Nutrition for a Calm Nervous System

Transcript:

Leah: Welcome to Dishing Up Nutrition, brought to you by Nutritional Weight & Wellness. Let me ask you, listeners, do you feel like your brain is always on a hamster wheel? Running, running, running, never able to slow down.

Do you feel wired but tired? Like you're exhausted all throughout the day, but then you can't get your mind to turn off at night? Are you relying on caffeine or sugar for energy boost just to get through the day? Do you wake up feeling anxious, tense, or easily overwhelmed by small things, or maybe you feel on edge most of the time?

Do you find it hard to focus or calm down because your mind won't stop racing? If you answered yes to any of these, your nervous system may be on overdrive, and it might be a new thought that what and how you eat during the day could be shaping your mood, your focus, or even the way you handle stress. So today we're diving into this fascinating topic of how your diet affects your nervous system.

So whether you feel like you're in a constant state of fight or flight, dealing with ongoing anxiety and stress; maybe you've been living with painful neuropathy from damaged nerves, or you just want to be able to feel calmer, more focused, and more in control of your emotions day to day, this is the episode for you.

And before we get too much further into this topic, let's just do some introductions. My name is Leah Kleinschrodt. I'm a Registered and Licensed Dietitian here at Nutritional Weight & Wellness, and my co-host for the show is Teresa Wagner, also a Registered and Licensed Dietitian.

Teresa: Yes, it's good to be here with you again, Leah.

Leah: Good to be here with you.

Teresa: I am excited about this topic. I feel like it's one that we haven't talked about in a little while.

Leah: Mm-hmm.

What the nervous system is & its function in the body

Teresa: And so, as we are diving into today's topic, let's briefly go over what the nervous system is and the function it has in the body. The nervous system is a part of your body's communication network, which includes your brain, your spinal cord, and all 7 trillion nerves that send signals to help you move, feel and think every day. Your brain is communicating to every part of your body through these trillions of nerves in every single moment, and what you eat can affect how clearly that conversation will go.

Without the right nutrients, communication in the nervous system can slow down or it can go on overdrive. One of my clients I was working with recently was under a lot of stress and just felt strung out. She told me I feel like I just need to hit the reset button on my whole system.

How can I reset my nervous system? And so what I was thinking is by combining the right balance of nourishing foods with lifestyle practices, you can really make some progress on giving your nervous system a rest.

Leah: Mm-hmm. I feel like I've had a lot of clients hitting that wall recently as well. I'm not really sure if it's the changing seasons or the upcoming holidays or whatever. But I feel like I've been having more of those conversations with my clients also, of just kind of like getting back to that place of balance and trying to down-regulate that nervous system.

You mentioned, Teresa, that the brain is constantly sending out information to all of the nerves in our body, but it's a two-way street. That's what I imagine in my brain anyways. Like there's this two-way street going on where the, we have our nerve endings, you know, in our hands and our feet, and like every other part of our body that's constantly gathering information about our environment and then it's sending that information up to the brain.

The blood sugar connection to the nervous system

The brain is the one that kind of has to synthesize and process all of it and kind of decide where do we go next. So one of the things that I do want to start with, like one of those internal things that the, that the nerves are trying to sense all the time is what does our blood sugar level doing?

It wouldn't be Dishing Up Nutrition show if we didn't talk about blood sugar, but this is a, a big connection when it comes to those feelings of stress, the feelings of anxiety, the feeling that fight or flight type of response and, and keeping that nervous system in check. So balancing blood sugar is one of the most powerful, yet sometimes underutilized or overlooked ways to support our nervous system.

So we always want to start here, get a solid foundation before we might foray into more targeted supplements or other specific practices. So one thing that our brain really craves under normal circumstances is consistency, even keel. It doesn't like the boat to be rocked too much. It likes this steady stream of energy, this steady stream of glucose for energy. And it doesn't want to be on a rollercoaster. It doesn't want to be riding the rollercoaster too high or too low.

And this rollercoaster can happen when we, we've all probably experienced this. You eat the high sugar food, whatever that is, that piece of cake, the couple of cookies, the like, we're recording this right after Halloween, so maybe it's happened a little more recently with the Halloween candy, and you get kind of that rush feeling.

You get kind of that sensation where you're flying high for a little while, maybe 30 minutes, maybe an hour, something like that, and then it comes crashing down later. That blood sugar crash, that hangry feeling that follows, like these really do feel awful. And you might also feel lightheaded. You get hit with a wall of fatigue or anxiety.

