Continuous Glucose Monitors for Mental Health with Dr. Kristen Allott
Description:
Dr. Kristen Allott, ND, is a naturopathic physician who joins us to discuss their book Fuel Your Brain, Not Your Anxiety. We talk about how monitoring glucose levels can help control anxiety, curb fatigue, and cut down on sugar cravings. Listen along as we discover how protein and sugar affect your emotions and energy.
More on Dr. Kristen Allott:
Website: KristenAllott.com
Website: ProteinforAll.org
Website: FuelYourBrain.org
Instagram: Instagram.com/fuelyourbrain1
Facebook: Facebook.com/fuelyourbrain1
LinkedIn: Linkedin.com/in/kristen-allott-3247b9a
YouTube: Youtube.com/channel/UChMaiFdJXvPPIdb1nGZudiw
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Quotes:
Seeing sunlight within an hour of waking sets our circadian rhythm. Go outside for 10 minutes. That tells your brain we need to go to sleep in 12 hours. Dr. Kristen Allott
Our body lives in rhythms; predictability helps the body conserve resources. Dr. Kristen Allott
If you have really low blood glucose and you're diagnosed with anxiety or ADHD, clean up the glucose problem and see if you still have those symptoms. Dr. Kristen Allott
Show Notes:
Dr. Kristen Allott: I'm a naturopathic physician and acupuncturist in the state of Washington.
Dr. Kristen Allott: We're licensed as primary care providers, but we're trained differently than MDS in that I did an anatomy class, I did physiology, I did biochemistry, I did pharmacology. But I also studied herbs and nutrition and lifestyle and how it impacts health.
Dr. Kristen Allott: Lifestyle is the underpinning of a lot of health conditions.
Dr. Kristen Allott: Why don't we have breakfast and see if you stop having panic attacks at 11:00. And they did.
Dr. Kristen Allott: Protein, it stabilizes their blood glucose throughout the day. And what we know is if you go too long without eating, your body says, ‘oh, I need to make glucose for the brain.’
Dr. Kristen Allott: What are the things that throw our glucose off? It's a list, but let's start with not getting 8 hours of sleep, going to bed at the same time and getting up at the same time.
Dr. Kristen Allott: Our body lives in those rhythms and and there's so much interesting research like every it seems like almost every cell has its own circadian rhythm. It's because predictability helps the body conserve resources.
Dr. Kristen Allott: So the hormonal system is the messenger system of the body and so it will learn your pattern if there is a pattern.
Dr. Kristen Allott: Everybody has an optimal time zone to work, and I think we should all figure that out.
Dr. Kristen Allott: What I like about continuous glucose monitoring is that it's biofeedback to see what we're doing and helps people rule out some conditions.
Dr. Kristen Allott: Because if you have really low blood glucose and you're diagnosed with anxiety or ADHD, first, clean the glucose problem up and then see if you still have those symptoms.
Dr. Kristen Allott: What should I lock down first? I would say sleep.
Dr. Kristen Allott: Some people started off life with pretty toxic, functional relationships, and so they didn't learn to take care of their body. Sleep was dangerous, food was unpredictable. They had to be in fight and flight all the time, making sure that whatever was happening like they were ahead of the curve and that got hardwired into their brain. Is that permanent? Absolutely not.
Dr. Kristen Allott: If we just jumped up right now and did five chair squats, brain derived neurotrophic factor, we're going to remember this conversation better.
Dr. Kristen Allott: I have this experiment three days of protein every 3 hours to flatten that blood glucose and see if they feel better.
Dr. Kristen Allott: If we ask ourselves when we're really getting worked up about something, ‘When did I last eat?’ Oh, I'm about to have a panic attack. I haven't had food in 6 hours.
Dr. Kristen Allott: We have to give our body the nutrients to stay in the pre-frontal cortex so that it can pay attention and do the thinking.
Dr. Kristen Allott: That's having that prefrontal cortex and that ventral part of the vagus nerve, which is about being social and connected.
Dr. Kristen Allott: Continuous glucose monitoring helps you learn that pattern faster because you're making meaning and purpose out of something externally.
Dr. Kristen Allott: I would really encourage you to, by the book, work through the book, find a nutritionist or an acupuncturist or a naturopath or somebody that you trust to help you work through it.
Keywords:
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