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There’s only so much you can take—a global pandemic, an economic shutdown, sheltering at home, social injustice, societal unrest—it’s enough to make your anxiety go through the roof. But how can you tell if it’s just heightened stress or if your anxiety is a real problem?

Here are 7 signs that your anxiety is out of control and 7 strategies to soothe it.

1. Your sleep is disrupted.

Having trouble falling asleep or tossing and turning throughout the night is a common red flag of anxiety disorders. And it’s a 2-way street. Anxiety can lead to sleep issues, and a lack of adequate rest can ramp up nervousness and stress. In addition, when you sleep for 7 hours, it turns on 700 beneficial genes, but without 7 solid hours of shuteye, you lose out on this important process.

Soothing Strategy: Make sleep a priority. Create a calming nighttime routine and consider natural supplements that promote relaxation, such as magnesium, melatonin, GABA, 5-HTP, l-theanine, and vitamin B6.

2. You have trouble catching your breath.

If you feel like you can’t take a deep breath, you may be worried it’s a sign of COVID-19 or a garden-variety cold or flu. But feeling like you can’t catch your breath is a common indicator of anxiety. The tree branches in the lungs are wrapped with smooth muscle, and when you’re anxious, those muscles clamp down.

Soothing Strategy: Learning diaphragmatic breathing can help loosen those muscles in the lungs so you can breathe freely again. Here’s a very simple yet powerful breathing technique. Breathe in for 3 seconds, hold it for 1 second, breathe out for 6 seconds, hold it for 1 second. Do this 10 times, and you’ll start to feel more relaxed almost immediately.

3. You have an ANT infestation.

ANTs are the automatic negative thoughts that infest your brain and ruin your day. If you’ve got an army of ANTs swirling in your head, they can drive anxiety.

Soothing Strategy: Be careful what you listen to. Don’t subject yourself to hours of TV news, which is constantly spewing out frightening stats and ghastly projections. And understand that you don’t have to believe every stupid thought in your head. You can challenge your thoughts. Whenever you feel sad, mad, nervous, or out of control, ask yourself if what you’re thinking is true. During these difficult times, mental hygiene is just as important as washing your hands. You need to disinfect your thoughts, so they won’t steal your mind or ramp up your anxiety.

4. You’re trying to calm your stress with sugar.

During the pandemic, a lot of people have put on the “Quarantine 15.” If you’re stress eating with cookies, cakes, and candy or other foods that quickly turn to sugar—think pasta, bread, potatoes, and rice—it’s a sign of anxiety. Be aware that sugar may provide short-term relief, but it adds to anxious feelings in the long-term. And packing on the pounds doesn’t help either. Research on 35,000 brain scans shows that as your weight goes up, the physical size and function of your brain goes down.

Soothing Strategy: If you’re struggling with sugar cravings, try intermittent fasting, which has many brain benefits and can diminish cravings. Wait 14 to 16 hours after eating dinner before having breakfast. For example, if you finish dinner at 7 p.m., don’t have breakfast until 9 a.m. or 11 a.m.

5. You’ve stopped caring about taking care of yourself.

If you’ve lost the will to work out or go for a walk even though you know you’ll feel better afterward, it can be a red flag that anxiety has taken control. You may feel so worn out by the chronic bombardment of stress that you don’t want to do anything.

Soothing Strategy: Do something! Even if you just take a 5-minute walk outside or you change up your routine in some small way, it can help get you out of a funk and reset your frame of mind. To get inspired, combine physical activity with things you love, such as listening to an audiobook or a podcast while you go for a walk.

6. You’re more irritable.

If you’re uncharacteristically snapping at your family, your neighbors, or the grocery store checker, it could be due to relentless anxiety. In a 2017 study in The Journal of Nervous and Mental Disease, over 90% of people with generalized anxiety disorder said they felt very irritable during periods of especially high anxiety.

