Amino Acids, Nutrition, and the Building Blocks of a Healthy Brain For Your Child

Opening encouragement and podcast intro 0:00

Healing is possible. Even if you've been on this journey a really long time, don't stop. Don't be discouraged. I mean, if we need to take a break, take break. But God gets us through it, you know, so just rely on Him. He will give you the power and the strength. he doesn't give it a spirit of fear, but a power, love and a sound mind. And so that's always what I'm going back to. Everything is connected and I'm here to tell you how. I am Dr. Laura Hanson with Connect My Brain. This podcast is for moms who are concerned about their child's development.

The brain impacts our mind, body and overall health. I explain how your brain is wired, what happens when it's out of balance, and how early childhood development not only impacts your child but can affect you as an adult years later. Want to know how to improve your life? Join me and learn about your amazing brain and what it can do for you. Hi everybody, welcome to Connect My Child's Brain. I also like to add, let's connect your brain and I'll connect my brain. And this is Lori Hammer, our guest.

Her podcast is called Take Back Your Brain, so we are all about the brain, I think that's a pretty safe foundation for us to grow on. So this Lori hammer, she is joining me this evening and we to talk about amino acids. And she's got some incredible work in this area. So Lori, thank you so much for joining me tonight. Oh, Thank you, Dr. Laura. It is a pleasure to be here and I love the fact that we're both on this, you know, connect and take back our brain track. Yes.

Amino acids as the foundation for healing 1:58

Well, go ahead, take the floor. What do you want the world to know? about amino acids? Amino acids are the foundation of everything. Most people, when they hear amino acid, you think like muscle building, those kind of things. But what I'm targeting is basically rebuilding the neurotransmitters in your brain and in you body with very targeted amino-acids so that everything else can heal. Because when that nervous system is in alignment and really, really nourished, then everything gets easier. I love that when it's nourished.

So I think what might be really interesting if we can, I would love for you to think of two cases, one adult, and you see kids too, don't you? I do. I see. Yeah. Let's give an example of an adult and then a child and what it was that brought them to you and what did you learn and how did go about nourishing their brain? I love that. Yeah. So let me think, an adult, I'll do an easier case. I have pretty complicated people, but we'll start with an easy one. A therapist came to me and she was having what she thought was a heart attack a lot.

So her chest had been really tight. She'd been to cardiologists, she'd be in all these places. They said, your heart is fine. It's just anxiety. And she's like, I'm a therapist. I don't have anxiety, but she was having anxiety and it was affecting her right here in the middle of her test. When she came to see me, we did an assessment. So I use a symptom-based questionnaire divided into five categories and you rate those on a scale of zero to 10. And so she was really high in almost all the categories.

And, so, high-end deficiency in serotonin and GABA, your endorphins, catecholamines, she has some glucose regulation issues, got a good health history, and decided, you know, I almost always use the amino acids first. I said, okay, we're going to try the amino acids with you. So, there's amino acid that fit into all five of those categories, said let's just see what happens. And so we open up a capsule because I test sublingually. You put the powder under the tongue and then we wait. We wait a couple of minutes to see how does your brain, how's your body respond to that amino acid.

And, so, we did tryptophan because she was definitely deficient in serotonin and she's like, okay, my brain feels lighter, I feel happier. I like this. This is good. Is it still here in your chest? She's, like yeah, it's still in my chest. but I feel better. Then we did GABA and I'm thinking GABa is going to take care of it because GAB is the one that lets us take a deep breath and let it all out and it's just, you know, good. And she's like, yeah, that's good, That's really good and then we went to the catecholamine section and we Did L-tyrazine and she took L tyrazines and had it in her tongue about a minute and She goes, it is gone.

She says, whatever was here in my chest is Gone. just gone and it's never come back for her. Like she took, I got her on a protocol of the amino acids. We changed some of her diet. So we, you know, we did all this stuff, but the initial thing was just getting the, amino-acids and that took all of this in her chest, that pressure, which she thought was a heart attack, took that away. It just balanced the brain so the nervous system could calm down so that her body wasn't responding in that way anymore.

See, that's amazing because one thing you said right before you gave this particular example was you're going to give us an easy one because you work on complicated cases. And don't you feel like that's really the direction that so many people have moved towards?

Adult case study: anxiety and chest pressure 5:55

Everything is complicated. Everything. And it's not just one little easy fix. But when you open your mind and you look at something like amino acids to have this kind of response, you can take something, maybe it is not the most complicated case, but here's a person thinking they've got a heart attack, and then you just erased that. Yeah. Wow. Now, was this one treatment? No, she did a protocol for about 90 days, and now she just takes them as she needs them. And that's the beauty about the amino acids.

