Houses of Healing

Favorite Breakfast Recipes II

Polenta and Turkey Ham with Veggie Salad

Polenta

I just use plain organic cornmeal to make polenta and I love the taste of it. Here is my favorite way to make polenta:

• Boil 6 ½ cups of water in a big pot
• When the water is boiling slowly add 1½ cups of corn meal. Whisk while you are adding the corn meal.
• Turn down to simmer.
• If you got lumps when adding the corn meal spend some extra time whisking the mixture until the lumps are gone.
• Cook on simmer for about 30 minutes and whisk every now and then. When the corn meal mixture gets thicker and starts to come away from the sides I call it done.
• Pour into a slightly oiled baking pan.
• Let sit.

It’s good for 2 meals:

When I am making polenta that I will be using in the meal I am cooking, I serve the polenta very creamy. After the meal, I let the remaining polenta sit in the baking dish, cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator.

The next day the polenta has firmed up and can be cut up in pieces and reheated (place in a slightly oiled baking dish and bake for about 15-20 minutes in a 425 oven).

Turkey Ham

• Prefer hormone and anti-biotic free
• Simply cook/warm up in a frying pan on the stove.
• With a little water and you can cook it from frozen

Veggie Salad

• Fresh tomatoes – for a nice treat use either sweet cherry tomatoes or small orange colored tomatoes – cut in pieces
• Onion – cut in slivers
• Olives – a nice mixture of green and black olives
• Avocado – cut in cubes
• Green pepper – in thin slices
• Mix with a spoonful or so of olive oil
• And 4 capfuls of balsamic vinegar
• A handful of fresh basil cut up in thin pieces
• Salt to taste

Place the warm polenta, turkey ham and salad all on the same plate. The dressing on the salad mixes a bit with the polenta and adds a nice flavor as long as you don’t drown your plate with the dressing.

Respiratory and Digestive Wellness: Part 2 - Your Lungs

The respiratory system is how you take in oxygen. In this process the lungs act as a pair of bellows. When you breathe in, the intercostal muscles between the ribs contract, expanding the rib cage while the diaphragm muscles lower the diaphragm. This causes negative pressure inside the lungs, which draws in air, via the nose and trachea, to the lungs. In the lungs the oxygen is taken up by tiny blood vessels (capillaries) into the bloodstream and by the circulatory system to every cell in the body. This oxygen is used for the metabolism of carbohydrates to produce energy and is exchanged for the waste products of metabolism (carbon dioxide and water). When you breathe out, the diaphragm and intercostal muscles relax, pushing the air out and expelling the carbon dioxide and water, which are brought to the lungs via the bloodstream.

The respiratory system is responsible for deriving energy from the air. Oxygen is the vital ingredient for the metabolism of each cell in the body. Not only are you breathing in gases vital for normal functioning of our cells and tissues, we are also breathing in the energy of the atmosphere radiating from the plants and trees and the sun.

You breathe out carbon dioxide and other waste products. Respiration serves the function of clearing unwanted debris from your body. It keeps you in balance - drawing in what is essential for life and eliminating that which is harmful for life. Air is so vital for our well-being that we can not live without it for more than a few minutes.

External respiration is the process of breathing in oxygen and breathing out carbon dioxide. Internal respiration is the cells' need for a constant supply of oxygen to burn carbohydrates and provide the energy of life. Internal respiration is the cellular use of oxygen and the resulting giving off of the waste product carbon dioxide.

Connecting the Inner and Outer Environments

The organs of the respiratory system are a major interface between our inner and outer environments. Not only is there an exchange of gas in respiration, but there is also an interface of awareness and communication between our senses associated with our ears, nose, and mouth and our external world. These organs have a close connection among themselves through the continuous layer of mucous membranes they share. This entire interconnected system shares a close interaction with the outer environment on the subtle level of air quality.

Natural Relaxed Breathing Exercise

Sit quietly by yourself for one or two 20 minute sessions each day. Listen quietly for a few minutes. Begin to turn your attention to your breath. Follow your breath– no need to take it or move it anywhere. Sit quietly, relax and follow your breath.

