Amazing Brains – 004 – Dr. Elliot Smith

In this episode, Micah sits down with Dr. Elliot Smith. In the show, they cover topics including neurotransmitter, chiropractic, gut and mental health.

Show Notes

Neurotransmitters

Neurotransmitters are any chemical that the body creates to talk with other parts of the body

Anxiety and depression may be linked to gut health

Science is so young in gut health

The things we don’t know far exceed the things that we do know

We’ve had access to this technology in spiritual healing modalities, and now we can do it on a computer

In the 1900’s, after people would get adjusted, they would be told to sit and relax for 2 hours

Imagine if we had people rest for 2 hours after therapy and biofeedback and chiropractic assistance today?

Chiropractic and Neurotransmitters

The first step for everyone is awareness

The first step is to find that the brain chemistry is off

Dr. Elliot starts with gaba, getting people out of fight or flight, and then reprogramming

When you work on the trauma piece, you reach a deeper healing

When people get into that parasympathetic response, he says he focuses on breathing with them

He finds out what relaxes them, whether that’s intense yoga, exercise, etc.

Dr. Elliot suggests eating healthy all the time, not just dieting

The goal is teaching people what it feels like to be calm, some people just have no idea what that looks like under constant stress and anxiety

Its helping people understand a relaxed state and recognize it and have awareness with it

Prebiotics

Chicory root is where a lot of pre-biotics come from

It starts with understanding what prebiotics are and where they come from

Eat sauerkraut, kimchi, kombucha, etc

Fermentation does produce some alcohol content

A lot of people don’t realize that large amounts of vitamin C and magnesium cause diarrhea

Its hard in this day and age, everyone thinks that supplements are great, but it differs from person to person

Just because one supplement is good for person A, doesn’t mean its good for person B

Final thoughts

5htp can help, but it is not good to take with an SSRI, or antidepressant

Serotonin Syndrome is really bad

It’s important to focus on the mind-body-spirit as a whole aspect for health

Proper diet and nutrition, healthy stress relief, and balance all lead to ultimate health

Links

Website

About Dr. Elliot Smith

Amazing Brains – 003 – Mike Mallory – Proper Recovery with Rad Roller

In this episode, Micah sits down with biomechanics specialist and Co-founder of Rad Roller, Mike Mallory. In the show, they talk about Rad Roller and proper recovery techniques.

Show Notes

Roller History

Mike used to work in the clinical environment

Foam rollers and tools are over 30 years old, and patients have been using them since the 1800’s

The revival of the foam roller happened about 15 years ago based on technology and knowledge of the body’s anatomy

Proper Recovery

Stretching, rolling and recovering is important

We live in a culture of bigger, faster, stronger

Less is more at Rad Roller

When you look at how tissues slide and glide over each other, what they are doing, and how the nervous system responds, they are all important aspects when looking at properly rolling

“There is a difference between functional and optimal” – Mike

“We should be the experts of our own body.” – Mike

People always ask Mike ‘what’s the best option, what does science say?’ and Mike answers ‘we have to find what’s best for you.’

Micah says he leans far in not using metrics when he trains, and listens to his body somatically, and other times he is strictly on the quantitative side, it’s all about finding that balance

Rad Roller

Rad Roller offers online mobility courses

Mike says that for someone who has no prior knowledge or experience, they would be able to understand 75% of the material

Its for everyday people as well as coaches and trainers

What the rollers do, is work with the nervous system to signal change and healing to happen

The rollers promote movement of fluid, but they are also tactical and physically change the shape of your body

Recovery

Sleep is a passive form of recovery

Even just doing housework, if you’re not an extreme athlete, rolling can help

There is the neurological window, an opening to make change

If you roll out your leg, it’s not making just physical change, its changing the nervous system

The number one stage that most people skip in a workout, is the recovery stage

When we become stressed, sometimes it takes a quick 20 minute bike ride to let go of everything and focus at the task at hand more efficiently

Micah says that stress is not a bad thing, but we have to be mindful of when it’s helpful and when its harmful

Links

Website

Instagram

About Mike Mallory and Rad Roller

Amazing Brains Podcast – 002 – Joe Howdyshell

In this episode, Micah sits down with Joe Howdyshell, coach of Summit Endurance Academy. In the show, they talk about human peak performance, and creating habits and processes around values.