We're going to get depleted, right? Okay. Because there's stressors. There's chemical, physical, emotional. So when, once you learn what your body needs, you've got those little signals, You start feeling, like, I think I need a little tyrosine today. Let's take a It just gives you that little boost. It doesn't mean you have to go back on a full protocol, it just means you use it as you need it. And amino acids are foundational, right? They're the building blocks to everything, not just your muscles, your skin, hair, or nails, but it's your hormones, enzymes, all of those things.

All of your cells need amino acid, and your neurotransmitters need them. Those regulate our mood, so we want to make sure we're feeding them, we are nourishing them well. I love it. So what about a kiddo? Yeah, I love working with kids because they're just so raw. This is kind of a complicated case, but I have twins right now that I'm working and one of them was getting expelled from school all the time because of their behavior, right? And so, you know, there's other things going on, primitive reflexes, those kinds of things that they've been working on.

So they covered a lot of those bases. Their diet was good when they came to me. We started using the amino acids. And, you know, mom sends me a message and she said, well, this particular twin made it through school all day today and he didn't have a meltdown. And then the other twin, he only became dysregulated like one time, just being on one amino acid. So then we added some more amino acids in and they're doing so much better now. They're actually sleeping through the night. So what do you find when somebody cannot sleep through the night?

What's typically going on in that situation? When it's for little kids, usually the amino acids will take care of it because their nervous system is just so jazzed up, they just can't go to sleep, so we can unwind that. Adults, a lot of times, again, the amino acids will help. A lot times we have to address cortisol levels because their cortisol level are so high at night. So we address those things. Most people think it's melatonin, but I do a lotta testing and most of the time it is not melotonin.

People normally make enough meletonin usually it something else going on. Wow. Can you give us an example and connect the data to that? Sure. Well, I run a lot of Dutch testing and so I have this really healthy client. She just has a little anxiety now and then, but she's not been sleeping, not sleeping and we just got her Dutch test back and her cortisol is really low during the day and it spikes at night. And then she did a sample in the middle of the night and it was really high. And so she's been trying all these things, you know, so many clients will layer on like seven different things when they go to bed, but none of them are addressing the overall cortisol issue.

So we're able to address the cortisol issues for her and bring that down and then, she can start sleeping through the nights again. I see that all the time. I mean, especially with women, perimenopause menopausal women. Most of you all have some cortisol issues at night. So we just need to retrain the body to make cortisol earlier. And a lot of them look like sunshine rhythm. You know, what time of day do you exercise? How are you eating? And how late you eat? So just creating better rhythm. Absolutely.

That following the circadian rhythm I think is so important to make sure that you're really, it's like your own little bio rhythm of making sure working with the way your body responds to things like daylight and blue light versus red light and all these things that could also be part of disrupting somebody's pattern. And you know, that's the thing I like to focus on is explaining these are patterns. Regardless of what is going on, they're patterns and the longer that they go on They have a mind of their own and they just kind of take over and then

Child behavior, sleep, and nervous system support 10:51

they kind trinkle their way in. And then it has to become so disruptive before somebody goes, wait a minute, something's not right. I've got to figure out how can I get some sleep? How can it help my child regulate themselves? How can I help myself not feel so tight in my chest? And it goes back to stress. A lot of stress, right? We put so much pressure on ourselves and we've decided in this society that the stronger and the harder you go, the better it is. And we have a capacity to do a lot and then, but we do hit a threshold.

Yeah. Then your body will scream at you. And I always tell my clients, well, I'm like, either you can decide to change your rhythm or your bodies are gonna change the rhythm for you and it's gonna be very uncomfortable. Yeah. Yeah, that's a really good point. So I want to ask you your opinion about this. We have all this stuff about peptides. Could you educate my audience on peptide? Because peptids are amino acids, right? Right. Amino acids make peptid. Peptides make proteins. I don't use peptidae in my practice.

i am amino acid therapy first because I feel like we need the foundations first. I can't speak to you as far as, you know, using them in a practice. I don't think there's anything wrong with using some peptides.I have friends, practitioner friends that use them get good results with them. i see the people where they don t work for.i really think you have to take that next step back and go back to the foundations. You can t get somebody off medications with peptide, but you can with amino acid therapy.

because you can get so targeted. You can relieve some anxiety with peptides, but the deeper stuff you're going to have to use that amino acid therapy for. So, are there some good ones out there like BPC 157 for the gut and stuff? Okay, yeah. But I think they're over-promising and I still think it's missing and jumping a step. Well, and like anything else, it took on a name for itself. It's good marketing, Laura. Yes, that's exactly what it is. I mean, asses aren't sexy, peptide therapy sounds sexy.

