The Hidden Connection Between Trauma, Nervous System Dysregulation, Low Neurotransmitters, and Emotional Eating
Welcome to The Satiated Podcast where we explore physical and emotional hunger, satiation, and healing your relationship with your food and body. I'm your host Stephanie Mara Fox your Somatic Nutritional Counselor. I’m excited to introduce you all to Michelle Brown. Michelle is a Functional Nutrition and Lifestyle Practitioner and herbalist, and she holds a certificate as a Biology of Trauma Advanced Provider. She is currently part of the Biology of Trauma Mastery Level training program where she mentors other professionals in working with trauma biology to support their clients towards healing. Michelle has worked with hundreds of clients around the world to address their trauma biology, uncover the root causes of their fatigue and other chronic health issues and to take ownership of their healing journey. Welcome Michelle!
Michelle Brown 00:59
Thank you. I'm excited to be here, Stephanie.
Stephanie Mara 01:01
I'm thrilled to get into our conversation today just about our relationship with food and trauma and neurotransmitters. It's something that I've been exploring and talking about here on the podcast for a really long time and I'd love to first get started about how did you get into this work? And what drew you to this particular field?
Michelle Brown 01:22
Yes, well, probably not surprising, I had some of my own struggles with food. And I think I was interested in nutrition from a young age, but that kind of spiraled into an eating disorder in high school and so I struggled with that. And there was a lot of trauma around that, was a time when my mom's sister, my aunt, died of cancer and our family went through a really rough patch there. And I didn't know how to deal with that. So my outlet was controlling food, and that spiraled into binge eating. And, you know, eventually I was able to work through that and then have a career helping other people address their own trauma biology and disordered eating. And, you know, I work with women around fatigue, autoimmune conditions, that's part of my story as well I have Hashimotos, which probably stemmed from a lot of the really hard things I did to my body as a teenager. But yeah, it's just such a pleasure now to be able to bring this message of hope and healing to others who are struggling with some of these things that I've dealt with myself.
Stephanie Mara 02:25
Yeah. So one of the things just in your bio about trauma biology, ya know I think individuals have heard about trauma, what is trauma biology? And how does that show up in someone's body?
Michelle Brown 02:37
Yes, that's a great question. Because we talk a lot about the nervous system, creating that felt sense of safety. And that's so important. But there's another side to it, where we have sometimes biochemical imbalances, neurotransmitter imbalances, our biology is not functioning in a way that's really optimized so that we can really just be in our body. And you know, our nervous system can feel safe and supported because we have these chemical messengers that are not working, right. And so when we address that piece, a lot of times, we're able to expand our capacity or addressing trauma, working with the nervous system. So I find it really takes both sides, right, we need to work on the biology and we need to work on supporting, you know, that felt sense of safety in our body with our somatic tools. And just every tool that we have out there, right, even things like exercise, sleep, all of that matters. And so we can bring in that biology piece to really support where perhaps there's a dysfunction that's causing and driving a lot of that trauma response for people.
Stephanie Mara 03:40
I completely agree with that. Both sides need to be addressed. I actually, way back when in graduate school during my practicum, I actually worked at an inpatient Addiction Treatment Center. And some of the work that they were doing there was actually really cutting edge of they were trying to support the individuals going through there by taking precursors of neurotransmitters through supplementation. And so I think that's such an important part of there's so much going on, that's both emotional and physical, that we can kind of address and attend to. And if we could, like, you know, go back to high school 101 like, what is a neurotransmitter? And how do you feel like it plays a role in our relationship with food?
Michelle Brown 04:24
That's a good question. Yeah. So I think we've all heard that word neurotransmitters, but you know, what does that really mean? And I just like to simplify it and think of these as chemical messengers in the brain as well as other parts of our body like the gut, for instance. And they're just sending the signals to the brain to the body that tell us of our, you know, our mood, or they impact our behavior in a lot of cases. So a lot of times, the things that are going on in our life are impacting the neurotransmitters, but it goes the other way as well. There are a lot of reasons why they can be low and if we don't address those, then sometimes even when we think we're doing everything right, we're still dealing with mood issues or behavior issues like disordered eating. And so when they're low, sometimes we'll see things like binge eating or just craving sugar or carbs or other things like alcohol or marijuana and eating in order to get energy. Sometimes that's part of it. You know, sometimes we're reaching for food because we just feel kind of down and low, and we want some energy. So those types of eating issues are usually stemming from low neurotransmitters. And I always like to assess for that when I'm working with clients who have eating challenges, because it's so hard to change your behavior if you have this biology piece that's keeping you from moving forward.
Stephanie Mara 04:26
Yeah. And are there specific neurotransmitters that you're referring to when it comes to things like that binge eating, the sparking that disordered eating?
