So you don't have to live with PTSD and ADHD and anxiety and depression, OCD for the rest of your life. I feel like that's a lie straight from the pit of hell.

And it's my goal to send it back there. And then another myth would be, you know, anxiety is your personality and it's not. You may be a more exuberant person or you may be more introverted, but anxiety is not your personality.

I feel like it's something, it's a deficiency, it's straight from the pit of hell and it's keeping you from everything that God wants you to do and to be in this beautiful life that he's given us.

And so if you have anxiety, don't think that you have to live with it because you don't. And I would say the other biggest myth is you don't need protein.

So you have to have protein for brain health. Hi everyone, welcome back to the Integrative Health Podcast with Dr. Jenn. Today we have a really exciting topic.

We are going to be talking about amino acid therapy, and you have maybe not have heard this before, so definitely stay tuned to listen. And if you are listening, thank you so much for being here.

I would love for you to write a review on Apple iTunes, Spotify, anywhere you listen, share this, and next time maybe I will read your review. So today we're going to be with Lori Hammer.

She is a functional nutrition therapist and she is founder of the calm mom method. She helps clients focus on solving the problems of things like depression, anxiety, eating disorders and other neurological conditions.

She has a personal health journey of overcoming certain health challenges through holistic methods, and that drives her passion. She's dealt personally with cancer, celiac disease, bulimia, and depression, and now she lives to help others around the world.

So welcome, Lori. So excited to have you here. Thank you, Dr. Jenn. I really appreciate being here. I love your podcast. It's amazing. Thank you so much.

And I love yours. I was a guest on yours recently. Yes. Yes. Great. Yes. Can you share with our audience a little bit about your journey and how you have come to help other people through holistic healing?

Yeah. So my health journey started way back in like 1990 five and six, I had a bulimia issue. I'd been a bulimic for 12 years and I had been trying to get help for that.

I had counseling and some eating disorder clinics and it just didn't work. I just didn't meet the parameters of what was going on and I was just in a very dark, deep hole.

And thankfully I was in nursing school at the time. I had a professor that kind of put her arm around me and helped me And then she ended up finding an article or an article found its way to her house in a random magazine that talked about basically functional nutrition.

And it was from Mill Valley, California, Julia Ross, who was helping people with addictions. And she was specifically speaking about food cravings and eating disorders.

And her mantra was that you're addicted to what you're allergic to. And it intrigued me. I'm like, maybe I am sensitive to things and maybe things are triggering this craving cycle for me.

And so I called out there. They had an outpatient program and I went out there for five days. And indeed, I had celiac disease. I was very sensitive to dairy as well and a few other things and adrenal fatigue and found out that my brain was very, very depleted.

And then they started using amino acid therapy with me, and that lifted the depression, lifted the anxiety, and stopped my craving cycle so that I could stop the bulimia habit.

And it saved my life, Jen. That's amazing. The craving cycle. So you're basically saying that sometimes when people have these eating disorders or binge disorders or whatever, like they can't help it.

They literally it's not about self control or something like that. Can you explain like to maybe those that listening that have dealt with this or maybe have kids that are dealing with this or friends like why it's not their fault?

Yeah, when your brain becomes so depleted, there's lots of things that can deplete your brain. Maybe your brain was born depleted and it just got worse over time.

Maybe there are stressful events, your nutrition isn't optimal, you're eating foods and not absorbing, like I had celiac disease. So everything that I was eating, I really wasn't absorbing.

And we didn't know about that, you know, 30, 35 years ago, really. And so when the anxiety and the depression hit, I had really bad periods in my teenage years.

So there was a lot of factors going on there that kind of led up to the depression, anxiety, and the eating disorder. And learning that when I was binging and purging, that was boosting my endorphins, that was boosting the dopamine.

And so my body was craving those boosts because it was so dark and it was so down. And then as you're eating the foods, like the glutamorphone, You know, it's a morphine like effect when you're eating gluten and you're sensitive to it or the case of morphine.

Same thing with with dairy, right? It gives you that morphine like effect. And so you're getting addicted. And then around that time, they were putting a lot more chemicals and those things in our food to make us more addicted.