I don't know. But they did. They just kind of took on. And then before you know it, every company under the sun is selling them. You've got to be careful because they're not all equal. I get approached by peptide companies at least once a week, if not more often, and I haven't bought any of them. I have gone down the path, I've absolutely taken the time to listen to webinars and see products and stuff like that, but I'm always curious you know, waiting until some of the other information is out there before diving in.

Because now what I'm even hearing about the one for the gut, what BP 157, right? BPC 155. Yeah, and now so many people have been on it and they've lost weight. And that's what the big selling tool was was you could lose weight, but then a lot of the information is coming back now saying, once you stop, all the weight comes back on. You know, and maybe that's true, maybe it's not true. Maybe it is not all of the way true or half true whatever. But the point is, whenever we try to fast track some part of physiology, Yep.

There usually is some kind of either consequence or ill effect that you really didn't expect. And I've affectionately labeled myself Mother Goose because I am very old fashioned and there's nothing more important than a child crawling on their hands and knees. Correct. An adult playing in the dirt growing something and, you know, taking care of yourself without trying to, create some short circuit. to get an outcome that the body can do for itself, but you're trying to like short circuit it. And there usually is some type of outcome, that just doesn't seem favorable for everybody.

So what do you think? How do think people should approach that? I would approach the peptides with caution. I will go back to the foundational stuff, the amino acids, go to your organ meats. If you don't want to eat organ meat, find a really good supplement. Do the basic things that you're talking about. We as a society, like you said, want jump ahead, and it's never really going to jump. Build your foundation first. If we're talking about this from a biblical perspective, if you don't have your foundation, the house falls over.

You can't build your house on the sand. It's going to fall over, you can skip the foundation. And so I really think it's important that we do that with our house too. This is the only body we get, so make sure you're taking the best care of it. you know, a one-size-fits-all type pill, but it never works out. Right. It's always short-lived. Let's talk about some foundational pieces that people could do. You've mentioned organ meat, and I think that's wonderful. And if you can't find a clean source for that, find clean supplement.

What would be some, like, top three things that to build foundation, not to take a place for getting amino acid therapy,

Sleep, cortisol, and circadian rhythm 16:48

but what can they do to complement your work? Absolutely. Well, one, clean up your diet. Make sure you're getting enough really clean protein every day. If you have a budget, spend your budget dollars on clean proteins. That is the most important thing. And I'm not talking eating 300 grams of protein a day. I'm just talking like just get good 30 to 40 grams a protein three times a days. That would be amazing. If that's going to feed your body, it's gonna feed you brain better than anything else.

Then get in your good healthy fats. Get your butter and your ghee and you're olive oils and tallow and all those good fats in there. So avoid those seed oils. And then, you know, have salt and water, stay really, really hydrated, get your minerals in there. I always keep salt on my desk, I dip my finger in my salt all day long, put it on. My tongue, they're like little spark plugs for the brain, your nervous system. Oh, and like that. Yeah. So this is Redmond sea salt. What is it? Redmond's sea salt.

Redman sea-salt. Okay. We need to put that in our show notes. red man, like R-E-D-M-A-N. M-O-n-d-S. It's based out of Utah. So it's right here in the United States. Yes. Great. Go ahead. we're going to call these Lori's Top Nutritional Supports. Yeah, so I mean, diet, salt, hydration, those are my big three. If you can get those covered, that's gonna carry you a long way. You know, I get very concerned about protein for children. And you see this so vividly. I ask these kids, what would you have for breakfast?

I had a waffle and I have a bowl of cereal. So we had this bowl of sugar and complex carbs and more complex carb. And by the time they reach me, they're going to sleep. That's the same thing when they are at school. Then this kid is going be kind of thought of as you can't pay attention. Well, I don't have the fuel. And the other struggle that I'm seeing, not as much as the carb part, but some kids just not eating. It's not because of stimulant medication. I believe there's a part for the interoception of the brain, perceiving the need to eat.

What can you, you have any thoughts there on how can promote that change? Yeah, well, I think a lot of it goes back to how we're setting it up as parents at home, for one. So is mealtime fun? Is it quiet? You know, is it a good experience for kids? It also goes to the microbiome. A lot kids whose microbiomes are really messed up, so their opportunistic bugs in their gut outweigh their really healthy bugs. They might not be getting hungry. And then when they do eat, they're eating waffles, which is still feeding that opportunistic bugs.

