About Me

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Birmingham, United Kingdom
Welcome to my blog, and thank you for stopping by. I hope you find it informative, and if there is anything I have missed or you would like me to talk about please drop me a line of suggestion. After seeing a nutritional therapist I decided from the improvement of my own health that I would like to be there in the same way for others, therefore, I studied two degrees; one in Nutritional Therapy and another in Bioscience Nutrition so that i could be equipped to support a number of health conditions. I now work for a supplement company on a clinical team supporting practitioners and keeping upto date with all new scientific information and provide private consultations too aswel as keeping my blog going :)

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Tuesday 23 January 2018

Sleep Cycles -isit because you are Luna- lunatic or is there something else going on


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Going to bed struggling to fall asleep, tossing and turning, thinking about your day. Before you know it, its 2am and you are scrolling through some mundane drivel on your phone. Next thing you know, its 5am and guess what your blinkers start feeling heavy, but it’s not long till your day is starting and you need to be alert to go again!
What could be potentially going on, below are just a few of the issues I help clients overcome with nutrition consultations :

·         Have you looked at the moon tonight? Time and date is a great website to keep up with what is going on with the luna cycle.  Earth, and us being a part of this seem to be really disrupted by the moon and its cycle. It seems that as we appraoch a full moon we struggle most  with sleep and take longer to reach REM sleep.

·         Dysbiosis/pathogenic overgrowth – our beneficial bacteria has a really positive effect on our neurotransmitters such as serotonin. When we have good levels of serotonin, we tend to also have ample amounts of melotonin to help us sleep when we are in a dark room. Many pathogenic types of bacteria/parasites/yeast have a negative effect on this which can affect sleep.

     Stress one of the most common reasons for a lack of sleep is stress. Stress increases your release of cortisol. Cortisol makes you alert and prevents you from switching off

    lighting tvs, light bulbs, you name it  - anything that gives out unnatural light plays havoc with the circadian rhythm making us think we need to be awake rather than asleep

·       Diabetes – if you are getting up regularly in the night to urinate this is definitely something to explore with your doctor as this may be a marker for poor blood sugar balance

·      Times we are awake according to Chinese medicine this can be related to our organs and how they process during our resting state.
If you are struggling to sleep at a predictable time it may be related to one of the below and emotions related to this

11- 1am your gall bladder is in charge digesting fats.
1-3am your liver is detoxifying away like a trooper,
3-5am your lungs is working on circulation, you may notice you have a pretty poor immune system if you are awake at this time. 

Wednesday 17 January 2018

Managing Addictions

Addictive behaviours
The whistle stop guide for that whirlwind of a carousel

For consultations please follow the link below: 
samantha prior


What is an addiction?

An addiction is classed as a pattern of behaviour or activities you partake in even though they have a detrimental effect on your life.  

Some examples:
Alcohol
Promiscuity  
Smoking
Drugs
Social Media
Online Gaming

Potential factor for repeated negative behaviour

  • Fundamentally your body likes homeostasis. If any of your natural mood boosting chemicals are low or out of kilter the body will encourage behaviours that boost them to help you feel better. It is the body’s logical coping mechanism.  
  • Genetics accounts for 40-60% of addictions. Addictions are classed as a chronic brain disease. GABRG3 gene on chromosome 15 has been linked with alcoholism in families. GABRG3 is involved in GABA movement between neurons. GABA is a brain chemical that gives you a calming effect
  • Low levels of good bacteria are found throughout our body. We have more bacteria in our body than we do cells. Our bacteria has a symbiotic relationship with us, what this means is we look after them and they look after us. Part of their role is to make us feel relaxed or calm by producing certain natural neurochemicals ie: bacteria L.Rhamnosis enhances GABA production to calm us in stressful situations[i].
  • Reduced white brain matter this is the area where impulse control and learning takes place. The more someone drinks the greater the damage to the frontal lobes.
  • Advertisement Your brain processes 400 billion bits of information per second, you only consciously are aware of 2,000 of these, so how much are we absorbing subconsciously from our surroundings?
Neurotransmitters involved in dysregulated/addictive behaviours

Dopamine is your reward - motivating neurotransmitter, it’s that little pat on the back that says ‘good job, shall we do that again’. We naturally release dopamine in response to food or a sexual encounter.  Substance abuse gives an intense surge of dopamine, making it highly rewarding. However, the more unnatural hits you have, the lower your natural dopamine falls and therefore the bigger the chase you have to get for that same dopamine hit! An example being - If you are a smoker, the level of dopamine you will naturally be producing is lower of that to a non-smoker.

GABA  is the calming neurotransmitter of the brain. GABA and adrenaline are supposed to be in balance in the brain. Drinking regularly causes the brain to produce less GABA, because the brain begins to rely on alcohol for part of the calming effect. When you suddenly stop drinking, your brain chemistry is out of balance. You don’t have enough GABA neurotransmitter, and you have a relative excess of adrenaline, which causes all the withdrawal symptoms.

Serotonin your happy chum keeping you in good spirits. As serotonin is released when we eat sugary foods, or carb load, overeating is often linked to depression. We produce between 70 - 90% in our digestive system. This could explain why you get that fluttering feeling when you are super excited about something.

Oxytocin this is your cuddly attachment chemical. It is known as the ‘monogamy hormone’. The more you release when you are with someone through being intimate, the more attached you become to them. Drugs such as MDMA encourage the release of oxytocin to make us feel close to one another.


Below is a table describing the ups and downs of certain neurotransmitters that are involved in negative behaviours. Substances flood the brain with neurotransmitters. When the brain is flooded it becomes less sensitive to the neurotransmitter and therefore needs more to get the same reward.