And so I was craving all the wrong stuff, but it was giving me a hit in my brain. Right. It was helping those neurotransmitters to fire, but it was still depleting me at the same time.

So it just kept the craving cycle going. Yeah, I remember, oh, goodness, like 20 years ago, when I read Grain Brain or whenever it first came out, and I was like, wow, this blew my mind, because we didn't learn about this in medical school and actually how sugar is addictive, right?

That rats pick sugar over cocaine. So food can be addictive. And then when we get into these craving cycles, oh, gosh, I mean, you could have really good self-control, but you're up against pretty tough physiological thing.

Not like you can avoid food. Yeah. Oh, you know, those food addictions, they're really hard. I mean, any addictions hard overcome. Right. But you don't have to drink.

You don't have to do coke. You don't have to do heroin. Right. Like it's not part of your daily sustenance. So not downplaying any of that. But when you have a food addiction, it's easy to hide because you're already doing that act every single day.

Yeah, yeah, that's a great point. And you really want to focus on moms, right? Helping them overcome the stress and anxiety naturally. And you have this goal and this vision of impacting a million women and helping them just thrive.

Can you tell us about your mission? Yeah, and there's so much anxiety and so much depression. And I see probably 75% of the people who come to me are on at least one medication.

if not more than that, for mood regulation. And it breaks my heart, Jenna. I mean, just thinking about it breaks my heart because these are beautiful, beautiful women who, if somebody would actually listen to what's going on in their life, you know, get their health history from birth until now.

Like, let's say to ourselves, what are you depleted in? You've had this whole lifetime of depletion, and we're just going to give you a medication and, like, try to make these things go away.

What if we actually nourished your body? Because we can't medicate away that nutrient deficiency. We actually have to fix the nutrient deficiency. So that's my goal is to help people fix those nutrient deficiencies so they don't need to be on meds that numb them, that give them a personality that they don't have, that stops their sexual desire for their husbands and finding all this enjoyment out of life.

And we're hitting to the point where in 89 when tryptophan was pulled from the market because of a crazy thing that happened. And then Prozac was re-released because nobody wanted it before.

And then when they took off the thing that actually worked for serotonin, then those medications were re-released. And so we've had people on these medications since like the early 90s.

and i'm seeing those people now and they're so dysregulated and they've missed so much of life and they have other issues because you know these medications that are only supposed to be used for a short time and they weren't told of all the side effects and now it's like horrific to get off of them And it literally breaks my heart because, you know, this is my generation.

This is my mom's generation that I feel like we've had things stolen from us. So it is my mission to to help women and to train, you know, other practitioners in this as well.

Because amino acids therapy is a very it's kind of like the hidden gem. I feel in the world that most people don't know about. So that's why I created my, not just my stuff for moms, but for practitioners as well.

That's why I have my MindThrive course, because this has to get out. We have to understand how we can balance the brain, how we can nourish the brain so that everything else just gets easier to deal with.

The gut heals faster, the hormones heal faster, and so much more. Yeah, and you brought up tryptophan. So tryptophan is an amino acid. So many people might not know what amino acids are.

So if you can explain what those are. And I agree with you, our body does not have like Prozac or SSRI deficiency. It's deficient in other things. And actually those antidepressants, which are handed off, the first thing is what is handed off, you know?

by conventional medicine doctors. And I was groomed in medical school. And when you have a whole Senate or whatever getting kickbacks and getting money for their campaigns from pharmaceutical companies, that is what you're going to see on TV.

That's what you're going to hear. We're all groomed, too. So this is why we have these conversations to break the mold and actually heal how God intended us to.

So what are amino acids? you know, this is like working with our body, obviously. Obviously. Yeah. So amino acids make up proteins. So if you have enough amino acids, it's going to make a big protein chain, right?

They're the building blocks in our body. They're the building blocks of life. So everything from your, from head to toe, hair, skin, nails, organs, enzymes, hormones, all of those things, your neurotransmitters in your brain are dependent upon amino acids.

