The UltraMind Solution (29 page)

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Everyone knows about serotonin. It is the feel-good molecule we are all in short supply of in our overstressed society. A severe lack of it is what makes people feel depressed. We use drugs like Prozac and Zoloft to make it more available to us, but these create problems for us in the long run, as you now know.

Interestingly, one of the reasons most people eat refined carbohydrates or sugars is to boost serotonin levels temporarily (which is one of the effects of these sugars), then they crash, which sends them out hunting for something starchy or sugary. Unfortunately, this ultimately makes us feel more depressed and causes us to gain weight—not a very effective strategy.

We certainly know that serotonin is necessary for a happy mood, reducing anxiety and irritability, and helping us to sleep. But why are our serotonin levels so low, and how does the body naturally produce serotonin? If we know that, we can take away the things that reduce serotonin and provide the things that help the body make more. And we can do this with much greater effectiveness and fewer side effects than medication.

Why Your Serotonin Levels Are Low

In the daily activity of any neurotransmitter there are so many things that can go wrong and cause it to malfunction in some way. Here is why serotonin levels go south.

A tryptophan-deficient or low-protein diet. Tryptophan is the primary amino acid out of which serotonin is created. No tryptophan equals no serotonin equals a very unhappy mood. In fact, studies show that if you feed a group of people a mixture of amino acids without tryptophan you can induce depression within
hours!
¹⁶

Stress and high cortisol levels (the stress hormone). Cortisol increases the activity of enzymes that break down tryptophan. That leaves less around to make serotonin.

Anything that causes inflammation (such as food allergies, infections, toxins, or a high-sugar diet). Inflammatory messenger molecules called
cytokines
such as interferon gamma (INF γ) stimulate the enzymes TDO and IDO, which break down tryptophan and force it into a pathway that makes the excitatory neurotransmitter
glutamate
, which kills brain cells.

Simply not making enough serotonin. This happens for many reasons. You may not have enough of the building blocks (the amino-acid tryptophan) because you eat too much sugar and not enough protein as suggested above, or you may have genetic predispositions that make it more difficult for you to create the neurotransmitter in the first place.
*

Blood-sugar imbalances (insulin resistance or prediabetes). This condition (which you will learn more about in
chapter 7
) comes from eating a processed-food, high-sugar diet. It depletes your serotonin after a short spike, leading to mood swings.

You may be deficient in vitamin B
₆
. B
₆
is the helper or catalyst for the enzyme that converts tryptophan into serotonin. Deficiency in B
₆
is often caused by stress, alcohol, and medications like birth-control pills.

Magnesium deficiency. This is so common in our society because stress, caffeine, sugar, and alcohol all deplete magnesium, which in turn prevents the body from making serotonin.

Those are just a few of the ways that the production of
one
neurotransmitter can be inhibited. And every one of them is similarly influenced by your diet and lifestyle. So let’s see . . . what are your options here? Take Prozac, an SSRI, which helps to improve half the symptoms half the time with plenty of side effects, or try to cut out sugar in your diet, eliminate food allergies and toxins, learn how to manage stress, and take B
₆
, folate, magnesium, and amino acids, which have no side effects and correct the cause of your depleted serotonin production in the first place.