November 8, 2024 • 22 mins
Over half of Americans take a multivitamin every day, but vitamins and minerals are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to supporting your health, especially for women with ADHD. Christine McCarroll dives into the foundational role that micronutrients play in cellular health and overall wellness, emphasizing the necessity of high-quality food and supplements for optimal function. She discusses the importance of both macro and micronutrients, highlighting how deficiencies can lead to fatigue and impaired brain function. Christine introduces the concepts of functional supports and bridge supports, explaining how certain supplements can provide immediate relief while also enhancing long-term health. This episode is packed with insights into the significance of vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients, offering listeners practical advice to feel better naturally and effectively.
Takeaways:
- Over half of Americans take a multivitamin daily, but vitamins are just the start.
- Nutrition is crucial for our bodies to function properly, impacting cellular health significantly.
- High-quality food and micronutrients like vitamins and minerals are essential for overall health.
- Some supplements support foundational health, while others help symptoms more directly.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Over half of Americans take amultivitamin every day.
And while vitamins andminerals can absolutely be an important
part of building afoundational health plan, they are
far from the only option forsupplements that can help you feel
better quickly and naturally,starting from day one.
Welcome to ADHD SmartSolutions for Holistic Women with
(00:21):
Christine McCarroll.
I'm Christine and this is thespot to learn natural strategies
for supporting your ADHD brain.
As a woman with all thehormonal curveballs and unique challenges
that only females face, I'vemade it my mission to uncover the
root causes and little knownsupports for your ADHD brain that
your doctor doesn't know andwon't tell you.
Learn the truth and find your focus.
(00:42):
No prescription required.
Hi friends, welcome back.
As I shared on the lastepisode, a majority of people in
the Western world are overfedbut undernourished.
Meaning there's a lot of stuffthat we put in our mouths.
But that stuff largely missesthe boat on being actual food or
providing actual nutrition.
(01:02):
It's devoid of vitamins,minerals, enzymes, phytonutrients,
fiber and raw minerals and awhole lot of other things that the
body needs to do the work thatit needs to be doing to constantly
recreate itself.
And I just want you to thinkabout this.
It is pretty miraculous to methat you are living in a body that
looks largely the same but isactually entirely different at the
(01:23):
cellular level than it wasfive or 10 years ago.
So we ourselves have replacedthemselves in that time hundreds
if not thousands of times.
So what we are putting in ourmouths is directly impacting the
quality of that cellular material.
So we need to have highquality food and high quality vitamins,
minerals and all those otherthings I just said that can come
(01:44):
with our food to have ahealthy functioning body and vitamins
and minerals, which is whatusually people are thinking about
when they're thinking aboutsupplements are really important
co factors as those as thatbody is getting built.
So we need our macros which islike our protein, fat and carbohydrate.
But we also micros which isvitamins, minerals, probiotics, fiber,
(02:07):
phytonutrients, all thoseother wonderful things that help
our bodies work the way thatthey are supposed to.
So thinking about vitamins and minerals.
So vitamins are organiccompounds and we just need tiny amounts
of those for different kindsof biological functions.
But they are absolutely required.
I was flabbergasted.
This was maybe like eightyears ago.
(02:28):
I had a friend who was tellingme about another friend and I had
met her but it had been, youknow, just as a passing acquaintance
who was a physician'sassistant, she's a PA and she worked
in the er and she had said,literally this was her words, nutrition
doesn't matter.
Vitamins, minerals don't matter.
And I was so flabbergastedbecause I thought, wow, did she ever
take biochemistry?
(02:48):
She had to have it to getthis, you know, degree as a PA and
if you had ever studiedbiochemistry, you would know that
our bodies literally cannotoperate without vitamins and minerals.
So I was, I was pretty stunnedby that statement and just made me
go, oh, wow, okay.
There is still that opinionlargely out there in conventional
medicine.
And this is a big reason whypeople are getting band aids and
(03:10):
not actually getting well.
So we need these, these smallcompounds to help our bodies actually
work.
So for example, a lot of the Bvitamin family, like B6, B12, niacin,
things you've probably heardof, folate is in there.
Those are helpful for energy metabolism.
And what I mean when I sayenergy metabolism is that they help
(03:31):
to convert food into energy.
So it helps your body at thecellular level to produce and catalyze
these reactions, these enzymesthat generate ATP, which is basically
like, I think of this as likethe gold coins of your, of your cell.
Right?
It's the, it's the currencythat our, our cells energy works
on.
(03:51):
So we need these vitamins forenergy metabolism.
Then there's some othervitamins, like vitamin C, vitamin
E, that provide antioxidant support.
And what that means is that wehave something called free radicals
that are produced asproduction and those things can damage
cells and they can make thingslike our bodies age faster and they
(04:13):
can create inflammation, theycan contribute to chronic disease
if they are not balanced outwith antioxidants.
So free radicals are a naturalpart of our body function, but we
need to balance them.
So antioxidants also areimportant for protecting the brain.
So the brain.