You might feel shaky, you might not be able to focus. So this is happening on a blood sugar level. What's happening in the nervous system at the same time? So when your blood sugar spikes and crashes and you're on that roller coaster, your body releases stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline in order to stabilize it, which keeps your nervous system in a state of constant alert.

Anytime where recruiting adrenaline and cortisol to try to keep that inner balance, it's probably not going to be the greatest long-term strategy for our nervous system. So over time, these fluctuations in blood sugar and fluctuations then with our nervous system, make us feel anxious, jittery, foggy in the brain, moody, things like that.

And eating for blood sugar balance, so if we want to try to keep that rollercoaster a lot more even keel where we're just coasting, we want to have quality proteins at every meal, have those healthy fats along with it. I find between the protein and the healthy fats, those are big anchors for our blood sugar.

And we introduced some fiber rich carbohydrates in there as well. All this combination helps us maintain those steady glucose levels to the brain, and then in turn, we don't have adrenaline floating around. We don't have too much cortisol floating around. So now we have a calm and resilient nervous system. Another way to think about it is that these balanced meals don't just feed your body. They teach your nervous system to feel safe and to get out of that fight or flight mode.

Teresa: Yeah, I think that that's a great explanation of how the nervous system and blood sugar are intertwined. I think you gave a very good visual on that and, and going into like, the practicality then is, well, what does that look like?

Leah: Yeah.

How you start your day largely impacts blood sugar

Teresa: So I find how you start your day makes a big difference in how you will feel for the rest of the day.

Leah: Mm-hmm.

Teresa: This means no skipping breakfast or relying on caffeine or those high sugar carbs to give you a quick jumpstart in the morning. Instead, I would say eat breakfast, and I want to give a plug for why we should eat breakfast. Because I think for, you know, many women, we love this idea of intermittent fasting, time restricting.

Leah: It’s a popular thing out there.

Teresa: Yes, right. Time restricted eating or I just like calling it yeah we're just skipping breakfast.

Leah: Yep.

Teresa: Right? And for many women, this is a really easy thing for them to do. Because physically they're not feeling that hungry at the time. So it seems like, well this is the logical time that I can, you know, save my calories so I can eat them later in the day.

But I really hope this idea, like you were saying, it's very popular right now. I really hope it's trending its way out with more information that we've gotten from doing the experiment of intermittent fasting. And I would say for the women, hey, if it's working for you, I'm not going to tell you that, you know, you're wrong.

Leah: Yep.

Teresa: Not going to go there. But what I would say is if you are not hitting your goals and what you want, maybe there's another option out there for you.

Leah: Yeah. It's just not the right path for you to get to those goals.

Teresa: Yes. Right. So my preference for women when I am looking at making a meal plan, building a meal plan for them, and this is really in particularly for women, because I think for men, intermittent fasting, you know, maybe it works a little bit better for them.

Leah: They’ve got a little more wiggle room usually.

Teresa: Right. So for women, I really like to think about eating with your circadian rhythm.

Leah: Mm-hmm.

Teresa: What that means is eating when the sun is out. And not eating when it's not. Now I get, it's a little tricky at this time of year. I mean, when we're talking right now, it gets dark at about 4:30, 5 o'clock. And that is not necessarily what I'm saying is to be done by that time, but to think about starting to fuel your day as the sun is coming up, as you are starting to have activities for the day.

We need fuel for activities. And as the sun is going down and we're going more into a rest mode, maybe we are finished with the running around for the day, we're settling into the couch, reading a book, watching tv, and then eventually going to bed, that perhaps we don't need to fuel as much at this time or at all.

Leah: Yeah.

Teresa: And so really fueling with that circadian rhythm. So more for our topic for today then, when we wake up in the morning, we have a natural rise in cortisol, as Leah was talking about earlier. It's a natural rise. Cortisol goes up and that's a part of what helps to wake us up in the morning, is that cortisol rise.

With that rise in cortisol often there is a corresponding rise in blood sugar. So with the use of CGMs or the continuous glucose monitors, these little things that we can wear on our arms that measure our blood sugar all day and night long, we are seeing that in the morning for some women, that they're having high blood sugars and they're really not coming down until they're eating.

Leah: Yep.

Teresa: And so while it's not logical, it seems more logical that your blood sugar would stay low until you eat. What we're seeing is that eating will actually help to bring it down into those lower levels that we want it. So, so an interesting like sort of segue on that.

Leah: Yeah.

Teresa: So when we're thinking about breakfast, and we don't have an appetite, there are different things we can do. Leah, we were talking about that earlier. You know, many of us get up in the morning and we work out. And we may not want to have a full breakfast at that time.

