Optimizing Brains and Bodies

Dr. Kristen Allott and Natasha Duarte interviewed Jennifer Nerio of Taiso Fitness in Tacoma, WA about Z Health eye exercises to reduce eye and brain fatigue when spending too much time in front of a computer. This podcast is available as a video, where Jennifer demonstrates the eye exercises described.

This is a recording of the live webinar with Dr. Jane Tornatore, Dr. Kristen Allott, and Natasha Duarte..

In the April 24th Connectors Group, Dr. Kristen Allott and Natasha Duarte were joined by guest speakers: Ambrosia Eberhardt, Rising StrongAndrea St. Clair, A Positive AlternativeAlida Schuyler, Crossroads RecoveryHere is the recording of the webinar.

In the March 27th Connectors Group, Dr. Kristen Allott gave a shortened version of her 3-hour training for PESI, which will be available for purchase soon.Here is the recording of the webinar. Here is a copy of the full slide deck, and the handouts used in the seminar. We are working to develop more material to help you and the people you connect be at their best, if you have questions or need tools please email us. Take care.

Dr. Kristen Allott and Natasha Duarte interview Chan Hellman, PhD, co-author of the award-winning book “HOPE Rising: How the Science of Hope Can Change Your Life”. Chan introduces the language and science of Hope and shares his insights into how we can cultivate hope during these uncertain times. This is a recording of a live webinar.

In this excerpt from a longer seminar, Dr. Allott reviews several tools that help people take the overwhelm out of deciding what and how to eat well for your brain in today's world.

In this podcast, Dr. Allott explains her methods for evaluating nutritional labels on the foods you consume, and which components are the most important in supporting mental health.

Studies show that our ability to concentrate, have self control, assess a situation, and creatively problem solve for good decision making is determined in large part by the physical resources our brain. This is an excerpt from a longer seminar in which Dr. Allott explains how small frequent meals that contain protein help the brain synthesize dopamine and serotonin, and stabilize blood glucose to help you feel better. It is also important to eat vegetables, fruits, and whole grains.

This is an excerpt from a longer seminar in which Dr. Allott explains the physical causes of anxiety, fatigue, agitation, insomnia and sugar cravings. It explains the way your body reacts to the different fuels, or foods, you consume throughout the day. Instead of addressing food in terms of calories or fat content, we are going to examine dietary choices from the perspective of brain optimization. The goal is to give you an understanding of how your food-based fuel choices can help your body and brain remain energetic and clear.

In this excerpt from August's Connectors Group, Dr. Allott answers a question about the difference between hypoglycemia and excess adrenaline, how these conditions are related, and how to differentiate them.

WIA can be used with other interventions to track improvement of the symptoms of anxiety, such as the introduction of medications, mindfulness, exposure therapy, and observing anxiety levels in different environments or around different people.The WIA Handout can help you with the people you connect with understand their anxiety better, may they be clients, family members, teenagers and most importantly out selves.Introduction: 0-0:21 minutesReview of the Snapshot of Anxiety Assessment and Q&A: 0:21-20:28 minutesIntroduction of the new tool, What Impacts Anxiety and Q&A: 20:28-34:17 minutes

Introduction: 0-1.11 minutesPart 1: GAD-7: 1.11-3.19 minutesPart 2: Mind – Brain – Body Symptoms: 3.19-6.30 minutesPart 3: Global Symptoms: 6.30-13.00 minutesPart 4: Functional Hypoglycemia Score or the “It’s not in your head – it’s in your body” Score: 13.00-17.37 minutesIdentify what’s most important to you about reducing anxiety: 17.37-22.28 minutesThe Snapshot of Anxiety Assessment handout reviews how to distinguish anxiety from functional hypoglycemia.

Estrogen over a lifespan, Estrogen vs. Progesterone and the Brain, and Estrogen and Serotonin-Melatonin interactions (0-17 minutes),Estrogen dominant conditions and how to balance estrogen (17--40 minutes), andAnxiety and the Vagus Nerve, the connection with urinary incontinence, 3 steps for urinary incontinence, and the differences between vaginal Estrogen and hormone replacement therapy (40-53 minutes).You can also watch video clips of this webinar on our Blog

In the April Connectors Group we discussed how to deal with some of the challenges that come up when connecting with friends, family and colleagues. In this excerpt from that discussion, Dr. Allott talks about the importance of eating breakfast and how to use motivational interviewing as a tool to help people establish new habits around eating.

When all of our buckets are full or near full, we have less brain-space for other things. In this podast Dr. Allott introduces a helpful handout that will help put your commitments in perspective and help you to understand why sometimes the smallest of things may be forgotten or push you over an edge.

Accompanying this podcast is a 4-page handout that includes:6 simple steps to feeling better quicker,5 steps for prevention,A worksheet for a Plan to Get Better Faster, andGuidelines for when to see a Doctor and how to get the most out of that visit.

In my first podcast I discuss some of the physical causes for fatigue and review a list of labs that I recommend that can help differentiate between fatigue and depression. In the podcast I reference my blog post with the same title, which may also be of interest. I've created a sample letter that you can bring to your primary care physician, requesting the blood work discussed in the podcast, I hope this helps you start this discussion.