Michelle Brown 05:42
Yes. So I look at four different neurotransmitters with clients, I look at serotonin, dopamine, endorphins, and then I also look at GABA, these tend to be the ones that are most impactful for disordered eating. And then serotonin, I would say is really kind of at the top of that list. So if you're noticing cravings for sweets, or starches, especially like evenings, afternoons, binge eating, those types of behaviors are often associated with low serotonin.
Stephanie Mara 06:19
Yeah, yeah. And then when you're starting to approach bringing in balance, you know, a lot of what we explore here is through acts that someone could do every day. So if someone was listening to this and saying, okay, well, I don't have the means or I don't even know who to reach out to to increase my serotonin, for example, could I just do that with activities in my everyday life are there things that without like supplementation or something like that, that come to mind?
Michelle Brown 06:47
There are. So, with serotonin, it's interesting, it is one of the few molecules in our body that's actually impacted by sunlight. So getting out and getting some sun. Exercise has been shown to help improve serotonin levels. So just getting out in nature, you know, creating that felt sense of safety in the body with our somatic tools, those are all things that can impact serotonin. But I would just mention that sometimes, because of reasons that are genetic or biochemical, again, it might be worth assessing to see if there's something kind of deeper going on. Because, you know, even if we do those things, they may not move the needle in certain cases, because of you know, we have like a genetic or biochemical imbalance. But, I forgot to mention diet as well. So we get all of these neurotransmitters from amino acids, which we get from our proteins in our diet. So really, making sure you're eating plenty of good quality protein is another thing you could do really to support all of your neurotransmitters.
Stephanie Mara 07:45
Yeah, this is throwing me back to like Julia Ross. It feels like that's like one of the first books that I ever read on the, The Mood Cure, I think it was called, you know...
Michelle Brown 07:56
I'll pull that book out. It's what it was one of my first introductions to neurotransmitters and mood and it was like this awakening of, oh, wow, this could actually be impacting myself and a lot of my clients. And I think that it's really helpful, because with disordered eating, or binge eating, a lot of people have a lot of guilt or shame around that. And maybe they feel out of control, or like, they just don't have enough willpower. And a lot of times, it's just this neurotransmitter piece, this biology piece. And, you know, again, like, I just want to emphasize, it's so hard to change those behaviors, when our biology needs fixed first, because we just don't have the capacity to change, you know, our behaviors outwardly, when we need to really work on that biology piece first. And so I feel like it can be really helpful for clients to learn about these because they're like, oh, there's something actually driving my behavior. I'm not just, you know, weak willed or, you know, unmotivated, that they often feel and really feel guilty and ashamed around some of those pieces.
Stephanie Mara 08:57
Yeah. So if we bring in the trauma piece, how does someone who's healing from a trauma response in their body, how is that potentially thrown their neurotransmitters off?
Michelle Brown 09:08
That's a really good question. You know, it could be that, again, like their biology is really driving that trauma response. And that's why I'm always assessing for this when working with trauma clients, because the thing with trauma is that it's understanding that trauma is too much too fast or too little for too long, right? And so the thing to understand is that we all have a different capacity for that, right? So what's too much too fast for me, may be different than for you. So we need to look at that piece and assess your capacity and how can we really, you know, build that capacity for you, and what I like to call increase your resilience to stress and overwhelm. So by assessing for low neurotransmitters and supporting that with our different tools we have that can just help someone to you know, have a different response to the stressors and the trauma that are coming their way in their life and so it's not so overwhelming and doesn't throw them into, you know, stress, overwhelm or freeze. And then I think it's also important to understand like when we have that trauma response already in our body, you know, bringing in neurotransmitter support, whether it's through supplements or diet or all of the tools, again, that we have, we can help them to start building up their nervous system and supporting it in a way that, again, they just have more capacity for addressing the things that are overwhelming to them. So I think, again, that's why it's so important. If we just don't have that capacity built up, even when we work with our somatic tools, sometimes we just don't have the resilience to really get very far with it if there are these biochemical or neurotransmitter imbalances happening for people. So I think it's really important to bring both of those together.
Stephanie Mara 10:48
I love that you're bringing in to take kind of the shame and blame away. Like I see that so often with those that I work with of how much shame, which we explored on a podcast episode last week, but also this blame of like, why can't I get this? Why can't I get this right? This is my fault. And especially with the messages that we also receive from diet culture is like, you just need to try harder. You know, it puts a lot of that onus on self. And I just hear so much compassion in this of there may be something that you didn't choose, this was out of your control. This was either what you were born with, or created out of a response of what you've been through. And all you can do now is support your body the best that you possibly can. But it's not your fault.