Soothing Strategy: Before you snap at someone, ask yourself this question: Does it fit? Will saying something nasty to your spouse, coworker, or friend help you get you what you want in life? To help you get irritability under control, figure out what you want out of life, and write it down. Then every time you’re about to snap, take a moment and ask, “Does it fit?” If your behavior isn’t going to help you get what you want in terms of the big picture, don’t do it.

7. You’re experiencing repetitive negative thoughts (RNTs).

If you’re ruminating on negative thoughts—repeatedly worrying about the future or fretting about something that happened in the past—it’s time to get serious about your anxiety. RNTs are really nasty thoughts. They’re like ANTs that link to other ANTs, then stack together and attack your mind. A 2020 study in Alzheimer’s & Dementia shows that RNTs are associated with an increased risk of dementia, so it’s critical to change your thinking patterns.

Soothing Strategy: If you’re mired in repetitive negative thinking during these uncertain times, try a little TLC. Researchers have found in extremely stressful situations, people who struggle tend to think that things are permanent (this will never change!), global (it’s everywhere!), and out of control (I’m powerless to do anything!). People who are able to thrive in challenging times think differently, telling themselves that the situation is Temporary (this will pass), Local (it isn’t happening everywhere), and Control (I have control over my own behavior). Try the TLC approach to help calm anxiety.

Anxiety, panic attacks, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), depression, and other mental health issues can’t wait. During these uncertain times, your mental well-being is more important than ever and waiting until life gets back to “normal” is likely to make your symptoms worsen over time.

At Amen Clinics, we’re here for you. We offer in-clinic brain scanning and appointments, as well as mental telehealth, remote clinical evaluations, and video therapy for adults, children, and couples. Find out more by speaking to a specialist today at 888-288-9834. If all our specialists are busy helping others, you can also schedule a time to talk.

 

Nearly everywhere you go (schools, work, shopping malls, movie theaters, airports, ballparks, and so on) someone is trying to sell you low-quality, tasty food that will hurt your brain health/mental health and kill you early. The Standard American Diet (SAD) is filled with pro-inflammatory, allergenic foods laced with artificial chemicals that research shows will damage and prematurely age your brain and increase your risk for diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and cancer as well as depression, ADHD, anxiety disorders, and dementia.

Know the 9 Characteristics of Destructive Foods

The real weapons of mass destruction are foods that have these 9 characteristics:

How Corporations Have Weaponized Your Food

These low-quality “foods” are destroying the brain health/mental health of America, especially when you consider that corporations pay big money to professional athletes and coaches to visibly drink Coke, Pepsi, or Gatorade (all filled with sugar, artificial colors, and preservatives) on the sidelines of games, effectively marketing these products to children and teens.

They also get children hooked on so-called “happy meals” with fun toys that create diabesity (a combination of diabetes and obesity) and inflammation—definitely not a prescription for happiness. Many schools serve Pizza Hut or McDonald’s for lunch—foods that can give you brain fog and make it harder to concentrate on learning. Not so smart! Without thinking, we are destroying the mental and physical health of our children.

Feeding Addictions

Many corporations brag about the addictive nature of their foods, “Bet you can’t eat just one.” They hire food scientists to combine fat, sugar, and salt with the perfect “texture,” “crunchiness,” “meltiness,” and “aroma” to overwhelm the brain with flavor to trigger the “bliss point” in your brain, which is akin to taking a hit of cocaine, making you literally fall in love with low-quality foods.

This is one of the reasons why people say they “love” candy, doughnuts, pastries, French fries, and bread, and can’t even conceive of giving them up. They are not eating to live; they are eating for momentary pleasure and to feed addictions that were artificially created for a corporate profit motive. Some people are so addicted they say they would rather get Alzheimer’s disease than give up sugar.

We must do better because our children will never be able to afford the tsunami of illness headed their way. Shocking statistics show that 75% of the healthcare dollars in the U.S. are spent on chronic preventable illnesses, most of which are driven by poor nutrition.

