Change Your Brain Every Day - End Your Addiction: Nutrition Habits For Recovery

Episode Date: November 21, 2017

Many alcoholics and drug addicts have poor nutrition habits, but the things they put into their body can rob them of what little nutrients they do have. In this last episode of a series focused on addiction rescue, Dr. Daniel Amen and Tana Amen discuss ways to use supplements as a strategy to train the body and brain.

Welcome to the Brain Warriors Way podcast. I'm Dr. Daniel Amen. And I'm Tana Amen. Here we teach you how to win the fight for your brain to defeat anxiety, depression, memory loss, ADHD, and addictions. The Brain Warriors Way podcast is brought to you by Amen Clinics, where we've transformed lives for three decades using brain spec imaging to better target treatment and natural ways to heal the brain. For more information, visit amenclinics.com.

The Brain Warriors Way podcast is also brought to you by BrainMD, where we produce the highest quality nutraceutical products to support the health of your brain and body. For more information, visit brainmdhealth.com. Welcome to the Brain Warriors Way podcast. We are back and we are still talking about addiction and how to heal the recovering brain. We're talking about supplements today, but I want to read something that came in from Nico. He said, I've known for a long time that I have something going on with my brain. Don't we all? I've struggled with depression, anxiety, memory, weight loss. I'm so happy to have found this podcast. I

feel like for the first time, I found a group of people who look logically and scientifically at these issues holistically and consider one of the most important elements of our lives, our diet. I'm looking forward to learning more and learning ways to improve my brain health and life with the smarts of Dr. Raymond and his clan. Thank you all. So thank you so much for that. And we are talking about the recovering brain. We talked about food in the last episode, and we're talking about supplements now. Just this week, there was a study that came out in the Journal of Psychopharmacology that omega-3 fatty acids cut cigarette smoking cravings dramatically compared to placebo. And it's actually the second study showing that. So we talk about eating omega-3s, salmon, avocados, green leafy vegetables, nuts, seeds.

It's just a critical part of the diet. You want healthy fat in your diet. But I actually like it better for myself and my patients, rather than eating a lot of fish that can have pollutants in it, like mercury, find the highest quality omega-3 fatty acid supplement you can get, like omega-3 power, the one we make. But it's so important. We did a study here at Amen Clinics where we looked at 50 consecutive patients who are not taking fish oil. And then we took a drop of blood, so our little vampire experiment, and we measured the level of omega-3 fatty acids in their blood. And it should be 8% or higher of the fats in their

blood. 49 of them had low levels of omega-3 fatty acids, often dangerously low. Now, how stinking simple is that to do is increase more omega-3s in your diet or take an omega-3 fatty acid supplement. And then I published a study this year. I published a study this year that said people who had lower levels of omega-3 fatty acid had a smaller hippocampus. So the seahorses in their brain were shrinking. They're like, give me're like give me fish give me fish

so i've taken almost 300 hours of metabolic medicine it's very interesting and and one of the it just seems like it just seems like fish oil um omega-3 fatty acids i'm gonna stick with omega-3 fatty acids um and fatty, like the proper fatty acids are important for almost like for so many things. In fact, they're important. They're necessary for hundreds of functions in the body. Hundreds. They're called essential fatty acids for a reason because they're essential, right? But when you think about all of the things, when you think of all of the things that essential fatty acids are required for, all the functions in your body. So they're required for proper eyesight, for your hair, for your skin, for your joints,

for proper mental functioning, right? For cognitive function. If you are low in these- For the developing brain. So if you're seven, you have to take your omega-3 fatty acids. Our niece is here who's seven. And it's like so important because you see better.

So this is really critical. And in fact, even our dog who was, he just struggling. What is up with you today? Anyways, it's crazy. So our dog was going through this horrible thing with his skin for the second time. And we changed his food back to a raw food diet, got him off of all grains, which are high in omega-6 fatty acids, right? Are you going to make me do that? Are you going to make me talk about six versus three? No, not right now.

We've already done this. And six is the devil's number? It's not. It's just they have to be balanced. Okay, you need some six. But we've got to balance them. And if you're eating a heavily processed grain-based diet, lots of sugar and flour and rice and all that stuff,

you're going to get too many sixes. It's because you hate yourself if you're eating that way. And omega-6s are called fall fats. But no, it's a really important point because you're not a fan. I mean, I used to be like a huge fan of corn. I love popcorn. Go to the movies, get a big diet soda and big tub of popcorn. So I think I need to get you some fish for lunch because this episode is going sideways. It's not. It's really important. So we talked about food and how important it is.

