Eat more of the “Good Fats”

Hormones that regulate Serotonin, our bodies’ main mood-boosting chemical, are stimulated by fat consumption. Before reaching for a piece of cake or a cookie, try a piece of salmon. Not all fats are created equal and you should AVOID saturated fats. Instead, eat foods
containing ‘good fats’ such as fish, nuts and olive oil. These foods help with depression and low self esteem by boosting Serotonin.

Get Your Vitamin D

Serotonin is affected by Vitamin D. Studies have shown that consumption Vitamin D makes people feel better. Particularly those who suffer from Seasonal Affective Disorder.

Some people are more prone to extreme anxiety because of a genetic mutation that they have inherited, according to one of the first studies to investigate the genetic basis of personality differences that can lead to stress disorders.

The mutation is found in about half the population but it exerts its effect on the one in four people who have inherited both copies of it from their parents, the study has found. Such people are at significantly higher risk of being more anxious than the general population and of suffering from anxiety-related conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder and obsessive-compulsive illnesses.

Scientists say the findings show that it is possible to identify genetic differences between people that directly affect the neuro-transmitting chemicals in the brain influencing variations in psychological traits.

Although many factors affect anxiety, the researchers believe the discovery opens the way to identifying further genes that can predispose someone to becoming nervous to the point of developing a psychological illness.

“This single gene variation is potentially only one of many factors influencing such a complex trait as anxiety. Still, to identify this first candidate for genes associated with an anxiety-prone personality is a step in the right direction,” said Christian Montag of the University of Bonn, a member of the research team.

“It might be possible to prescribe the right dose of the right drug, relative to genetic make-up, to treat anxiety disorders,” Dr Montag said.

The study focused on a gene known as COMT, which controls an enzyme that breaks down and so weakens the signal of dopamine, a key neurotransmitter in the brain associated with several psychological conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease and schizophrenia.

The gene comes in two variations, met158 and val158, and the people who are most likely to be anxious are those who have inherited both copies of the met158 gene variant from each of their parents. In the white European population, about 25 per cent of people have this genetic make-up. The theory is that people with both copies of the met158 gene variant have a stronger dopamine signal in their brain, which results in an “inflexible attentional focus” – they cannot tear themselves away from an unpleasant stimulus even if it is a bad one.

The scientists, whose study is published today in the journal Behavioural Neuroscience, investigated the role of the COMT gene variations on 96 young women who fell into one of three genetic makeups – met/met, val/val or met/val.

Martin Reuter, a Bonn University researcher who was a leading member of the research team, said that the women were each shown images of varying unpleasantness while being subjected to a sudden loud noise to startle them so that their blink reflex could be measured.

“We used the startle reflex because it’s a very old evolutionary indication of anxiety. It’s not something you can manipulate or fake. The startle response is stronger when they were watching a negative image, and there was a significantly greater startle response from the met/met women compared with the rest of the group,” Dr Reuter said. “Anxiety is a very complex phenomenon and many genes are responsible for it but this particular genetic variation, although involved in a small part of the anxiety response, is an essential part of it.”

One of the longer-term goals of the study is to be able to identify the gene variations that predispose some people to extreme anxiety in order that drugs can be designed to combat the risk, Dr Reuter said. “It may give us a hint for drug therapy, but the brain is very complex,” he said.

Sometimes the strongest longings for food happen when you’re at your weakest point emotionally. Many people turn to food for comfort — consciously or unconsciously — when they’re facing a difficult problem or looking to keep themselves occupied.

But emotional eating — eating as a way to suppress or soothe negative emotions, such as stress, anger, anxiety, boredom, sadness and loneliness — can sabotage your weight-loss efforts. Often, emotional eating leads to eating too much food, especially high-calorie, sweet, salty and fatty foods.

The good news is that if you’re prone to emotional eating, you can take steps to regain control of your eating habits and get back on track with your weight-loss goals.
The connection between mood and food

Major life events — such as unemployment, health problems and divorce — and daily life hassles — such as a stressful work commute, bad weather and changes in your normal routine — can trigger emotions that lead to overeating. But why do negative emotions lead to overeating?

Some foods may have seemingly addictive qualities. For example, when you eat enticing foods, such as chocolate, your body releases trace amounts of mood- and satisfaction-elevating hormones. That “reward” may reinforce a preference for foods that are most closely associated with specific feelings. Related to this is the simple fact that the pleasure of eating offsets negative emotions.