The Depressing Effect of Fast Food

In a fascinating study about diet and depression in Nutritional Neuroscience, researchers went to two remote islands in Australia—one with plentiful fast food and lower fish consumption, the other without fast food and higher fish consumption. On the island with fast food, 16% of the people had moderate-to-severe depression, compared to only 3% on the island without fast food. That is a 500% increased risk of depression, based on diet!

Only Love Foods That Love You Back

Being in love with something that hurts you is an abusive relationship that needs serious intervention. No food of any kind belongs in the same emotional place in your brain as the love you have for your spouse, children, or grandchildren.

The most important rule to remember is to only love foods that love you back. If you can follow this one rule, it will go a long way to ending mental illness in you or your loved ones.

 At Amen Clinics, we take a whole-body approach to helping people overcome debilitating symptoms and achieve peak performance. We perform comprehensive evaluations that include brain SPECT imaging, as well as looking at the many lifestyle factors, such as diet, that can contribute to mental health symptoms or hold you back from reaching your potential. Our wrap-around services focus on the least toxic, most effective solutions, including brain health nutrition coaching.

If you want to join the tens of thousands of people who have already enhanced their brain health, overcome their symptoms, and optimized their performance at Amen Clinics, speak to a specialist today at 888-288-9834. If all our specialists are busy helping others, you can also schedule a time to talk.

 

About 75% of the body’s neurotransmitters are produced in the gastrointestinal tract, and they are in direct communication with the brain. Because of this, the health of your gut—and the trillions of bacteria that live there—is tightly linked to your brain function and your mental health. New research suggests gut bacteria is so powerful it could be used to treat clinical depression.

Good Bugs vs. Bad Bugs

Some gut bacteria are beneficial to your health and well-being while others are harmful. And in a classic good guy vs. bad guy scenario, they are all trying to wrestle for control of your microbiome. When the ratio of good bugs to bad bugs is about 85 percent good guys to 15 percent troublemakers, it creates a healthy gut. When the ratio is tipped the other way, the bad bugs cause trouble and can lead to physical and mental problems.

If the good bugs are deficient, you are more likely to feel anxious, stressed, depressed, and tired. New research has also found a gut-brain link in autism.

In some people, imbalances in gut bacteria contribute to the lining of the gastrointestinal tract becoming porous. Known as leaky gut, this condition is associated with mood and anxiety disorders, ADD/ADHD,  Parkinson’s, and Alzheimer’s disease. Leaky gut is also linked to chronic inflammation, along with a host of other issues from autoimmune diseases (such as lupus, rheumatoid arthritis, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, and multiple sclerosis) and digestive issues (gas, bloating, constipation, and diarrhea) to seasonal allergies and skin problems (acne, rosacea).

The Link Between Bacteria and Depression

Researchers at Northeastern University have long been investigating the link between gut bacteria and mental health, and in particular, to clinical depression. For a 2018 study, they teamed up with researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College to take a deeper dive into the connection. They took brain scans as well as fecal samples from people who had been diagnosed with depression and discovered that people with brain patterns associated with depression had fewer bacteria of a particular genus called Bacteroides.

These bacteria produce the neurotransmitter GABA, which helps calm the brain and prevent it from over-firing. People with low levels of GABA are more likely to struggle with depression, anxiety, stress, and insomnia.

Treating Depression with Bacteria

The researchers suggest this opens up the possibility of treating depression with the bacteria that produce GABA. The idea of manipulating gut health to promote better mental health is still in its infancy, however, this isn’t the first time that scientists have pointed to gut bacteria as a possible therapy for depression.

In a 2011 trial, when mice ingested specific bacteria, it increased GABA levels and decreased behaviors associated with depression and anxiety. And back in 2005, a study in Medical Hypotheses suggested that probiotics—live bacteria found ­in some foods, like yogurt, and in supplements—may be beneficial as part of a comprehensive treatment plan for major depressive disorder.