And the brain warrior's way is basically gluten-free, corn-free, dairy-free, soy-free. But there are reasons for that. It's not because we don't like people. And we don't just take it away. We replace it with things that taste great and make it easy. Right. I mean, it's just phenomenal. So back to Aslan for one minute. Aslan lost all of his hair.

He was ripping his hair out, chewing his skin. He could not lift himself up off the ground. He was a mess. They were going to do a double knee replacement. We've told the story before, so I'm not going to go into detail. We switched his food, started putting our fish oil in his food, and I added some probiotics. You can't use people probiotics for dogs, but you can use people fish oil. And so- So actually it was our fish oil.

Our fish oil. And then I got him some dog probiotics. And no joke, all of a sudden within two weeks, he was running around. He now runs around like he's a puppy. He's a little annoying, actually. Runs around like he's a puppy. And it took about a month for it. His skin got well. Like it cleared up instantly and healed. But it took about a month.

But now his hair finally grew back in. Like it took a while for it to heal. But he was lacking fatty acids and his gut wasn't well. It's one of the things that women always tell me when I put them on omega-3s. Their hair is better. Their hair is better and their nails are better. Their cosmetologists will comment, oh, you must be taking fish oil because they know that. So supplements to recover your brain, what we did in our big NFL study is omega-3 fatty acids. It's actually a fairly high dose, 5.6 grams, which was four of our omega-3 power. Multiple vitamin because you don't have the nutrients, according to a study from the Mayo Clinic, 97% of the population, 97% of the population does not

engage in the four simple habits to keep yourself healthy long-term. You're not smoking. You're not drinking excessively. You have a healthy diet and you exercise. 97%. So I think everybody should take a multiple vitamin, omega-3 fatty acids. If 49 out of 50 people are low, probably you are too unless you're doing that. And then we help really repair the brain in multiple ways. So that's why I think of addiction rescue in partly just like we did memory rescue.

You know, we did 12 lessons on memory rescue. It's the same bright minds approach. So we have supplements to support blood flow, supplements to counteract retirement and aging, supplements like omega-3s to decrease inflammation, and so on. So before we get into going into too many specifics, we talked about fish oil. I want to sort of paint a picture of addiction. Okay. You are my artist. I am. I'm not really, but I am.

You are my artwork. Okay. Actually, as a psychiatrist, you are the canvas I paint on. I am not exactly sure how I'm going to take that moment. But anyways, so let's go for a second with this picture of addiction, which I have lived with a lot of several people in my family, as we talked about. So I know a little something about this. Let's talk about when someone's going through addiction, okay?

They're putting substances in their body that are radically depleting them of nutrients, like horribly depleting them of nutrients. On top of that, they are often not eating at all. And when they are eating, they're eating really bad food. Okay. So not only are their omega-6 high, their inflammation is high, or they're not eating at all. Okay.

So that's a really bad thing. Jack-in-the-box actually has several different meanings. Dear Lord. You'd be jacked up or... Yeah, jacked up. So alcohol damages the gut lining. Many drugs and pills damage the gut lining. So now we've depleted nutrients. We're damaging the gut lining. We are not going outside. We are not exercising. We are laying around and we are poisoning the body. So now if I painted that picture correctly, right? You can see where- I'm afraid.

You should be. But my point is this, this is where you can see which nutrients begin to take priority, right? So you obviously need fish oil, but probiotics to heal the gut become really important and probiotics are really important to heal the brain. So that's why it's one of my favorite supplements is the studies out, the studies that are out on the connection between the gut and the brain and what probiotics do. So you said something really interesting that a lot of people don't know that alcohol can actually damage the lining of the gut. Right. And you're a nurse.

Why do nurses put alcohol on your skin? To kill bacteria. Before they give you a shot. To kill the bacteria. And what is in your gut? Bacteria, bugs. Hundred trillion. But not the ones you want to kill.