Leah: Yeah, I hear that a lot.

Teresa: So perhaps we'll have something a little bit smaller that can signal to our body. Okay. Everything's okay. Cortisol can go down, blood sugar can go down.

Leah: Yeah. It's that safety signal like we just mentioned a little while ago.

Teresa: Right. And it can be really easy, and I'll say the one thing that I do, because I really don't have an appetite right away in the morning, is I'll do about 12 ounces of coffee. I'll do about four ounces of whole milk. And the reason why I'm using milk is because I want to have that protein component.

And there's a fat component there. I'll throw in some collagen for some extra protein and then some, a little bit of creatine because well, creatine's hot right now. Everybody's doing creatine. And I'm going to a workout, I was telling Leah earlier, I usually drink about half before the workout and half after the workout.

So we're getting both sides of the benefit of some of that creatine. But it's also so great for the brain. And Leah, I think you were saying something about how that was beneficial for you?

Leah: Yeah, I definitely notice it with creatine. I tend to, I'll put a little in my coffee in the morning, but I also time a little bit after my workouts and so I don't necessarily notice a difference or feel anything during the workouts. But after my workouts where normally I would get done and then have a little bit of a slump there in the afternoon, just kind of a post-workout slump. If I have a little bit of creatine in there, my recovery is better and I don't get that slump, like, I feel like my energy stays pretty consistent the rest of the afternoon.

I'm usually working out early afternoon or so. I mean, and you mentioned for brain health, so my husband's family has Alzheimer's, dementia, things like that in their family history. So my husband is also doing creatine just for that brain, like kind of that brain health, dementia prevention strategy that we have going for him. So, yeah.

Teresa: Yeah. It's great. And you can combine some of these components of our diet to help promote all kinds of things. And I think that's what we do so well at Nutritional Weight & Wellness is it's not a single path. It's what's good for the nervous system can also be good for the brain and other aspects. And it can be great for blood sugar and it can be great for just overall general feelings of wellness.

Leah: That's the magic of real food. And using food as medicine. Right? It's usually not just a single targeted thing. It has benefits body wide.

Easy breakfast ideas

Teresa: Yes. And so speaking of food, a couple of really easy breakfast ideas, because not only do we not eat in the morning because we don't necessarily feel like it, but it's also time. So some very quick breakfast options. That can be what Leah was talking about earlier. Higher in protein, we want to a fiber component, we want a fat component to stabilize our blood sugar.

Here are some easy options: Greek yogurt. Add some raspberries or blackberries for some carb and some really good fiber. I love the nut and seed granola that's on our website. Great source of natural fats. Also more fiber. That is super filling. It's super fast. And I, and super delicious I guess.

Leah: Yeah, absolutely.

Teresa: I was asking one of our coworkers, Terri, what she does for breakfast if she wants a fast option and she's like, oh, I just have chicken salad. So if we think about that, we can make that the night before. High protein with the chicken, we can add natural fats from an avocado oil based mayo.

We can throw a high fiber fruit in there for that sweet pop. I like to use pomegranate seeds because it's so great for the gut microbiome. Put it over a bed of greens. We've got more vegetables, fast and easy, and it's actually really delicious and it's a delightful breakfast.

Leah: Yeah. Just one of those, like thinking outside the breakfast box a little bit.

Teresa: Yeah.

Leah: Yeah.

Teresa: And also a chia pudding. Another option, especially for people who are maybe dairy free.

Leah: Mm-hmm.

Teresa: Canned coconut milk is that healthy fat that stabilizes your blood sugar. Throw in some protein powder for some protein. Chia seeds for that fiber.

Leah: Yep.

Teresa: And then throw in a fruit of your choice. Either mix it in or just top it with it once it's, once it's set overnight.

Leah: Yeah, easy.

Teresa: Easy, easy and fast. And you know you can eat those in the car on your way to work or school or whatever you're doing.

Leah: Yeah. All easy, delicious ideas. It kind of takes some of that time excuse out. So try those on for size. See if, again, even just eating a little something in the morning, especially we get a little protein and some fiber in there. How does your stress, how does your stress levels do? How does your nervous system do? How do you feel then over the course of the day, when we set things up at the beginning of the day to start off on a balanced foot?

Eat about every 3-4 hours during the day for balanced blood sugar

So after that breakfast then, or that first meal, whatever you want to call it, then we're looking to eat every three to four hours or so during the day. And sometimes I will catch myself like feeling a little anxious or on edge. Actually, one of my telltale signs if I've gone a little too long without food is like I am, I'm either reading an email five times through, because each time I read it's just the information is not clicking. It's not clicking. And I actually ran into this yesterday as I was preparing to teach one of our Nutrition for Weight Loss Foundation series.