After a few minutes begin to practice the following quiet, relaxed, natural breathing pattern:

Breathe in filling up the lungs from the bottom, pushing down the diaphragm and slightly pushing out the abdominal. The lungs don't just expand downward as they are being filled with air - they also expand outward towards the sides and backwards towards the back. Your abdomen, back and sides gently expand outward when you inhale in natural, relaxed breathing.

When you breathe in do so in a slow and relaxed manner taking 8 or more seconds to breathe in. There is then a short pause of 2-4 seconds (neither breathing in nor out) then slowly exhale taking 10-15 or more seconds to breathe out. There is then another short pause of 2-4 seconds before you breathe in again.

Once you have practiced the breathing pattern so that you have an idea of how it feels in your body then during your Sitting Quiet sessions observe the following:

Sit quietly, relax and follow your breath. Just follow your breath and see if it begins to move into the natural, relaxed breathing pattern. Just have the intention of the natural breathing pattern and then follow your breath. Do not try and move the breath into this pattern or any other pattern. You may notice that the breath becomes imperceptible. Or perhaps indistinguishable from the larger breath around you. Great to do this outside.

This will greatly assist you in staying centered, developing your intuition and increasing your well being.

Respiratory and Digestive Wellness: Part 1

Autumn is a time for harvesting. It is a time to clean out the old and make room to put up the fruits of the summer.

We gather all of the results of our hard labors of the spring and summer and put them up for use during the contraction of the winter. If you have a garden, you will be busy taking in your last harvest and canning, freezing and putting them in storage. At the same time, you will be cleaning up the debris in the garden and settling and fortifying the gardens for winter.

Autumn is the time in which we prepare for the rest and contraction of the coming winter. At the autumn equinox, the dark of the night is equal to the light of the day and each day after the dark predominates until the Winter solstice. Everything in nature contracts and pulls its spirit inward and downward.

In autumn we begin to bring our focus closer to those parts of our life, that anchor us – our work, our family, our home. We are called to look to how it is we are going to "make it through" to the spring. Do we need to clear out some space so that we can store that which is most needed? Do we need to finish outwardly focused projects and nurture and prepare ourselves for the inwardly draw of winter? Autumn is the time to pull your focus in to your self and down to your roots.

The lungs and large intestine are the two body organs associated with autumn. The tissues of the body associated with autumn are skin and body hair, the sense organ is the nose and the bodily fluid is mucus. The emotions associated with the Metal element of the fall are grief, worry, and sorrow. White is the color of autumn’s element – metal- and can be seen in the whiteness of the facial hue of someone with an acute or chronic lung problem or in someone who is grieving. The flavor of the fall is pungent or spicy and this flavor can be seen to open up and stimulate the senses and the lungs.

The autumn is a good time to work at keeping your lungs and your digestive organs healthy. This is especially true if you have digestive or bowel weakness or face a long winter of colds and other respiratory problems.

More to come.

Favorite Breakfast Recipes

When I was a kid I hated eating breakfast. I wasn’t ready to eat until about 11:00 and even when I ate earlier I just was never into breakfast foods. My favorite breakfast food was left-overs from the night before.

Now that I am older and somewhat wiser I eat earlier in the morning but I am still not a big “breakfast food” fan. My breakfasts look more like something you would expect to eat at lunch or dinner. The elder Okinawainas – the longest lived and healthiest people – are reported to favor a breakfast of fish, rice and vegetables.

Black Beans and Rice

If I want to have really stable energy and focused concentration for the day I have legumes for breakfast. This is also a great quick dinner.

Rice – chose your favorite low glycemic index variety and cook according to directions. The general rule of thumb for rice is to use twice as much water as rice. I boil the water first then add the rice, return to a boil and then reduce to simmer.

My favorite rice is long grain brown rice. But if I need to move it along quicker in the morning I’ll use a long grain white rice because it cooks so much faster.

