Change Your Brain Every Day - What Lifestyle Changes Can Combat Cravings For Bad Food and Substances with Orlando Vargas

Episode Date: June 24, 2021

Dr Daniel Amen and Director of Research Development at House of Freedom, Orlando Vargas, cover more steps in the new 12 step program and discuss how bad habits are contagious.

Welcome to the Brain Warriors Way podcast. I'm Dr. Daniel Amen. And I'm Tana Amen. In our podcast, we provide you with the tools you need to become a warrior for the health of your brain and body. The Brain Warriors Way podcast is brought to you by Amen Clinics, where we have been transforming lives for 30 years using tools like brain spec imaging to personalize treatment to your 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 nutraceuticals to support the health of your brain and body. To learn more, go to brainmd.com. Welcome back. I am here with Orlando Vargas, Director of Research Development at House of Freedom, a substance abuse treatment facility in Orlando, Florida. Orlando is a brain health certified coach for Maimon Clinics. We're having a really good discussion about addiction. And we are talking about the 12-step program. And he first came to my work with my book, Unchain Your Brain, Breaking the Addictions that Steal Your Life, that I wrote with David Smith, who many people think of as the father of addiction medicine in the United States.

And we talked about step one, know your goals. Step two, know when your addiction's taking you hostage. Three, a radical new approach, love, balance, and repair your brain. Four is forgiveness. Five is know your addiction brain type. And six is lock up the craving dragon. There's actually a neuroscience to managing cravings like sleep. You have better control of your cravings when like sleep, you have better control of your

cravings when you sleep, when you eat a healthy diet, when you don't let your blood sugar go low, when you know what you want. What else, Orlando, have you seen that helps people manage their cravings? Orlando A. Well, obviously, obviously, all the items you just mentioned, you know, and I think a lot of times, you know, people underestimate the power of supplements, okay, because, you know, with your supplements,

you know, on the BrainMD line, you know, there's such a high quality supplements that they actually help with all those things that we just mentioned, right? So, you know, NAC, you know, in brain and memory power, chromium, you know, something that's also in one of your vitamins, vitamin D, you know, having those levels verified and checked. And it's funny, you know, whenever we check vitamin D, every single person, they're low, you know and and we're here in florida right the sunshine state and and like you mentioned in your book you're in south southern

california where you might think that people are exposed to the sun uh but the reality is that you know we're deficient on vitamin d and and that's such an important component right because as we know vitamin d is a precursor to a lot of hormones and it has, there's vitamin D receptors in our brain. So when we talk about cravings, it's really, really crucial to implement a diet, like the Omni diet, where we start balancing the insulin levels. Because if you start eating the sugary stuff and then, you know, processed foods, then you have your insulin going up and down like a roller coaster. And, you know processed foods then you have your insulin going up and down like a roller coaster and you know i saw a study a few years ago that talked about uh 90 of people who have a relapse they're hypoglycemic so when you think about that and

how when you have low sugar levels you have less blood flow to prefrontal cortex, the CEO decision maker, well, you're going to be more exposed to making bad decisions. So when we talk about cravings, you know, a lot of times people think about weight control, right, which is obviously a part and obviously being sober, but it goes a little bit beyond that because, you know, we're really talking about life or death a lot of times, especially when it comes to substance use disorders. So managing those cravings is just essential and really, really important. NAC is such an interesting nutrient. And there are studies showing it decreases cravings

for alcohol, for marijuana, for cocaine, for compulsive gambling. It's been shown to help mood, even in people with schizophrenia. There's a brand new study out just last week, or maybe it was this week, on vitamin D and opiate cravings, that when vitamin D levels were low, opiate cravings were more intense. And then there's another study on vitamin D and the gray matter. You actually had more

gray matter in your brain if you supplemented with vitamin D. So all of these things, it's just really important for substance abuse treatment programs to teach people the science of willpower, the science of craving control. The next concept I really like, I've been thinking about it a lot, is drip dopamine, don't dump it. So dopamine is an incredibly important neurotransmitter. It helps us feel happy and motivated and pleasure, helps us focus. It controls smooth motor movement. And too often our addicts dump dopamine. And so they end up wearing out their pleasure centers

and they feel flat. They feel sad. They get bored easily. Is that something you've seen? Definitely, you know, in addition to doing the brain spec imaging here at House of Freedom, we also do neurotransmitter testing, okay. And, you know, nine times out of 10, they're extremely low on dopamine levels.