So they're foundational to everything. And so, You know, we need them in every aspect of life. And there's 80 essential amino acids. I honestly think all of the amino acids are essential because we're so depleted in everything.

So that's why I'm so passionate about this. Yeah, now amino acids, how do we get them? We usually get them from our food, but what happens there? Why are we depleted?

Well, our food is depleted for one, and we're not digesting our proteins very well. And most people don't eat enough protein to start with or complete protein.

So you really do need to consume animal protein to get all of the amino acids. And so we have this bent towards, you know, vegetarianism and veganism, which I'm not totally against for a short period of time.

But long-term, it doesn't serve you. So I forgot where I was going with that, Jen. No, I agree with that. And we have to look at what culture is pushing to.

If you look back, and I always put on my tinfoil hat during podcasts from now. I love it. You have to look at this. We are very smart. We are smarter than the media.

We are smarter than the pharmaceutical companies. Why is this not being talked about? Well, an amino acid can't be patented, right? And this is why impossible burgers and this whole vegan thing or eat beans one day a week.

why did it like no like eat meat like we have some mini cows now we're naming them but we are going to eat them because god gave us dominion over them so anyway like you said our food's depleted and this is what's hard i think so say you eat perfectly you still might be amino acid deficient right and and like you said neurotransmitters are made from those amino acids so We have a deficiency in amino acids that are precursor to neurotransmitters.

Should we replace the amino acids or should we put you on a drug that just recycles, you know, the serotonin? Anyway, but so why are we so deficient, I guess, you know, now in amino acids?

And how did you connect this with the anxiety and depression and eating disorders that were happening? Right, so people who came before me are the ones that connected this, and so I've learned from them over the years.

But we have to have the amino acids in order for everything else to work right, like your fatty acids and your amino acids work together, right? We have to have our carbs, our proteins, and our fats, and all of those together.

Without the amino acids, your body doesn't utilize the fats and the carbs very well. So we need to make sure that we're eating enough protein, digesting that protein.

But the reason for the amino acid therapy is because we just don't get enough from our food. And when you're already depleted, it's going to take a lot, a lot of protein in order for you to get sufficient.

And if your body's already compromised, it's just not going to happen. So that's why I use targeted amino acids, meaning single dose, therapeutic doses, multiple times a day of amino acids to rebuild those neurotransmitters in your brain so that your serotonin does increase because that's your sunshine neurotransmitter, right?

Or your GABA, which lets us go, You know, it just lets us let the stress go, right? And so we work on the GABA. There may be endorphin issues. There may be catecholamine issues, which is like our focus, right?

And so, you know, there's amino acids that help with all of those mood regulating neurotransmitters. And once we start targeting those specifically, then magic kind of happens for almost all people.

It's pretty amazing. Yeah I think of it like so my car actually has a recall on its engine anyway and it needs oil you know more frequently and it's kind of like when your car runs out of oil you just like know it's like running weird and then you test it and it's low on oil and then you put the oil in and then it runs good again so our brain is probably like that with amino acids if you're like oh brain fog or concentration and then you Give it what it needs to run.

Imagine that. So how do you know if you're deficient in specific amino acids? Yeah. So I use a form. It's a questionnaire that divides it up into those five categories that I just mentioned.

And so it's basically symptom-based. So there's specific symptoms for serotonin deficiency, GABA deficiency, and et cetera. And then I send people a kit of amino acids in the mail if you know we're doing a virtual appointment and we actually open up the capsules put them underneath your tongue stared each other awkwardly for like two minutes.

And then I ask you do you feel anything different cognitively emotionally or physically and oftentimes more than not on that first dose people like. Yeah, my brain feels lighter or the blue is blue or the green is greener.

I don't feel this heaviness in my chest. And so we go through all the amino acids that I send or as many as we need to and find out which ones are gonna work best for your brain, your body right now.

And then we start with those and it's really that simple. That's awesome. Now, is this something that changes? So you need to like reassess it based on what they're eating or maybe their stress levels.

Yeah, so I like to work with people for at least 90 days, because things are going to change, because we're going to start changing diet. We're going to work on your digestion.