And of course this isparticularly important for those
of us with adhd.
(04:33):
The brain is highly sensitiveto oxidative stress.
So the more we have high levellevels of oxidative stress, we have
these free radicals and wedon't have nutrients that are providing
this antioxidant support.
The more likely we are goingto have oxidative stress.
Or you could just think aboutit about it as like a stressed out
brain.
I think about it as like rust.
Like we have like a rustybrain, which doesn't sound like something
(04:54):
most of us want.
And then we have hormone andneurotransmitter support.
So, for example, vitamin D isactually considered a pro hormone,
meaning it kind of acts like ahormone in the body.
And it's really important forhormones to work well and also for
doing things like maintainingcalcium balance, supporting mood
regulation.
So this is a huge thing forpeople who have mood issues.
(05:16):
You absolutely want to begetting your vitamin D levels checked
every year.
There's a whole lot that goesinto vitamin D.
I actually feel like thatmight need to be its own whole podcast
episode.
But in any case, you do needvitamin D and you should be checking
your levels.
B vitamins also play a bigrole in synthesizing neurotransmitters
like serotonin and dopamine.
And obviously I've beentalking about those because those
(05:37):
are the particularneurotransmitters that can have a
particular influence for adhd.
And in general, they areessential for mood focus and our
ability to be resilient in theface of stress.
And then there are a bunch ofvitamins that can help support our
immune function.
So, for example, there's anorganization that I've supported
for years called VitaminAngels that basically gives a mega
(06:00):
dose of vitamin A as one ofits, one of its like support options
to children in developingnations who would otherwise have
a vitamin A deficiency.
And one of the biggestproblems with being deficient in
vitamin A is that it meansthat those children are susceptible
to a lot of immune diseases.
So they are more likely tobecome, to be susceptible, I should
(06:21):
say, to a disease because of acompromised immune system because
of that deficiency in vitamin A.
So vitamin C, vitamin D, thoseare also vital for immune health.
And all of those are going tobe important for helping support
immune cell function andhelping the cells essentially protect
themselves from pathogens.
So all of that is part of whyit's so important to be looking at
(06:46):
your micronutrients.
And are you actually gettingnutrients from the food that you're
eating, or is it just kind oflike dead food that's filling up
your stomach but not actuallyhelping to nourish your body?
Now, minerals are a wholeother class of micronutrients, and
those are really, I think ofthose as more of the structural elements
in the body.
So they do have physiologicalrules as well, but they are a large
(07:10):
part of what is forming thosestructural elements.
You've probably heard, I wouldthink you'd be living under a rock
if you hadn't, that calcium isimportant for bone function.
But really calcium does notact alone.
We need a whole symphony ofminerals to be working efficiently
together to have strong bone function.
So we need calcium, we needmagnesium, we need phosphorus, we
(07:33):
need other nutrients likevitamin K, vitamin D, all of those
are important.
So calcium is also importantin muscle contraction action and
nerve transmission.
So that's an importantconsideration for things like cardiovascular
health.
So, you know, people who havechallenges, like rhythmic issues.
I mentioned this in the lastepisode around cardiovascular function.
(07:56):
Minerals is one of those areaswhere, you know, I'm going to be
looking at first other thingsthat are important for mineral function.
We need electrolytes.
So electrolytes, literally,you think about it as conducting
electricity.
So we are electrical beings.
It's hard for a lot of peopleto get their minds around that.
But if you just think about,hey, if you've ever even watched
(08:16):
a show that took place in ahospital, you don't even have to
have been to a hospital.
But you see people get hookedup to machines and we're tracking
things like their, their heartrate and their brain waves.
Well, that's electricalimpulses and signaling.
And we can track that because,again, we're electrical beings, so
we're tracking that.
So the minerals that arerequired to help that conduction
(08:39):
happen, the energy conduction,are those electrolytes.
Things like sodium, potassium,chloride, they help to regulate fluid
balance.
But also, again, conductingthat electricity.
So they help our nervesfunction, they help our muscles function.
And that balance is essentialreally for muscle contraction, your
heart rhythm, overall, havinga hydrated status.
(09:01):
And then they also help totransport oxygen to the brain.
So I mentioned before, Ibelieve that one of the essential
tests, I think, for women withADHD is to be looking at iron status.
So it's much more likely for acycling woman to become low in iron.
And if we're low in iron, wemight be low in hemoglobin.
(09:23):
And hemoglobin is essentialfor carrying oxygen throughout the
body and certainly to the brain.
So without having enough iron,oxygen transport is going to be impaired.
And we could just feel reallycrappy, right?
So you can be tired and feellike your brain's not working, working
very well, feel fuzzy.
And that can absolutely bebecause of low iron.
And then there's the.
So those are more of the.
(09:43):
The macrominerals.
And then we have some microminerals, so also called trace minerals,
things like zinc, selenium, copper.
And those things are like thebuddies that help enzymes catalyze
reactions.
So for example, zinc supportswound healing and immune function.