Show Notes

Habits

Time is a crutch

Most people waste a lot of time

The average facebook user is on there for 2 hours a day

Get the phone out of your bedroom, it should not be the first thing you waste time on in the morning

Start habits that are less daunting

Instead of starting with an hour run a day, start with 15 minutes a day

We have 50,000 conscious choices to make a day

“If we want to make the hard choice, we have to use willpower. Habits are choices we don’t have to make anymore. We have to pick the kale over the donut so many times, that it no longer requires will power.” -Joe

It’s a lot easier to build on a habit than to create a new one

Exercise

Exercise is damage, it’s the breakdown of tissue and depletion of energy stores

The body says “I don’t want that to damage me” and so it gets stronger, that’s how exercise works

Joe says his job with athletes is helping them to be very mindful of their self talk, not being super hard on themselves when they did something wrong, and recognizing the things done right

An athlete that doesn’t know how to take a day break from exercise, is going to have a really hard time becoming ‘faster’ because speed requires heavy on some days and full ‘down’ days

“The amount of training has more to do with where you are right now than where you want to be” – Joe

1 out of 100 people will make money being an athlete, so the question is, why do we do it?

Is it about dominance? Health? Joe thinks it should be about bettering ourselves

It’s all about creating the correct self awareness

You have to do it for the right reasons

Values

Joe says he likes to take athlete’s 20 values, and narrow it down to 10, then to 5, then to 3

It’s hard to put one value over another because they are all values, they are all good

Sometimes we don’t see our own faults like other people can see

It’s all about being extremely clear with our reflection and perception of ourselves

Micah says he asks himself, “am I being consumptive or productive?”

Screen Time

It can be really bad for some people and really great for others

For some, it’s a distraction, for grandma, whose family lives all over the country, may use facebook as her only means to keep in touch with her family

For a lot of people, it ends up being a distraction

Final Thoughts

“Try it” – Joe

He sees more people not meeting their goals because they didn’t even sta

Amazing Brains Podcast – 001 – Dr. Eryn Scott

In this episode, Micah sits down with Dr. Eryn Scott of Mountain River Naturopathic Clinic. In the show, they cover the foundational pillars of health, herbalism and more.

Show Notes

About Dr. Eryn Scott

Eryn has a background from Bastyr in Seattle

She lived in Seattle for school specifically

She completed her undergraduate degree in Anthropology and worked for an herbalist

She was a nanny and preschool teacher

Both of her passions for naturopathy and kids came together and led her to pursue her Doctorate at Bastyr

Foundations of Health

Naturopathic doctors look at the person as a whole, they look at strengths and weaknesses

Common things they look at are sleep patterns, diet and nutrition, the relationship to self, and relationship to community

Sleep

With sleep, the issues are either falling asleep and/or staying asleep

Sleep patterns start with routine

Its best to shut off the electronics, blue light inhibits melatonin production, the chemical cue that helps make our bodies tired

Cortisol helps us wake up, melatonin helps us sleep

Cortisol is the hormone that follows the sun

Melatonin is opposite, it rises with the moon and falls with the rising of the sun

Micah mentions that people justify not sleeping enough

Eryn says that the pattern of sleep depends on age

Babies will typically wake up every two hours of feeding, while the postpartum mother will need much more, but the advice for that mom is to stay in bed or relaxed while feeding

Nutrition and Diet

“I’m a big believer in that what we put into our bodies influences how our body functions, how we feel during the day, our energy levels, our digestion and more.” – Eryn

If you can get kids to have fun in the kitchen with fruits and vegetables, they are more inclined to eat it

Shop for a rainbow of whole foods, avoiding pre-packaged food

Good foods helps our biochemistry in our body to perform functionally

Avoiding meat and dairy (inflammatory foods) will help your performance

But the key is to not beat yourself up if you eat a poor meal once and awhile

Binge eating isn’t talked about a lot, but it’s common

We binge, and then we feel guilt, and then we eat more to self-soothe

Food matters both physically and psychologically

What matters just as much as the food itself is our relationship to food

Parents are the role model, they need to have the healthy foods available

There are some kids that won’t even tolerate a green food on their plate

It’s about starting small, maybe putting a bowl of broccoli on the table, but away from the child and not even mentioning it

Eryn says she is a big proponent of gardens and getti