3 Ways to Boost Beneficial Gut Bacteria

Until bacteria therapies are developed, there are many things you can do to promote better gut health, including the following:

1. Limit alcohol consumption.

Alcohol is used to clean your skin of bacteria before you receive an injection and as a preservative for scientific specimens. It’s hard to imagine that it can be good for the 100 trillion bugs living in your gut that are essential to your life.

2. Skip sugar.

Consuming too much sugar promotes an overgrowth of yeast (bad bugs) in your gut.

3. Consume prebiotics.

Dietary fiber that promotes good bugs can be found in apples, beans, cabbage, psyllium, artichokes, onions, leeks, asparagus, and root vegetables, such as sweet potatoes, yams, squash, jicama, beets, carrots, and turnips.

If you’re suffering from depression and aren’t responding to treatment, it may be time to think about your gut health. At Amen Clinics, we have helped thousands of patients overcome depressive symptoms with a personalized treatment plan that includes addressing gut health and nutrition.

Amen Clinics takes the guesswork out of psychiatry by performing comprehensive brain-body evaluations that include looking at a variety of biological issues that contribute to symptoms of depression. Schedule a visit online or call 888-288-9834 to speak to a specialist.

The artificial sweeteners used in diet sodas—and thousands of other processed foods—are anything but sweet. In fact, they can be toxic to the brain. Consuming these sugar substitutes on a regular basis is not a recipe for a healthy memory.

Sherry, who weighed over 200 pounds on her 5’5” frame, guzzled diet soda thinking it would help her lose weight. It didn’t. Even worse, she started experiencing a host of symptoms—digestive issues, arthritis, forgetfulness, and confusion. In fact, Sherry’s diet soda habit was hurting her brain and putting her memory at risk.

That’s what a growing body of evidence shows. For example, a study in the journal Stroke found that drinking diet soda was linked to an increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia.

4 Ways Artificial Sweeteners Steal Your Mind

1. Aspartame overstimulates neurotransmitters.

One of the most commonly used artificial sweeteners in diet sodas, aspartame is particularly damaging to the brain. Consider how it impacts aspartate, an excitatory neurotransmitter associated with memory as well as learning and pain perception. Aspartame stimulates this neurotransmitter. This may sound like a good thing, but in excessive amounts it overstimulates it, turning it into a potent neurotoxin that damages neurons, causes cell death, and is associated with a host of issues including memory problems and dementia.

2. Artificial sweeteners contribute to chronically high insulin.

Elevated insulin levels increase your risk for Alzheimer’s disease and also raises the risk of heart disease, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, and other health problems.

3. The artificial sweeteners in diet sodas may lower metabolism.

For anyone who thinks diet sodas help with weight loss, the reality is that artificial sweeteners can lead to weight gain. Studies of rats fed artificially sweetened foods have found they have slower metabolisms and greater weight gain than those given sugar-sweetened foods—despite the fact that the rats that ate sugary foods consumed more calories than those that ate artificially sweetened foods.  Both diabetes and obesity are considered independent risk factors for memory problems and several forms of dementia. 

4. Artificial sugar substitutes mess with gut health.

A 2018 study in Molecules found that six artificial sweeteners (aspartame, sucralose, saccharine, neotame, advantame, and acesulfame potassium-k) had toxic effects on gut bacteria. Compromised gut bacteria can lead to issues such as leaky gut, a condition in which the lining of the gut becomes excessively permeable. Leaky gut has been linked to the development of Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias.

Sweeter Alternatives

If you want to avoid sugar and don’t want the damage that comes from artificial sweeteners, here are two options.

It is critical for any changes in memory or cognitive function to be investigated. Research shows that changes in the brain from Alzheimer’s disease can start decades before any symptoms arise. Amen Clinics uses brain SPECT imaging to see what is happening in the brain as part of a comprehensive evaluation that also includes cognitive testing and a detailed look at the biological, psychological, social, and spiritual factors that may be contributing to memory issues.