My Black Beans and Rice always has lots of vegetables in it. There is lots of potential variety in your choices. This morning I used:
• Kale – cut up in thin slices
• Some onion
• Mushrooms
• Roasted red peppers

Other favorite veggies to try:
• Corn – especially fresh corn off the cob.
• Green peppers
• Yellow, orange and red peppers
• Celery
• Cilantro
• Tomatoes
• Various hot peppers
• I always add some kind of green leafy veggies such as: kale, spinach, collard greens (my favorite), Swiss chard, mustard greens

Sautee the veggies in a small amount of olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Sometimes I like to add a bit of hot red pepper flakes.

After you have sautéed the veggies to taste add 1 can of black beans. I like the organic black beans from Whole Foods. Of course, you can always cook your own black beans and use those.

Add 1 cup of liquid - depending on how I am feeling I might add any of the following:
• Chicken broth
• Beef broth
• Water
• Red or green commercial salsa- if I use this I’ll add a bit more liquid from another source
• Fire roasted tomatoes with chilies – another favorite found at Whole Foods

Heat it all together. Serve the rice and beans separately and have each person plate the beans over the rice.

Progesterone Cream

In response to last week’s article about Perimenopause and Moods, someone emailed me asking about my opinion on the use of progesterone cream.

Women flock to the shelves to buy progesterone cream for all kinds of ailments- anxiety, irritability, skin problems, fatigue, insomnia, hot flashes, menstrual problems. Beside the problems that arise from not testing to see if you actually need progesterone, there are some significant downsides to the use of progesterone cream.

Once the body is saturated from the use of progesterone cream (which takes about two months), it begins to compete with cortisol for receptor sites in the blood. And it wins. The result for many women is an “artificially” elevated cortisol level. Elevated cortisol levels lead to anxiety and insomnia - often times the very thing progesterone is being used to treat.

Also, the use of progesterone cream up-regulates monoamine oxalate, which then results in faster breakdown of brain neurotransmitters. The end result leads to what is called the down-regulation of significant neurotransmitters such as dopamine, epinephrine, norepinephrine, and serotonin. This down-regulation of your neurotransmitters means that your mood and energy can be thrown into chaos creating depression, lowered vigilance, lack of satisfaction, low motivation, increase fatigue, increased anxiety and more.

Two of my favorite salad recipes

Everyday Artichoke salad

Start with some kind of greens. For this salad, I like to combine equal parts butterhead lettuce and romaine lettuce

Add cucumber sliced very thin. I use one whole cucumber.

Add canned artichoke hearts cut into quarters. When I make the salad for my husband and I, I use a whole can of artichoke hearts. (I like the organic - packed in water - 365 Brand found at Whole Foods Market.)

Mix it all together.

For a dressing, use an olive oil/red wine vinegar dressing. (Be sure and put the olive oil on first before adding any vinegar or salt otherwise the oil will not cling to the greens.) Add a little olive oil to taste. Toss the salad. Add anywhere between 1/2 as much red wine vinegar as olive oil to an equal amount of vinegar to olive oil – depending on your taste for the day.

Or try Annie’s Natural Roasted Red Pepper Vinaigrette - good stuff. (No Affiliation)

Serve with a protein side for a delicious, nutritious and quick lunch.

Birthday Seafood Salad

(Not for those needing to follow restrictive food combining – but so good it might be worth it for a special celebration)

Greens – I use a mixed greens package.

Seafood – my favorites include wild caught shrimp and frozen lobster (Yes, I do indulge a couple of times a year). Boil, steam or lightly sauté the seafood in olive oil and dried chives.

Place the seafood on the bed of greens.

Arrange attractively on top of the salad:

Slices of fresh mangoes
Fresh blackberries
Red grapefruit sections – peeled

For a dressing use the olive oil and red wine vinegar dressing above or my favorite Cindy’s Kitchen Ginger Carrot Vinaigrette Dressing from – you guessed it – Whole Foods Market (found in the refrigerated section of produce). This is a wonderful taste treat.

Did I mention that I like to shop at Whole Foods Market? (Affiliation by virtue of my 3 children that work there.)

Perimenopause and Moods

Menopause is defined as the period in life when you have had no menstrual periods for one year. Perimenopause is the time that leads to menopause when the reproductive hormones begin to fluctuate more widely. During this time the dialogue between your brain and your ovaries slows, develops gaps, and changes it’s conversational pattern. Perimenopause may last 7-10 years or longer or last only a year or two. Women in perimenopause rank insomnia, irritability, and depressed mood among the most common complaints. Mental health is the most prevalent difficulty and not hot flashes.