I was just trying to go through some of the notes and prepare, and I was going through those notes and it just wasn't clicking or wasn't staying in my brain. I was like, I should probably take a break right now and just eat the dinner that I had had brought, and that helped a hundred percent. So again, we want to eat that every three to four hours just so we have that steady glucose stream up to the brain. And so it does, it truly helps that brain calm down, allows you to focus. It just has more resources to run off of then.

Teresa: Yeah, I totally agree. That focus is so affected by blood sugar and hunger.

Leah: Right. And this is an example where I think some of our clients or people out there are going for the caffeine. They're going for something high sugar. We're actually like, we really just need, we don't need to sledgehammer our blood sugar with anything or our adrenals with anything. We just need kind of like that gentle rise and some extra nutrition under our belts.

Teresa: And as we were talking about before, just fuel.

Leah: Yeah.

Teresa: Our body needs to run on something, give it what it needs. Yes.

High blood sugar has health consequences

Leah: Absolutely. And I do want to touch on blood sugar a little bit more, high blood sugar, especially, because this goes beyond just how you feel. High blood sugars over time do have scary health consequences. So when you eat a diet that is high in sugar, this leads to inflammation, oxidative stress, and these things do damage those little, sensitive nerve endings and can disrupt communication between neurons.

Most people are familiar with diabetic neuropathy, where you've had high blood sugars running amok for too long, and then eventually that high sugar kind of just eats away at those little nerve endings. They starve of oxygen and they die off mostly in the extremities. First it's like, it's your fingertips, it's your toes, it's your feet, it's your hands, things like that.

I had a client recently, I don't remember how we got on this, but we were talking about diabetic bladder. Like there's something to that where the nerves that innervate the bladder, high blood sugars for too long will start to affect bladder function.

Teresa: Oh, interesting. Yeah. Yeah. A client and I were just talking about diabetic neuropathy too, because she's got some tingling in her feet as well. And we were discussing about how the tiny blood vessels aren't getting the nutrients that they need, the oxygen they need.

And we came up with sort of this visual of when it starts to tingle like that, her cells are saying, I can't breathe. I can't breathe. Because she eats really well, but just has a sweet tooth and has a very hard time staying away from baked goods. So we were trying to come up with a new strategy as to how can we work with this scenario.

Leah: That's very cool.

Teresa: And you know, beyond sugar, other things, right; can, be let's say hard on the nervous system.

Leah: Mm-hmm.

Alcohol & caffeine can overstimulate & deplete the nervous system

Teresa: Alcohol and caffeine in excess can also overstimulate and deplete the nervous system. Anyone who has ever overconsumed caffeine, which I think is probably most of us, or alcohol, can relate to the effects of being overly anxious, unable to focus or feel like they're just not functioning well that day or the next day.

So if you're feeling like your nervous system is on overdrive, it might be tempting to rely on caffeine to stay awake during the day and alcohol at the end of the night to wind down, but they are likely making that problem worse, and that leads to relying more and more on those stimulants and depressants over time.

They may work in the short term, but they can easily lead to dependency, so it's best not to rely on these to regulate our nervous system. So when I'm working with someone who's battling adrenal overstimulation, chronic stress, I really try to encourage avoiding caffeine and alcohol as much as possible to let the body get back into its natural rhythm without these substances.

This can be an uncomfortable adjustment to be made. And so maybe we don't cold turkey either one of those things because that really can be uncomfortable is a nice way of putting it.

Leah: Yes.

Teresa: But once you titrate down and then you, maybe you eliminate some of those things or use it much less, people usually feel much better and realize that they were using those maybe more than they were thinking they were using them. And then it, like I said, it's like it clears out just a little bit. Everything feels just so much smoother and calmer. And then your desire for those things starts to subside too.

Leah: Yeah. When you've met the need of whatever those gaps that those things were filling, it allows you to kind of step away from those and not use them quite as much. I do like your suggestion though, especially with the caffeine of just weaning down on that versus cold turkey.

I mean, that would be over time as I've worked on cutting down my caffeine too, so kind of cutting down to like the half cafs, using the decafs or blending decaf with some of that regular caf. So that, again, you get a little gentle list with that caffeine still, but over time you can shift the ratio of those things a little bit more.

Teresa: Yeah.

Leah: Yeah. So we do need to take a break. We will be back on the other side and talk a little bit more just about the basics of our nervous system and other things that we can do, both nutrition and lifestyle wise to help support that nervous system. We'll be right back.