At Amen Clinics, we have helped thousands of people reverse memory problems. To speak to a specialist about how we can help you, call 888-288-9834 or schedule a visit online.

Do you enjoy drinking soda?

Well, don’t be surprised if you start forgetting where you left your keys, because according to US scientists eating too much sugar can eat away at your brainpower. The recently published study showed how a steady diet of high-fructose corn syrup (like those found in sugar and other refined sweet treats) zapped lab rats’ memories.

The Science

The study was conducted at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) where researchers fed two groups of rats a solution containing high-fructose corn syrup — a common ingredient in processed foods — as drinking water for six weeks. One group of rats was supplemented with brain-boosting omega-3 fatty acids in the form of flaxseed oil and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), while the other group was not. Before the sugar drinks began, the rats were enrolled in a five-day training session in a complicated maze. After six weeks on the sweet solution, the rats were then placed back in the maze to see how they fared.

Sugar & The Brain

A closer look at the rat brains revealed that those who were not fed DHA supplements had also developed signs of resistance to insulin, a hormone that controls blood sugar and regulates brain function. “Because insulin can penetrate the blood-brain barrier, the hormone may signal neurons to trigger reactions that disrupt learning and cause memory loss,” Gomez-Pinilla said. In other words, eating too much fructose could interfere with insulin’s ability to regulate how cells use and store sugar, which is necessary for processing thoughts and emotions. Everyone is always focused on the effect of high-fructose corn syrup on weight gain and obesity, but this study shows that a high-fructose diet not only harms the body, but harms the brain as well.

What Kind of Sugar Is Most Damaging?

High-fructose corn syrup is commonly found in soda, condiments, applesauce, baby food and other processed snacks. What is worse is that the average American consumes more than 40 pounds (18 kilograms) of high-fructose corn syrup per year, according to the US Department of Agriculture. The Standard American Diet (SAD) is saturated with sugar, high omega-6 fatty acids, excessive calories, trans fats, processed and pesticide-laden foods. People who have a simple, carbohydrate-based diet (bread, pasta, potatoes, rice, fruit juice and sugar) have a 400% increased risk of getting Alzheimer’s disease. New research has also linked a sugar-laden diet to Alzheimer’s disease, which some scientists are now calling “type 3 diabetes.” Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, depression, and obesity are national health epidemics that continue to grow. The answer is NOT to see them as individual, separate disorders, but rather as different outcomes of the same unhealthy lifestyle that have exactly the same cure. The best way to prevent Alzheimer’s is to eliminate all the risk factors that are associated with the disease—and the good news is that most of them are either preventable or treatable.

We Can Help

Being serious about brain health has no age limit, especially when a better brain can help improve your focus, mood, and memory. You can create a brain-healthy life by learning how to love and care for the most important part of your body- your brain. To learn how we can optimize your health, please call us today at 888-288-9834 or visit us online to schedule a visit. Did you know about 60% of the solid weight of your brain is FAT—yes, fat. It’s a scientifically proven fact: Your brain and your body NEED healthy cholesterol and fatty acids to function optimally. High cholesterol is obviously bad for the brain and body, yet low cholesterol has been associated with homicide, suicide and severe depression. To be healthy, you need to get enough of the right types of fats daily.

Fat is Key

Fat plays an important structural role in your brain cell membranes. In fact, the essential fatty acid DHA makes up a full quarter of all brain fat, and it’s the brain’s preferred fat for building membranes.

Your Brain, DHA & Fat

When your brain doesn’t get adequate amounts of DHA through the diet, it’s forced to use inferior fats, such as saturated and trans fats. Brain cell membranes become more rigid with these inferior fats, which can slow information processing and overall brain function. • Healthy young adults whose diets were low in DHA found that supplementation helped support healthy memory and reaction time. • DHA also benefits seniors experiencing mild memory problems associated with aging. After one year, elderly subjects taking a DHA-concentrated fish oil supplement showed significant improvements in short-term and working memory compared to those taking placebo. • And memory is just one aspect of cognitive function that Omega-3 supplementation supports: A meta-analysis of 10 randomized controlled trials found that it helps maintain an ideal attention span and quick processing speed too!