This is very much a chicken and egg scenario. Did the environment throw everything out of balance or is this genetic. We have many gene mutations but it tends to be environmental factors to them  being switched on or not

Neurotransmitter
Too little
Right balance
Too much
GABA
Anxiety,
Low levels can be the trigger or the cause of  addictions
depression
Calming effect, reducing fear and anxiety.  No alcohol withdrawal effect
Impaired short term memory, aggressive, poor spatial awareness, unregulated behaviour
Dopamine
Fatigue
Depression
Forgetful
Unable to cope with Stress
Low libido
Weight gain
reward- motivation, makes you want to re-inact a behaviour as it gives you pleasure and approval.
Impulsive behaviour to achieve instant gratification
Serotonin
Depression
Anxiety
Obesity
Obsessions
Alcohol Abuse
Disrupted sleep
Phobia
happy and positive upbeat feeling
Confused, aggressive
Oxytocin
Irritable
Avoids being tactile/intimate
Unable to orgasm
Crave sugary food
Disturbed sleeping patterns
Affectionate
Intimate
Sexual relationships based on emotion and contact
A feel of connection with people
Calm
Content
Sugary addictions
Mechanical rather than emotional connection with sexual interactions
Irritable
Poor communication
Unable to orgasm
Anxiety



Lifestyle

Positive Goals Dopamine is hardwired to be released when you do something positive. Make a list of positive goals you would like to achieve ie: learning a new skill, attending workshops/seminars.

It’s all about the P’s Poor Planning equals poor performance. Therefore give yourself step by step guides on your daily plans. A diary I would highly recommend that includes mindfulness:



Support


Russell brands 12 step guide to recovery

Great listen/read. Pull from it what you will and use what works for you best. Label yourself the best you see respectful to yourself. Sometimes labelling yourself as an addict can be a self-fulfilling or someone elses fulfilling prophecy of you! Be kind to yourself!

Diet Protocol

The dopamine diet – Tom Kerridge

Serotonin boosting foods

Pre and probiotic foods to encourage neurotransmitter synthesis.





[i]Ingestion of Lactobacillus strain regulates emotional behavior and central GABA receptor expression in a mouse via the vagus nerve.

20;108(38):16050-5

Thursday 4 January 2018

The January Kick

Happy  New Year everyone. We indulged our way through December, it was fun, but how do we now get back on track with our weight and mood. Below are just a couple of starter points to get you going

Weight management

I find that many clients who come to see me have hit a lull with weightloss and can’t understand why. One aspect can be - the more alcohol, or ‘fake food’ (sweeteners, white pasta, bread, sweets) we consume, the more toxins our liver must process. The quickest and safest mechanism the body has is to store these toxins in fat cells. Fat cells form a protective barrier around a toxin so it can’t cause havoc to the system.  It’s a bit like a prison guarding the trouble maker till its safe to be let out. Trouble makers can’t stand cheery colourful antioxidants that we get from plant food. Antioxidants neutralise their harmful effects and remove them from the body. We are always told aim for your 5 a day. Imperial college recently proved that we need 10-12 different portions a day due to the amount of environmental factors we have impacting on our health. It did go up for discussion to see if it was worth changing the guidelines but so many of us cant achieve 5 a day it was thought this would be too overwhelming to put this pressure on people.  

Top liver supportive foods:

Beetroot, onions, garlic, cruciferous vegetables ie cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower. 

Your diet should resemble a rainbow! By consuming plant foods, especially liver supportive ones you are encouraging a fat cell to breakdown, therefore encouraging a healthy and safe weightloss plan:

The feel good factor

Remember that chocolate box and mince pies that disappeared when nobody was looking. You had one and before you knew what was going on, you were rummaging through an empty box of wrappers thinking there must be a secret compartment where all the chocolate went…
When we consume anything sugary it signals to our body to create the neurotransmitter serotonin. Serotonin is like your best bud as they always make you feel great, therefore, the more we have the more we want. Sounds like a winning solution doesn’t it - eat sugar, feel great. However, the feeling is very short-lived. When we have too much sugar our body panics and releases insulin to bring the levels in our blood down. Insulin can often overcompensate and take the blood sugar levels too low. When our blood sugar levels are low we tend to hit something I call ‘the black box’. The black box is when your negative emotions surface ie: anger, teary and frustration. This is also the point where you get another craving for something sweet.

Tryptophan food sources

We can naturally boost or encourage serotonin by eating foods that aren’t too rich in carbohydrates and therefore less likely to send our blood sugar levels in a spin. These foods contain an amino acid called tryptophan and perfect for weight management:

Egg, fish, turkey, chicken, hummus, nuts and seeds

Top supplements for January

L-Glutamine powder Lamberts-  to heal the gut lining. Alcohol and sugar can damage the integrity of the gut lining, this stitches it back together. If you are putting new years resolutions in place such as quitting smoking, glutamine is effective in curbing addictions.
Liv- D Biocareto encourage removal of toxins from the body for a healthy weightloss
Biomulsion D Biocareencourages serotonin production. A lack of sunlight means a lack of serotonin production.
Mood Food – Patrick HolfordA lot of people struggle with January, this can be taken as and when you need it to perk up all your happy hormones

Lifestyle choices

Deep tissue massage  - a massage stimulates the lymphatic system to remove toxins from the body.

Walk before work – the festive season can make our minds a little foggy. Walking stimulates the circulatory system and therefore encourages microcirculation in the brain to get you thinking all those groundbreaking ideas again.