Michelle Brown 11:34
Yes, exactly. I think that's so important. I remember when I struggled with eating disorders as a teenager, and I felt so bad about myself, right, I really just had this self critical, judgmental attitude towards myself, which just fueled the behavior. And it's interesting to note that even some of those types of thoughts can be fueled by low neurotransmitter. So sometimes we bring in neurotransmitter support, again, in these different ways. And some of those critical, guilty kind of anxious self destructive thoughts really shift for people. So that's what I love about working with neurotransmitters, and really assessing our clients. Because it's just such a sense of simple thing to fix. There's so much we can do to assess and really support low neurotransmitters. And then again, like our clients just have so much more capacity for addressing whatever in their life, they need to address or shift in order to really feel better. If I can share a little story of a client I worked with last week who I've worked with for a long time. And she's really a wonderful woman who does so much for her health, but she was just really struggling with her mood and her energy. And she was like, I just don't understand what's going on. Like, I can't get motivated, I'm feeling really tired. And we hadn't worked together in a while. So she kind of come back to me for some help with this. And so I took a look at what she was doing. And we did bring in some neurotransmitter support in terms of supplements. And there are also some nutrients that I could tell that just assessing her diet and what she was doing with her supplements that we needed to support. So we made some shifts there. And I guess she you know, let me know, like, wow, this was a really a big shift for me, I noticed immediately like my energy, my motivation just really are on a different level now, right, like, whereas before I was standing at the stove, ready to make dinner feeling like, okay, I need to do this, I have to do this, trying to conjure up that motivation. And then seeing that just shift to where you know, it's just easy. And that's where I'm talking about, like that capacity piece, right, where we have the energy, the focus, the ability to do the things in our lives that we need to do so they don't feel so overwhelming. So it can be really powerful to work on that neurotransmitter piece and support that and see, just again, your thoughts, your your ability to get things done, they can all shift just from supporting those.
Stephanie Mara 13:53
That's amazing. And now you're also an herbalist and I'm wondering how you've combined both fields and how herbs have played a role in your practice as well.
Michelle Brown 14:04
Yes, I love talking about herbs. And it's interesting that herbs can also shift neurotransmitters as well. So you know, for instance, talking about serotonin, we know that St. John's Wort can actually help to support healthy serotonin levels. And sometimes this can be helpful for clients who are a little more sensitive to supplements, I find that sometimes herbs can be a little easier to work with for them. They don't quite shift things as quickly and maybe keep things a little more like even keeled for them in terms of their mood. And so things like St. John's Wort, Ashwagandha, Passionflower is so helpful. I find that one really helpful for my clients who you know, like they can't turn their minds off and relax and especially at bedtime, like the thoughts just kind of keep spinning, Passionflower can be really helpful for that. There are so many herbs that actually are really supportive of the mood. So working with herbs can be really great, especially if you want to use something more natural or you find that you're a little more sensitive to supplements. And, you know, taking too much of, for instance GABA, GABA is really great, but one little side effect of taking GABA as a supplement is that it can drop your blood pressure and so for people with low blood pressure, that can be a problem. I always remember that because that's me. If I take too much I'm like, oh, my head feels like it's floating off of my body. Oh, my blood pressure is dropping. So I watch out for that one with clients with, you know, kind of that have that low blood pressure typically being part of their symptom picture. But you know, we can work with things like Ashwagandha, or Chamomile even, Passionflower to help support their natural GABA levels. And, you know, avoid some of those side effects from taking supplements.
Stephanie Mara 15:44
Yeah, I'm loving this, because there's just so many resources out there when it comes to your relationship with food. And while yes, a lot of what I explore here is the somatic approaches to having a different relationship with food, I am a big proponent of playing and exploration, because if we don't dive into different resources that are out there, we can't discover what it is that is going to feel most safety producing and regulating to our unique body.
Michelle Brown 16:14
Yes, exactly. You know, as a functional nutritionist, you know, we were taught that everything is connected, that it all matters, and that everyone is unique. I love that. Because the idea that it all matters, right? Usually it's not just one thing that we're going to shift and see, you know, everything fall into place, but as we work with our somatic tools, as we work with maybe our neurotransmitter support, as we, you know, fix our sleep, as we work with are getting outside and getting in nature and exercising, and all of these things matter. And so they're all connected. And so you know, there are so many tools that we have to work with to support ourselves, whether it's somatic tools, supplements, food, all the things.
Stephanie Mara 16:53
Yeah, yeah. And I know that you work with a lot of women. And I'm wondering, you know, how they might experience low neurotransmitters, in particular, with living in that kind of body with shifting and changing hormones from week to week. I'm wondering if you've seen any correlation specifically, with the women that you've worked with and having kind of low neurotransmitters and then struggling in their relationship with food.