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Biochemistry of how the nervous system works

All right, we are back and we're talking about nutrition to support the nervous system. We've touched a little bit on the basics of eating to support your nervous system. I want to take a little bit of time just diving deeper into some of the biochemistry of how the nervous system works. We mentioned the nervous system is mostly our brain, our spinal cord, and then 7 trillion little nerves that are throughout your body.

But maybe think back to your high school or maybe college biology class. Think about those nerve signals and these, so these nerves or this electrical communication through the body get spread through fibers. They look like tiny little threads, and again, they spread to every single part of our body.

These little fibers are protected by a fatty tubing called the myelin sheath. Damage to the myelin sheath insulation makes it so that nerves can't shoot their message across to the intended part of the body, or it gargles that communication. So you can kind of think of your nerves like electrical wires that carry messages between your brain and the rest of the body.

Again, two-way streets, so it takes those nerve signals, sends them up to the brain as well. And now just like electrical wires, many of them have plastic or rubber insulation around them to keep the current from leaking out. Same type of idea that your nerve fibers have that myelin sheath as insulation.

Without a healthy myelin, it's like having a wire that's damaged or it's missing that insulation over the top. The electrical signal leaks out or slows down, so the message doesn't actually get to where it needs to go. So this can lead to slower reactions or those uncomfortable and awful, often painful feelings of tingling and numbness in the hands and the feet.

With healthy myelin, the signal travels fast and efficiently and it makes that communication between the brain and the body almost instantaneous. So just think of it like high speed internet connection compared to the dialup connection. I remember the dialup connection phase.

Teresa: Oh my gosh. I feel like that noise is ingrained in my brain.

Leah: Always.

The importance of fatty acids for myelin sheath and nerve function

Teresa: I won't try to mimic it. But I think most of us can hear it. With all of what Leah has said, let's talk about how we can improve that myelin sheath and the nerve function that we have with diet. The myelin sheath is made of 70 to 80% fatty acids, specifically an omega-3 called DHA.

DHA helps maintain flexibility and promotes repair of damaged sheath. Foods high in DHA are fatty fish. I like to think of the acronym SMASH fish, which is salmon, mackerel, anchovies, sardines, and herring. We also can get some DHA in omega-fortified eggs.

You can get a little DHA in plant-based omega-3 foods as well, like flax and chia seeds and walnuts. But in the case of needing extra nerve support, you really need to supplement to get enough of that DHA. It is really difficult to get it from food alone. So if you've ever taken a prenatal supplement, you may have noticed it advertised something about DHA on the label.

That's because it's crucial for a baby's development of the spinal cord, the brain, the eyes, and of course the nervous system. So that goes to show how important it is to support the nervous system if it's included in prenatal vitamins for that part of fetal development. When supplementing with DHA, I would make sure that you're getting around 600 milligrams. Is that typically what you do, Leah is about 600?

Leah: Yeah. Yeah. I would say 400 to 600 would be kind of the low end. And there's room to go up from there.

Teresa: Right. For that sort of general maintenance. But in things like MS, multiple sclerosis, a condition where the myelin is already damaged, you would probably go up higher, like you were saying.

Leah: Definitely. Yeah.

Teresa: Go much higher.

Leah: Yep. We've been trained like that is like a go-to supplement for our clients who have MS. Supplementing with DHA is also helpful for overall brain support. So I think of things like a ADHD, anxiety, depression, OCD, if you have addiction type tendencies. So again, anything to support that brain function. I mentioned my husband's family history with dementia also, so I have had clients come in and say, okay, what do we got for keeping my brain healthy long term, keeping that memory intact as long as we can, just trying to work from that prevention standpoint.

That would be another area where I would consider DHA for. So if anyone has any of those mental health concerns or they're, I have clients coming to me with these, we're talking about supplementing with some of that DHA if they're not doing it already.

B vitamins: crucial for nerve function, energy & neurotransmitters

Teresa: Right. And we can compliment that DHA with another key group of nutrients for nerve health, the B vitamins. Specifically B1, B6, B9, and B12. Those are crucial for nerve function and energy and the production of neurotransmitters. So those neurotransmitters, those are those chemical signals that make us feel things.

So if you're low in these B vitamins, your nerves simply can't communicate properly. We can get adequate B vitamins through eating a variety of real foods. Animal proteins like meat, dairy, eggs, fish, and also plant sources like whole grains, legumes, and vegetables. However, if we're working to optimize for someone for nerve function, I'm going to make sure they're taking a good multivitamin or B complex with methylated B vitamins for best absorption.

