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So I still remember the exact spot

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on the highway where I was driving.

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I think I remember it so vividly because

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I was having one of the most important

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conversations that I’ve ever had with 


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myself. In that moment in my car, I knew

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in my bones, I wouldn’t drink alcohol

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again. So you might be thinking what was

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the rock bottom that brought me to that

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point? And the answer is …

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there wasn’t one! You see, I was a

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gray area drinker and I drank between two

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extremes. I wasn’t an "end stage, lose

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everything" kind of drinker,

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not by a long shot. If you would have

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asked my friends and family if they

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thought I had a drinking problem they

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have said, “of course not”. But I also

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wasn’t an "every now and again drinker"

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who would have a glass of champagne

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for example at the wedding and then not

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drink again for weeks. I didn’t fall into

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either one of those drinking categories

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or drinking extremes. And maybe you 


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can identify?

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As a nutritionist who has worked in

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corporate wellness since 2004,

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I functioned really well. I knew how

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to eat well, I worked out on a regular

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basis and I loved to read and study

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everything health and wellness. 


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But what people didn’t know was how much I


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loved the “off” switch that wine provided

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to my “on” and often anxious brain.

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I loved the immediate effect that red wine

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delivered. And people also didn’t see how

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easy and frequent it was for one glass of

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wine to turn into one bottle of wine.

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There is a commune characteristic and

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pattern in gray area drinking that I 


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experience and I’ve watched many others

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experience as well and that’s a stopping

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and restarting drinking. One time I

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stopped for 7 months, another time I

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stopped for 30 days, and other short

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periods in between, and then I would think

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to myself: “Why am I being so restrictive?

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I can be a social drinker”. So I’d return

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to drinking only to return to a level of

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drinking where I regret it. This back and

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forth drinking marry-go-around was the

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exact thing that I knew I wanted to exit

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off for good that day in my car on the

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highway.

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And maybe you don’t actually identify with

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a gray area drinking because not everyone

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will. But here is what I know with

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absolute certainty: there are people in

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your life right now, it could be family

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members, close friends, colleagues, and

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they are worrying and wondering as they’re

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rethinking their drinking because they are


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in the gray area, but more than likely

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they are not talking to you about it and

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they are not talking to others about it

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because they think they are the only ones

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and they think they are alone.

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So how do I know this? I’ve lived this for

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many years. And the more I can be speaking

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up professionally about my gray area


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drinking experience the more my email

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inbox gets flooded with emails from

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attorneys and therapists, senior level

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managers and nurses, stay in home moms,

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yoga instructors, and many many others.

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And their words are different, but

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the jest of what they write me is all 


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the same and they say, “I identify with

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your drinking story. I don’t have a rock

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bottom either, I want to be able to drink

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socially, but I end up regretting how much

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I drink on a frequent basis."


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This gray area drinking spectrum is real

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and it’s large. And a lot of high

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achieving, high functioning people who

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silently live here every day. But beyond

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gray area drinking is even something

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bigger and that’s a collective story of

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anxiety. And this I believe is where we

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are collectively missing the mark.

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We don’t need anymore cognitive hoops to


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jump through and we don’t need anymore

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ways to focus our will power and contort

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our will power in an attempt to “fix”

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ourselves, what we need is practical

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training in how to nourish our nervous

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system in a revolutionary and new way.

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So there is many components and pieces to



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this, but one component and one

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interesting place to start can

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be understanding your neurotransmitters.

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So let’s start with GABA. So GABA is

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the natural anti-anxiety neurotransmitter.

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When GABA is low we can feel anxious and


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our mind can get stuck in a loop of worry,

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rumination or obsession about anything.

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Serotonin is the natural anti-depressant 


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neurotransmitter. When serotonin is low

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we can feel more depressed, unhappy, and

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crave things like carbs and alcohol and

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have trouble sleeping.


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Dopamine is the neurotransmitter that’s in


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charge of our focus and motivation. When

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dopamine’s low it can be hard to stay at

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a coarse and stay on track with your

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goals and your routines.