Food can also be a distraction. If you’re worried about an upcoming event or rethinking an earlier conflict, eating comfort foods may distract you. But the distraction is only temporary. While you’re eating, your thoughts focus on the pleasant taste of your comfort food. Unfortunately, when you’re done overeating, your attention returns to your worries, and you may now bear the additional burden of guilt about overeating.
How to regain control of your eating habits

Though strong emotions can trigger cravings for food, you can take steps to control those cravings. To help stop emotional eating, try these suggestions:

* Learn to recognize true hunger. Is your hunger physical or emotional? If you ate just a few hours ago and don’t have a rumbling stomach, you’re probably not really hungry. Give the craving a few minutes to pass.
* Know your triggers. For the next several days, write down what you eat, how much you eat, when you eat, how you’re feeling when you eat and how hungry you are. Over time, you may see patterns emerge that reveal negative eating patterns and triggers to avoid.
* Look elsewhere for comfort. Instead of unwrapping a candy bar, take a walk, treat yourself to a movie, listen to music, read or call a friend. If you think that stress relating to a particular event is nudging you toward the refrigerator, try talking to someone about it to distract yourself. Plan enjoyable events for yourself.
* Don’t keep unhealthy foods around. Avoid having an abundance of high-calorie comfort foods in the house. If you feel hungry or blue, postpone the shopping trip for a few hours so that these feelings don’t influence your decisions at the store.
* Snack healthy. If you feel the urge to eat between meals, choose a low-fat, low-calorie food, such as fresh fruit, vegetables with fat-free dip or unbuttered popcorn. Or test low-fat, lower calorie versions of your favorite foods to see if they satisfy your craving.
* Eat a balanced diet. If you’re not getting enough calories to meet your energy needs, you may be more likely to give in to emotional eating. Try to eat at fairly regular times and don’t skip breakfast. Include foods from the basic groups in your meals. Emphasize whole grains, vegetables and fruits, as well as low-fat dairy products and lean protein sources. When you fill up on the basics, you’re more likely to feel fuller, longer.
* Exercise regularly and get adequate rest. Your mood is more manageable and your body can more effectively fight stress when it’s fit and well rested.

If you give in to emotional eating, forgive yourself and start fresh the next day. Try to learn from the experience, and make a plan for how you can prevent it in the future. Focus on the positive changes you’re making in your eating habits and give yourself credit for making changes that ensure better health.

With news headlines all around us announcing economic changes for the worse, a lot of us are beginning to feel the twist of anxiety. When this stress response comes, the neurochemicals in our brain are thrown off balance.

Sustained periods of stress will affect your brain, leading to chemical imbalance. It will interfere with your memory, focus and concentration, making you feel agitated and unable to calm down. It is crucial for brain health and overall peace of mind that you learn to control your anxiety effectively. Read on to learn the ways to quell your anxiety and relax. As always, if you are undergoing serious anxiety, consult a healthcare professional.

1. Health in Mind = Health in Body
The average person has 60,000 thoughts a day, and nearly 80 percent of them are negative. Imagine what this is doing to your body! This negativity affects your thought patterns and behaviors subconsciously, and this has an unhealthy impact on your body.
Reframe the way you say things to yourself. You can actually change the response to anxiety with repeated affirmations, which will introduce a new positive pattern behavior in your thinking. Instead of being anxious, give empowering messages to yourself: I am strong, I am grateful, I can get through this. Repeat these positive affirmations throughout your day to transform the stress and change your attitude.

2. Cut Back on Stimulants
Stress, anxiety, insomnia, and a racing mind are byproducts of taking in too much caffeine, the central nervous system stimulator that works against your attempts to relax the body and calm the mind. To start, try cutting back for just week to see how fewer stimulants affect your overall stress level. Switch to decaf coffee, or better yet, drink herbal tea. Also, cut out sodas and other drinks that are packed with stimulants.

3. Deep Breathing Calms Anxiety
If you are in a stressful situation, you may have noticed that you breath very shallowly, up in your throat area. Unfortunately, many adults breathe this way all the time; somewhere along the way, we stopped breathing abdominally, as we did when we were babies. This habitual shallow breathing mimics the bodily actions of stress, which can actually induce your body to feel anxiety.

When you learn to breathe deeply all day - by breathing from your diaphragm - you will reduce general anxiety and gain other proven benefits, such as lowered blood pressure and heart rate. Also, it is estimated that 70 percent of the toxins and wastes in our bodies are eliminated through respiratory breathing. So start deep breathing!
Here’s how: Make it part of your every day schedule to practice 20-30 minutes of deep breathing every day, and your body will respond by being relaxed all the time. Also, look into stress-reducing mind-body disciplines such as tai chi, yoga, qigong, and meditation, which all incorporate breathing work into their routines.

