by lydia on November 21, 2010

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Back to my experience at the Wise Traditions 2010 Annual Conference of the Weston A. PriceFoundation………………See my previous posts, Wise Traditions Conference: Dinner Meet Up with RealFood Media Bloggers, Wise Traditions 2010: My Experience, Gut and Psychology/Physiology Syndrome withDr. Natasha Campbell McBride.

Saturday, November 13th I attended an afternoon session by NoraGedgaudas on Nutrition and Mental Health. Nora Gedgaudas is a clinical neurofeedback practitionerspecializing in EEG biofeedback (also known as neuropathy, neuro-biofeedback, and brain training), helpingindividuals exercise or condition their brains in a way that allows for greater stability, enhanced cognitivefunctioning, and improved affect and ability to pay attention. Using neurofeedback Nora freed herself fromover 30 years of depression that had not responded to any other treatment. However, in her treatment ofothers she found individuals that were hitting walls in their recovery process that they could not overcome.Nora realized that often there can be a huge issue with diet, food sensitivity, endocrine dysfunction and/orsevere nutritional deficiencies. When the dietary issues are addressed the obstacles are overcome and healingimprovements are then free to take place. The brain and body simply have to have raw materials to work within order to function properly. It became abundantly clear to Nora that all the brain training in the world couldnot create a nutrient where there was none or remove a problematic substance which does not belong. Thatsaid, Nora focused on her knowledge of nutritional therapy in this particular session, which is profoundlybeneficial to understanding the connection between nutrition and mental health. I highly recommend readingNora’s book, ‘Primal Body – Primal Mind.‘

Depression is rampant in the US-

-There is a 13% effectiveness of depression meds -this is not much more than a placebo effect – this is notcorrective. Of the 300 most commonly prescribed medications, none actually serve to support naturalphysiological functioning.

-It’s no fun being a prisoner in your own nervous system – it’s simply dis-regulated arousal.

What is stress?

-Stress isn’t what happens to you in life, it’s how you respond to what happens to you in life.

-Stress is mainly mitigated by the temporal lobes and the HPA axis. This is part of your limbic system (theemotional brain).

-We are meant to live in a state of calm the majority of the time (cortisol is released during flight or flight –too much cortisol is not a good thing, we are not meant to live in a constant state of fight or flight)

What are emotions?

- Bio-chemical storms in your body and brain

- There is no seperation between mind and body, they are both part of the same functioning system or fieldand must be understood together in context. What is done to the mind is done to the body . . . and vice versa.You simply cannot seperate the two.

- If your body is not well, your brain is not well either. The best psychotheray brain training or meds can’t puta nutrient there that is not there and cannot remove some offending dietary substances that do not belong.(and anyone who thinks their mind is running the show – well it’s not.)

-’Your body IS your subconscious mind!’ ~ Candace Pert, PHD

Role of Blood Sugar Issues

-Blood sugar issues are foundational to the regulation or dysregulation of all endocrine function and areimportant if not key contributors to most issues surrounding mental health.

-Blood sugar surges generate concomittant surges of both insulin and leptin – each stimulatiing over arousalgeneration and or exacerbating anxiety related disorders.

-Blood sugar surges are enormously destabilizing.

-Blood sugar surges deplete magnesium.

-Glycation is the primary cause of brain degeneration in aging and also of alzheimer’s

Understanding Glycation

-**Fructose, the simple sugar in fruit, may not impact insulin much, but is extremely glycating, and damaging.In this context, the carbohydrates we are talking about here don’t include fibrous vegetables and greens,which are very beneficial and have very little sugar or starch content.

The body is literally obsessed with maintaining glucose within a minimally necessary range, which may differfrom person to person, depending on how dependent they have become upon glucose for energy and howinsulin resistant they are.

There are actually several hormones designed to raise glucose, and only one that lowers it. This is becausecarbohydrates tend to be an extremely limited commodity in primitive diets and, as such, our ancestors veryrarely had an ‘emergency’ need to lower blood glucose, as is so common today. The ability to hormonallyraise blood glucose is an emergency situation, however, is essential to survival.

It is fairly optimal for healthy, insulin and leptin-sensitive humans to have a blood glucose value in thebloodstream of no more than roughly 70-90 mg/dl at any given time (without any symptoms ofhypoglycemia). Some current “functionally healthy” ranges are established as being more typically between80-100 mg/dl, considered more the “norm,” though lower ranges are by far more desireable for those whonormally maintain low insulin levels, even if the higher range is more common in many individuals. Fasting

normally maintain low insulin levels, even if the higher range is more common in many individuals. Fastingblood sugar, from a functional standpoint, in excess of 100 mg/dl, is already reflective of dysregulation.