And here's the other ones. They're kind of dying away because they are not getting fed fruits and veggies and proteins and all the things that our body desires. So I think that plays a lot into it. Then there comes a point in time when that happens, your brain just kind disconnects from hunger. Yes, wow. I would love for a few parents to hear you say that so that it's not just me, but I like the way that you said it. It's so important that we set up the environment and we have the opportunity from the very beginning.

This is how the subconscious mind is getting developed and it follows the lead of the parent, of household, the environment, and what can we do in order to try to promote that healthy balance. So I love the idea of making mealtime special and it's hard. You know, we kind of started off in this kind direction that we really do realize that people are very stressed out today. And there is a lot going on. And so the purpose of trying to have these podcasts and have this conversations is never about judgment.

It's really about trying, to give you a buzzword.

Peptides versus amino acid therapy 21:38

Give you something that even lights you up that says, okay, I could even try this. One of the things that I like to recommend to families because part of our program here at Connect My Brain, is nutrition. And so I get kids who you really got to look at the microbiome. You really gotta look what you're feeding them. That transition is so difficult. If there's ever something that's going to cause problems, it's food. So we do. We have to make it fun. So one of the things that I recommend, okay, so here's how we have to change the diet a little bit.

So what I want you to do is every Friday is family fun night and I wanted to buy some chef hats and some aprons and get some index cards and you and your child, you're going to make a meal. And then you are going give the rest of your family the index card and those are gonna become score cards. And that way, from 1 to 10, you're going to rate this meal. And now you are having fun, and if the meal is really good, then you will get 10s. If it's not really, good you'll probably get a 1 or a 2. But at least you had fun with it and you were willing to try again.

When you think about how we were in the past, There used to be like, you know, leave it to Beaver where every five o'clock everybody's sitting down eating dinner. And I know the world is different, but what can we do to bring that reconnection back to the table? you know, back to the family, regardless of the number of people that are there. But how can we bring it back? People need that interaction. They need to communicate. and feed themselves. Don't you think? Oh, I do think. I think we're so caught up in, we don't want our kids to miss out on XYZ activity that they're in 10 activities.

But the most important activities happen at home and we've forgotten that. And so dinner time is more important than, you know, the tournament on the weekend. Not that you can't do those, but we just kind of have to re-prioritize things. And everybody's going different directions. I know my daughter lives at home. She's almost 20. My husband works late sometimes. So we don't always sit down together, but we do make a point like we're still cooking all of our meals at Home. It's still made with love.

All those things. We've always made that a priority and just kind of making that the part of your family values, you know, with having really good food. And a lot of times we'll sit outside and eat, or have a snack together at night if we haven't seen each other. I always tell parents that just don't make a big deal about changing the food, because they're like, my kid won't eat anything but mac and cheese. Okay, well you what if you don t have it in the house? your child will eat something else.

Everyone will not starve themselves. They won't. they will eventually find something to eat. I know for some of the parents out there, they're like, my kid's autistic. There's no way he's going to get something. And that is more challenging, but he will do it. Especially once you start working on the microbiome, you add some amino acids in there. I've seen kids that won't come out of their room and the parents have been feeding them in their rooms forever. So you're taking amino acid in the child coming downstairs for dinner.

Wow, that's great. It takes incremental steps, but that can always be part of the plan. The plan would be that your child who has autism is gluten-free and dairy- free because it's going to profoundly change his life and yours. and to work towards that so we make these small incremental changes and not even like talk about it because you don't have to talk. They're kids. You buy a different kind of macaroni and cheese, you buy different chip, whatever it might be, so you just make those small, incremental, changes, and the kids will follow.

My daughter, my son too, never ever eat at McDonald's. Yeah. And people are like, you got to be kidding. That's un-American. I'm like I never wanted to feed my kids garbage for wine and it's just garbage food. But even when they go out with their friends, they won't eat there because they know what those ingredients are.

Nutrition foundations for kids and families 26:18

We've made it our family value not to eat those things. So they don't. So you can instill that in your kids. It just takes time. When my daughter was little, she got so mad at me because she's at grandma's house and her cousins are eating all this garbage. And grandma has a special drawer for my kids because they both had celiac. There's things they literally couldn't eat. Then I always bought them really fun, special stuff. And she put her hands on her hips and she goes, when I'm 16, I am eating wheat.

And I said, okay, When you're 16 you can eat wheat and okay I will. You know, and now she's almost 20 and you know she is never going to eat because she knows how it makes her feel. So I went through that too with mine. Especially when she was little, I of course thought I had a great diet going on. But when was around eight years old, she just broke out with all this stuff. I thought it was poison oak. And it wasn't with eczema. And I was like, oh my God, my kid has exema! And so, of course, I'm diving into that.

