Foods With L Tyrosine

L-tyrosine is known as a non-essential amino acid which means that the body can produce it naturally. According to author of the Healing Nutrients Within book Eric R. Braverman. This amino acid can be helpful for improving conditions such as addictions and act like an antidepressant. It can also aid in the fight against pain as well as help tone muscles and skin. L-tyrosine is essential to the structure of proteins within the body. In addition its components are precursor to certain neurotransmitters such as dopamine and norepinephrine. This important amino acid can be found in a variety of foods.

Meats

There are a variety of meat sources that have L- Tyrosine in them. Foods that are rich in proteins can include lean beef as well as lean cuts of pork which could include a pork roast, or pork loin.  Poultry can include chicken and turkey although sources of wild game such as quail, duck and ostrich have high levels of Tyrosine as well.  Most fish have high levels including orange roughy, tuna, shrimp, and cod. Other meats can include lean cuts of lamb and veal.

Dairy

Dairy products can contain good levels of L- tyrosine. These foods can include egg whites, cottage cheese, white cheeses such as provolone, mozzarella, and Parmesan. Milk is also a source of L- tyrosine. Because soy products contain a high source of this amino acid, soy milk can be beneficial as well.

Fruits and Vegetables

Seaweed has one of the highest levels of L-tyrosine. Green foods such as spinach, mustard greens, pumpkin leafs all have health amounts of tyrosine. Avocado and banana are a tasty way to get in a boost of tyrosine.

Nuts, Seeds, Beans and Grains

Whole grains such as wheat and oats are a good source of tyrosine. Kidney and lima beans are a nice source as is the soy bean and tofu. Nuts such as almonds and seeds such as sesame seeds and pumpkin seeds are another good source of this non-essential amino acid. 

Food Containing Serotonin

Serotonin is a neurotransmitter that affects the central nervous system. It is responsible for well being and calmness. Low levels of serotonin can have an impact on sleep, appetite, and mood. A deficiency of serotonin can be associated to mental-health issues such as depression, anxiety, anger, and bipolar disorder. Many people can take medications to increase their serotonin; however, there are certain foods that can boost your serotonin levels.

Tryptophan and Tyrosine Foods

Tryptophan is an amino acid that converts to serotonin, and the body cannot produce it; therefore, we need to obtain it through from the foods we eat. Foods high in proteins such as poultry and lean meats, milk, eggs, cheese, flaxseed, and nuts have generous amounts of tryptophan and several servings should be eaten daily. Tyrosine is an amino acid that supports neurotransmitters in the brain. It is a precursor of dopamine, adrenaline, and epinephrine. Foods rich in tyrosine include egg whites, seaweed, soy products, poultry, peanuts, almonds, avocados, bananas, and cheese.

B Vitamin Foods

The B vitamins are important for brain development and the manufacturing of neurotransmitters including serotonin. Foods that contain vitamin B1 (thiamine) include whole-grain cereals and breads, lean red meat, egg yolks, and green leafy vegetables. B2 (riboflavin) can be found in meats and dairy as well as peas. B6 (pyridoxine) foods include buckwheat, spinach, bell peppers, bananas, poultry and fish. Folic acid is a B vitamin used by the body to make serotonin. Some foods that have folic acid include broccoli, spinach, strawberries, lentils, chickpeas, melons, and asparagus. By incorporating these foods into your diet, you can increase your serotonin production.

Carbohydrate Foods
Carbohydrates can stimulate serotonin; therefore, eating low-glycemic carbohydrates can increase serotonin. These foods can include brown rice, buckwheat, whole-grains, sweet potato, wheat pastas, and whole-grain cereals.

Essential Fatty Acids Foods
Essential fatty acids are needed for serotonin production. Foods high in omega fatty acids include fatty fish like salmon, sardines, and herring, walnuts and almonds, dark green leafy vegetables, soybean, olive and flaxseed oil, lean meats.

There are many foods that contain serotonin. Be sure to use the food pyramid to determine the correct amount of proteins and grains you should eat in your daily diet. Some nutritionists suggest that people eat a lunch that is rich in tryptophan, and then eat a carb/grain meal in the evening. By following this model people will be less likely to overeat and serotonin levels will more than likely rise.  