During perimenopause, there are wide fluctuations in estrogen, testosterone, FSH, LH, and progesterone. Perimenopause is not simply a time when estrogen diminishes. It is a time when you don’t have enough estrogen and then you have too much estrogen. Perimenopause is a time of wide fluctuations in hormone levels. These fluctuations result in the mood disturbances associated with perimenopause.

Blood tests may be used to measure hormone levels during perimenopause. But due to the many fluctuations in the ovary-brain dialogue during this time, blood tests can be unreliable in indicating exactly where you stand with your hormone levels.

The more definitive way to know if you are close to menopause is to know how many months it has been since your last period. If it has been six months or more since your last period it is likely that you are close to the end of the perimenopause process.

Eventually you will have no more eggs but the brain still attempts to make the ovaries respond by stimulating the secretion of FSH and LH. FSH and LH hormone levels increase at menopause and remain high thereafter. When there has been no response from the ovaries and your periods have ceased for one year, perimenopause is over and menopause has arrived.

Your brain, your hormones and your mood

The relationship between your hormones and your brain chemistry is critical because this relationship is very vulnerable to the hormonal fluctuations of perimenopause and menopause.

Estrogen is integral to your health and brain function. It influences the way your serotonin and other neurotransmitter pathways react to normal hormonal shifts. It is easy and common to experience mood variations related to these reproductive hormone fluctuations across your cycle and over the changing years.

Many women will develop mood and sleep difficulties during perimenopause. Women who have had mood disturbances before in the form of anxiety or depression are especially vulnerable to the hormone brain dialogue changes during perimenopause. The loss of estrogen can significantly worsen anxiety, depression, and other mood disorders. Some women are especially sensitive to the loss of estrogen and its effect on the brain.

You do not need to have hot flashes, night sweats, or significant changes in your menstrual periods to be in perimenopause. Your brain may the first and the only manifestation of the changing hormonal levels in the form of mood or cognitive changes.

Hormone fluctuations and mood changes

Estrogen fluctuations can alter neurotransmitter levels in the brain and may result in mood disturbances. The hormonal fluctuations in perimenopause and its effects on the brain result in fatigue, loss of the feeling of subjective well being, difficulty sleeping, mood alterations, anxiety, poor concentration, depression, changes in thinking patterns and abilities, and problems with memory. Hormone replacement therapy will relieve night sweats and the loss of well being associated with perimenopause but often it will not alleviate the symptoms that arise from depression.

It is not unusual for women with a history of mood disturbances to find that their moods become harder to manage as they enter perimenopause. They may find it difficult to find a regime – medication or otherwise - that stabilizes their moods and restores coping abilities. Women who have been taking antidepressants may find that when they enter perimenopause these medications may not work as well and their symptoms may worsen. Those with mood disorders may destabilize despite adequate medication.

A woman’s mild or severe life long or occasional depression may worsen significantly under the influence of peri-menopausal hormonal fluctuations. A history of mood disturbances and depression indicates that a woman’s brain already requires precise management in self-regulation. Due to hormonal fluctuations, perimenopause may further compromise the brain’s ability to self-regulate.

When a woman notices that "this feels hormonal," it is appropriate and advisable to look to management of the reproductive hormones to destabilize mood disturbances. Peri-menopausal hormonal fluctuations can greatly influence the brain and may cause something in the brain to shift thus overwhelming a woman’s normal coping mechanisms.

Women with bipolar disorder are particularly subject to the hormonal fluctuations of perimenopause.

Hormone replacement and mood stabilization

Normal hormonal fluctuations during this time can destabilize moods. Taking progesterone may worsen your depressive symptoms and adding estrogen may make you fluctuate rapidly between mood states.

The addition of estrogen replacement by itself during perimenopause is not capable of resolving the mood symptoms in women with a history of depression and other mood disorders. Once the neuroreceptors and pathways in the brain have sustained the biochemical changes of depression, estrogen alone is ineffective in treating the symptoms of depression. Estrogen can, however, help antidepressants to work more effectively during perimenopause and menopause.