So if you're somebody whomaybe like every little scratch takes
forever to heal, that'spotentially a sign or symptom that
(10:06):
you are deficient in zinc.
Selenium is one that weabsolutely need to be in a careful
balance.
Don't want to overdo it.
But under, under supportingselenium can lead to thyroid depression.
So we need good seleniumstatus for thyroid health and antioxidant
protection.
So in general, just thinkingabout vitamins and minerals largely
(10:27):
as a category, they're goingto help with our energy production,
our immune system and ourhormone balance.
Minerals are going to promotprovide the integrity to the body
like the structural integrity.
They're going to help withfluid balance and they're going to
help the enzymes in our bodyto work better.
So we need all of those, allof those things to have a functioning
(10:48):
biochemical system.
So those are all things that Iconsider foundational.
And when you are eating enoughof the, of the macro and micronutrients,
you're going to be largely onyour way to feeling better.
And a lot of us are just undereating those things.
So we need that as thefoundational support.
So that's why I'm calling themthe foundations as the foundational
(11:10):
support for everything else towork well.
But we have some othersupports that we can take in our
supplement plans that are morefunctional supports or what I call
bridge supports.
And those are a little bit different.
So I'm going to define what,how I'm using those terms and I kind
of made up bridge support.
So I've never heard anyoneelse say that maybe somebody else
(11:32):
does, but this is how I thinkof those.
So functional supports arethings that enhance how our bodies
actually function so how theyoperate and helping things move in
a different way.
So a perfect example of thatis somebody who has perhaps low digestive
function may need somethinglike some digestive enzymes or maybe
(11:54):
they are having a hard timedigesting fat because they've had
their gallbladder removed.
This is actually way morecommon in women than in men.
And if your gallbladder hasbeen removed, you might not be having
sufficient bile acid production.
When you're eating fats, thatmight mean you're not digesting your
fat very well.
And you might also thendownstream become deficient in some
(12:16):
of those fat soluble vitaminsas well as have, have trouble maintaining
your, the integrity of each ofyour cells because we need to have
good fatty acid status for that.
So functional supports mightbe something like actually taking
bile acids or some sort ofbreakdown of the, of the bile acid
to support fat digestion ortaking digestive enzymes to help
(12:40):
your body digest fat.
So those are things that Ithink of as functional supports.
They're actually helping yourbody to function in a different,
a different way.
And then there are what I'mcalling bridge supports.
Now the way that I havedefined bridge supports to my clients
for the last decade is thatthey help to provide some symptom
relief or kind of a quickboost in how you feel.
(13:02):
And they are bridging you overwhile you are waiting for some of
that foundational stuff tokind of help you in the longer term.
So, you know, I think Imentioned in the last episode, if
you were somebody who waseating McDonald's for lunch every
single day for, you know, manyyears, and all of a sudden you switched
from doing that to eating adiet of whole foods and you kicked
(13:23):
the, the fast food to thecurb, that would be amazing.
And I would guess that youwould start feeling better relatively
quickly, maybe within just acouple of months.
Months.
But even in just a couple ofmonths, you might want a little extra
support in feeling better.
Or you.
There's a certain level whereyou're, you know, you're going to
have felt a lot better.
But you know, there's like anext level that you could get to
(13:44):
and that next level might beaccessible by something a little
bit more targeted.
So when we actually extractsomething and amplify it in a supplement,
or if it's something that ishas a source of something like a
botanical, which is likeherbal medicine, then we are going
to have a more immediateimpact on the way that we feel.
(14:06):
And I absolutely believe inbridge supports.
So, you know, I'm all for,let's do something like test your
omega 3 to omega 6 ratio.
Let's see what your omegastatus is and give your body the
omegas that it needs to havehealthy brain function, for example.
But while you're waiting forthat to feel better, you probably
want your brain just to befocused a little bit better.
(14:26):
Like right now.
Right.
Or while you are, you know,working on balancing your hormone
system.
That is a process that couldbe, you know, three to six months
to really fully get a moreimbalanced or more balanced, I should
say, hormone system or evenlonger to really get like full traction
of like consistently feeling better.
And again, while you're inthat time period, I am 100% for things
(14:49):
that can help you to feelbetter in the moment, but also are
going to work more naturally.
So we're not going to havemaybe some of the same side effects
that you might have if youwere taking medication.
And the truth is, actually alot of these compounds that we Are,
you know, that we're using naturally.
They are the precursors tomodern medicine.
Like, modern medicine didn'tjust get created like out of thin
(15:10):
air.
It came from a long historicalbackground of, you know, people using
things like this for hundreds,if not thousands of years.
So for example, aspirin.
Aspirin was one of our firstmodern medicines.
But the origin of aspirin iswhite willow bark.
So I mean, people across theglobe, ancient Egyptians, Greeks
(15:32):
and Native Americans, all usedwillow bark to help relieve pain
and reduce fever.
And it wasn't until I believein 19th century that chemists identified
a particular component calledsalicin in willow bark.