Alternative Medicines for Type-2 Diabetes Treatment

In the United States there are currently over 23 million people with diabetes according to the American Diabetes Association. Type-2 diabetes is the most common form of this disease. Type-2 diabetes means your body doesn’t seem to make enough insulin. There are medications people can take to manage this disease, and lifestyle changes can be beneficial as well. There are a variety of well-studied alternative medicines that people are now starting to integrate into their lives to help them manage type-2 diabetes.

Chromium

The American College of Nutrition asserts that chromium plays a key role in how the body uses insulin to burn such things like carbohydrates, sugar, proteins, and fats. Because chromium is an insulin-enhancing mineral, it can be very helpful in controlling some of the symptoms of type-2 diabetes. Some foods with chromium are raw onions, romaine lettuce, and ripe tomatoes. Chromium can also be purchased as a supplement.

Cinnamon

In his study at the University in Peshawar, researcher Alam Khan, PhD states that cinnamon can help glucose metabolism and the overall condition of diabetes. The reason is that one of the compounds in cinnamon, hydroxychalcone, can lower blood glucose levels, along with low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, and triglycerides. Cinnamon can be purchased in supplemental form at any health food store.

Berberine

In a clinical trial published in Metabolism, with people diagnosed type 2 diabetes and were randomly divided into groups and assigned to take metformin (Glucophage) or berberine. Improvements were noted the very first week, and at the study’s conclusion, the average blood sugar and hemoglobin A1C levels significantly decreased in both groups. Remarkably, berberine helped fight diabetes every bit as effectively as metformin. The researchers concluded that the two had “identical effect in the regulation of glucose metabolism.” A personal note, I have been using Bererine for about four months and my morning sugars have dropped 15- 20 number and A1C dropped a few.

Glucomannan

Glucomannan (amorphophallus konjac) is a natural dietary fiber that comes from the konjac root. It slows the stomach from emptying, which, in turn, can cause a more gradual absorption of sugar. Because it slows down the absorption of sugar and cholesterol in the stomach, it can help control sugar levels in diabetes. The additional bonus to this is it can reduce cholesterol levels which, according to American Diabetes Association, is an aid in treating type-2 diabetes.

Ginseng

A study at the University of Toronto has discovered that American as well as Korean ginseng can reduce blood glucose levels in people who have type-2 diabetes. Researchers believe that ginseng lowers the glycemic response after carbohydrate consumption if taken 40 minutes before eating carbohydrates.

Bitter Melon

A study that appeared in this year in the Journal of Chemistry and Biology, shows a great deal of promise for bitter melon, a fruit found in Asian stores. The research showed that bitter melon can activate a certain enzyme that helps regulate metabolism by transporting glucose into the cells. 

Children and Mental Health

It is a topic we so rarely talk about; mental health and children. In all reality, who wants to look it? Not the children and parents, why they seems to think that it is their fault a society blames them so not the parents, so who looks at it? Yet children being diagnosed with psychiatric conditions at an alarming rate and rarely do we want to look at that fact little long talk about it.

There are many issues children need to deal with growing up. In today’s world we have a divorce rate of over 50%, our unemployment is astounding, people are losing their homes, parents are worried, teachers are distracted, and young children feel this. How could they not? To top that off, school bullying has increased and so has cyber bullying, and kids are getting it from every direction.

Is being bullied or worried about your family a Prozac deficiency or is it a natural response? Do the trying threes really require an antidepressant? Some doctors and pharmaceutical companies would say yes. In fact, the number of school children prescribed anti-depressants and mind-altering drugs has more than quadrupled in the last decade. New figures show general practitioners are prescribing pills in record numbers to combat stress, violent behavior and even tiredness.

Child drugging has been a huge profitable market with earnings of about $4.8 billion dollars a year. Pharmaceutical companies have done everything in their power to convince the press, legislators and especially parents why children need to be put on drugs.

There are 20 million children in the United States who have been diagnosed with some kind of psychiatric disorder and drugged for it. It has become an epidemic. Innocent children are being turned into patients for simply acting like kids. As we know, there have been a number of serious and deadly results from young people taking medications for depression. Many if not all the recent school shootings have shown us a picture of a disturbed young person who is on some type of antidepressant. But that is not is as disturbing as three and four-year old children on antidepressants.