So we became even cleaner. She had a really strong sensitivity to vinegar, white vinegar. Yeah, we really worked on it, got it all cleaned up. But when they go to school, if they don't look like the kids sitting next to them at the lunch table, they take that very deeply because it's part of their socialization. So she came home one day and she goes, that's it. I'm not eating any more of this organic stuff. And I said, oh, okay. She goes, I want snackables and Oreos and all that. And went, Okay.

So we went to the store. We still argue over what store we want to even today. I gave her $200 and I say, go pick out whatever you want. And then when we got home, I'd go, but your food cannot touch my food. So I gave her her own cabinet. I really created separation. It wasn't two or three days. She had such a bad belly ache. And she came in the house and she goes, Could you please make my organic lunches again? And sometimes you just have to let them experience it because she did, she totally turned around.

And today she's more of a food Nazi than anybody I know. You know, and good for her. But you're right. We've left an impression on our children and we're getting to see the fruit of that, which is so profound. And so, you know, if you're a parent out there and you are hearing this and your going, yeah, but that was probably really easy for you guys. No, it wasn't. But I do want to give you the encouragement of hope that if make those small increment changes like Lori's saying, before you it, You have lots of changes that have happened and You begin to see the health manifest right in front of your eyes and do it for yourself first so that you know what your child will be going through.

Make small changes. Laurie, do you have a favorite recipe that would like to share with the audience? oh goodness favorite recipe breakfast lunch or dinner or dessert doesn't matter you get to pick whatever i just made homemade granola so i can still smell it oh that's great okay and so I make a grain free granola that I soak all my nuts and then I dehydrate them so they're all sprouted. You don't have to do that. That's what I chose to over the years. And so it has a variety of nuts in it, some hemp seed, local honey, and some coconut oil, vanilla, So I'm going to share, but I am also going give you, and we'll put it in the show notes too.

And I have no affiliation with this, Explore Cuisine. I'll have to tell you it's a great website. They sell all kinds of gluten-free pasta options. Nice. And I mean, they've got red bean and edamame and gabonzo bean, and just tons of different options, but the reason I like it is because it has a gazillion recipes on it. Oh, nice. They won my heart because they have, even for Halloween, so they've got squid pasta so it's black and they put mushrooms on it and that became like the little goblin. Oh cute.

And it is so cute and it can make food fun again. Because that's what's happened, is that when we have to make changes, we think that our palate isn't going to be satisfied. Right. The greatest part of working on that microbiome is the palate will change.

Hope, healing, and closing remarks 31:48

It will. So we hope that you can take some of these steps with you. And if you know somebody that is really struggling, share the podcast with them. We're going give you Lori's information. We're wanting to reach out to the community and I call the Community our world because there's people struggling everywhere and we want to be inspirational and hopeful and give you some ideas that you can start right away and make some changes. So Lori, tell us how we find you. What do you want leave with the audience?

What else do you want to tell everybody? Well, you can find me on my website, laurihammer.com. All my socials are at Take Back My Brain, so you could find my anywhere. My podcast is Take back My brain. What I want leave you with is that healing is possible. Even if you've been on this journey a really long time, don't stop. Don't be discouraged. I mean, if need to take a break, take break. But I there's still things in my own body. And sometimes things just pop up and you're like, hmm, I thought that was healed.

I guess it's not. And you just keep working on it. It's just part of life. So don't be discouraged. A lot of you out there listening are parents. it is okay to cry about your kid, been there, done that. Some pretty significant things with my daughter happened and it was hard. God gets us through it, you know, so just rely on Him, He will give you the power and the strength. He doesn't give it a spirit of fear, but a power, love, and a sound mind. And so that's always what I'm going back to. God gives us power.

he gives love and he give us a Sound mind and we just carry that through to every area of our lives. Well, that's wonderful. Thank you so much for joining me tonight. And I hope that you all feel inspired and hopeful. Okay, I can take a couple of these ideas and put them into play and see what will happen. Now, you can always reach out to me at connectmybrain.com. You can schedule a complimentary consultation, and we can talk specifically about what is going on for you or your child. So thank you so much for tuning in, And we hope that the rest of your summer or whenever you happen to listen to this podcast, I hope for cooler weather because here in Georgia it's been sticky.

Ah, more than just sticky, it has been really hot. But I think we're on a reprieve, so we'll see. Thanks for tuning in tonight, Laurie. Thank you so much. It's always fun to be with you. And as always, be blessed. Thanks for listening. I hope today's lesson will help you or someone you love. Do you have a question or just really want to talk to somebody about brains? Connect with me over on Facebook or Instagram at Connect My Brain. Looking to understand and optimize your particular brain? Check out connectmybrain.com for course information and resources.

See you next class. you