Some women, when placed on hormone replacement therapy, may actually worsen in their depressive symptoms because progesterone tends to affect moods negatively.

Women with a history of mood problems often can not tolerate the use of progesterone during perimenopause. Progesterone acts against estrogen in the brain and acts as a dysphoric hormone causing mood and anxiety changes. Various forms, dosages, and regimes, however, may be better tolerated than others.

Hormone fluctuations and cognitive changes

The hormonal fluctuations of perimenopause may also affect your memory and learning. Estrogen is involved in maintaining specific cells in your hippocampus that are responsible for detailed communication between nerve cells. Estrogen is also related to supporting your acetylcholine levels. When estrogen levels fluctuate or decline, acetylcholine levels fluctuate or decline. Acetycholine is the neurotransmitter that is responsible for memory, creative pursuits, and retrieval of words.

Estrogen is involved in maintaining verbal memory (the recall of spoken material) and enhances the capacity for new learning in women. (Estrogen does not seem to affect what is learned visually.)

Estrogen changes in perimenopause may also affect other cognitive functions such as recognition, interpretation, decision-making, and eye-hand coordination. Compensating for the changes in estrogen is important for maintaining peak cognitive functioning.

You can take steps to move more smoothly through perimenopause and into the new life patterns of menopause by following a program that focuses on:

Proper nutrition for perimenopause
Adequate dietary supplementation
Increasing your understanding of the hormonal changes occurring and how these affect your neurotransmitters, neurons and brain chemistry
Paying attention to your sleep patterns and ensuring adequate rest and recovery during the day
Taking time for yourself
Increasing your self-awareness

Use the following checklist to find out if you might be peri-menopausal and need to take special care to manage your moods and retain your memory and learning skills.

Do you have these symptoms?

Hot flashes, night sweats, perspiration and/ or chilly sensations

Sensations of numbness and/ or tingling of skin

Insomnia, sleeplessness, and/or restless, fragmented sleep

Fatigue, feeling of weariness of mind and body with desire for rest; disinclination to make further effort

Vaginal dryness

Irregular menstrual bleeding

Changes in frequency of menstrual cycle
Irritability, feelings of anxiety or apprehension

Feeling of depression, sadness, unhappiness and / or being miserable without any obvious reason

Pain affecting joints and/or muscles

Headaches of any kind

Dry skin

Urinary problems

Digestive problems

Sexual / desire changes

Quickening or acceleration of heartbeat or a fluttering/pounding heartbeat in a sitting or resting position

Sensation of "crawly skin"

Forgetful, scattered and/or suddenly disorganized

Clumsiness and /or uncoordination

Difficulty remembering past events and/or learning new material

Slow to recall a name or to find the right word

The more symptoms that you have experienced the more likely it is that you are entering perimenopause. It may be time for you to take some steps to shift your health and self-care focus to provide adequately for your new hormonal and well-being needs.

At Evenstar, we are dedicated to helping you make your Perimenopause Passage the best time of your life. we offer Functional Health Tests, Personal Coaching and integral Mood and Energy Wellness Programs that are specific to the Perimenopause passage.

Find out more at www.evenstaronline.com/perimenopause.html
or you can give me a call at 434-263-4996 or email me.

Nourishment for the Health of It

“Sitting together around a table for meals is far more than a practical necessity. In its sacral character the sharing of food and drink is probably the most ancient ritual of mankind.” --Manuela Dunn Mascetti and Arunima Borthwick

My Secret

Let me reveal a secret – I am an intuitive cook. As a nutritionist, you might think that I would master the skill of exact measuring, percentage of fats, carbohydrates and protein, and be able to give specific recipe instructions. The clinical part of me that knows these things are important -- I can do it when needed – and I am a big fan of counting grams, ounces and cupfuls when putting a healthy diet in place.

But, cooking is an art and not just a science. Cooking and serving nourishing food is the ultimate healing act. There is magic in it. And magic does not happen only by the numbers.