Let’s look at ADHD and children. At this very moment at least 6,000,000 U.S. school children are being administered Ritalin or other addictive, mind-altering, psychiatric drugs. A pediatric psychologist became concerned when she was suddenly inundated with ADHD referrals. She worried that the disorder was being over diagnosed and began a study of 30,000 grade school students in two school districts in Virginia. The study raises many questions about ADHD diagnosis but provides few answers. Were previous estimates too low Is ADHD being over diagnosed, or are doctors now doing a better job of diagnosing it.

In the U.S. and many of those are being prescribed medication because the parent, daycare worker or school teacher feels that the child might be ADHD.

Did I say that right? A person working in day care who has no medical or psychology background are telling parents their child has ADHD? That is about as scary as it gets! It is almost as scary as parents are not being informed about all the potential risks to their child when they agree to a psychiatric drug prescription.

According to testimony given in the fall of 2004 to the Congressional Energy and Commerce Committee insignificant results were found in two thirds of the studies in which children were given anti-depressants and compared to children given a placebo.

About 1.5 million children ages 5 on up take Ritalin for relief from attention and hyperactivity disorders, researchers reported in the journal Pediatrics. The drug’s popularity is growing. Ritalin use is up 250% since 1990, according to a recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association.

With the recent news coverage on how our children are being abused by medications for depression and ADHD, I feel this three part series comes at a great time. Please keep in mind that the majority of children on psychotropic medications are not necessary and more and more research and news coverage is now validating that we must stop drugging our children.

There are so many alternatives that can help with our children and I am going to list just a few. Please remember to do your research. There is NEVER a reason to give our children unnecessary medications.

Omega Three Fatty Acids is probably the best alternative one can use. These fatty acids are needed to make brain and nerve tissue in the body and are crucial for proper growth, mental function, the immune system and brain development. Omega Three Fatty 3 is a wonderful and affordable option for treating depression and ADHD. They have omega three for children, there is also a product called by VAXA called Attend- It is effective for 70% of ADD ADHD individuals, as measured by computer testing and parent scales. Attend blends amino acids, fatty acids, homeopathic, and other herbs and supplements to produce a product that is curing symptoms of ADHD. http://www.vaxa.com/

Iron can help with children as there is growing evidence that hyperactive children are commonly deficient in iron, which is important for the production of the mood-regulating brain chemical dopamine.

 There are foods high in iron such as:

•  Red meat

•  Egg yolks

•  Dark, leafy greens like spinach

•  Dried fruit (prunes, raisins)

•  Iron-enriched cereals and grains

•  Oysters, clams, scallops

•  Turkey or chicken giblets

•  Beans, lentils, and soybeans

•  Liver

•  Artichokes

EEG Biofeedback is about 75% effective. This technology involves the acquiring biofeedback machine that averages from 50.00-150.00. There are biofeedback clinicians as well. This is a technique that trains people to improve their health by controlling certain bodily processes that normally happen involuntarily, such as heart rate, blood pressure, muscle tension, and skin temperature.

Decreased TV and Video game time– Research has concluded after studying 5,000 children for two years that TV and video games can cause, yes can cause ADHD. Suggestion is two hours in front of the tube either watching TV or playing video games daily.

A new study has shown improved brain functioning, increased brain processing, and improved language-based skills among ADHD students practicing the meditation technique. In addition it can help decrease symptoms of depression in children.

Spending time in ordinary urban nature can also help. These settings can include a tree-lined street, a green yard or neighborhood park may offer additional relief from ADHD symptoms. Spend time in nature, play more sports, ride bike, do homework outside in the fresh air.

Once again before taking your child to a doctor for ADHD or believing your child may need dangerous drugs for just being a child, try to answer the following questions.

• How many hours did you child watch TV today?

• How much time did your child spend on video games today?

• How long was your child outdoors today?

• Did your child exercise today?

• How much time did you spend time with your child today?

• What did your child do in school today?

• Did you do something exciting with your child today? What?

• What did your child eat today?

