by Andrew Neufeld | May 16, 2017 | Nutrition, Registered Dietitian
If you can take good care of your body, you will be in a much better state to deal with any mental health issues. As a kid, my family always told me what kind of food I should eat to keep healthy. Mental health is obviously highly linked to your brain health, so it only makes sense that eating good, nourishing, nutritious food is good for your overall mental health.
You might often hear from fitness professionals that the secret of getting into shape is actually 70% diet and 30% exercise. Similarly (but not statistically), eating mindfully and having a balanced, nutritious diet does wonders for your mental health. These healthy practices not only benefit your physical health and body, they help your brain! Now, we can’t expect any kind of diet or eating specific kinds of food will miraculously cure mental illnesses. It won’t. But perhaps we can help our brain along with its recovery process by giving it the nutrients it needs.
There are a number of chemicals that affect your mood and brain health. Let us take a look!
Dopamine
Dopamine plays a big role in the reward-motivated behaviours of human beings. It gives us the feel-good factor to spur us on so that we can achieve bigger and better things in our lives. Eggs and Spirulina both contain tyrosine, which synthesizes dopamine. Fish contains Omega-3, which is often linked to the production of dopamine.
Endorphines
Endorphines are essentially a painkiller. They minimize the perception of pain in our mind. This is what keeps us going during a grueling, painful workout, or a late night of study and work. This will be music to the ears for those who are chocolate lovers: cocoa contains phenethylamine. It is believed that phenethylamine boosts endorphines. However, moderation is key – I’m a chocoholic with the best of them, but this isn’t a license to eat as much chocolate as we want!
Serotonin
Serotonin creates the feeling of pride and loyalty, amongst other things. This chemical creates a sense of belonging with others. A lack of serotonin is also linked to depression, anxiety, and other mood related issues. One of the food options that may help is eggs, which contain tryptophan. Tryptophan synthesizes serotonin and may encourage your brain to produce more of it!
Oxytocin
Oxytocin in the brain creates the sense of trust, intimacy, and the feeling that someone will protect and take care of you. It promotes the feeling of safety. In fact, sometimes oxytocin is called the “love hormone.” Basically, eating any food may stimulate the release of oxytocin, which can be a double edged sword! Eating promotes oxytocin, but sometimes we might eat too much when chasing the feeling – again, moderation is key!
Glutamate
Glutamate acts as a neurotransmitter and encourages many brain activities. However, too much glutamate may lead to anxiety. Both plant and animal proteins contain glutamic acid. Our bodies are also capable of creating glutamic acid, so you don’t have to worry too much about choosing food that contains glutamate specifically.
gamma-Aminobutyric acid (GABA)
GABA inhibits brain activities. A balance of GABA and Glutamate must be maintained for optimal brain health. Fermented foods, such as Kimchi, contain plenty of GABA. The popular Chinese tea, Pu-Erh, also contains bioactive GABA.
Norepinephrine
Norepinephrine is the chemical responsible for the fight or flight mechanism in human beings. Too much of this chemical can make you feel sleepy and tired. Too little norepinephrine can lead to symptoms of anxiety. Foods rich in protein stimulate the production of this chemical and may help keep a healthy balance.
By Andrew Neufeld, BA, MC, RCC, Birkman Consultant
If you would like to learn more about the connection between food and mental health, please contact your registered dietitian. Your counsellor and dietitian can also work together as your team of family health advisors – they can come alongside you to create the most optimal health plan for you and your family. If you have any questions, please call 604-283-7827 and reach Andrew Neufeld at extension 701 or Annie Tsang at extension 712.
Sources:
www.webmd.com
www.livestrong.com
www.healthline.com
by Andrew Neufeld | Mar 3, 2017 | Announcements, Group Therapy, Occupational Therapy, Yoga
There’s a lot of excitement around here at Alongside You! Anyone who knows us well knows that we’re always looking to fill gaps, improve services, and find more ways to help our community. This is why we’re expanding! Here’s a taste of what’s been going on, and what to expect in the coming months!
Brand New Yoga Studio
Surprise! We’re almost finished building our new yoga studio (the trim is being put in as I write this). Why are we building a dedicated yoga studio you might ask? Aren’t there enough around already? Well, in short – no, there aren’t enough, and they aren’t like ours is going to be. We’re providing a different service here at Alongside You, and we need a space that reflects that. We focus primarily on yoga therapy and trauma sensitive yoga here in our clinic, and our studio will be set up as an ideal environment for these highly personal, individual sessions with our lovely Brenna Jacobson. As great as our art studio and private offices are, they aren’t ideal for this kind of work so we’re creating what is needed to serve our clients better.
What about yoga classes you might ask? Well, we’re going to have those too. But they’re going to be different. We’ll be focusing on small class sizes, because we hear time and time again that the size of classes is overwhelming for people. We’re going to focus on specific topics and build customized yoga programs to suit. I’m not going to let the cat out of the bag completely, but we’re going to start with kids, prenatal yoga, and Hatha Yoga 101 for Beginners. Coming down the pipe are things like yoga for anxiety, chronic pain, and much more. But one thing at a time! Stay tuned to our website and social media for all the details!