My husband is a great cook and a very logical guy. When he cooks pasta al dente he reads the package, goes by the timer and gets it right every time. When I cook pasta al dente, I get a “feeling” for it. I pass my hand over the top of the pot to see if its ready (you really can feel a difference in the “density” of the air). I listen to the “clink” of the pasta on the fork when I stir it. And I get it right every time.

The food we eat imparts to us its life energy. It’s an alchemical process – way beyond nutrients, grams, and ounces. When we prepare our food, we impart to it our own energetic dynamic that enlivens and enriches our food, which returns to us a sum greater than the parts.

Emotional eating is probably just our cellular recognition of this essential and necessary interaction with food that perhaps we have lost sight of. Beyond all the wonderful science and knowledge about superfoods, good and bad foods, and the right mix of nutrients, lies the ancient and timeless wisdom of nourishment.

I hesitate to share recipes because the process of taking them from my intuitive awareness to a more logical and “scientific” presentation takes a bit too much time– and it is not my favorite thing to do. But, I often notice that my clients struggle with going beyond the right nutritional counts into really enjoying the whole food preparation process. Eating becomes just another chore you have to do to stay healthy.

So to help build a bridge between the science of nutrition and healthy eating to the magical nourishment of good food, I thought I would venture into giving you some intuitive cooking tips and recipes. The recipes (and probably the tips too) will be a mixture of some science but mostly art. Add your own healing essence.

“Magic” Cooking Tip

When you begin cooking a meal take a few seconds and connect to your intention to work with the food to create a pleasing, nourishing experience. Then listen to your intuitive hunches about how to prepare the meal. Don’t just stay in your logical brain while cooking. Instead, move into your sensory awareness. Let your feelings of attraction, pleasure and sumptuousness guide you in how much and what to include in your meal.

Diets, diets everywhere.

If you want to find out more about how to incorporate healthy, nourishing nutrition in your life let’s set up a time to talk about your needs. You can give me a call at 434-263-4996

Easy and natural ways to raise low serotonin levels.

Research indicates that in the United States 60-80% of the people, especially women, have low serotonin levels. (Levels of serotonin too high to be optimal don’t usually occur naturally except in rare cases of starvation or regimented mediative practices.) You don’t have to get caught in the low serotonin cycle of hopelessness and despair. You can alter your low serotonin levels by carefully orchestrating your foods, activities and daily routines and habits.

You alter your brain chemistry, manipulate your neurochemical profile and affect your body’s physiology every day by what you do and don’t eat, what you think about, and how and where you spend your time. Through your daily behaviors and the environments in which you spend your time, you create your biochemical profile and this is reflected in the emotions, energy, thoughts, actions, and psychological states that either bring you into peak performance or that block your best functioning.

You have an enormous power to shape your inner world – your experience of life. What you do every day, what you eat, when you eat it, what activities you engage in and when you engage in them, what kind of environment in which you live and work – everything you do and do not do – shapes how you feel, think and how you experience your life.

You can create the range of emotions, energy levels and intellectual and creative functioning that you want. You can learn how to use what you do and do not do everyday and how you do it to create inner strength, hope, joy, mental alertness, and enthusiasm. By designing a life that keeps your biochemistry in balance you can maintain a state of optimal wellness, vitality and performance. When you understand the optimal physiological requirements of your body operating at its best, you can design your lifestyle to provide the diet, exercise, behaviors, thoughts, scheduling, and environment to support and nourish this optimal state of functioning in your body.

Serotonin levels are increased by a carbohydrate rich diet.

When you eat carbohydrates it results in a rise in insulin levels that acts to usher the amino acid trytophan into the brain. Trytophan is the precursor to serotonin. One and a half ounces of carbohydrate food (1/4 cup of oatmeal or a piece of sourdough bread) will significantly boost brain levels of serotonin. The healthiest carbohydrates to use are whole grain, low glycemic index carbohydrates such as barley, oats, buckwheat and carbohydrate rich vegetables such as yams, sweet potatoes and squashes. Fruits and most other vegetables have a neutral effect on brain chemistry.

Eat the kinds of protein that favor serotonin production.

These proteins are high in the amino acid trytophan: chicken, white flakey fish, lean cuts of pork, veal, cottage cheese, lamb, low fat cheeses, low fat milk and dairy products, soy and legumes.