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So people with low GABA people will often

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say that they drink as a way to relax.

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That was me. People with low serotonin


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will say they drink as a way to have fun,

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and people with low dopamine will say they

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drink as a way to connect and engage


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with others.

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But here’s the problem and here is what I

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want to you know and take from this talk —

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It can be relatively easy for most people

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on the gray area drinking spectrum to stop

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drinking, but it can be hard to stay

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stopped, especially if we are not

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replenishing our neurotransmitters and

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nourishing our nervous system in a

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comprehensive and consistent way.


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So here’s the good news, in turns out that



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there is actually specific foods,

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movements and lifestyle practices that

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while they are great wellness tips for

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everyone, they have very direct and

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immediate roles in boosting all of our

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neurotransmitters.

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So as a way to give you some practical

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ways that you can begin to boost your

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neurotransmitters now I’d like to start

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doing that by using the acronym “NOURISH”

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N - notice nature - Research shows that


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when our pleasure, which is dopamine,

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and our happiness, which is serotonin,

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both begin to rise when we go into areas

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with a large density of trees or a large

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body of water like an ocean. All it takes

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is 20 minutes of being around nature with

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a lot of trees, a lot of water for your

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GABA, serotonin, and dopamine to begin

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to rise.

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O - observe your breath. There are many


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medications you can stunt, blunt, and

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block the fight-flight-freeze response in

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your body, there are no medications that

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can boost the calm response. But there is

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one mechanism in your body that can do

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that naturally. And that mechanism is your

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breath. When our breath is regulated our

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neurotransmitters become regulated.

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Take a breath! How does that feel? You all

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just gave a little boost to your GABA,

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serotonin, and dopamine.

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R - replenish with food - when you eat

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protein, whether it’s animal protein or

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vegetable protein, it doesn’t matter,

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it breaks down into amino acids and amino

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acids are what replenish GABA, serotonin,

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and dopamine. When you eat healthy fats,

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particularly in the form of Omega 3 fats

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like fish oil, flax seeds, or walnuts,

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those Omega 3 fats are the raw materials

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that make your neurotransmitters.

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When you eat carbohydrates, specifically


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in the ideal form of vegetables, and even

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more specific, leafy green vegetables,

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they break down into B vitamins and

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B vitamins are the pre-cursors that make

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serotonin. When you replenish with food

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you replenish your neurotransmitters.

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I - initiate movement. Any exercise will

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boost the neurotransmitters.


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The Boston University did a study with

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yoga participants and they had them do

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a 60-minute yoga class. And then when

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they measured they're GABA after that

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class they found everyone’s GABA went

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up at least on 27%. Some participants had

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arising GABA up to 80%. Compared to the

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control group that read a book for

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60 minutes, there was no change in

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their GABA. One 60-minute yoga class can

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initiate a boost in all your

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neurotransmitters.

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But after we active, we need to be still.

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S - sitting in stillness allows

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the nervous system the opportunity

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to respond and adopt in a complex world

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that we live and work in in a very

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nurusing way. And particularly sitting in

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stillness and silence, invoking a sacred

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prayer, meditation, or scripture can

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really feed and replenish your GABA,

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serotonin, and dopamine.

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H - harness your creativity - Dopamine

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loves the creative flow. And the way you

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get into a creative flow is to pick 



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a single focused activity that ends

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en “ing”. Some examples are gardening,

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fishing, painting. But be careful because

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there are some other activities that end

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en “ing” that make us feel like we get

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a dopamine hit: drinking, smoking,

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overeating. Fishing, painting,

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the positive hobbies boost your dopamine.

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The other: drinking, smoking, overeating

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depletes dopamine. Harnish your

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creativity, but be very conscientious

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how you doing that. As of today, It has

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been 1054 days since I’ve had a drink


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of alcohol.

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But I didn’t have a rock bottom moment 


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that brought me to this point and you

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don’t need to have one either.