And then they started tosynthesize that later, I'm not sure
exactly how long, intosalicylic acid, which is the actual
(15:54):
ingredient in modern acid, aspirin.
So that was just one exampleor you might have heard of like opium
dens, right?
And opium was originally from poppies.
So and that's been used for areally long time.
So in ancient Sumerian,Egyptian, Greek medicine, the opium
poppy was used for its painrelieving effects.
(16:14):
Now of course, things got alittle dicey once I once morphine
was isolated, which I believewas in the early 19th century.
And it was one of those firstcompounds that was actually standardized
for pain relief.
And it really was kind of likethe gateway to modern anesthetics
and pain management.
And then there was anotherherb in traditional Chinese medicine
(16:37):
used for over 5,000 yearscalled MA huang, used to, and I might
have said that wrong, so sorryall if I did, but it was used to
treat asthma and bronchitisand for 5,000 years.
And then in the early 20thcentury, that was isolated into ephedrine,
which led to treatment forrespiratory issues.
And then really that was kindof like the opening of the door to
(16:58):
modern decongestants and stimulants.
So again, really just saying,like, as humans we have been, you
know, like side by sideevolving next to these compounds
for like millennia, forthousands of years.
And we have used differentagents that can actually impact the
body quickly.
And so, so these are thethings that I am calling bridge supports.
(17:23):
And there are, there's a wholeother category which I'm going to
talk about next time.
So I wanted to introduce youto this concept of foundational versus
functional supports.
But there's, you know, thiswhole other, you know, category that
I think can be both afunctional and a bridge support.
So what do I mean by that?
So something like amino acids,which is what I'm going to get into
(17:44):
these are things that can helpus in the moment to feel different
and better, but actually canalso be functional supports because
they can do things like helpyour brain function a little bit
better.
So, for example, genetically,many people who have ADHD are going
to be processing dopamine morequickly, which means that when you
(18:06):
produce dopamine, you'reactually also clearing it.
So you're producing it, butthen it's getting metabolized in
your body quickly.
So you, you are not able tohold onto the benefit of dopamine
for as long of a time.
So when we are talking about abridge and a functional support in
that context, you can say likethis is going to be a bridge that
helps you feel better right now.
(18:26):
So you can, you know, you cantake supplements that help you feel
better in the moment, but alsoas they, as you continue to take
them, they might help yourbrain to function a little bit differently
because you are, becauseyou're doing that on a regular basis.
So, um, there are somebotanicals that can do that.
So that's, you know, this isbasically herbs that can have that,
(18:48):
that effect.
And then amino acids that Iwill talk about more next time are
something that we get when webreak down proteins.
So protein is a macro.
Um, again, I'll get into allof this, but the, you know, we have
our macros and our micros.
So, you know, protein is a macro.
It's why I said when I wantyou to start with the food first
foundation and, and looking atwhat's on your plate, I really want
(19:09):
you to make sure that we arelooking at protein as one of those
primary areas.
So I talked about three peas,our protein, our produce, probiotics.
But that protein beingessential because when proteins break
down, they break down intoamino acids and your body uses amino
acids to make neurotransmitters.
So if we don't have sufficientprotein and therefore sufficient
amino acids, we simply do nothave the building blocks to be able
(19:32):
to make neurotransmitters.
So that's a really important piece.
However, at the same time, wecan just like people were.
Were extracting those, thosecompounds from white willow and making
aspirin, we can ext.
Extract the amino acids fromprotein and then be able to have
(19:52):
a higher dose of that becausewe have extracted it and it's going
to have a stronger impactphysiologically than if we just eat.
For example, a food that'shigh in tryptophan, like turkey,
always gets that wrap ofmaking us sleepy or more relaxed
at Thanksgiving.
And yeah, there is sometryptophan and turkey, but certainly
we're not getting as much aswe would be as we'd be promised based
(20:14):
on popular assumptions.
So anyway, what we can do iswe can be more targeted and we can
be more specific and we canactually be really looking at getting,
I guess, specific.
That's the word I wanted,specific and not just saying, hey,
you eat some of this, you'reprobably getting this much of this
thing.
We can say specifically,here's how much you are getting in
(20:35):
this specific supplement.
That is the difference and Ibelieve the benefits that we are
getting from foundationalsupport, which are things like vitamins,
minerals, even phytonutrients,fiber and foundational, I'm sorry,
functional supports whichmight help your body function better
and then bridge supports whichactually help us to feel a little
bit better in the moment.
(20:56):
So hopefully that is helpfulbackground because next time I'm
going to be getting all intoamino acids.
I'm going to be getting intospecific amino acids that I see as
being really helpful for focusand attention and how we can use
those to our benefit on a dayto day basis.
These are things that I,myself and my family, we take regularly.
I take amino acids everysingle day.
(21:18):
So more on that next time.
Have a great rest of your weekand I'll look forward to chatting
with you on the next episode.
Hey love, thanks for making itthis far.
