Can Tea Reduce Anxiety Levels?

Theanine (L-theanine) which is found in tea leaves may reduce anxiety and improve attention and the ability to focus in people who have high anxiety levels.  Japanese researchers reported these findings in a recent issue of the Journal Of Functional Food.
Theanine is an amino acid that has a chemical structure similar to glutamate, a neurotransmitter that plays a role in memory.  Previous studies have shown that theanine can pass through the blood-brane barrier and thus can have a direct impact on the brain.
In a new current study university students were broken up into two groups.  One group had high anxiety levels and the other had low.  Both groups were given water or water plus 200mg of L-thanine per 100mg water.  The test was conducted repeatedly and evaluations were done between 15 and 60 minutes after the students ingested the water or water plus theanine.
Results indicated that students who were highly anxious and who received theanine had a slowed heart rate, improved attention and a better reaction time when compared with high-anxiety students who took the placebo.  Students with low anxiety did not experience any significant benefit from taking theanine.
The authors of this research noted that unlike other conventional treatments for anxiety, theanine does not cause drowsiness, impair concentration or slow down reflexes.  Rather, 200mg of thanine enhanced performance in visual attention tasks and reaction time responses among the subjects with high anxiety propensity symptoms.

via mentalhealthy.co.uk

Just shows we English have had it right all along. Crisis strikes, have a nice cup of tea :)

Yoga boosts stress-busting hormone, reduces pain, study finds

The study is the first to look at the effects of yoga on cortisol levels in women with fibromyalgia. The condition, which predominantly affects women, is characterized by chronic pain and fatigue; common symptoms include muscle stiffness, sleep disturbances, gastrointestinal discomfort, anxiety and depression.

Previous research has found that women with fibromyalgia have lower-than-average cortisol levels, which contribute to pain, fatigue and stress sensitivity. According to the study, participants' saliva revealed elevated levels of total cortisol following a program of 75 minutes of hatha yoga twice weekly over the course of eight weeks.

via sciencedaily.com

"Yoga promotes this concept -- that we are not our bodies, our experiences, or our pain. This is extremely useful in the management of pain," she says. "Moreover, our findings strongly suggest that psychological changes in turn affect our experience of physical pain."

This alone should be a good enough reason to practise yoga twice weekly.

Looking to the Dietary Gods: Eating Well According to the Ancients

By eating well, we can be proud and transparent, rather than secretly uncomfortable. For starters, by eating more naturally (protein-dense, appropriate portions), we reduce our footprint—the amount we ask of the world to give us. By caring about the quality of what we ingest, we opt out of brutal factory farming and toxic industrial agriculture—keeping excessive blood off our hands. And by eating locally, we support small businesses and entrepreneurs instead of corporate behemoths who have few qualms about poisoning and fattening us (by doing the same to their “product”) if it means greater profits.

via fourhourworkweek.com

Makes perfect sense. The full article is definitely worth a read.

Anneli Rufus - Why Prescription Ecstasy or LSD Could Happen Much Sooner Than You Think

Research to the rescue. High-tech brain scans reveal that psilocybin inhibits blood flow in parts of the brain that regulate sensory input. Less blood flow means less regulation. Flooded with perceptions, a psilocybinized brain can help PTSD patients reprogram their fears, Doblin says. New tools also provide new insight into LSD's ego-dissolving "catharsis effect." And the ecstasy chemistry: MDMA reduces blood flow in the fear-processing amygdala while increasing blood flow in the prefrontal cortex, which facilitates our ability to put things into context.

"With MDMA, the fear circuitry is reduced," Doblin explains. This helps PTSD patients remember and re-examine long-buried aspects of their traumas. Aided by MDMA, "these memories don't immediately go straight to fear." Say you were traumatized by a bat-wielding, red-hatted assailant. Under MDMA, "the neural pathways connecting bats, red hats and fear are not so strong." Recontextualized in an MDMA-activated prefrontal cortex, triggers lose their power -- sometimes forever, he says.

"Under the influence of MDMA, people can make emotional changes that persist after the MDMA is out of their systems." On MDMA, "you operate on this much smoother level, and then you lose it -- but not all of it. You get so much material from that experience, which you can learn to integrate."

This doesn't mean you can recover by hitting a few raves. A key theme of the medical-psychedelics movement is that it's medical. These drugs are so strong and long-lasting that, for clinical use, Doblin says they must be administered in "a safe, supportive, controlled setting" overseen by professionals.

via integral-options.blogspot.com

This is really good news, I just hope it comes to fruition. Enough mind altering drugs are used anyway so why not use some clinically that may actually have some long lasting positive effects.

Mindfulness meditation training changes brain structure in eight weeks

Participating in an 8-week mindfulness meditation program appears to make measurable changes in brain regions associated with memory, sense of self, empathy and stress. In a study that will appear in the January 30 issue of Psychiatry Research: Neuroimaging, a team led by Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) researchers report the results of their study, the first to document meditation-produced changes over time in the brain's grey matter.

"Although the practice of meditation is associated with a sense of peacefulness and physical relaxation, practitioners have long claimed that meditation also provides cognitive and psychological benefits that persist throughout the day," says Sara Lazar, PhD, of the MGH Psychiatric Neuroimaging Research Program, the study's senior author. "This study demonstrates that changes in brain structure may underlie some of these reported improvements and that people are not just feeling better because they are spending time relaxing."

via sciencedaily.com

An excellent article with supporting research for those who need even more convincing that meditation is a worthwhile practice.