And so your amino acid needs are definitely going to change. Once we hit that 90-day mark, and you're feeling pretty good, we can stay steady for a while.

But eventually, you'll just forget to take them, because you don't need them anymore, which is the fun part. And then you're like, oh, six months down the road, you're like, I feel really stressed lately.

Hey, why don't you just start taking some GABA again, and just give yourself that little boost. And then you do it for a little bit, and then you don't need it again.

It's just like taking a multivitamin because you want to keep the boost there. But this is just to use as needed. All right, cool. Now, what about just taking all the amino acids?

Can you do that and your body will just use what it needs? Because that's what I take amino acids just every morning in my coffee. And I do notice a difference.

I do enjoy them. Yeah, I think, you know, taking like perfect aminos or total amino solutions is a great option. If you have something that's very specific, like a lot of anxiety, depression, ADHD, OCD, PTSD, you're going to need those therapeutic doses.

So on top of just maintenance amino acids. But yes, Jen, I take maintenance amino acids every day as well. So someone's listening and they're like, I think I have an amino acid problem.

You know, like maybe they are anxious or low mood or low motivation or something like that. It would be best for them to be, instead of just taking a blanket one, be on the specific ones that they need for a little bit.

And then they can go to maintenance. Yes, absolutely. That way. Yeah, it's interesting. So I like that you do the questionnaire for testing because I have different practitioners that I have learned from throughout the decade of integrative medicine have different views on amino acids.

Because the questionnaire seems more scientific to me because blood, if you test blood, a lot of these companies test blood for amino acids. And I'm like, aren't those going to be changing throughout the day?

So I thought that's, yeah. So I'm like, eh, that doesn't make sense cognitively to me. So I like that it's a questionnaire too because yes it's not as objective as a blood test but for me it makes more sense because those amino acids can change.

Yeah you know do you know what I'm talking about how some people they do the blood test and I'm like that just doesn't make sense to me so my son personally I just have him on a perfect amino he'll swallow one a day.

I can tell when he's taking it and when he's not. I could tell with motivation, his dopamine. Now, say, I'm going to give you like a specific example, like kids, right?

Like ADHD kids that obviously they probably need some amino acid therapy. Now, if you're giving them amino acids, you know what they should need, but they're still on screens or they're still doing things that, you know, is long-term making them dopamine seeking and depleted.

Can this like help combat that or is this like we have to change our lifestyle too? Well, I mean, there are lifestyle changes that need to happen, but when the brain is sufficient in the dopamine, they're sufficient in endorphins, you're not going to seek that behavior.

You're not going to seek that hit. So, you know, us women, you know, scrolling on Instagram or TikTok or whatever it might be, if your brain is satisfied, you're not going to have the desire to scroll.

So I find myself scrolling and I'm like, and then I catch myself like, oh, what am I doing? I will go take some amino acids because clearly I am depleted in some way, shape or form.

And then I'm like, oh, and I could leave my phone for days and not even think about it. Hey, but we kind of count on people watching reels. We want people to watch our content that it gives them life, you know, it doesn't suck from them.

I was just looking, I went to a talk last February and this pediatrician, she was talking about like for these young kids, she does dose tryptophan 500 milligrams three times a day with some other cofactors.

Because serotonin can't cross the blood-brain barrier, tryptophan crosses and then serotonin is made in the brain and 1% of serotonin makes it to the brain and then our gut obviously produces the serotonin.

But it was interesting because she was giving case studies on young girls that were so depressed and just doing the tryptophan, they were off their you know, anti-depression medications and stuff.

And I guess another question is, like, we're seeing so much anxiety in kids, too. You know, they take the test, right? They take this questionnaire you have.

Are you seeing a lot of them just low in tryptophan because of nutrient deficit, but also like just poor gut health or like what do you think is causing all this?

Oh gosh, I think it's D all the above, Jen. I mean are foods depleted for one? Most kids don't eat enough protein. So they're just, and if we're talking teenage girls, they don't eat enough in general.