If you're hearing this, you'reone of the magical statistical few
that listened all the way tothe end and I so appreciate your
engagement.
I hope that means the messagetoday resonated with you and you're
(21:40):
taking away a tool trick oraction step that will help you have
your best feeling brain.
If that's you, I have a favorto ask.
So many more women need tohear this Message and your 30 seconds
to leave a rating or reviewwill help them hear it.
Just go to the show in yourpodcast player and scroll down until
you see the stars to leave aquick rating and make my day while
you're at it.
Thank you so much.
Over half of Americans take amultivitamin every day.
And while vitamins andminerals can absolutely be an important
part of building afoundational health plan, they are
far from the only option forsupplements that can help you feel
better quickly and naturally,starting from day one.
Welcome to ADHD SmartSolutions for Holistic Women with
(00:21):
Christine McCarroll.
I'm Christine and this is thespot to learn natural strategies
for supporting your ADHD brain.
As a woman with all thehormonal curveballs and unique challenges
that only females face, I'vemade it my mission to uncover the
root causes and little knownsupports for your ADHD brain that
your doctor doesn't know andwon't tell you.
Learn the truth and find your focus.
(00:42):
No prescription required.
Hi friends, welcome back.
As I shared on the lastepisode, a majority of people in
the Western world are overfedbut undernourished.
Meaning there's a lot of stuffthat we put in our mouths.
But that stuff largely missesthe boat on being actual food or
providing actual nutrition.
(01:02):
It's devoid of vitamins,minerals, enzymes, phytonutrients,
fiber and raw minerals and awhole lot of other things that the
body needs to do the work thatit needs to be doing to constantly
recreate itself.
And I just want you to thinkabout this.
It is pretty miraculous to methat you are living in a body that
looks largely the same but isactually entirely different at the
(01:23):
cellular level than it wasfive or 10 years ago.
So we ourselves have replacedthemselves in that time hundreds
if not thousands of times.
So what we are putting in ourmouths is directly impacting the
quality of that cellular material.
So we need to have highquality food and high quality vitamins,
minerals and all those otherthings I just said that can come
(01:44):
with our food to have ahealthy functioning body and vitamins
and minerals, which is whatusually people are thinking about
when they're thinking aboutsupplements are really important
co factors as those as thatbody is getting built.
So we need our macros which islike our protein, fat and carbohydrate.
But we also micros which isvitamins, minerals, probiotics, fiber,
(02:07):
phytonutrients, all thoseother wonderful things that help
our bodies work the way thatthey are supposed to.
So thinking about vitamins and minerals.
So vitamins are organiccompounds and we just need tiny amounts
of those for different kindsof biological functions.
But they are absolutely required.
I was flabbergasted.
This was maybe like eightyears ago.
(02:28):
I had a friend who was tellingme about another friend and I had
met her but it had been, youknow, just as a passing acquaintance
who was a physician'sassistant, she's a PA and she worked
in the er and she had said,literally this was her words, nutrition
doesn't matter.
Vitamins, minerals don't matter.
And I was so flabbergastedbecause I thought, wow, did she ever
take biochemistry?
(02:48):
She had to have it to getthis, you know, degree as a PA and
if you had ever studiedbiochemistry, you would know that
our bodies literally cannotoperate without vitamins and minerals.
So I was, I was pretty stunnedby that statement and just made me
go, oh, wow, okay.
There is still that opinionlargely out there in conventional
medicine.
And this is a big reason whypeople are getting band aids and
(03:10):
not actually getting well.
So we need these, these smallcompounds to help our bodies actually
work.
So for example, a lot of the Bvitamin family, like B6, B12, niacin,
things you've probably heardof, folate is in there.
Those are helpful for energy metabolism.
And what I mean when I sayenergy metabolism is that they help
(03:31):
to convert food into energy.
So it helps your body at thecellular level to produce and catalyze
these reactions, these enzymesthat generate ATP, which is basically
like, I think of this as likethe gold coins of your, of your cell.
Right?
It's the, it's the currencythat our, our cells energy works
on.
(03:51):
So we need these vitamins forenergy metabolism.
Then there's some othervitamins, like vitamin C, vitamin
E, that provide antioxidant support.
And what that means is that wehave something called free radicals
that are produced asproduction and those things can damage
cells and they can make thingslike our bodies age faster and they
(04:13):
can create inflammation, theycan contribute to chronic disease
if they are not balanced outwith antioxidants.
So free radicals are a naturalpart of our body function, but we
need to balance them.
So antioxidants also areimportant for protecting the brain.
So the brain.
And of course this isparticularly important for those
of us with adhd.
(04:33):
The brain is highly sensitiveto oxidative stress.
So the more we have high levellevels of oxidative stress, we have
these free radicals and wedon't have nutrients that are providing
this antioxidant support.
The more likely we are goingto have oxidative stress.
Or you could just think aboutit about it as like a stressed out
brain.
I think about it as like rust.
Like we have like a rustybrain, which doesn't sound like something
(04:54):
most of us want.
