Hello brain, this is gut.
Foods that get your brain talking.
This part is hefty, wholesome and wordier than the rest - totally worth it though.
Without getting too science heavy and having you all zone out, this is the section that predominantly unlocked the door to my ADHD brain management. And from a very young age too.
The deficiencies of the ADHD brain are thus: “Dopamine, meet Norepinephrine; Norepinephrine, meet Dopamine. Your networker this evening is Serotonin.”
These three voices (neurotransmitters) find it very hard to talk coherently to each other.
They like to talk about alertness, satisfaction and concentration.
Are you all still with me?
The discussion between Dopamine (DA) and Norepinephrine (NE) is essential; if one talks too much or too little (DA that’s you) and if one isn’t speaking at all (yep NE, that’s you) then concentration and alertness is effected.
Serotonin and Dopamine are more effective with the help of Magnesium; it sort of hugs them happily together.
These are my Basic Brain essentials…
VITAMINS AND MINERALS
So here’s the thing; the ADHD brain needs a good combination of specific vitamins and minerals to work efficiently.
I really, really, really (really), recommend testing your vitamin and mineral levels; you’ll be surprised by what you find…
I’ve already given the mineral MAGNESIUM a big shout above, and this is why:
* needs to hug Dopamine and Serotonin.
* hugs = calm
* has a very good relationship with Vitamin B6 (she’s coming up…)
* if your levels are low it can make you feel irritable, confused, reduce your attention span and effect your sleep.
(best foods image)
VITAMIN B6’s relationship with Magnesium makes those hugs I talked about really work. Vitamin B6 + Magnesium give the very best hugs of all - right where they’re needed.
SCIENCE
Vitamin B6 INCREASES the absorption of Magnesium to the neurotransmitters Dopamine, Norepinephrine and Serotonin.
ZINC (a mineral) regulates Dopamine and Norepinephrine and it dances beautifully with Vitamin B6 to make Serotonin.
* low levels of Zinc effect whole brain function - without sufficient levels of this mineral, other nutrients that are essential for the brain don’t work as effectively either.
* low levels effect mood, attention and memory.
Low levels of IRON, too, are linked to the ADHD brain and the effective workings of its neurotransmitters.
The complex role of these neurotransmitters and the effective talking and listening they do needs a careful balance.
This is why vitamin and mineral levels can be really effective.
Basically, essential hugging = activates and deactivates, absorbs and releases, binds and triggers.
Phew!
Did you know?
Low levels of Zinc is one of the most recognised micronutrient deficiencies linked to the symptoms of ADHD.
PROBIOTICS
Now then.
There is a whole lot I want to say here about the gut (all 6.7 meters of it) being our second brain and how important it is that the health of both are considered as directly effecting each other, but there’ll be plenty of time for snippets of that and I’m avoiding your need to press the Bored? button too often.
PROBIOTICS (living microorganisms) are (in my opinion) the key to getting those marvellously magical minerals and nutrients to the ADHD brain.
Probiotics can address a variety of health conditions (Irritable Bowel Syndrome, heart disease, type-2 diabetes, depression, Alzhimers’s) and help your gut perform at its very best.
Do not confuse with prebiotics
Prebiotics are fibres found in your diet that feed the friendly microorganisms already living in your gut.
However, this is a gentle world of balance - there are several types of probiotics and several ways in which they work.
When we get into listening to the true make-up of our bodies and understand our own, individual, basic-brain function, then we will start to build up an idea of what we need to balance all areas. There’s that word again - BALANCE.
Did you know that 70% of Serotonin is made in your gut? Our individual MICROBIOME’s of microscopic brilliance are pretty amazing. (Dr Frank Lipman’s full article if you want to read more…)
refined SUGAR
Is this not the worlds favourite drug?!
I bet that most of you will relate to how difficult the regulation of blood sugar levels with an ADHD brain can be…VERY difficult. Right.
This is because our impulsive, stimulation-seeking brain can find it hard to regulate meals.
For example;
9am - “oh look, here’s hyper-focus.”
3pm - “gracious, is it that time already? I forgot to eat breakfast AND lunch. (And I may have forgotten to pick up the kids from school…)”
= eats whole packet of Bourbon biscuits in car on way to picking up children.
Guess what though, REFINED SUGAR causes the release of Dopamine.
It releases feel-good endorphins in the brain and when they’re gone we crave them. And every brain finds the craving of delicious sweet things hard to resist…
* sugar messes with our neurotransmitter communication.
* withdrawal of sugar (dopamine drop-out) crashes energy, mood, can cause brain fog and what I like to call a sort of brain paralysis - where hyper-focus meets procrastination and you cannot function at all; for some, this can be physically visible as skin-picking, or excessing hyperactive-type-movement or sound making.
Refined sugar is addictive and difficult to remove from our diets.
ORGANIC
The difference ORGANIC foods make to my brain is quite significant.
Yep, there’s a good debate about this, but the point is that they are free from GMO's, and pesticides, and antibiotics. I think of these as added clutter to my brain - how on earth can Dopamine talk to Serotonin sensibly if there’s interference?
Organic fields are managed so that the soil contains more minerals than conventional farms.
The thing is, once we go back to brain basics, by subject of elimination, we can work out what plays a significant role in helping (and hindering) the brain talk.
It might surprise you.
Bitesized nutritional yum.
Recipes.
Superfoods.