The state of hypoglycemia or even reactive hypoglycemia becomes a relative thing, depending on cancer. Afasting glucose level of 90 or 100 may feel like marked hypoglycemia and even induce seizures in someonewho is used to levels of 400, as with some diabetics. Someone used to functioning between 80-100 mg/dl mayfeel reactively hypoglycemic (foggy, emotionally volatile or irritable) at 70. A healthy person maintainingconsistently low glucose and insulin levels may not exceed 90 or 100 even following a meal and may feelabsolutely comfortable and symptom free with fasting blood sugar at 65.

The rule of thumb is, the lower you can maintain your blood glucose levels in a healthy and functional way(that is, without experiencing low blood sugar symptoms), the better off you are.

For those more optimally healthy, maintaining a range between 70-90 mg/dl or lower, this is equivalent to nomore than 1 teaspoon of sugar, or 5 grams total. Keep in mind that the body is adamant about maintainingminimal necessary levels of glucose at any given time, as glucose is inherently damaging to vessels, organsand tissues in the body. The less glucose that is absolutely necessary, the better.

For example; just two slices of bread, or a single small bagel, contain about 6 teaspoons of glucose – fivetimes the amount normally allowed in the bloodstream!! Dietary carbohydrates, with the exception of fiberare all absorbed by the liver and converted to the simple monosaccaride, glucose that is then released into thebloodstream. Cereals and potatoes can raise blood sugar even faster than candy bars!

Glucose in the bloodstream auto-oxidizes, which, in excess, produces potent free-radical activity, thatdamages arterial walls and forms cross-links with proteins called advanced glycsylation (also known asglycation) end products (AGEs). AGEs are known to accelerate the age-associated declines in the functioningof cells and tissues and cause mutations in DNA. AGEs bind with certain receptors in the bloodstream,appropriately called RAGEs, and induce widespread inflammation, leading to more advanced cardiovasculardisease. A simple, inexpensive blood test can measure up to a three-month window of glycation of red bloodcells is called Hemoglobin-A1C and can be used to more accurately monitor these glycation tendencies overtime. Fasting blood sugar as a marker is not accurate for this.

Glucose is literally what ages (or AGEs) us. It is an irony that the very thing we all need to stay alive and fuelanaerobic processes is what science has discovered is ultimately what degenerates and kills us. We have tohave some sugar to fuel our red blood cells, but not so much for our brains and organs to depend upon. Ourred blood cells, however, need to burn sugar (glucose) for fuel anaerobically in order to preserve theirprecious cargo, which is oxygen…so they burn sugar instead of fats.

(Note: Glycation and its damage is ultimately a cumulative process, so every bit of sugar or starch we eateventually counts. Every piece of candy, cookie, bread, potato, spoonful of honey or drop of soda drunkeffectively shortens your life – something to think about. Though some glycation and/or its effects can bereversible, some are not. It’s all a matter of what you choose to prioritize.)**

(**this was touched on in the seminar, however these notes are taken directly from Nora’s book, PrimalBody-Primal Mind. **)Carb Consumption

-Causes serotonin depletion, magnesium depletion, as well as b vitamins, irritability, brain fog, cognitiveimpairment, depression, attentional disorders, anxiety disorders

-Nothing is more destabilizing to the brain and nervous system than blood sugar surges

-Nothing is more stablizing to the brain than dietary fat

- You are one of two things: you are either a ‘fat burner’ or a ‘sugar burner.’ If you are overweight, cravecarbohydrates (and stimulants) or are leptin-resistant, then you are a ‘sugar burner.’

y ( ) p y g

GLUTEN!!!

-Wherever neurological cognitive attentional or mood based issues present gluten senstitivy and or celiacdisase should always be inlcuded as a suspect

-Nobody is walking around with a gluten deficiency

-Gluten is a gateway sensitivity – increases an enzyme in the body known as zonulin, which controls intestinalpermeability

-Being mostly gluten free is like saying I’m just a little bit pregnant, you either are or you’re not. only totaland permanent abstinence will allow your body to truly heal.

-Gluten containing grains include wheat; durum, graham, semolina, kamut, spelt, as well as rye, barley, oatsand triticale.

- Many, if not most, who suffer from this condition do so completely unaware of the dangerous vulnerabilitywithin themselves.

- Gluten and carbohydrate intolerance, in general, are far more the rule than the exception in today’s world.