So that's an anxiety trigger, which you know then had the hormone disruption going on. So I mean there's so many different factors there. But I will say, I have a lot of girls that start on the amino acids and then all of a sudden they'll send me messages like, my period came and I didn't even know it was coming.

Because they're calmer, they have the nutrition, they're actually eating more and all of a sudden your hormones are better and they don't need to be on birth control.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. And I like how you brought in the eating, too, because going back to what we said earlier, amino acids, they're found in protein.

And if we're not eating enough animal protein, we're not getting the complete amino acids that we need to make those things. And these younger girls are targeted in all the vegan campaigns, too.

Oh, my goodness. Yes, they are. Yeah, it's her. I'm glad my daughter loves her steak. Me, too. She loves filets, her favorite. I used to be the same way.

Yeah. Yeah, it's tough for anything else. Yeah, yeah, I mean, kids, it's it's hard on them. So yeah, so I love how amino acids like, yes, your goal is to help mothers, but I think kids are so important, too, because, you know, if our kids aren't happy, that's going to be stress on us.

Exactly. Yeah. So how has your faith shaped your approach to health and business? So how do you also connect women, you know, help them reconnect with their identity in Christ during this healing journey?

I think that's so important, right? Because that's one of the reasons you were talking multifaceted reasons, you know, why these things happen. And it's because we're not grounded in who we are.

So a lot of the women I work with are Christians. And so they know Christ, you know, they know they're on their way to heaven. but still that grounding in exactly who are they?

What's their purpose in this life? And I think society certainly has not done a good job of building us women up by any means. But even the church, I think they've missed the mark in a lot of ways in not supporting that identity process.

And we're his daughters, right? We are his daughters. And just to really understand that. And so I'm always trying to, you know, uplift, you know, the women that I work with.

We go through Ephesians a lot, you know, and knowing who you are, you know, I am loved, I am holy, I am sacred, I am a masterpiece, right? Because so many women have low self-esteem because they don't understand who they are.

a hookah created them to be. Yeah, and there's such a grab for us to put our identity in things other than Jesus. Yeah, and oh, I fell for that. I mean, I was a Christian, but was the Holy Spirit indwelling in me?

I don't know. I question it. You know, and now I have no question of my salvation, but it's my identity was being and being a doctor and then being a mom and then you know like my identity was not in Christ and you can just get off a few degrees and then you're on a whole different island so and then the anxiety hits the depression hits you can't sleep there's no peace we've got to bring it back we've got to bring it back to that peace that's You know, it tells us, you Philippians, to think about whatever is true, whatever is right, excellent, noble, praiseworthy, you know, pure, all those things, just think about those.

And we get so distracted and we forget to focus on the good things in our life instead of trying to chase after something that God never called us to chase.

Yeah, it's such an important part of being a woman and understanding like our race. And, you know, my big thing was I was kind of looking to the left and to the right instead of straight, right?

Keep your path straight and do not look to the left or the right. And one thing I feel like has helped me is just being in the word every day, like every day.

And that really, you will have the words like hidden in your heart and it's beautiful. And we drive a lot more now that we're in Tennessee. Things are just further away.

So we just listen to things in the car and podcasts for kids. And my six-year-old just always wants to listen to Tiny Theologians. And it's so good to listen to.

Yeah, do you like the song? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And he's always like, I want to listen to Tory, but it's great because I love how the mother talks to them and is so gentle.

And I'm like, oh, this is good for me too. But it's fun. So just any chance that you can get to connect, I think is helpful. And that's going to be a calm and that's going to be peaceful.

We don't want to ramp up our nervous system. No, and all of you who are listening, I mentioned I go through Ephesians. This wasn't anything that I planned to do.

I feel like the Holy Spirit's telling me to do this, Jen, is to, I have an Ephesians journal. It's actually in my store, but if you tell me you heard it on this podcast, I will give it to you for free.

And it walks us through as women, through our identity and crisis. So it's 30 days. So if you want that, just message me on Instagram and I'd be happy to send it to you.

Oh, that's beautiful. What's your Instagram? Take back my brain. Yeah. So you guys can look right on there. And that's a beautiful gift, especially, you know, it will be around the holidays when this is released.