4. Herbal Help for Anxiety
Valerian, sometimes called “nature’s tranquilizer, is used to regulate the nervous system and relieve tension, irritability, nervous exhaustion and stress, and anxiety for centuries. As a sedative, valerian is non-addictive and relieves sleeplessness without the morning-after grogginess often associated with prescription sleep medications.
Schisandra berry has been used for thousands of years in Chinese medicine to revitalize the senses. It increases physical endurance and mental concentration, while at the same time soothing the nerves and taking the edge off anxiety. Take these herbs anytime during the day and before bed in tea or capsule form. Many of my patients have had remarkable results with Calm-Fort Elixir, an all-natural formulation of herbs to calm your spirit.

5. Try the Nutrient GABA
A healthy brain needs a balance between neural chemicals that excite the nerves and those that calm the nerves. GABA (gamma amino butyric acid) is the primary neural transmitter for calming the transmission of nerve signals. It can help prevent anxiety-related messages from reaching the brain. Having levels of GABA that are too low can increase anxiety, insomnia, irritability, and depression. My suggestion is to eat a diet rich in GABA including fish, especially mackerel and wheat bran or to take 250-500 milligrams on a daily basis, along with vitamin B6.

6. Get Out of Your Head By Helping Others
Most of us could sit around all day agonizing in our heads about bad news and working our way into a negative inner dialogue. The way to get out of your own head is by doing something for others. Offer to help someone else and completely focus on his or her needs. Give a friend a hand with moving or planning an event. Volunteer for a charitable cause. It’s amazing how taking the focus off yourself can reduce your stress and anxiety.

I hope you find the ways to check your anxiety! I invite you to visit often and share your own personal health and longevity tips with me.

TOFU

While usually considered a healthy choice, new research shows excess tofu consumption may increase the risk of memory loss in the elderly. A new study out of Loughborough and Oxford universities of more than 700 Indonesian people ages 52 to 98 shows that those who ate tofu at least once a day, particularly those in their 60s, had an increased risk of dementia or memory loss.

CARBOHYDRATES

If you want to stave off Alzheimer’s, consider cutting back on the carbs, says Dr. Vincent Fortanasce, author of The Anti-Alzheimer’s Prescription. Overdoing it on carbs causes your insulin to spike. In doing so you’re also causing the insulin-degrading enzyme that exists in the brain to work overtime removing insulin, rather than getting rid of beta-amyloid proteins, the toxic protein that produces Alzheimer’s disease.

HOT FLASHES

New research out of the University of Illinois at Chicago is finally confirming a link between hot flashes and poor verbal memory among women in mid life. In fact, the more hot flashes a woman has, the worse her ability to remember names and stories. A surge in the stress hormone cortisol, which usually accompanies a hot flash, is believed to be the cause.

SMOKING

Middle-aged adults who smoke appear to be at an increased risk of having poor memory, according to a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine in June. As if there weren’t enough reasons to quit already, the research also shows that long-term ex-smokers were less likely to have cognitive deficits in memory and vocabulary.

STATINS

New research out of the University of Michigan School of Public Health shows that people at high risk of dementia who took cholesterol-lowering statins were half as likely to develop dementia as those who did not take the prescription medications. One theory is that statins help lower the high insulin levels in the brain linked to Alzheimer’s.

THYROID DISORDER

Memory loss is a common symptom of an underactive thyroid, according to the May issue of the Mayo Clinic Health Letter. That’s because hormones from the thyroid help control a host of bodily functions, ranging from heart rate to mood and memory. Older people with this treatable condition may exhibit only one symptom, such as memory loss or decreasing mental function.

DEPRESSION, ANXIETY

A study published in the journal Neurology in 2007 shows that those who most often experience negative emotions, such as depression and anxiety, were 40% more likely to develop mild cognitive impairment than those who were least prone. A transitional stage between normal aging and dementia, mild cognitive impairment is associated with mild memory or cognitive problems.

CHRONIC PAIN

Chronic pain not only affects a person’s ability to work, sleep and function on a daily basis, it can also impair memory. A 2007 University of Alberta study of 24 patients who had pain lasting six months or longer shows that, when tested, two-thirds showed significant disruption of attention and memory.

MARITAL STATUS

New research out of Sweden suggests for the first time that mid-life marital status is related to late-life cognitive function. A Finnish study of more than 1,400 people in mid life and then an average of 21 years later showed that those who were living with a life partner in mid life were significantly less likely to show cognitive impairment compared to all other categories–single, separated, divorced or widowed.

FISH

People who ate tuna and other fish high in omega-3 fatty acids three times or more per week had a nearly 26% lower risk of having the silent brain lesions that can cause dementia and stroke, compared to those who avoided fish, according to research appearing in the August issue of Neurology.