And then we have hormone andneurotransmitter support.
So, for example, vitamin D isactually considered a pro hormone,
meaning it kind of acts like ahormone in the body.
And it's really important forhormones to work well and also for
doing things like maintainingcalcium balance, supporting mood
regulation.
So this is a huge thing forpeople who have mood issues.
(05:16):
You absolutely want to begetting your vitamin D levels checked
every year.
There's a whole lot that goesinto vitamin D.
I actually feel like thatmight need to be its own whole podcast
episode.
But in any case, you do needvitamin D and you should be checking
your levels.
B vitamins also play a bigrole in synthesizing neurotransmitters
like serotonin and dopamine.
And obviously I've beentalking about those because those
(05:37):
are the particularneurotransmitters that can have a
particular influence for adhd.
And in general, they areessential for mood focus and our
ability to be resilient in theface of stress.
And then there are a bunch ofvitamins that can help support our
immune function.
So, for example, there's anorganization that I've supported
for years called VitaminAngels that basically gives a mega
(06:00):
dose of vitamin A as one ofits, one of its like support options
to children in developingnations who would otherwise have
a vitamin A deficiency.
And one of the biggestproblems with being deficient in
vitamin A is that it meansthat those children are susceptible
to a lot of immune diseases.
So they are more likely tobecome, to be susceptible, I should
(06:21):
say, to a disease because of acompromised immune system because
of that deficiency in vitamin A.
So vitamin C, vitamin D, thoseare also vital for immune health.
And all of those are going tobe important for helping support
immune cell function andhelping the cells essentially protect
themselves from pathogens.
So all of that is part of whyit's so important to be looking at
(06:46):
your micronutrients.
And are you actually gettingnutrients from the food that you're
eating, or is it just kind oflike dead food that's filling up
your stomach but not actuallyhelping to nourish your body?
Now, minerals are a wholeother class of micronutrients, and
those are really, I think ofthose as more of the structural elements
in the body.
So they do have physiologicalrules as well, but they are a large
(07:10):
part of what is forming thosestructural elements.
You've probably heard, I wouldthink you'd be living under a rock
if you hadn't, that calcium isimportant for bone function.
But really calcium does notact alone.
We need a whole symphony ofminerals to be working efficiently
together to have strong bone function.
So we need calcium, we needmagnesium, we need phosphorus, we
(07:33):
need other nutrients likevitamin K, vitamin D, all of those
are important.
So calcium is also importantin muscle contraction action and
nerve transmission.
So that's an importantconsideration for things like cardiovascular
health.
So, you know, people who havechallenges, like rhythmic issues.
I mentioned this in the lastepisode around cardiovascular function.
(07:56):
Minerals is one of those areaswhere, you know, I'm going to be
looking at first other thingsthat are important for mineral function.
We need electrolytes.
So electrolytes, literally,you think about it as conducting
electricity.
So we are electrical beings.
It's hard for a lot of peopleto get their minds around that.
But if you just think about,hey, if you've ever even watched
(08:16):
a show that took place in ahospital, you don't even have to
have been to a hospital.
But you see people get hookedup to machines and we're tracking
things like their, their heartrate and their brain waves.
Well, that's electricalimpulses and signaling.
And we can track that because,again, we're electrical beings, so
we're tracking that.
So the minerals that arerequired to help that conduction
(08:39):
happen, the energy conduction,are those electrolytes.
Things like sodium, potassium,chloride, they help to regulate fluid
balance.
But also, again, conductingthat electricity.
So they help our nervesfunction, they help our muscles function.
And that balance is essentialreally for muscle contraction, your
heart rhythm, overall, havinga hydrated status.
(09:01):
And then they also help totransport oxygen to the brain.
So I mentioned before, Ibelieve that one of the essential
tests, I think, for women withADHD is to be looking at iron status.
So it's much more likely for acycling woman to become low in iron.
And if we're low in iron, wemight be low in hemoglobin.
(09:23):
And hemoglobin is essentialfor carrying oxygen throughout the
body and certainly to the brain.
So without having enough iron,oxygen transport is going to be impaired.
And we could just feel reallycrappy, right?
So you can be tired and feellike your brain's not working, working
very well, feel fuzzy.
And that can absolutely bebecause of low iron.
And then there's the.
So those are more of the.
(09:43):
The macrominerals.
And then we have some microminerals, so also called trace minerals,
things like zinc, selenium, copper.
And those things are like thebuddies that help enzymes catalyze
reactions.
So for example, zinc supportswound healing and immune function.
So if you're somebody whomaybe like every little scratch takes
forever to heal, that'spotentially a sign or symptom that
(10:06):
you are deficient in zinc.
Selenium is one that weabsolutely need to be in a careful
balance.
Don't want to overdo it.
But under, under supportingselenium can lead to thyroid depression.
So we need good seleniumstatus for thyroid health and antioxidant
protection.
So in general, just thinkingabout vitamins and minerals largely
(10:27):
as a category, they're goingto help with our energy production,
our immune system and ourhormone balance.