So I know that we all are just, it can be so busy. So what would you say are the biggest myths that you see around mental health and medications and the anxiety that you wish more people understood?

yeah well first of all that it's a it's a condition in a chemical imbalance and it's not almost all the time it's a nutrient deficiency and if there is a chemical imbalance there's probably a nutritional deficiency behind the chemical imbalance so if we remove all those interferences the brain can heal so you don't have to live with PTSD and ADHD and anxiety and depression, OCD for the rest of your life.

I feel like that's a lie straight from the pit of hell. And it's my goal to send it back there. And then another myth would be, you know, anxiety is your personality.

And it's not. You may be a more exuberant person or you may be more introverted, but anxiety is not your personality. I feel like it's something, you know, it's a deficiency.

It's straight from the pit of hell and it's keeping you from everything that God wants you to do and to be in this beautiful life that he's given us. And so if you have anxiety, don't think that you have to live with it because you don't.

And I would say the other biggest myth is you don't need protein. So you have to have protein for brain health. Yeah. Oh, yeah. Give me all the protein.

And, you know, I was just thinking while you were talking, like, it's so sad because the people that struggle most, I feel, with depression, anxiety, or, like, homeless populations, stuff like that.

We signed up as a family to serve breakfast to a local place. And I'm thinking about the egg dishes I'm going to make and stuff with actual protein. Because they're like, oh, you can just buy some donuts and stuff.

And I'm like, absolutely not. They will get meat. They will get eggs. They will be served and nourished. Their body will have nourishment. I know it's easier just to bake something or pick something up, but we need to show our love to people through nutritious food.

And I'm really big on that. And I'm so thankful to the Lord that we have these chickens and are able to have these chickens because now I make eggs for everything.

And it was funny because I made this egg brisket bake for this clothing swap last week. And my son, my 13-year-old, he's like, did you make that? He's like, it was actually good.

I'm like, you tried some of that? Because sometimes they won't eat eggs. They're like, we don't want to eat eggs because they're there all the time. But think about that.

If there is a mother that just had a baby and you're bringing a meal, bring them something with protein in it. Yeah, I know it's a little more expensive, but maybe you could do a smaller portion and be like, hey, because it's protein, it's smaller portions, but it's more nutrient dense.

And I think, you know, if you are struggling out there with your grocery bill, you know, Aldi has pretty good meat, local farmers, but focus on nutrient protein.

And then the sides around it, you know, like something like that, because I know it is more expensive, but it's where you want to put your money. You want to put your dollars there.

Yeah, definitely. My daughter and I were just talking about that this morning, too, because, you know, there's a lot of food, food bank drives and all that kind of stuff, especially this time of year.

And we're going into the local grocery store and there's a big sack and you can buy this sack for $20 and it's going to feed a family of four. And in it is just crappy food.

And I'm like, I would rather spend, you know, another $20 and make them an amazing meal that's like a roast and carrots and potatoes and, you know, some, some eggs for sure.

I feel like we're just so used to feeding people cheaply. We think that as long as they have something to eat, then that's, it is better than nothing.

However, it's not nourishing them and it's feeding this epidemic of anxiety, depression, and just darkness. I feel like we have in our, in our country.

that doesn't need to be there if we were better nourished. Now, to back up to the amino acid, so you're saying that maybe if a kid is a picky eater, if you give them the appropriate amino acids, they are going to start eating more nourishing food.

And you've seen this. I have. Give us give us some examples of this because I think mothers would love to hear this because we live in a world of picky eaters, right?

Oh, no, I totally understand that. So we'll give you an example. A little boy is actually here in my office and he just never ever could sit still. So for one, he was super picky because his attention was off for one.

And so we just started giving him just a little bit of tyrosine. And his mom texted me a few days later, she's like, you're not going to believe he ate, he sat and he ate a full meal.

So sometimes it's not that they're picky. Sometimes it's the fact that they're just so distracted and they can't focus and they get tired of chewing. Really, honestly, that's what happens.