You only want to kill a small percentage of them. So they are actually there, your microbiome, to protect you. But they communicate directly with your brain. So if your gut is not healthy, your brain will not be healthy. You will not think right. So that's why it's one of my favorites. And that's why, one of the many reasons I've never been a fan of alcohol, largely because, you know, as as a psychiatrist I see people who make bad decisions when they drink you know they say things that they regret that they wouldn't say but it's also damaging your long-term health right okay so multiple vitamin omega-3 fatty acids probiotics And then it depends on your type. So if you're an impulsive addict, supplements to stimulate brain function. So I particularly like green tea, rhodiola, ashwagandha, ginseng.

If you're a compulsive addict, you need more calming supplements, especially ones that increase serotonin, like saffron or 5-HTP or L-tryptophan. If you're a sad addict, but not over-focused, we like SAMe, and a couple of new studies out this year are saying betaine, trimethylglycine, actually helps SAMe work better. If you're an anxious addict, then we like GABA, another supplement called Rolora, magnesium, can be really good at just sort of settling those areas of the brain down. So I would really recommend that you go on our website and get your type because I know there are times when I'll get a little anxious.

And so I decided to take some GABA and 5-HTP. Now, oddly, you actually like me when I take that. When I take some GABA and 5-HTP, you enjoy how I behave because I'm like really relaxed and I guess and mellow. I don't like it. No, no. No, I do not like it. I feel like I'm high. I feel drugged. You don't act high. I know, but I don't like it. You're nice. No, I don't like it. I feel like I'm high. I feel drugged. You don't act high. I know, but I don't like it. No, I don't like it. You're sweet.

No, I'm not meant to be sweet and nice and loving. I am meant to be a butt kicker. So you need to know your type because I feel like I'm walking through mud when I take that. So you need to know your type. So everyone else might like it. But you're the over-focused, anxious ADD. So people can go to amonclinics.com, find out their,

take a free brain health assessment and know which of the 16 types you have. Right. And then, you know, we'll recommend. Don't just guess. I would just recommend you don't guess. So there's one supplement. Do we need marital therapy?

I don't know. You're scaring me, Dewey. I'm thinking we're fine. Some of the people listening are like, are they in therapy? Not in therapy. No, I actually think we're great. So I'm like, that reminds me of the time I have to say this. Okay, so this is my husband.

I'm at home with Chloe. We're hanging out doing homework and I get a call from Daniel and he's like, I am down looking at a house that I just made an offer on and I dropped my phone. I'm thinking, does he want a divorce? And he's like, he's like, no, I just really like this house. I think you're going to love it. And I'm like, oh my God, he scared me so badly. Please don't ever do that to your spouse because it's scary. And he just thought he was going to surprise me. I don't like surprises like that. Okay. So, but we're fine. We're good. Did we miss anything with supplements?

Yes. Vitamin D. Oh, and we didn't talk about N-acetylcysteine. Yes. If you have been an addict and you have been living an unhealthy lifestyle and you haven't been exercising, there's a very good chance that you have not been getting appropriate vitamin D. Right. So you need some vitamin D. Almost everyone we test is low. 80% of the US population is low. We were made or evolved in the sun. Now, we don't want you getting skin cancer, but we need you to have vitamin D. So 20 minutes a day. Most people actually need to take a vitamin D supplement. Anyways. Because I mean, you know, if you live in Minnesota, you know, there's-

Or if you're like me, you have a history of- Eight months out of the year, you can't really be outside with your shirt on. Or if you have a history of skin cancer, don't do that. Take vitamin D. So. And then there's one other supplement I'm really fascinated by. It's called N-acetyl cysteine, and it turns to glutathione when you take it. Glutathione is a super antioxidant. N-acetyl cysteine has been found in studies to decrease cravings for alcohol, decrease cravings for cocaine, decrease cravings for marijuana, decrease compulsive gambling, and decrease this thing called trichotillomania, which are people who have chronic hair pulling. That's actually not how I became bald. I got that from my grandfather. No, I pulled his hair out. No, I'm kidding.

That actually sounds a little kinky. I know. Let's not go there, okay? I did not mean it that way. You're listening to the Brain Warriors Way podcast. And now everyone can understand why I am in a war for the health of my brain. Stay with us. Thank you for listening to the Brain Warriors Way podcast. Go to iTunes and leave a review and you'll automatically be entered into a drawing

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