Leah: Mm-hmm. Yes. And when we're under stress, when we're just trying to make it through life, sometimes stress is one of those things that will deplete those B vitamins faster. So sometimes, yeah, we can eat those great real foods and still not be able to catch up. So like you said, the supplementing like there can definitely be a place for those.

And I, I mean, I think about, so you could do it a couple of different ways. You can look for a great multivitamin that has some of those methylated B vitamins in it. Our Twice Per Day is a great example that I'll throw out there for people. And what you're looking at on the label, like especially looking at folate, you want to see is it a methyl folate?

Or if you're looking at the B12 component, is there a methylcobalamin on there? So the Twice Per Day is a great option. Otherwise, the Ortho Molecular Methyl B Complex is another go-to if someone's looking specifically more for a B vitamin. Just general B vitamin support.

Alpha Lipoic Acid & PEA: specialized nerve protection 

Another interesting little guy that I, we don't talk about a whole lot on this show, but one that I think is worth bringing up now. So if you're someone who battles with neuropathy or you have some of that like burning, tingling, numbness in the hands and feet due to damaged nerves, one little guy that might be helpful is called Alpha Lipoic Acid or ALA.

This is one of the most widely researched and used natural compounds for nerve protection. It's a great antioxidant. So we've mentioned inflammation and oxidative stress a few times, so it helps to combat some of that inflammation and oxidative stress. Kind of like the bodyguard for your nerves, if you want to think about it that way.

It shields them from that oxidative damage. It improves their energy supply, it boosts circulation and even helps to rebuild or repair that myelin sheath. ALA is commonly prescribed for diabetic neuropathy where again, like we've had high blood sugar that's kind of come in and damaged those nerves.

And ALA, you can find it in foods. So some foods definitely like our, our green veggies, our leafy greens too. So think spinach, think broccoli, Brussels sprouts, everyone's favorite organ meats in there. Those are dietary sources of ALA. However, you know, the dietary sources likely are not enough to reach therapeutic levels, just if we've already got some nerve damage or if we're already having symptoms, we probably want to go a little more gung-ho with some supplementation.

So for my clients struggling with neuropathy, I'll typically start 300 milligrams or so of ALA per day. This is one again, you can go up, you can go up to 600, I've heard of 900 before. You're just trying to get a little extra antioxidant support on board, so you can get ALA as a standalone supplement.

We carry a supplement called Nerve Eze that has ALA in it. And it also has another interesting little ingredient called PEA. I'm not even going to try to pronounce like the full name of it. But it's, it's a very interesting little fatty molecule that can help calm down that overactive nervous system, overactive nerves, and reduce that inflammation.

So, Britni did an “Ask a Nutritionist” episode on this; it was October of 2023, diving into specifically about PEA. So if you're curious and just learning a little bit more, like check out that episode. So again, like the idea is we're trying to calm down some of those overactive nerves, reduce inflammation.

So for neuropathy it can be helpful. If you have some other kind of chronic pain condition going on that's affecting the nerves, both the PEA and ALA can just be helpful for decreasing that inflammation.

Green tea benefits for staying calm and focused, & more

Teresa: All right, well now that we have covered the more physical aspects of nerve pain, let's circle back to the mental aspect of calming the nervous system.  You may have heard of drinking green tea to help your brain stay calm and focused. Green tea is great to incorporate into your diet for all of its powerful antioxidants.

EGCG is probably the best known of the antioxidants in green tea. Green tea is also beneficial because it has a lower caffeine content, so if you're working your way down on the caffeine scale, green tea is a nice option to give you a little bit of caffeine, but not the same amount as coffee.

It also contains an amino acid called L-Theanine, which supports neurotransmitters that calm the brain. So if you're not a green tea drinker, I like to supplement with 200 milligram capsules to help my brain calm down anytime I'm feeling a little on edge or nervous. I love L-Theanine. I think that this particular supplement is one that is so nice because you can feel it.

Leah: Yeah.

Teresa: You know, so many times you take something like, for example, the multivitamin you were saying taking before.

Leah: Yeah.

Teresa: Generally speaking, unless you're deficient in something you probably won't notice when you take a multivitamin. But l-theanine is something that is definitely noticeable. For the people that it, you know, “works for”, it works so well in that feeling of calmness.

Leah: Yep.

Teresa: And I tell people it's not like it's going to overwhelm you with calm. It's just like this nice feeling, like a big deep breath relaxation and it's just wonderful. So this is something because you can feel it working, you don't necessarily have to take all the time if you don't want to. It's something you can keep in your medicine cabinet. And if you're feeling on edge, like I was saying before, you're feeling tense, you're feeling a little extra stressed, it's something that you can just use in the moment.

