discussion on catecholamines. Have you been so much stress that it drained out your catecholamines store? There really is a limit to how many catecholamines both your brain and adrenal glands can produce at one time. Have you noticed that you work better under stress? That is because stress can wake up even sleeping catecholamines, which can get you working under productive action. But, eventually, stress will burn you out.
Physical activities can raise catecholamines level, but if you don't have enough catecholamines in the first place, you will not have the energy to start exercise. Forced jogs or showing up in aerobic classes when you are not energized, can further exhaust you. I would strongly advise you to only exercise when you are energized and eager, but not when you are tired and overwhelmed.
Sex hormones also plays a role when it comes to interacting with neurotransmitters. For instance, if estrogen levels dropped too low, it will fail to stimulate the catecholamines. Same goes to low testosterone levels for men. Thyroid hormones also plays a key role in digesting and absorption of the amino acids. Most women in their 30's onwards, have higher risk of thyroid dysfunction. One of the most common condition is Hypothyroidism.
There are anti-thyroid foods which have goitrogens, which interfere with thyroid functions. Below are some of the list of food:
Wheat, Barley, Rye and Oats - They are the only food which can make you feel sleepy and bloated after meals.
Soybeans - It can suppress your thyroid function and slows down the metabolic rate.
Meanwhile, fluoride and chlorine can also suppress the thyroid function as well. Drinking from unfiltered tape water isn't a good idea and I've mentioned in earlier post about the dangers of fluoride to human body. I will have discussion about GABA and Endophins in part 4 hopefully by next week. Stay tuned!
Catecholamines. Do most of you depend on coffee early in the morning or throughout the day while at work? I'm sure this sounds familiar to people who needs stimulants/caffeine while trying to stay focus and energized while at work. Caffeine raises your mood for a short time, only to bring it crashing down later. To make things worse, it robs you of a crucial morning appetite, that would otherwise lead you to eat a good catecholamines-stimulating breakfast.
If your brain is producing lots of catecholamines, you should feel energized, upbeat and alert. There are three types of catecholamines: dopamine, norepinephrine and adrenaline. All these 3 types of catecholamines can arouse and excite you emotionally, mentally and physically. Dopamine, the parent of all three, produces the other two and is the most prolific in the brain. The other two are also popular for their activity in adrenal glands, which provides jolts of energy that help you response to stress. Catecholamines task are to help you stay alert and focus, so that you can act quickly and decisively. Imagine cheering squad and drill sergeant combined!
These chemicals are particularly active when under high stress conditions, but any exciting prospects can elevate their levels. If you are low in catecholamines, you may not react to almost anything, and you will often experience difficulties to concentrate and focus. You will usually score poorly in attentiveness. For instance, if you are unable to read a book for period of time, you might have low in catecholamines. These brain chemicals are usually busy when you are trying to concentrate on reading a book.
The sources of food which are high in catecholamines production are seaweed, fish, eggs, cottage cheese, turkey and beef. Again, we need a high quality protein intake day in day out to replenish the fuel needed for this mental energy supply. Vitamins, minerals and fats are important in assisting the production of catecholamines. By eating more fish and fish oil supplements(Omega 3 fatty acids), you can boosts the catecholamines levels to 40%. Avoid soy, corn, canola and other omega 6 vegetable oils which are harmful to the brain and body as well as they easily turn rancid.
People who in on Vegan Diet (vegetarian) tends to suffer from catecholamines deficiency. Most people I know, tells me that soy products do have high protein and it is a good source of protein. Folks, soy is not a health food! Wake up everyone! We have been told for years that soy is a godsend food from heaven and it is good source of protein and beneficial to our health. Soy has a substance called trypsin inhibitor. It blocks the absorption of protein into our body system. Soybeans and Lima beans are some of the plant food which have this substance. I will write a cover story about soy in other post, which debunk the myth of soy food products.
Anyway, lets leave soy story for now and back to discussion on catecholamines. Have you been so much stress that it drained out your catecholamines store? There really is a limit to how many catecholamines both your brain and adrenal glands can produce at one time. Have you noticed that you work better under stress? That is because stress can wake up even sleeping catecholamines, which can get you working under productive action. But, eventually, stress will burn you out.
Physical activities can raise catecholamines level, but if you don't have enough catecholamines in the first place, you will not have the energy to start exercise. Forced jogs or showing up in aerobic classes when you are not energized, can further exhaust you. I would strongly advise you to only exercise when you are energized and eager, but not when you are tired and overwhelmed.
Sex hormones also plays a role when it comes to interacting with neurotransmitters. For instance, if estrogen levels dropped too low, it will fail to stimulate the catecholamines. Same goes to low testosterone levels for men. Thyroid hormones also plays a key role in digesting and absorption of the amino acids. Most women in their 30's onwards, have higher risk of thyroid dysfunction. One of the most common condition is Hypothyroidism.
There are anti-thyroid foods which have goitrogens, which interfere with thyroid functions. Below are some of the list of food:
Wheat, Barley, Rye and Oats - They are the only food which can make you feel sleepy and bloated after meals.
Soybeans - It can suppress your thyroid function and slows down the metabolic rate.
Meanwhile, fluoride and chlorine can also suppress the thyroid function as well. Drinking from unfiltered tape water isn't a good idea and I've mentioned in earlier post about the dangers of fluoride to human body. I will have discussion about GABA and Endophins in part 4 hopefully by next week. Stay tuned!
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