We also wanted to bring the outdoors into the studio. So, as always, we’re working with the fabulous Tyler Garnham, and we’ve found an image local to South Delta that will be installed in our studio, filling up the entire north wall. This will give us, and our clients a feeling of space, and connection to our local surroundings even while inside. I can’t wait, it’s going to be amazing!
Occupational Therapy
We love our OT, Kristin Beare, but she’s busy tending to her own kid right now. Our yoga studio is going to do a little bit of double duty and be a space for our OT to work with clients. The larger space will give much more freedom for mobility-related concerns, sensory work, and so much more! We’re also building customized storage into the new wing so that we have more tools at our fingertips. She’ll be back later on this year, and I can’t wait to see what she does with the new space with her clients. Stay tuned!
Clinical Office
Ok, this isn’t super exciting to you maybe, but it’s exciting to me. We’re building a new office that is set up more ideally for neurofeedback for clients, and for our Neurofeedback guru, Jonathan Wieser. Our other offices have worked fine, but this is going to be better. It will also be used by other counsellors, which gives us more available office space and flexible times for clinicians so that we can be more available to you as we expand! Growth is good, and we’re growing our hours to serve you better!
Group Therapy
So, the studio is also going to be used for group therapy. We already run a Dialectical Behaviour Therapy (DBT) group, but we’re expanding our group therapy offerings. Between our art studio where we do our DBT, and the new group room in the yoga studio I’m pretty sure we’re going to have the coolest group therapy spaces around. Why is this important? Because I hear all the time how much our clients appreciate being in creative, beautiful spaces while they’re in our care. It makes a difference! I can’t yet reveal the new groups we’re going to be running, but we’ll be using the new space for our Adult DBT Group, Youth & Family DBT Group, and soon enough, some others!
This is awesome, so when do we get to see the new spaces and use them?
You’re not going to have to wait long! We’re opening March 1st, and our individual yoga clients will get to use the space right away, as will our neurofeedback and counselling clients. Stay tuned, because we’re opening things up throughout March for Kids Yoga over Spring Break, and following that up with Prenatal Yoga and Hatha Yoga 101 for Beginnings toward the end of March and into April.
I hope you’re excited because we are! We can’t wait to show you the new spaces, and more importantly, be even better equipped to serve you well. South Delta is our home, and we’re growing thanks to your help! Whether you’re in Ladner, Tsawwassen, North Delta, or beyond, please come check out our new digs and see what we have to offer. We’d love to meet you!
To be the first to find out about all of the new things going on, make sure you follow us online at Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter.
by Andrew Neufeld | Dec 15, 2016 | Articles, Counselling
Joy To The World?
I have long had a love, hate relationship with this time of year. You may remember this from my post last year right around this time about how to manage holiday stress. I love that this time of year often brings families together, sometimes travelling long distances to do so. I love that it brings local communities together to celebrate the holidays. What I truly love most is that I make a point of taking time off at this time of year to be with my family, particularly my wife and kids. What is even better is that they also have time off at this point in the year and we can be together. I often work fairly long hours, and between my schedule and my wife’s schedule, and the kids’ activities, it’s a challenge to get time each day to be a family. This is what I look forward to this time of year, with great anticipation. This is what brings me great joy at this time of year – being with my family.
What I haven’t put into words before, however, is my difficulty with taking time off over the holidays. With the type of work that I do, I know full well how many individuals, couples and families struggle this time of year. I also know that tragedy does not wait for holidays to pass because it’s not “a good time.” The past month seems to have had more than its’ fair share of tragedy. I’ve seen this personally, professionally, and in the news in our community. Friends have lost loved ones, family members are dealing with illnesses, clients are struggling. Although the common belief that suicide rates are higher over Christmas is not true, what is true is that for all of the joy of Christmas, there is a lot of pain and suffering to go along with it.
What do we do about the juxtaposition of joy and pain over the holidays? I believe that a lot of it comes down to perspective and what we choose to focus on. Even more, what it comes down to is acceptance. Dialectical Behaviour Therapy has a concept called radical acceptance, which is a very simple, yet very difficult concept to put into practice. What it means is that we have to be willing to accept that thing happen in life that we do not like. It does not mean that we have to agree with these things, like these things, or are even okay with these things being the way they are. What it does mean is that we have to accept that these things are indeed present in our lives, and it is what it is. What other choice to we have? If we fight against it, we will most likely become anxious, depressed, and stressed out.
I’ve been reflecting on what I need to accept this year in order to be able to leave the office for a week of holidays, enjoy Christmas with my family, and most importantly, be present when I am with them. Here are my three things and I hope they may be helpful in some way to you as well.
- Accept that in order to take care of others, I need to take care of myself.