But let’s not forget about EPA:

• Although it doesn’t play the structural role that DHA does, it helps support mood and emotional balance. • It’s thought that EPA may also support a healthy response to inflammation in the brain, by helping to maintain healthy metabolic pathways. • In this regard, EPA appears to be more effective than DHA for mood support. • Omega-3 supplementation has also been found effective in people who are prone to mood swings and supports a healthy response to occasional, everyday stress.

What to remember when getting the goods

• Because fish can accumulate toxins such as mercury, dioxins, and polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCB), it’s extremely important that the product be highly purified. • Fish oil spoils easily; look for a product that is manufactured according to the highest quality standards. • Choose a product that has a 60/40 ratio of EPA to DHA, starting with at least 500 mg of DHA. Some inferior quality brands are lacking in one or the other or sometimes both. This is good news because it means that you possess the power to change your brain! There are many ways to become sick, but there is a clear path to wellness and it’s more simple than you think. If you are ready to transform your life, we can help you.

Improve Your Brain Health

At Amen Clinics, we have spent decades helping people just like you improve their brain health. Call us today at 888-288-9834 or schedule a visit. Diabetes is a disease that no one wants to have. When insulin, the hormone that controls blood sugar levels, becomes deficient or ineffective, the body suffers from chronically high blood sugar. Type 1 diabetes results when inadequate amounts of insulin are produced; type 2 develops when the body doesn’t use insulin properly. In both cases, the resulting damage to blood vessels harms every organ in your body, including your brain. Being overweight (diabetes + obesity = diabesity) makes things worse. Recent research revealed that people with early stage Type 2 diabetes who were also overweight had more severe and progressive abnormalities in brain structures and cognition than normal weight type 2 diabetics. The temporal lobe, which is one of the first brain regions to show changes in Alzheimer’s disease, was particularly vulnerable. Both Daniel and Tana Amen have lost loved ones and friends to the scourge of diabetes. They have seen first-hand how devastating the disease can be to someone’s health, happiness and life—and to their families. But diabetes doesn’t have to ruin your life. This is a disease that can be prevented—and even, in some cases, reversed—through simple lifestyle changes such as losing weight, exercising more and eating a healthy diet, with more fiber, vegetables and fruit. Diabesity is one of the risk factors in the Amen Clinics BRIGHT MINDS Program, which identifies and treats the 11 risk factors that can rob you of your memory and your mind. Research shows that addressing all of these vulnerabilities is the best way to keep your memory strong for life. The list below includes all 11 risks, summed up in the words BRIGHT MINDS, which makes it easier to remember them: B – Blood Flow R – Retirement/Aging I – Inflammation G – Genetics H – Head Trauma T – Toxins
M – Mental Health I – Immunity/Infection Issues N – Neurohormone Deficiencies D – Diabesity S – Sleep Issues If you are overweight or getting on in years (age is a primary risk factor for diabetes), make an appointment with your healthcare provider to discuss these lab tests: It is also important to know your waist to height ration (WHtR), which you can calculate by dividing your waist size (in inches) by your height (in inches). A woman with a 30-inch waist who is 5’4” (64”) would divide 30 by 64 to get a WHtR or 46.8 percent. A ratio that’s less than 50 percent is considered healthy. Use a tape measure to get an accurate waist size! The other critical number to know is your body mass index, or BMI, which is a measurement that compares your weight to your height. An optimal BMI is 18.5 to 25; overweight is 25 to 30; over 30 is considered obese. Several online calculators will give you your BMI if you plug in your weight and height. To lower your risk of diabetes and pre-diabetes, the precursor to type 2 diabetes, adopt these healthy habits: In the video below, Dr. Daniel Amen discusses diabesity and the role diet plays in rescuing your memory today! To learn more about Amen Clinics Memory Program based on Dr. Amen’s BRIGHT MINDS approach, check it out HERE.