Minerals are going to promotprovide the integrity to the body
like the structural integrity.
They're going to help withfluid balance and they're going to
help the enzymes in our bodyto work better.
So we need all of those, allof those things to have a functioning
(10:48):
biochemical system.
So those are all things that Iconsider foundational.
And when you are eating enoughof the, of the macro and micronutrients,
you're going to be largely onyour way to feeling better.
And a lot of us are just undereating those things.
So we need that as thefoundational support.
So that's why I'm calling themthe foundations as the foundational
(11:10):
support for everything else towork well.
But we have some othersupports that we can take in our
supplement plans that are morefunctional supports or what I call
bridge supports.
And those are a little bit different.
So I'm going to define what,how I'm using those terms and I kind
of made up bridge support.
So I've never heard anyoneelse say that maybe somebody else
(11:32):
does, but this is how I thinkof those.
So functional supports arethings that enhance how our bodies
actually function so how theyoperate and helping things move in
a different way.
So a perfect example of thatis somebody who has perhaps low digestive
function may need somethinglike some digestive enzymes or maybe
(11:54):
they are having a hard timedigesting fat because they've had
their gallbladder removed.
This is actually way morecommon in women than in men.
And if your gallbladder hasbeen removed, you might not be having
sufficient bile acid production.
When you're eating fats, thatmight mean you're not digesting your
fat very well.
And you might also thendownstream become deficient in some
(12:16):
of those fat soluble vitaminsas well as have, have trouble maintaining
your, the integrity of each ofyour cells because we need to have
good fatty acid status for that.
So functional supports mightbe something like actually taking
bile acids or some sort ofbreakdown of the, of the bile acid
to support fat digestion ortaking digestive enzymes to help
(12:40):
your body digest fat.
So those are things that Ithink of as functional supports.
They're actually helping yourbody to function in a different,
a different way.
And then there are what I'mcalling bridge supports.
Now the way that I havedefined bridge supports to my clients
for the last decade is thatthey help to provide some symptom
relief or kind of a quickboost in how you feel.
(13:02):
And they are bridging you overwhile you are waiting for some of
that foundational stuff tokind of help you in the longer term.
So, you know, I think Imentioned in the last episode, if
you were somebody who waseating McDonald's for lunch every
single day for, you know, manyyears, and all of a sudden you switched
from doing that to eating adiet of whole foods and you kicked
(13:23):
the, the fast food to thecurb, that would be amazing.
And I would guess that youwould start feeling better relatively
quickly, maybe within just acouple of months.
Months.
But even in just a couple ofmonths, you might want a little extra
support in feeling better.
Or you.
There's a certain level whereyou're, you know, you're going to
have felt a lot better.
But you know, there's like anext level that you could get to
(13:44):
and that next level might beaccessible by something a little
bit more targeted.
So when we actually extractsomething and amplify it in a supplement,
or if it's something that ishas a source of something like a
botanical, which is likeherbal medicine, then we are going
to have a more immediateimpact on the way that we feel.
(14:06):
And I absolutely believe inbridge supports.
So, you know, I'm all for,let's do something like test your
omega 3 to omega 6 ratio.
Let's see what your omegastatus is and give your body the
omegas that it needs to havehealthy brain function, for example.
But while you're waiting forthat to feel better, you probably
want your brain just to befocused a little bit better.
(14:26):
Like right now.
Right.
Or while you are, you know,working on balancing your hormone
system.
That is a process that couldbe, you know, three to six months
to really fully get a moreimbalanced or more balanced, I should
say, hormone system or evenlonger to really get like full traction
of like consistently feeling better.
And again, while you're inthat time period, I am 100% for things
(14:49):
that can help you to feelbetter in the moment, but also are
going to work more naturally.
So we're not going to havemaybe some of the same side effects
that you might have if youwere taking medication.
And the truth is, actually alot of these compounds that we Are,
you know, that we're using naturally.
They are the precursors tomodern medicine.
Like, modern medicine didn'tjust get created like out of thin
(15:10):
air.
It came from a long historicalbackground of, you know, people using
things like this for hundreds,if not thousands of years.
So for example, aspirin.
Aspirin was one of our firstmodern medicines.
But the origin of aspirin iswhite willow bark.
So I mean, people across theglobe, ancient Egyptians, Greeks
(15:32):
and Native Americans, all usedwillow bark to help relieve pain
and reduce fever.
And it wasn't until I believein 19th century that chemists identified
a particular component calledsalicin in willow bark.
And then they started tosynthesize that later, I'm not sure
exactly how long, intosalicylic acid, which is the actual
(15:54):
ingredient in modern acid, aspirin.
So that was just one exampleor you might have heard of like opium
dens, right?
And opium was originally from poppies.
So and that's been used for areally long time.
So in ancient Sumerian,Egyptian, Greek medicine, the opium
poppy was used for its painrelieving effects.
(16:14):
Now of course, things got alittle dicey once I once morphine
was isolated, which I believewas in the early 19th century.