Bananas and Blood Pressure - Do Bananas Lower Blood Pressure - RealAge

Cheap and plentiful year-round, bananas are bursting with potassium. And a review of several major studies suggests that people who add the potassium equivalent of an extra 1 1/2 to 2 bananas to their day could drop their blood pressure 2 to 3 points.

More Points for Potassium
Dropping BP by 2 or 3 points is nothing to sneeze at. In fact, it's enough to lower stroke risk. In other research, people with the highest potassium intake levels cut their stroke risk by a whopping 38 percent compared with the people who got the least potassium. This magical mineral works by encouraging your kidneys to filter more pressure-boosting sodium out of your bloodstream. It also helps tiny blood vessels relax and makes pressure sensors in artery walls function more efficiently.

via realage.com

Even people who generally don't like fruit make an exception with bananas, so there really is no excuse...

Nutrition: Sweet Potato (A Paleo Exception) - Explore Fitness

The sweet potato is a moderate GI (glycaemic index) carbohydrate and is very high in Vitamin A (a fat-soluble antioxidant).  Vitamin A (beta-carotene) is what gives sweet potatoes the rich orange colour (some sweet potatoes are purple in colour).
To maximise absorption of vitamin A ensure you have adequate fat with your meal to ensure the body is better able to utilise this antioxidant.
Interestingly a study several years ago of 10,000 Finnish smokers found that those with higher levels of Vitamin A (beta-carotene) in the blood had a lower incidence of lung cancer.  This was only the case with Vitamin A from natural sources though, not that coming from synthetic vitamin supplementation where lung cancer rates where actually found to be higher! [1]  Another reason to stick to natural sources for antioxidants!
In Loren Cordain's book "Paleo Diet For Athletes" the sweet potato is also considered as one of the better options for recovery from extended endurance work.  This book goes into great detail of nutrition for pre-, during and post-activity.
The sweet potato also includes Vitamin C, E, B6 - the micronutrients manganese, copper and traces of potassium and iron.  Anthocyanin is a colour related pigment which studies have shown to have anti-inflammatory properties another property supporting one's recovery from activity.[2]
Here's a recipe for Sweet Potato Chips (using coconut oil for adequate fat intake).

via thefitnessexplorer.com

Excellent alternative to potatoes, especially if you are avoiding the deadly nightshade family because of joint pain.

Olive oil 'helps prevent stroke' - BBC News

Olive oil can help prevent strokes in people over 65, a study suggests.

Researchers followed around 7,000 people aged 65 and over living in three French cities, for at least five years.
They found those who used a lot of olive oil in cooking or as a dressing or dip had a lower risk of stroke than those who never used it.
The researchers say older people should be given new dietary advice regarding olive oil, based on the findings, which are published in the journal Neurology

via bbc.co.uk

Good to see at last commonsense healthy eating is being researched and verified.

Lose Weight by Eating 30 Grams of Protein Within 30 Minutes of Waking

So says Tim Ferris in his book The 4-Hour Body: An Uncommon Guide to Rapid Fat-Loss, Incredible Sex, and Becoming Superhuman. He says if you do only that you will lose weight easily. So with that in mind I have compiled a list of high protein foods to try it out.

High Protein Foods

1. Dry Roasted Soybeans - have a massive 39.6 grams of protein in 100 grams.

2. Lean Beef - 36 grams per 100 gram serving. A small fillet steak should do it.

3. Cheese - Although they vary, hard cheeses like parmesan have the highest protein and the softer the lowest, if you opt for a medium cheese you will get roughly 30 grams in a 100 gram portion.

4. Roasted Pumpkin Seeds - 33 grams per 100 grams.

5. Chicken - 32.8 grams in 100 grams, that's about 27 grams in half an average breast.

6. Tuna - 30 grams for every 100 grams.

7. Salmon - 27 grams for the same amount.

8. Fish Roe - 28 grams per 100 grams. And though caviar, for some reason, only rates at 24, would be a nice excuse to indulge :)

9. Marmite - weighs in at 27 grams per 100 grams though you'd need to eat about 50 teaspoons of the stuff. Moving on...

10. Lobster - 26.4 per 100 grams.

11. Peanuts - 23.7 per 100 grams. And oddly lentils are 25.8 raw though only 9 when cooked. Hmm.

12. Almonds, Pistachios, Sunflower Seeds - All 21 grams per 100g.

13. Flax and Sesame Seeds - 18 grams per 100g.

14. Tofu - 17 grams per 100g.

15. Eggs - 13 grams per 100g. You'd need two eggs for that.

My goat milk yoghurt says an average serving of 150 grams gives 8.3 grams of protein so may try combining with some ground nuts and seeds to make that up.

Also going to investigate protein shakes and bars. Will report back on those later.

And if it all gets too much may try just cutting out the 5 foods you should never eat to lose weight as explained in this brilliant video.

Let me know your thoughts, or results, in the comments.

Happy Birthday Soph

Am so proud of you. Proud to be your mother. Proud to see how well you're doing.

It's been a long road. We're both still here and relatively sane.

Say no more.

:) x