How Brain SPECT Imaging Can Help

Brain SPECT imaging looks at the functioning of the brain. It can tell us if your brain is healthy, experiencing accelerated aging, injured, overactive, or underactive. Without imaging and other assessments, there’s really no way to know what’s going on inside your brain. Although getting older is unavoidable, aging is optional. To learn how we can help you prevent Alzheimer’s and dementia, call us today at 888-288-9834 or visit us online to schedule a visit. The Standard American Diet (SAD) is saturated with sugar, high omega-6 fatty acids, excessive calories, trans fats, processed and pesticide-laden foods. People who have a simple, carbohydrate-based diet (bread, pasta, potatoes, rice, fruit juice and sugar) have a 400% increased risk of getting Alzheimer’s disease. New research has also linked a sugar-laden diet to Alzheimer’s disease, which some scientists are now calling “type 3 diabetes.” Some of the most common risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease include: obesity, diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, smoking, using drugs or alcohol, sleep apnea, insomnia, and low estrogen, testosterone, or thyroid. And, lest you think that only your memory is at stake, insulin resistance has linked Alzheimer’s with a wide array of behavioral and mood disorders including: depression, panic attacks, anxiety, insomnia, and ADHD. Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, depression, and obesity are national health epidemics that continue to grow. The answer is NOT to see them as individual, separate disorders, but rather as different outcomes of the same unhealthy lifestyle that have exactly the same cure. The best way to prevent Alzheimer’s is to eliminate all of the risk factors that are associated with the disease—and the good news is that most of them are either preventable or treatable!

Adopting these five brain-healthy strategies can help protect you from premature aging:

So Long, Sugar

Sugar is not your friend. Sugar produces inflammation in your body, increases erratic brain cell firing, and sends your blood sugar levels on a roller-coaster ride. If you’re in an abusive relationship with sugar, break it off today!

Brain Healthy Breakfast

A balanced breakfast (including protein) helps to keep the blood sugar balanced so that you can make smart decisions about how to take care of your brain and body.

Feed Your Second Brain

 There’s a reason your gut is considered your second brain. Intestinal problems increase inflammation—that low-level fire that destroys your organs—and increases your risk for depression, worry, chronic pain and poor cognitive health. To balance your gut health, eat fermented foods or take a high-quality probiotic supplement.

Lean Protein

Lean protein provides the necessary building blocks for brain health. For optimal brain function, include more healthy proteins in your diet, including: beans, spinach, raw nuts, free-range eggs and omega-3 rich salmon.

Eat Brain Berries

Wild blueberries, nicknamed “brain berries” by neuroscientists, have high amounts of antioxidants and are known to protect against Alzheimer’s disease. Being serious about brain health has no age limit, especially when a better brain can help improve your focus, mood, and memory. You can create a brain-healthy life by learning how to love and care for the most important part of your body…your brain.

How Brain SPECT Imaging Can Help

Brain SPECT imaging looks at the functioning of the brain. It can tell us if your brain is healthy, experiencing accelerated aging, injured, overactive, or underactive. Without imaging and other assessments, there’s really no way to know what’s going on inside your brain. Although getting older is unavoidable, aging is optional. To learn how we can help you prevent Alzheimer’s and dementia, call us today at 888-288-9834 or visit us online to schedule a visit. Although most people are aware of how unhealthy soft drinks are, American youth and adults continue to consume more per capita than any other country. Compelling evidence showing why conventional soft drinks don’t belong in the hands of young children came from a study published in the Journal of Pediatrics, titled, “Soft Drinks Consumption is Associated with Behavior Problems in 5-Year-Olds.”

