-
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 would 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 actually don’t identify with
-
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.
-
the more I've been speaking out 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 the 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 by
-
doing that by using the acronym “NOURISH”
-
So 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 that 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.
-
U - uniting with others.
-
The research is solid: close social bonds, community, and social connections have a direct impact on our nervous system. In our technology driven world we have become very deficient of human touch. Hug the people who support you, hug your pets, get body work, massage or Reiki, it doesn't matter, whatever resonates with you. Physical touch has an immediate impact on boosting GABA, serotonin and dopamine.
-
-
R - replenish with food - when you eat
-
Not Synced
-
Not Synced
protein, whether it’s animal protein or
-
Not Synced
vegetable protein, it doesn’t matter,
-
Not Synced
it breaks down into amino acids and amino
-
Not Synced
acids are what replenish GABA, serotonin,
-
Not Synced
and dopamine. When you eat healthy fats,
-
Not Synced
particularly in the form of Omega 3 fats
-
Not Synced
like fish oil, flax seeds, or walnuts,
-
Not Synced
those Omega 3 fats are the raw materials
-
Not Synced
that make your neurotransmitters.
-
Not Synced
When you eat carbohydrates, specifically
-
Not Synced
in the ideal form of vegetables, and even
-
Not Synced
more specific, leafy green vegetables,
-
Not Synced
they break down into B vitamins and
-
Not Synced
B vitamins are the pre-cursors that make
-
Not Synced
serotonin. When you replenish with food
-
Not Synced
you replenish your neurotransmitters.
-
Not Synced
I - initiate movement. Any exercise will
-
Not Synced
boost the neurotransmitters.
-
Not Synced
The Boston University did a study with
-
Not Synced
yoga participants and they had them do
-
Not Synced
a 60-minute yoga class. And then when
-
Not Synced
they measured they're GABA after that
-
Not Synced
class they found everyone’s GABA went
-
Not Synced
up at least on 27%. Some participants had
-
Not Synced
arising GABA up to 80%. Compared to the
-
Not Synced
control group that read a book for
-
Not Synced
60 minutes, there was no change in
-
Not Synced
their GABA. One 60-minute yoga class can
-
Not Synced
initiate a boost in all your
-
Not Synced
neurotransmitters.
-
Not Synced
But after we active, we need to be still.
-
Not Synced
S - sitting in stillness allows
-
Not Synced
the nervous system the opportunity
-
Not Synced
to respond and adopt in a complex world
-
Not Synced
that we live and work in in a very
-
Not Synced
nurusing way. And particularly sitting in
-
Not Synced
stillness and silence, invoking a sacred
-
Not Synced
prayer, meditation, or scripture can
-
Not Synced
really feed and replenish your GABA,
-
Not Synced
serotonin, and dopamine.
-
Not Synced
H - harness your creativity - Dopamine
-
Not Synced
loves the creative flow. And the way you
-
Not Synced
get into a creative flow is to pick
-
Not Synced
a single focused activity that ends
-
Not Synced
en “ing”. Some examples are gardening,
-
Not Synced
fishing, painting. But be careful because
-
Not Synced
there are some other activities that end
-
Not Synced
en “ing” that make us feel like we get
-
Not Synced
a dopamine hit: drinking, smoking,
-
Not Synced
overeating. Fishing, painting,
-
Not Synced
the positive hobbies boost your dopamine.
-
Not Synced
The other: drinking, smoking, overeating
-
Not Synced
depletes dopamine. Harnish your
-
Not Synced
creativity, but be very conscientious
-
Not Synced
how you doing that. As of today, It has
-
Not Synced
been 1054 days since I’ve had a drink
-
Not Synced
of alcohol.
-
Not Synced
But I didn’t have a rock bottom moment
-
Not Synced
that brought me to this point and you
-
Not Synced
don’t need to have one either.
-
Not Synced
But I’ll be honest there were two things I
-
Not Synced
worried about when I stopped drinking.
-
Not Synced
And the first was: what would happen with
-
Not Synced
my relationships? This one surprised me.
-
Not Synced
The important relationships in my life,
-
Not Synced
family stuck by me, but they deepened.
-
Not Synced
And I look back at all the new wonderful
-
Not Synced
people who who had entered my life in
-
Not Synced
the last 3 years, some of them drink,
-
Not Synced
some of them don’t, but our relationship
-
Not Synced
is not built on my personal decision to
-
Not Synced
not drink. We’ve been able to connect and
-
Not Synced
relate and we’re aligned in a way that is
-
Not Synced
new for me. And it’s been really really
-
Not Synced
nourishing to add these relationships
-
Not Synced
to my life.
-
Not Synced
The second thing I worried about was what
-
Not Synced
if something awful happened and it would
-
Not Synced
be so painful that I’ll want to numb it
-
Not Synced
with a glass or a bottle of wine? That
-
Not Synced
worry came true. Eighteen months into not
-
Not Synced
drinking I hit my worse personal financial
-
Not Synced
crisis in my life. If there was ever
-
Not Synced
a time when I wanted to numb
-
Not Synced
the experience and anesthetize the intense
-
Not Synced
anxiety and fear that I felt that was
-
Not Synced
the time. But I didn’t do it. And I
-
Not Synced
believe the reason I got through that time
-
Not Synced
without drinking wasn’t because I had
-
Not Synced
an intellectual understanding of
-
Not Synced
the nervous system, which I do, but
-
Not Synced
intellectualizing something is what gets
-
Not Synced
me through something. And it wasn’t
-
Not Synced
because I had a strong will power, which
-
Not Synced
I don’t, my will power fatigue is as much
-
Not Synced
as the next person. But what I had was
-
Not Synced
a very targeted and specific nourishment
-
Not Synced
that I had given my nervous system
-
Not Synced
leading up to that point in a very new and
-
Not Synced
different way. And that had given me
-
Not Synced
a zone of resilience and internal zone
-
Not Synced
of resilience that I’ve never had before.
-
Not Synced
So whatever road you’re on and wherever
-
Not Synced
you are on that road with your own
-
Not Synced
internal conversation, whether you’re
-
Not Synced
a healthcare professional like myself,
-
Not Synced
a business professional in any industry,
-
Not Synced
a stay at home parent or anyone else, if
-
Not Synced
you know in your bones that you’re in
-
Not Synced
the gray area with drinking or anything
-
Not Synced
else as an attempt to regulate the anxiety
-
Not Synced
in your body or the discomfort in your
-
Not Synced
life, don’t forget: your GABA,
-
Not Synced
your serotonin, and your dopamine are
-
Not Synced
waiting for you to activate them with
-
Not Synced
certain foods, movements and lifestyle
-
Not Synced
practices, and when you do that you’re
-
Not Synced
giving your nervous system the
-
Not Synced
nourishment it’s been craving all along.
-
Not Synced
Thank you!