And it was one of those firstcompounds that was actually standardized
for pain relief.
And it really was kind of likethe gateway to modern anesthetics
and pain management.
And then there was anotherherb in traditional Chinese medicine
(16:37):
used for over 5,000 yearscalled MA huang, used to, and I might
have said that wrong, so sorryall if I did, but it was used to
treat asthma and bronchitisand for 5,000 years.
And then in the early 20thcentury, that was isolated into ephedrine,
which led to treatment forrespiratory issues.
And then really that was kindof like the opening of the door to
(16:58):
modern decongestants and stimulants.
So again, really just saying,like, as humans we have been, you
know, like side by sideevolving next to these compounds
for like millennia, forthousands of years.
And we have used differentagents that can actually impact the
body quickly.
And so, so these are thethings that I am calling bridge supports.
(17:23):
And there are, there's a wholeother category which I'm going to
talk about next time.
So I wanted to introduce youto this concept of foundational versus
functional supports.
But there's, you know, thiswhole other, you know, category that
I think can be both afunctional and a bridge support.
So what do I mean by that?
So something like amino acids,which is what I'm going to get into
(17:44):
these are things that can helpus in the moment to feel different
and better, but actually canalso be functional supports because
they can do things like helpyour brain function a little bit
better.
So, for example, genetically,many people who have ADHD are going
to be processing dopamine morequickly, which means that when you
(18:06):
produce dopamine, you'reactually also clearing it.
So you're producing it, butthen it's getting metabolized in
your body quickly.
So you, you are not able tohold onto the benefit of dopamine
for as long of a time.
So when we are talking about abridge and a functional support in
that context, you can say likethis is going to be a bridge that
helps you feel better right now.
(18:26):
So you can, you know, you cantake supplements that help you feel
better in the moment, but alsoas they, as you continue to take
them, they might help yourbrain to function a little bit differently
because you are, becauseyou're doing that on a regular basis.
So, um, there are somebotanicals that can do that.
So that's, you know, this isbasically herbs that can have that,
(18:48):
that effect.
And then amino acids that Iwill talk about more next time are
something that we get when webreak down proteins.
So protein is a macro.
Um, again, I'll get into allof this, but the, you know, we have
our macros and our micros.
So, you know, protein is a macro.
It's why I said when I wantyou to start with the food first
foundation and, and looking atwhat's on your plate, I really want
(19:09):
you to make sure that we arelooking at protein as one of those
primary areas.
So I talked about three peas,our protein, our produce, probiotics.
But that protein beingessential because when proteins break
down, they break down intoamino acids and your body uses amino
acids to make neurotransmitters.
So if we don't have sufficientprotein and therefore sufficient
amino acids, we simply do nothave the building blocks to be able
(19:32):
to make neurotransmitters.
So that's a really important piece.
However, at the same time, wecan just like people were.
Were extracting those, thosecompounds from white willow and making
aspirin, we can ext.
Extract the amino acids fromprotein and then be able to have
(19:52):
a higher dose of that becausewe have extracted it and it's going
to have a stronger impactphysiologically than if we just eat.
For example, a food that'shigh in tryptophan, like turkey,
always gets that wrap ofmaking us sleepy or more relaxed
at Thanksgiving.
And yeah, there is sometryptophan and turkey, but certainly
we're not getting as much aswe would be as we'd be promised based
(20:14):
on popular assumptions.
So anyway, what we can do iswe can be more targeted and we can
be more specific and we canactually be really looking at getting,
I guess, specific.
That's the word I wanted,specific and not just saying, hey,
you eat some of this, you'reprobably getting this much of this
thing.
We can say specifically,here's how much you are getting in
(20:35):
this specific supplement.
That is the difference and Ibelieve the benefits that we are
getting from foundationalsupport, which are things like vitamins,
minerals, even phytonutrients,fiber and foundational, I'm sorry,
functional supports whichmight help your body function better
and then bridge supports whichactually help us to feel a little
bit better in the moment.
(20:56):
So hopefully that is helpfulbackground because next time I'm
going to be getting all intoamino acids.
I'm going to be getting intospecific amino acids that I see as
being really helpful for focusand attention and how we can use
those to our benefit on a dayto day basis.
These are things that I,myself and my family, we take regularly.
I take amino acids everysingle day.
(21:18):
So more on that next time.
Have a great rest of your weekand I'll look forward to chatting
with you on the next episode.
Hey love, thanks for making itthis far.
If you're hearing this, you'reone of the magical statistical few
that listened all the way tothe end and I so appreciate your
engagement.
I hope that means the messagetoday resonated with you and you're
(21:40):
taking away a tool trick oraction step that will help you have
your best feeling brain.
If that's you, I have a favorto ask.
So many more women need tohear this Message and your 30 seconds
to leave a rating or reviewwill help them hear it.
Just go to the show in yourpodcast player and scroll down until
you see the stars to leave aquick rating and make my day while
you're at it.
Thank you so much.
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