It takes about 15 minutes, I would say, for it to kick in. That you might want to experiment a little bit for you, but, you take it and then it gives that calming feeling and it's just could be a wonderful compliment to some of the other things that you're doing.

Leah: Yeah.

Teresa: So it's great for helping your brain stay calm and focused. And you can use it during the day for being calm and focused. But it also can be used at bedtime if you're having trouble relaxing and falling asleep too. Doesn't make you sleepy. Just helps calm me down. So I tell people, if you wake up at four in the morning and you still have got a couple of hours, this is one that you can take in the middle of the night and you're not going to have like that morning after grogginess.

Leah: Definitely. Yeah. If there's anything to be said for it. I keep a bottle of L-theanine here at work, and I keep one at home just because I need it accessible. Because I, I am one of those people that it works well for. And when I use it, it's mostly like if I am, if I'm teaching and I'm just feeling a little revved up or something like that, I do take that l-theanine.

I do use it during the night or if I, again, my brain just is a little overactive and I, I do find it just takes it down a couple notches and allows my brain to just be able to focus. And I love your analogy of like, it just feels like you can take that breath, you can take that beat and actually access your thoughts and do what you need to do.

Tea options that can be calming

So I love that example. Love L-theanine. So green tea has that, I mean, if you're a tea drinker, some other things that just might be helpful from a nervous system standpoint, like chamomile tea can be helpful there, ashwagandha, holy basil tea. These are just some natural adaptogens that also can help you. Like these are things you can pepper in throughout your day just to like add a layer of calm, especially into like your afternoons and evenings and stuff like that.

Magnesium: a relaxing mineral

Again, it wouldn't be Dishing Up Nutrition if we didn't talk a little bit about magnesium. Of course, magnesium is, yeah, magnesium is our big relaxation mineral. Our B vitamins, we start to blow through our B vitamins quickly when we're under stress. Same idea with magnesium. We use up our magnesium a lot quicker when we're just under stress, when we're in that fight or flight mode a little bit more.

So, I mean, almost everybody who comes through my door, if they're not already on a magnesium, it's probably something we're going to talk about at some point in the first, like one or three appointments, something along those lines.

Teresa: It seems like magnesium is appropriate for everyone.

Leah: Yeah.

Teresa: Maybe not everyone, but many, many people.

Leah: Many people, yeah. We can't speak in absolutes, but for many people it is just one of those things that does support that nervous system, supports that signaling of the nerves. It reduces inflammation. We've got a lot of different kinds of magnesium. Some are better for some things. I love Magnesium Glycinate. I feel like you can't really go wrong there, which we talk about a lot.

But specifically, there is a form of magnesium called Magnesium Threonate which crosses the blood brain barrier specifically. So that for some people is actually more helpful when you need that calm brain, that focus. I think about this, yeah, with maybe like my A DHD clients, the, the, my clients that are running a little bit higher stress, or for whatever reason we need something a little bit more brain specific.

Teresa: Right. And that magnesium threonate, that one's wonderful for people who suffer from migraines.

Leah: Yes. That's another great example.

Teresa: It can be a really great one. On our website, the Magnesium Threonate we carry is called Magtein if you're looking for it.

Leah: Yep.

Lifestyle tips for calming the nervous system

Teresa: So we've covered a lot today, but I want to mention a few lifestyle tips as well, because in the intro we did say that we would be giving food examples and then there's some lifestyle tips. When we're thinking about calming the nervous system, there are many different lifestyle tips. We'll just go over a few here right now, but know that there are many, many different options that you can do from a lifestyle perspective too, that can help calm that nervous system. One of the things I really recommend for people is deep breathing. And there's a couple of different styles I like, but there are many different styles that you can do.

Leah: Yep.

Teresa: Diaphragmic breathing. Where you expand your lungs and your abdomen on the inhale and you breathe in through your nose. And then exhale through your mouth and contract your abdomen. So it's like you're expanding wide, like you're blowing up a balloon when you're breathing in and then you're letting the air out of that balloon and everything contracts coming back. And doing that relatively slowly.

Leah: Mm-hmm.

Teresa: I also like box breathing. When I picture that box, I usually start on the left hand side, breathing your inhale is going to go up that left hand side of the box. As you're going across the top, you're holding your breath. As you're going down the right hand side of the box, that's your exhale. And then across the bottom is your hold.

And those are all for four seconds. So in for four, hold for four, out for four. Hold for four. And repeat. And so I try to do that 10 times. And I think when I do that, it also, the counting helps to really relax the brain.