What Research Says

Researchers assessed 2,929 5-year-old children enrolled in the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study, a prospective birth cohort that follows mother-child pairs from 20 large U.S. cities. Of the 2,929 5-year-olds researched: • 52% were boys • 43% consumed at least 1 serving of soft drinks per day • 4% consumed 4 or more servings of soft drinks per day

The Findings

The most alarming findings were in the group of children who drank 4 or more soft drinks per day. These children: • Were more than 2 times as likely to act out aggressively, get into fights and destroy the property of others. • Scored higher on the attention problems scale than those who drank less than 4 servings of soft drinks daily. Additionally, children who drank 2, 4 or more soft drink servings daily also demonstrated withdrawal behaviors, as compared with children who did not consume soft drinks.

Aggression & Soft Drinks

This study’s findings positively linked aggression, attention problems and withdrawal to soft drink consumption in young children. Even after adjusting for sociodemographic factors, maternal depression, intimate partner violence in the home, and paternal incarceration, any amount of soft drink consumption resulted in higher aggressive behavior scores as compared to those who did not consume soft drinks.

What Can You Do?

At Amen Clinics, we know that children (of all ages) LOVE treats. Instead of traditional soft drinks, we suggest a brand called Zevia, which is made from natural ingredients and sweetened with stevia, a much healthier no calorie sweetener.

We Can Help

If you would like to overhaul your family’s dietary habits, schedule a consultation at Amen Clinics. Let our years of experience, creativity, and positive, motivating attitude help you create brain-healthy menu plans that your family will love. Our therapists and coaches are available for consultations both in-person and over the phone. Call us today at 888-288-9834 or tell us more to schedule an appointment. Big name food and beverage companies spend millions of dollars on advertisements to make you believe that their low-calorie, synthetic sweeteners and flavors will solve all of your weight-loss woes. The truth is:

The Obesity Epidemic Gets Worse Every Year

• 2/3 of Americans are now overweight. • Childhood obesity has increased 800% since 1982.

Diet Soda Isn’t All It’s Cracked Up to Be

A 14-year study of 66,118 women published by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found that, drinking artificially-sweetened beverages did not lower the risk for developing type 2 diabetes when compared to regular sugar-sweetened beverages. Additionally, a behavioral neuroscientist at Purdue recently reviewed a number of previously performed studies to determine whether drinking diet sodas over the long-term will increase the likelihood that a person will overeat, gain weight and then develop other health problems. She found that: • People who drank artificially sweetened soda were more likely to experience weight gain than those who drank regular soda. • Those who drank diet soda had twice the risk of developing metabolic syndrome (related to diabetes)

4 Reasons Why “Diet” Beverages Won’t Help You Lose Weight

1. Extreme Sweeteners Trigger Food Addiction

• Sweets are mood foods, plain and simple. • Synthetic sweeteners are 200 to 600 times sweeter than sugar. • Extreme sweeteners activate intense cravings and make it VERY HARD to stay away from the foods that are bad for you (sugar and refined carbohydrates).

2. Calorie Swapping

Drinking diet beverages may lead to calorie swapping: • This is the idea that you have “saved on liquid calories”, so why not go ahead and order that dessert, eat the french fries, the cookie, potato chips, etc.

3. Increased Insulin – the Fat Storage Hormone

Insulin is produced by the body to push glucose (sugar) into the cells to be used as energy. • This causes your body to (unnecessarily) pump out insulin, which increases fat storage.

4. Food Coloring

Diet soda and “flavored water enhancers” are loaded full of synthetic colors in addition to sweeteners. • A 1994 study linked synthetic colors to an increase in restlessness, irritability and sleep disturbances in children. • Getting fewer than 7 hours of sleep at night is associated with lower blood flow to the brain, more cravings and more fat on your body.

We Can Help

At Amen Clinics, we know that food addiction issues are not a function of not trying hard enough, being lazy, or not having enough willpower. We will work with you to address your specific brain type so that you can eliminate food addiction, reach your weight loss goals and feel amazing every day. Click here to learn more about how the Amen Clinics can help, or call today at 888-288-9834.