I had a little boy tell me that one time, he goes, I just don't like to chew. Well, and that, oh my goodness, that makes me, you know, if we're not chewing, we're not developing our tongue and our jaw.

Definitely. We're not, yes, so it's all… It's stimulating all the areas of your brain. Yes, yeah. So you all play this together. It sounds silly, but exactly, Jen, that is how all that works.

But they have to be able to focus enough to eat. Once you give them more amino acids, their muscles don't get so tired. I know that sounds really silly, but if their muscles are tired in their jaw and they don't like chewing, but if you give them amino acids so they have nutrition so their muscles are stronger, you know, those things.

I've had other people with a lot of gut issues and the amino acids don't have to be digested. So you have a lot of these kids, I call them gapsy kids, if you know the gut and psychology syndrome diet or whatever.

So they have a hard time digesting. They're super, super picky, but the amino acids don't need to be digested. So they're going to get the nutrition without their body having to work hard for it.

And over time, that is going to increase their appetite. That happens in adults too. Like if they don't have any appetite, they start taking the amino acids and all of a sudden they're hungry.

Yeah. Yeah. And so many times I'll have women, my patients that they're overweight and they have other things going on, but they're literally, they're not hungry.

So they're not eating, you know, so they're not getting the amino acids they need. They're not getting the nutrition, but they're still gaining weight.

They're like, I literally don't eat. I'm not hungry. I have to force myself to eat. And you know and I'll tell them like well if you're gonna eat you need to go on you need that protein and I'm curious if you've seen an uptick with the shot you know all the glp ones with you know this causing maybe the depression and anxiety when people are on these is because they're not getting well they're obviously not eating protein if they're overdosed which most of them are and then they're not getting amino acid so it's like double whammy.

That's a double whammy and then your digestion slows down so you know the whole vagal pathway is being compromised and so then the signal from the brain to the gut is disrupted I mean there are so many factors there Jen.

And really, I like GLP-1 is done correctly. So I just had someone message me and they're not my patient yet, but they're like, they're on 15 units. I didn't know the milligrams.

I have to see what she says. 15 milligrams or units, sorry, 15 units three times a week. And I'm like, you're not even supposed to be doing GLP-1 that many times a week.

So more is not better. More is not better for many things. So what about your method, the calm mom method? Do you have any success stories of women going through this?

Oh, absolutely. So I have this one woman who recently she was sitting here and she came in because her chest was so tight all the time and she was just anxious and she just could feel all this anxiety welling up in her multiple times a day.

And she's a counselor, right? So she knows the tools, the practical tools to do all of this. And we were doing the amino acid, you know, putting them under your tongue and just kind of waiting.

And I gave her some tryptophan and she's been on and off of medication as well. And she'd never experienced this before. All of a sudden she goes like, look, my chest felt like it opened up and it just like something released.

And so she was on the amino acids about a week because we did it. I think I ended up with three of them for her. It was tryptophan, tyrosine, I think GABA.

And she was on them for a week and she messaged me. She goes, this has been the best week of my adult life. You know, and she's almost 40. So, you know, those beautiful things happen all the time in my office.

I have a client now, I've been working with her for about a year, and she was on five medications when she came to see me. And all of those mood-related.

And it took us about seven to eight months to get off of all five of them. But the amino acids helped her tremendously. She didn't have any withdrawal issues.

And that's the beautiful thing. When you're coming off of medications, of course, work with your doctor, because I don't take you off the meds. It has to be with your doctor.

But the side effects, the withdrawal symptoms and stuff, I rarely, rarely, rarely have ever seen any when you're nourishing the body at the same time with the amino acids as you come off those medications.

It's a beautiful process. Yeah, that's great. So what amino acids have you seen depleted the most with someone that is on an SSRI like Zoloft or Prozac?

Because I bet you those listening out them, probably a lot of them are on one of those. Probably, yeah. I would say serotonin. And this is the medication that's supposed to help serotonin.

But they come, you know, in the chart that I was talking that I use, you know, I rate it on a scale of zero to 10. Zero, you never feel this. 10, you feel this all the time.

