So I still remember the exact spot
on the highway where I was driving.
I think I remember it so vividly because
I was having one of the most important
conversations that I’ve ever had with
myself. In that moment in my car, I knew
in my bones, I wouldn’t drink alcohol
again. So you might be thinking what was
the rock bottom that brought me to that
point? And the answer is …
there wasn’t one! You see, I was a
gray area drinker and I drank between two
extremes. I wasn’t an "end stage, lose
everything" kind of drinker,
not by a long shot. If you would have
asked my friends and family if they
thought I had a drinking problem they
have said, “of course not”. But I also
wasn’t an "every now and again drinker"
who would have a glass of champagne
for example at the wedding and then not
drink again for weeks. I didn’t fall into
either one of those drinking categories
or drinking extremes. And maybe you
can identify?
As a nutritionist who has worked in
corporate wellness since 2004,
I functioned really well. I knew how
to eat well, I worked out on a regular
basis and I loved to read and study
everything health and wellness.
But what people didn’t know was how much I
loved the “off” switch that wine provided
to my “on” and often anxious brain.
I loved the immediate effect that red wine
delivered. And people also didn’t see how
easy and frequent it was for one glass of
wine to turn into one bottle of wine.
There is a commune characteristic and
pattern in gray area drinking that I
experience and I’ve watched many others
experience as well and that’s a stopping
and restarting drinking. One time I
stopped for 7 months, another time I
stopped for 30 days, and other short
periods in between, and then I would think
to myself: “Why am I being so restrictive?
I can be a social drinker”. So I’d return
to drinking only to return to a level of
drinking where I regret it. This back and
forth drinking marry-go-around was the
exact thing that I knew I wanted to exit
off for good that day in my car on the
highway.
And maybe you don’t actually identify with
a gray area drinking because not everyone
will. But here is what I know with
absolute certainty: there are people in
your life right now, it could be family
members, close friends, colleagues, and
they are worrying and wondering as they’re
rethinking their drinking because they are
in the gray area, but more than likely
they are not talking to you about it and
they are not talking to others about it
because they think they are the only ones
and they think they are alone.
So how do I know this? I’ve lived this for
many years. And the more I can be speaking
up professionally about my gray area
drinking experience the more my email
inbox gets flooded with emails from
attorneys and therapists, senior level
managers and nurses, stay in home moms,
yoga instructors, and many many others.
And their words are different, but
the jest of what they write me is all
the same and they say, “I identify with
your drinking story. I don’t have a rock
bottom either, I want to be able to drink
socially, but I end up regretting how much
I drink on a frequent basis."
This gray area drinking spectrum is real
and it’s large. And a lot of high
achieving, high functioning people who
silently live here every day. But beyond
gray area drinking is even something
bigger and that’s a collective story of
anxiety. And this I believe is where we
are collectively missing the mark.
We don’t need anymore cognitive hoops to
jump through and we don’t need anymore
ways to focus our will power and contort
our will power in an attempt to “fix”
ourselves, what we need is practical
training in how to nourish our nervous
system in a revolutionary and new way.
So there is many components and pieces to
this, but one component and one
interesting place to start can
be understanding your neurotransmitters.
So let’s start with GABA. So GABA is
the natural anti-anxiety neurotransmitter.
When GABA is low we can feel anxious and
our mind can get stuck in a loop of worry,
rumination or obsession about anything.
Serotonin is the natural anti-depressant
neurotransmitter. When serotonin is low
we can feel more depressed, unhappy, and
crave things like carbs and alcohol and
have trouble sleeping.
Dopamine is the neurotransmitter that’s in
charge of our focus and motivation. When
dopamine’s low it can be hard to stay at
a coarse and stay on track with your
goals and your routines.
So people with low GABA people will often
say that they drink as a way to relax.
That was me. People with low serotonin
will say they drink as a way to have fun,
and people with low dopamine will say they
drink as a way to connect and engage
with others.
But here’s the problem and here is what I
want to you know and take from this talk —
It can be relatively easy for most people
on the gray area drinking spectrum to stop
drinking, but it can be hard to stay
stopped, especially if we are not
replenishing our neurotransmitters and
nourishing our nervous system in a
comprehensive and consistent way.
So here’s the good news, in turns out that
there is actually specific foods,
movements and lifestyle practices that
while they are great wellness tips for
everyone, they have very direct and
immediate roles in boosting all of our
neurotransmitters.
So as a way to give you some practical
ways that you can begin to boost your
neurotransmitters now I’d like to start
doing that by using the acronym “NOURISH”
N - notice nature - Research shows that
when our pleasure, which is dopamine,
and our happiness, which is serotonin,
both begin to rise when we go into areas
with a large density of trees or a large
body of water like an ocean. All it takes
is 20 minutes of being around nature with
a lot of trees, a lot of water for your
GABA, serotonin, and dopamine to begin
to rise.
O - observe your breath. There are many
medications you can stunt, blunt, and
block the fight-flight-freeze response in
your body, there are no medications that
can boost the calm response. But there is
one mechanism in your body that can do
that naturally. And that mechanism is your
breath. When our breath is regulated our
neurotransmitters become regulated.
Take a breath! How does that feel? You all
just gave a little boost to your GABA,
serotonin, and dopamine.
R - replenish with food - when you eat
protein, whether it’s animal protein or
vegetable protein, it doesn’t matter,
it breaks down into amino acids and amino
acids are what replenish GABA, serotonin,
and dopamine. When you eat healthy fats,
particularly in the form of Omega 3 fats
like fish oil, flax seeds, or walnuts,
those Omega 3 fats are the raw materials
that make your neurotransmitters.
When you eat carbohydrates, specifically
in the ideal form of vegetables, and even
more specific, leafy green vegetables,
they break down into B vitamins and
B vitamins are the pre-cursors that make
serotonin. When you replenish with food
you replenish your neurotransmitters.
I - initiate movement. Any exercise will
boost the neurotransmitters.
The Boston University did a study with
yoga participants and they had them do
a 60-minute yoga class. And then when
they measured they're GABA after that
class they found everyone’s GABA went
up at least on 27%. Some participants had
arising GABA up to 80%. Compared to the
control group that read a book for
60 minutes, there was no change in
their GABA. One 60-minute yoga class can
initiate a boost in all your
neurotransmitters.
But after we active, we need to be still.
S - sitting in stillness allows
the nervous system the opportunity
to respond and adopt in a complex world
that we live and work in in a very
nurusing way. And particularly sitting in
stillness and silence, invoking a sacred
prayer, meditation, or scripture can
really feed and replenish your GABA,
serotonin, and dopamine.
H - harness your creativity - Dopamine
loves the creative flow. And the way you
get into a creative flow is to pick
a single focused activity that ends
en “ing”. Some examples are gardening,
fishing, painting. But be careful because
there are some other activities that end
en “ing” that make us feel like we get
a dopamine hit: drinking, smoking,
overeating. Fishing, painting,
the positive hobbies boost your dopamine.
The other: drinking, smoking, overeating
depletes dopamine. Harnish your
creativity, but be very conscientious
how you doing that. As of today, It has
been 1054 days since I’ve had a drink
of alcohol.
But I didn’t have a rock bottom moment
that brought me to this point and you
don’t need to have one either.