As you can see, there are a variety of treatments that help with your child’s mental health. The main focus should make sure you are educated. Just don’t give your child a handful of vitamins. Make sure you understand each supplement, and make sure they do a great deal of movement daily.

The vast majority of medical doctors consider ADHD to be of unknown causes. What we do know is that the elimination of food additives and refined sugar produces dramatic improvements not just for children with ADHD but for children who show signs of depression.

One thing I have noticed when I work with children with ADHD or depression and anxiety is their diet. I ask the parents to keep a food diary for their kids for two weeks. Some parents are honest some are not.

After reading all the food diaries I began to look at how we send our children to school. Let’s say we give them a nice bowl of Frosted Mini Wheat’s which have 10 sugars and a whopping 41 grams of cards which turns to sugar. Now add milk, non-fat or low fat milk is pact with sugar on the average 12-15 grams. Now let me tell you that 1 teaspoon of granulated sugar equals 4 grams of sugar. Now 3.75 grams of carbs equal 1 gram of sugar. So a small bowl of frosted mini Wheats with a cup of milk equals about 14 teaspoon of sugar.

Feeding our children fresh fruits and a good protein source offers good brain health. Carbohydrate loaded breakfasts of frozen waffles, pancakes, pastry rolls and cold cereal do nothing to feed the brain. Instead, eat an omelet with low-fat cheese and a lean meat to activate neurotransmitters in the brain. If you are in a time crunch, have them drink a protein shake for breakfast.

Foods That Are Good For You

• Vegetables (except corn, potatoes and squash).

• Beans and peas

• Fruit

• Nuts and seeds

• Fish oils, Flaxseed oil, Olive oil, Primrose oil

• Leans meats

• Eggs

• Low-fat cheeses

• Protein powder

Foods To Avoid or Decrease

• Breads and pasta from processed white flour

• White rice white potatoes

• Desserts, ice cream, candy, chocolate, cookies, doughnuts

• Powdered or refined sugar

• Soda, sports drinks, tea, coffee and alcohol

• Fast foods, burgers, pizza, hotdogs, milkshakes

• Processed foods-Hotdogs, lunchmeat

• Junk food, chips, soda

• Fruit juices

• Artificial colors flavors and preservatives

• Artificial sweeteners (aspartame, saccharin, sucralose).

Folate is one of the B vitamins and helps aid in depression. Foods high in folates include: orange juice, strawberries, citrus fruits and juices, leafy green vegetables, whole grain breads, and pinto, navy and kidney beans. Foods rich in protein are rich in an amino acid called tyrosine. Tyrosine may help boost levels of the brain chemicals dopamine and norepinephrine, which can help treat depression as well as ADHD. Foods include turkey, tuna, salmon or chicken beans and peas, lean beef, low-fat cheese, almonds, milk, poultry, soy products, yogurt.

Understanding Family Dysfunction

I have worked in the field of psychology and social services for a very long time and have worked with a great deal with dysfunctional families. It is always interesting to me to see how family dysfunction can be passed down from generation to generation and what shapes the dysfunction can take.

One of the greatest questions I get is how do we deal with family dysfunction? I should be the expert on this as I came from a long line of dysfunction. I, like most people, feel my family puts the D in dysfunction, however, I am not terminally unique and know that many people have families that are dysfunctional.

I suppose it would be important to try to understand what family dysfunction is. Text books have been written about it, however in a quick nutshell, family dysfunction is a family where there is an abundance of conflict, but not just conflict but where these conflicts create misbehavior. These behaviors can turn into abuse, addictions, such as substance abuse, alcohol, drugs, prescribed medication, and very often an untreated mental illness. Dysfunctional families often live with lies, anger and confusion. There is often dysfunction in a family, however too much dysfunction turns into problems that can have a profound impact on family members.

In a functional or healthy family, you will find respect between all the family members. Treat the children with respect and the children treat the parents with respect. In a dysfunctional family respect is hardly ever found. So let’s look at what dysfunctional family.

* A parent and or child will show lack of empathy, understanding, and sensitivity towards certain family members.

* Denial such as refusing to acknowledge abusive or addictive behaviors.

* Lack of boundaries.

* Conflict such as verbal, spiritual, physical or sexual abuse.