Spend time in a natural place such as a forest, park, mountains, or seashore.

All meditative activities raise serotonin levels.

Prayer, meditation, positive visualization boost serotonin levels and your feelings of well being, relaxed concentration and peace.

Engage in relaxing activities such as hobbies or crafts.

Engage in exercise that increases your heart rate somewhat but not significantly.

Strolling, yoga, non-aerobic swimming, bike riding when done at least 4 days in a row a week will over a period of 60 days increase your baseline serotonin levels.

Take a low activity, high relaxation vacation with your family or by yourself with plenty of time to slow down.

Listen to classical music, light rock, folk or easy listening music.

Visit a museum, go to the theater, the symphony, or watch TV or films about love stories, comedies and other feel good movies.

Engage in long, deep conversations with one or two other people.

Engage in low arousal, highly meditative and internal spiritual practices that relax you.

Clean and organize your environment.

Read

Self help books are especially complimentary.

Have a regular wake sleep cycle.

The production of serotonin for the next day requries at least 7 continuous hours of sound high quality sleep the night before.

Get out in the sun at least 30 minutes in the morning and for 2 hours throughout the day.

Sunlight burns off melatonin produced the night before. The presence of high levels of melatonin consumes serotonin. Sunlight suppressed the production of melatonin and allows your serotonin levels to raise during the day. Without the exposure to adequate natural light your melatonin levels will be higher and your serotonin levels will be lower.

Eat a meal with high level of proteins that contain trytophan and follow that by a carbohydrate snack two hours later.

This will act to drive the lingering trhytophan into the brain and set up the production of greater amounts of serotonin the next day.

NeuroSelect Profile

This is the most comprehensive neurotransmitter panel available. This profile reports on the levels of creatine, eight neurotransmitters and one amino acid: serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, epinephrine, GABA, PEA, histamine, taurine, glycine, glutamate, and glutamine.

Call 434-263-4996 to find out if this is for you or e-mail for more information.

Order online and find more Functional Health Tests at www.evenstaronline.com/FunctionalTests

Special!

Order together with the Brain Chemistry Optimization Profile and save $56. You must call in your order to 434-263-4996 before September 10, 2007 to claim this discount.

Top 10 signs your dopamine levels are too low

A while back I covered the Top 10 signs your serotonin levels are too low.
And the Top 10 signs your dopamine levels are too high.
It's rare that your serotonin levels would be too high.
So that leaves one more bothersome neurotransmitter imbalance to address.

Neurotransmitters – the powerful group of chemicals inside the brain - create and reflect your feelings moods, thoughts and behaviors. These powerful chemicals in the brain result in physiological and psychological changes in how you experience life. All behavior has a corresponding chemical pattern in the brain.

There are more than a dozen neurotransmitters - but two of them (serotonin and dopamine) play a leading role in orchestrating our behaviors, thoughts, emotions and experiences.

Dopamine is your excitatory neurotransmitter. When your dopamine levels are too low you lack a strong vital inner force.

Here are my Top 10 signs that your dopamine levels are too low:

1. You will lack energy and stamina.

2. You will have no drive or motivation.

3. You will not be able to concentrate.

4. You will lack focus.

5. You will not be able to move memories into long term storage

6. You will become depressed and not have any future orientation. It will be all you can do to get through the day.

7. You will have trouble thinking and keeping your thoughts organized.

8. You will not be able to be creative.

9. You will not be able to pay attention.

10. You will have no adventuresome spirit. You will want to avoid making any changes in your life.

NeuroSelect Profile

This is the most comprehensive neurotransmitter panel available. This profile reports on the levels of creatine, eight neurotransmitters and one amino acid: serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, epinephrine, GABA, PEA, histamine, taurine, glycine, glutamate, and glutamine.

Call 434-263-4996 to find out if this is for you or e-mail for more information.

Order online and find more Functional Health Tests at www.evenstaronline.com/FunctionalTests

Special!

Order together with the Brain Chemistry Optimization Profile and save $56. You must call in your order to 434-263-4996 before September 10, 2007 to claim this discount.