Okay. Not just low, but extremely low. And, you know, one of the concepts that we teach is about something that you also have taught me, which is about the nucleus accumbens, right? It's that little button right there, that pleasure center in your brain, that if you start playing with it too much, you're going to get yourself in trouble. And, you know, a lot of times that's what happens with people with substance use disorders. And there's another book that you had recommended to me, which is called Spark. And within that book, they talk about, you know, the gene variation D2R2, which shows that people who have that gene variation usually have about 70% less dopamine,

and usually tend to be more prone to addictions. So we teach people here exactly how to start balancing and how to start doing things that are healthy for the brain that can actually increase dopamine. So we're very big on exercise here. We have an excellent gym. Not only do we have a gym here, but we have a sauna okay and you know we implement a lot of things that can have those small drips of dopamine you know having a moment where you're actually doing a recreational activity that you haven't done in a long time uh watching a movie reading a book uh doing little things that normal people do. Because a lot of times when you have an addict, they just want to go from zero to 100, you know,

in a second. And they want to go bungee jumping, they want to ride a motorcycle, they want to, you know, do so many things that are extreme, because they're trying to stimulate themselves. You know, a lot of times they have that, that prefrontal cortex that it's just low in activity, and low in blood flow, and that gets them in trouble. So learning how to find pleasure in the normal things in life. It's a great concept that you present in your in your books, which it's it's key to having a successful recovery. No question about that. Step eight is eliminate food pushers and user dragons. It's who you hang out with matters. And this is hard for so many So many of the young stars I see, they want to continue performing at festivals. They want to continue going to parties where they're seen.

And they see it as work and essential for their work. And I'm always cautious. I'm like, you become like the people you hang out with, that those things can be dangerous. How do you approach that? Yeah, you know, I tell I use this example a lot, right? And I it's very simple. I tell them if two plus two, it's four, right? And you take this number two out of its environment, you clean it, you polish it, you make it nice and beautiful. But you put it back into that same equation. Well, it's going to give you the same outcome. So definitely just like a cold can be contagious if you're around someone who has a cold.

Well, if you have depression, if you have anxiety, if you have bad habits in general, well, that becomes contagious too. Because then, and there's multiple studies and I've seen you quote them that, you want to know how long you're going to live? Well, see how long the people around you are living. You want to know if you're going to be overweight? You know if you're going to be healthy? Well, look at the health around the people that surround you because a lot of times those behaviors, they rub off.

And if you think you're going to change the world, a lot of times that becomes sort of like a challenge and people try to do that, which is precisely what you just mentioned now, which is going to those concerts and doing those things. You have to have a realistic expectation. I know that sometimes those changes are really necessary in order to put you in a position to succeed because that's what we push a lot. How do we position you to succeed? Because that's what we push a lot. How do we position you to succeed? Obviously, if you suffer from substance use disorders, we don't want you near anywhere where drugs are easily accessible. We want you to be with someone who is a recovery coach.

We want you to be with somebody who's a personal trainer or somebody who has goals in their lives and they're clean and sober you know that's that's what we want to position you with so that way you actually feed off their energy and actually achieve the same thing amazing all right well we we come back Talks about AIDS. And the little lies people tell themselves to keep themselves addicted, overweight, and feeble-minded. Stay with us. If you're enjoying the Brain Warriors Way podcast, please don't forget to subscribe so you'll always know when there's a new episode. And while you're at it, feel free to give us a review or five-star rating as that helps others find the podcast. If you're interested in coming to Amen Clinics, use the code PODCAST10 to get a 10% discount on a full evaluation

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