* Unequal or unfair treatment of one or more family members due to their birth order, gender, age, sexuality.

* Using such as a destructively narcissistic parents who rules by fear and conditional love.

* A parents who use physical violence, or emotionally, or sexually abuse their children.

* Dogmatic or cult-like parents who are harsh and inflexible discipline with children not allowed, within reason, to dissent, question authority, or develop their own value system.

* Inequitable parenting such as going to extremes for one child while continually ignoring the needs of another.

* Deprivation is very abusive and is done by a parents using control or neglect by withholding love, support, necessities, sympathy, praise, attention, encouragement, supervision, or otherwise putting their children’s well-being at risk.

* Appeasement (parents who reward bad behavior—even by their own standards—and inevitability punish another child’s good behavior in order to maintain the peace and avoid temper tantrums.

* Loyalty manipulation giving unearned rewards and lavish attention trying to ensure a favored, yet rebellious child will be the one most loyal and well-behaved, while subtly ignoring the wants and needs of their most loyal child currently.

* Role reversal parents who expect their minor children to take care of them instead.

* Münchausen syndrome by proxy where the children are intentionally made ill by a parent seeking attention from friends, family, physicians and other professionals.

So how do you protect yourself from family dysfunction? It is important to understand that family is your first and most influential bond in your life so to start setting boundaries and taking care of yourself may seem difficult at first, but it gets easier. It is important to realize that when you were a child, you were helpless and that helplessness made you dependent on the people closest to you for survival even if those relationships are destructive instead of supportive. The family that supports you and gives you your needs already had certain tendencies before you even came to them. They had beliefs and attitudes and you grow, going along with these tendencies gives you what you need to survive, so you adapt and fit in to get your needs met.

As you grow older and more independent, you begin to realize the dysfunctional tendencies of the family no longer conducive to your lifestyle. By now, you might have learned that the dysfunctional family harmed your self-esteem and confused you. You come to terms that it causes havoc in all relationships in your life. The idea is not to get discouraged. Know that you can make change and this change will not happen overnight, but it will happen. It is vital that you keep in mind as you make the changes that it does not mean you are going to get along much better with your relatives. It simply means you are going to learn how to deal with their dysfunction and feel good about who you are. You will begin how to unravel the dysfunctional.

One of the first steps you need to take is to admit and accepting the family dysfunction and how it tends to take on a life of its own. The family remains dysfunctional because the family remains in denial of the dysfunction. Members and friends may make excuses for the dysfunction and enable family members. a So by accepting the family dysfunction, you admit that there is a problem.

One of the next steps is to realize that you will not be able to change your family. You will run in circles if you try. It’s impossible to change other people so focus on your own feelings and coping mechanisms. Look at how you want to change, what you need to change and how you want to change that. You can create these changes by setting boundaries.

Don’t deal with a dysfunctional family by yourself. See a counselor, life coach, psychospiritualist or support group to help you with your journey to deal with the dysfunction. It is important to know and learn you are not the only one and you may need a third party to help you sort things out and help you begin to build a tool chest for healing.

Finally start building your self esteem. Dysfunctional families have a tendency to rob people of self worth and esteem. Make sure you work on this by doing esteemable acts for yourself. In addition, make sure you show yourself compassion. Often there is no compassion in dysfunctional families and it is key to understanding the root of healing is through compassion of self and others.

Grief is a Journey Not a Mental Illness

I have run a grief group for over 16 years and I am forever getting people asking me if grief should be medicated. What a question. Grief is a journey not a Prozac deficiency. There has been much discussion among mental health professionals about the use of medication in the management of acute, normal grief. With the arrival of the new “improved” DSM5, grief is now going to be considered a mental health issue. So if you grieve the loss of a loved one, mental health experts may put on your medical records you have a mental health issue and are being treated for it.

I recall a friend of mine who grieved the loss of one of her parents. When it came time to getting a new job and new medical insurance, she was turned down for the medical insurance because her grief and medication she was on, was listed as a pre-existing condition. She was unable to not only get the medical insurance, the medication she was one, did not make her grief go away. She had to do what most people have to do when someone dies; grieve.