There's 15 questions. there's going to be anywhere from seven, eight, nines, most of them are still tens. And then you would give them the tryptophan.

So, and this makes sense if you look at biochemistry, everything, like it all makes sense. So how would you say amino acid therapy differs from supplements that like, you know, boost the same, you know, production or whatever?

How would you say it's different? So yeah, I mean, you could use like, you know, rhodiola or something like that. So it's going to help with serotonin, but it's not fixing the deficiency.

It's just an herb that is helpful and it does calm the system. And I use those with people as well, but it's not actually nourishing that particular neurotransmitter.

So it's not nourishing the serotonin. It's just helping the body. So this way you don't have to consistently use it. You can fix the deficiency and kind of move on.

Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. So what are three simple practical things moms can do today to reduce stress and bring more calm into their homes? Right.

So one you could get, you know, you could start on amino acids for one. So that's a given. But if we're talking just practical things that you can do every day in your home, one would be make sure you go to bed at the same time every single night, like set your alarm to go to bed so that you don't forget.

So all of a sudden you're like, I want to go to bed at 10 and you're all of a sudden it's midnight. So going to bed, At the same time, every single night helps to set that circadian rhythm and that's going to help anxiety, depression.

That's going to keep you calm. That's going to help regulate that nervous system. The next thing would be, you know, get out in the early morning sunlight.

I know that seems really simple and we're in Iowa now and it's cold and I don't necessarily want to go out, but I still go out every single morning. I'm outside for 45 minutes to an hour at least in the morning, just getting in that morning sunlight because that makes me feel so much better.

And then that third thing would be increase your protein. Whatever protein you're eating right now, most of you are not eating enough, so double it and see how you feel.

Yeah, love my protein. That's for sure. That's so funny. My husband, like, because I had some protein earlier, I was just making a filet. I'm like, I'm going to share this with Emery because we have been having these like protein hot chocolate drinks after.

So I knew I was going to have that. I knew I was going to have enough protein, but he was like, Jenny, that's not enough protein. He was like all worried about it.

He's like, he knows me too well. And I'm like, it's because we're going to have this treat after. Anyway, we got some really good peppermint whipped cream for it.

Anyway, so I'm hungry. Yeah, well, no, I'm really happy about this because it's like a bone broth protein mint chocolate. And my six-year-old, who is more a protein picky eater, which maybe I just need to give him some amino acids, actually figure out how to get that into him.

But he likes it. So it's like what we do. stirs it on the stove. Anyway, nice and cozy, right? It's that time of year to have protein hot chocolate. So let's see where we can find you at.

So we already spoke about your Instagram. Don't forget you can message Lori and get that free download. Where else can they find you in your podcast? So my podcast is Take Back My Brain.

And then on all my socials, I am at Take Back My Brain. So you can find me there. Or you can go to my website, LaurieHammer.com. Awesome. OK, now we're going to do quick rapid fire questions.

OK. OK. So what would be your second career choice? If you weren't doing what you were doing now, what would you do? I would want to be a stay at home mom.

Like full time, not doing anything else other than just being a mom and a grandma right now. Yeah, that's great. What is your favorite habit that rescues a tough day?

Taking an Epsom salt and essential oil bath. Yes, yes, definitely. And listening to a good podcast or listening to the Bible as I just lay in there and don't think about anything else.

Wow, that sounds great. What is one wellness rule that you happily break sometimes? Ooh, I will go get gelato that has, you know, maybe not organic sugar in it.

Yeah. Oh, that's fine. Yeah. And then last one, and it's one word only. What's the one word you want listeners to carry into this week? Peace. Yes, that's a good one.

Awesome. Well, thank you so much. And I know that this podcast is so valuable and it's such good information. So if you're listening out there and you know someone that could benefit from hearing this today and listening to Lori, please share this podcast.

And we really appreciate our listeners. Thank you so much for your time today, Lori. I appreciate it so much. Thank you for having me, Jen.

Natural Amino Acid Therapy for Anxiety, Depression & Mood Balance

Jen Pfleghaar, DO, ABOIM

Laurie Hammer, FNTP, NNTS

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