This time of year is difficult for many, and I often feel pulled to remain at the office this time of year. The reality is that with my clinical practice and the growth of Alongside You, there really is no good time to take a break. There will always be things to do, clients to see, and I will always be conflicted about taking time off. The truth of the matter is, we all need a break and I definitely need one at this point in the year. I often use the analogy of the oxygen mask in an airplane with my clients – they tell you to put your mask on first because if you don’t and you pass out, you won’t be able to help others. I need to take some of my own medicine on this one.
- Accept that this time of year will always be a mixture of joy and sorrow, and possibly some stress.
I know that I will experience much joy over the next few weeks as I spend time with my family. I know that as I leave the office tonight and go to my kids’ school Christmas concert I will be filled with pride, overwhelmed by my love for my children, and enjoy every minute of it; in fact, I’m tearing up just as I write this. I know that my kids will look out into the crowd to find me, because it means so much to them that I am there, and am present.
I also know that no matter how carefully we plan, how much we try not to do too much, there will always, always be things that mess up the calm. Part of the amazing thing about Christmas is how many awesome things are going on. I also know that I get overwhelmed by all of these awesome things if I am not careful. I know that I need to take time for myself, keep myself balanced, and yes, practice some of the mindfulness skills that I teach my clients and hound them about.
Finally, I am all too aware that many of my clients, my friends, and my family will be struggling through this season. The pain of the loss of loved ones, lost jobs, ill health, and so many other things does not take a break because of Christmas. I know that they will need comfort, support, and love and while I will do my best to be these things for as many as I can, I have to trust that others in their lives will do the same.
- Accept that I must focus on the joy to endure the sorrow.
Our brains are well trained to focus on the negative, and my brain is no different. It takes very little effort to notice, and remember the negative. It takes much more effort to do the same for the positive. This is not about denial, it is about intentionality. Dialectical Behaviour Therapy describes this as a validation of our situation – that is, being able to find the silver lining in any situation while not denying that the cloud we are surrounded by is indeed black. I am fortunate – this year, I feel very positive about life and the upcoming holidays. This has not always been the case, and I can identify with many who might be wondering how to find the silver lining in a black cloud.
I am challenging myself, and I welcome you to join me in this, to be intentional about looking for the joy this Christmas. We don’t have to deny the pain or sorrow, but we can choose to focus on the positive. The truth is that no matter how black we may feel the cloud is, there is always something positive to be found – the elusive silver lining. If we can’t find joy this season, we may not be looking hard enough.
From all of us at Alongside You, we wish you a wonderful Christmas and rest of the holiday season. We are grateful to be a part of your lives and are privileged to work with you through the joys, and the sorrows. May your lives be filled with joy as we finish 2016 and we look forward to 2017.
by Andrew Neufeld | Oct 14, 2016 | Counselling, Workshops
Strong Parents, Healthy Kids
Thursday November 17th, 6:30-8:30pm
Location: Alongside You – #203-4840 Delta Street, Ladner
Presenters: Andrew Neufeld, Registered Clinical Counsellor and Kathryn Barczi, Registered Social Worker and Gottman Certified Bringing Baby Home Educator
Cost: $49 per single/couple (plus GST)
Click here to register now!
Availability: We require a minimum of 3 individuals/couples and a max of 6 to run the workshop. We will refund all fees if a cancellation occurs and will give as much notice as possible to clients.
One of the most common things we hear in couples with kids is how there’s no time to work on their own relationship. We’re all too busy with the kids. We have it all backwards. In this workshop we will introduce you to the causal relationship between the strength and satisfaction of your relationship, and the health and well-being of your child. If you want your kid to be healthy, it’s time to invest in yourselves. We’ll look at:
- What can happen to parents and children if the transition to parenthood is difficult
- How to recognize if your relationship is in trouble
- Recognizing the power of a satisfied relationship
- 3 ways to create a Culture of Appreciation
- The 5-step strategy for relationship success
Have questions? Please email Kathryn at kathryn@alongsideyou.ca and she’ll be happy to answer any questions you might have!
by Andrew Neufeld | Sep 19, 2016 | Counselling, Workshops
From Passion To Parent – What the …. Just Happened
Thursday October 13th, 6:30-8:30pm
Location: Alongside You – #203-4840 Delta Street, Ladner
Presenters: Andrew Neufeld, Registered Clinical Counsellor and Kathryn Barczi, Registered Social Worker and Gottman Certified Bringing Baby Home Educator
Cost: $49 per couple (plus GST)
Click here to register now!
Availability: We require a minimum of 3 individuals/couples and a max of 6 to run the workshop. We will refund all fees if a cancellation occurs and will give as much notice as possible to clients.
Most parents get side swiped by the transition to parenthood. It’s not easy. In this workshop you’ll learn about the impact of your relationship quality on parenting.
We’ll introduce you to the changes that are common during the transition to parenthood, and give you tools to use at home that will serve as a foundation for the challenges that parenthood brings. And we’ll have some fun. We’ll look at:
- How to effectively manage change in our relationships
- Moving from ‘Me’ to ‘We’
- Will we ever sleep again?
- Sex? What sex?
- 5 ways to build friendship
Have questions? Please email Kathryn at kathryn@alongsideyou.ca and she’ll be happy to answer any questions you might have!