Easy, gentle movement is also great for the nervous system. The intense yoga’s Right? But just the ones where it's more breathing focused and stretching focused.

Leah: Yes.

Teresa: Walks. And I encourage people to do walks without technology. Let their brain wander and calm down. Or maybe if it wanders just a little bit too much, maybe you need some calming music and that can be helpful. Getting outside at all in nature, I think is so good. We spend so much time indoors. Trying to get out by the tree in green space, white space in the winter.

Leah: Yes.

Teresa: Breathing that fresh air, getting around water or whatever calms you. And then also apps, of course we can use technology. There's an app called the Nerva app that's specifically designed for the nervous system, and also meditation focused apps are really helpful too. Insight Timer and Headspace are a couple of my favorites. So some of those things are things that I recommend on the lifestyle side to help calming the nervous system. Leah, I know you probably have some recommendations too.

Leah: Yeah. Well, a couple of them build off of what you just said. So the outside time I was thinking about. Like, I've got little kids. You've had little kids. Your kids are bigger now. But still, it's like somebody I once saw, like outside time for kids is like hitting the reset button on nervous system, on mood.

So like I totally get that where it's like if things are burning down inside the house and everyone's just a little chaotic, it's like everybody jackets on, boots on whatever you have to do. We're getting outside and it really truly, I think is magical. Like it is such a reset for my emotional state and my nervous system, but I can totally see it in my kids also.

So getting outside for that fresh air, a little sun in your eyes, you know, if it's warm enough ground and put your feet in the earth, that kind of thing. Just that outside time is such a great natural reset. So I love that idea. One thing that we started, since it's the month of November, one thing that's kind of baked into the culture here at Nutritional Weight & Wellness that I really love and appreciate is, every workday here, we send out a monthly gratitude or a daily gratitude email where those of us who work here, we can contribute our thoughts and what we're grateful for.

And then it's sent anonymously out the next day, in emails and stuff like that. And so it's just a really nice way to start your morning or get grounded in the day. And just that gratitude practice is something I think that is so helpful to combat some of that anxiety; this spiral, the stress and stuff like that, that we're just faced through a lot of the rest of the day. So just a, a good gratitude practice can be helpful there.

Teresa: Yes. And even in that same vein, I would say I have many clients where prayer and devotion are very much a part of that.

Leah: Yep.

Teresa: Just bringing the nervous system down.

Leah: Absolutely. Yeah. Great examples.

Teresa: Well, and let's not forget the most important thing. And that is sleep. If you're not sleeping, you're not going to be able to function at your best. So these lifestyle practices tell your body that you're safe, you're shifting out of fight or flight and sleep is one of those examples of how we can really shift out of that. And for a significant amount of time, hopefully.

Leah: Yes, hopefully. And if sleep is a struggle, we've got a lot of shows related to that too. So go back and, and listen to some of those.

Wrapping up some key concepts

So we're going to wrap up our discussion today. If you're just looking for that nervous system reboot, that reset, start with the foundation of eating in balance. Avoid skipping meals the best that you can. I mean, this is a simple practice, but it can make a really big difference in your stress response.

Teresa: Right, and if you're building that brain friendly plate, that nervous system friendly plate, focus on the three macronutrients. A quality protein like eggs, poultry, or fish, a healthy natural fat like olive oil, avocado, butter, or nuts. And a rainbow of fruits and vegetables for antioxidants and minerals to protect nerve cells from oxidative stress. That's the foundation for a well fed nervous system.

Balanced blood sugar is also one of the most powerful ways to protect your nerves. There are also helpful supplements like magnesium, B vitamins, DHA and ALA. But for the best help with supplement recommendations, I always recommend to meet with a dietitian like me or Leah to think about the best plan that's tailored for you.

It can seem overwhelming without that one-on-one guidance. So I really recommend with all these supplements that we listed, that if you're feeling confused, give us a call. We'll help straighten it out.

Leah: And I think a big takeaway we want to get across today is that your nervous system, it doesn't need a fancy detox, special powders, or restrictive diets. What it really needs is stability and safety signals, steady meals that balance blood sugar, healthy fats that build nerve tissue, and antioxidants that fight inflammation.

If you're feeling stressed, forgetful, dealing with nerve pain, start with your plate. Your nervous system will thank you. If you found today's podcast helpful, please share it with someone who would find it helpful also. Our goal at Nutritional Weight & Wellness is to spread the message of eating real food for real health. It's a simple but powerful message. Thank you for listening. Have a great day.