Last semester we looked into the food addiction cycle and sugar cravings. This semester, we go deeper Into the link between gut health and the brain. Join nutritionist, health coach and qualified mental health professional, Amber Reed for our Food and Mood series. Learn more about It’s impact on stress, sleep, hormones, and more. This series is sponsored by HealthyUNCG and UNCG Health Coaching Programs.

Session 3: Gut Brain Axis and the Microbiome

Join nutritionist, health coach and qualified mental health professional, Amber Reed for session 3 in our Food and Mood series. Amber will go over stress and inflammation and the impact on the gut brain, as well as focus on the link between the gut-brain, the connection with the vagus, and research around probiotics (psychobiotics) to help with gut-brain.

Session 4: The Stress Cycle
In this session, Amber will discuss the stress cycle and impact on gut and brain and the link to inflammation with chronic stress. We will talk about ghrelin not only being an appetite hormone but a newly categorized stress hormone, as well as revisit cortisol’s effect on the gut and brain and ways to identify what state your nervous system is in and how to come out of it.

Session 5: Inflammation
Inflammation – what inflammation does inflammation do to the gut and brain? Amber will discuss the use of anti-inflammatory diets and the antidepressant food scale, since many SSRIs are now being thought to exert their effects through anti-inflammatory and antibiotic effects. 

Session 6: Sleep
In our final session of our Food and Mood series, Amber will discuss sleep and the importance of a strong circadian rhythm and its impact on our food and mood. We will discuss light exposure, how to eat, sleep, adjust temperature, and view light, etc to set circadian rhythm. Finally, we will go over how lack of sleep creates stress and inflammation in the body to tie it all back in.