Grief is a journey, it is not a pathology. Grief is natural and normal. It is part of life. In fact, if people do not grieve over the loss of a very close loved one, I would think something is wrong with them. Grief is natural and it means you will wake up at 2:00am and not be able to sleep, and you will cry over spilled milk. Grief will make you forget your best friend’s name, and forget where you are going in your own house. That is grief. It is normal!

Grief is not a mental illness that requires harmful and in some cases addictive medications. It is sadness. It leaves a void in your heart, in your soul. This void cannot be healed with medication. It is important to know that if you medicate grief, you will still eventually have to deal with it once you decide to get off the medication, if you are not hooked on it already, or if they have not added even more medication. Here is the problem, you see anti-depressants take a long time to work; they rarely relieve normal grief symptoms. By the time these dangerous medication start to work, you might have discovered the value of the journey into grief.

Grief is a journey that we must travel. It reminds us that we lost someone we loved. It means we loved. It reminds us that our path in life is never is straight forward. It is a journey that teaches us how to live without someone. It is a journey that feels like a roller coaster ride. One minute we are okay, and the next minute we are plummeting downward sliding to an abyss wondering if we will ever come out, and the next minute, laughing at a joke someone told that isn’t even funny. Bottom line, grief is a normal part of living and feeling.

The new DSM would have us medicate grief. At least that is what the task force, who has financial ties with the pharmaceutical companies say. The DSM 5 would have you believe it is a treatable mental health condition. I cannot think of a more inhumane treatment for grief. To deprive people of the important participation in their grief is a just wrong. In fact, I would go as far as saying it is abusive.

If you are having problems with your grief, consult a natural mental health care counselor, talk through it. You can journal about your grief and put it on paper. There are many ways you can travel the path of grief, however, since you are not mentally ill, and grief is not a pathology, rather a natural emotion, it is VITAL that you find natural ways to cope with your grief and walk into your journey. 

Antidepressant Use on the Increase

A new study has established that the most commonly prescribed medication, antidepressants, have doubled from 1996 to 2005. Researchers have determined that 13-million people were prescribed an antidepressant in 1996. This number skyrocketed to 27 million by 2005 confirming that antidepressant use is on the increase.

It appears that the medical world is moving towards treating depression through prescription drugs rather than through psychiatric therapy. Olfson and Marcus, lead authors of the study, state that, “There’s being a greater emphasis placed on medications rather than psychotherapy in treating mental health problems.” But he had no idea that antidepressant use would double.

“Not only are more U.S. residents being treated with antidepressants, but also those who are being treated are receiving more antidepressant prescriptions,” the researchers wrote. According to IMS Health, over 164 million antidepressant prescriptions were given in 2008, totaling over $9.6 billion in U.S. sales. This substantiates that antidepressant use on the increase. 

“During this period, individuals treated with antidepressants became more likely to also receive treatment with antipsychotic medications and less likely to undergo psychotherapy,” Olfson and Marcus wrote.

The survey did target why more antidepressants were being prescribed, but the researchers proposed that it has become socially acceptable to be treated for depression, although the availability of new drugs may also play a role. Although there was little change in total promotional spending for antidepressants between 1999 ($0.98 billion) and 2005 ($1.02 billion), there was a marked increase in the percentage of this spending that was devoted to direct-to-consumer advertising, from 3.3 percent ($32 million) to 12 percent ($122.00 million),” the researchers wrote.

Dr. Eric Caine, of the University of Rochester, was disturbed by these findings.

“Antidepressants are only moderately effective on population level,” Caine, who was not involved in the research, noted that many studies have shown that therapy is often more effective than drug use alone. “There is no data to say that the population is healthier. Indeed, the suicide rate in the middle years of life has been climbing,” he said. Not only is antidepressant use on the increase, so is suicide.

In 2003, clinical trials showed that antidepressant drugs actually increased the risk of suicidal thoughts in children and teens, yet the drugs continued to be prescribed at increasing rates. Finally in February 2005, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration gave its strongest warning against the use of antidepressants for children and teens. Studies further suggest that be cautious about prescribing antidepressants to children.

Researchers have concluded that antidepressant use is on the increase and does not appear like it will be declining anytime soon.