Michelle Brown 17:19
Absolutely, they're, you know, the things that will really affect neurotransmitters are you know, stress, of course, like that's going to shift things, but also looking at things like inflammation, again, biochemical imbalances, and hormones, like you mentioned. And so these are all things that a lot of my clients are dealing with, right, I've worked with a lot of people with more chronic health issues. And there's often a lot going on when they have chronic issues going on in their body. And so I see that showing up for them in that they're often struggling to change their diet, because they're reaching for sugar or you know, carbs, or just food because it helps to regulate their nervous system, or sometimes they are struggling with their mood and their ability to feel motivated. And that's another big thing that neurotransmitters help with is that motivation and focus. And so that is where I tend to see that show up for my clients. And why again, I like to work on this piece, because, you know, if you just don't have the motivation, and the energy and the focus to do what you need to do, like it's so hard to move forward. So that's one area that we really focus on and supporting them. And then it can also show up as pain, either physical or emotional pain. So I see that with, again, a lot of chronic health issues of pain as part of that picture. And that can be related to low neurotransmitters as well. And it's interesting, like, that's another area where if you're in a lot of pain, it's just so hard to really have the energy, motivation, focus to do the things that make you feel better. So just addressing that neurotransmitter piece can really shift a lot of things for people that help them move forward a little more quickly. And that's again, why I love talking about neurotransmitters so much.
Stephanie Mara 19:03
Yeah, I'm wondering if you have another example of someone who came to you with, let's say, working through binge eating or stuck in the binge restrict cycle and doing some of this work with them and seeing some shifts happen for them?
Michelle Brown 19:15
Yes, absolutely. I'm thinking of a client I worked with not too long ago who came to me because she wanted to lose weight. And she was really struggling with eating, you know, like eating and like late afternoon reaching for sugar. She was a busy mom, she was going to school, like there was a lot going on in her life, a lot of stress. And she really felt bad about herself about it too, right? Like she really felt like she should have the willpower to be able to overcome this part of her life and just eat in a healthy way. And she just couldn't do it, right. She just couldn't seem to shift things for herself. So we talked about neurotransmitters. I have an assessment I use with my clients so that we can actually kind of put together this symptom picture around each of these different neurotransmitters and start to really sort of pinpoint the one or ones that are affecting them the most. And then we just talked about how to support that. And it was just like a light bulb went off for her, like, oh, this isn't just because I'm a failure, or I'm weak willed, right? It was like, there's actually something going on in my body, and it's keeping me from moving forward. And so we were able to bring in some support for her. You know, again, I know there's a lot you could do that's not supplements, but sometimes supplements can just really help move the needle. And you know, you don't have to do them forever, either. Sometimes, like, if you just bring in that support to get to a new baseline with your mood and energy, and then we address the underlying causes or reasons why neurotransmitters are low, then you know, we can shift that. And then, you know, you don't always need that support forever. So that's helpful, I think to know. But, she was just amazed at how much of a difference it made in terms of her energy and her ability to shift her food choices and reach for better options and help her to even just be more aware of her nervous system, and the signals it was sending her and what they meant and working with those. So I've seen a lot of really cool shifts with working with neurotransmitters and my clients.
Stephanie Mara 21:09
Yes, something that this makes me think of is, you know, we talk a lot about feeling a sense of safety in your body and out in the world, and how do you support your body in feeling safe, but if there's something that is off balance inside of yourself, I'm wondering if what you've experienced with those you've worked with is it's hard to feel safe because your body is trying to send you a signal that something is off and so it just feels unsafe all the time.
Michelle Brown 21:37
Yes, absolutely. That's a good way to put it. You know, we've talked about four neurotransmitters and most of those are what we call inhibitory. Now, dopamine is more of an excitatory neurotransmitter. But basically, there's two types of neurotransmitters right? Inhibitory are the ones that basically make you feel more relaxed, they kind of slow things down, and your excitatory neurotransmitters, as the name would imply, they kind of excite things, right, they stimulate you. And sometimes we need that, like, we need to be focused, we need to get things done, we need to be motivated. But we also need to be able to relax and turn off our thoughts and you know, calm down. And that's what those inhibitory neurotransmitters like serotonin and GABA do, but there needs to be a balance here, right? So what can happen is our excitatory neurotransmitters, like dopamine or glutamate, glutamine can also be you know, we can have too many excitatory neurotransmitters firing, and that's why we can't calm down and relax. So you know, by bringing in more support for our inhibitory neurotransmitters, we can kind of keep that balance more where it needs to be, and keep, you know, our excitatory neurotransmitters balanced and in place, so that we're not always feeling so overwhelmed. And a lot of that is part of the picture too. Like, we're not balancing those. So we're feeling constantly anxious, or, you know, revved up, or we can't turn our thoughts off. And so that's another place where supporting neurotransmitters can be really helpful.
Stephanie Mara 23:05
Yeah, so what you've seen is supporting neurotransmitter balance, that eventually someone can no longer take the supplements. It's not like because you are having this imbalance, you have to be on this supplement or these herbs forever, right?
Michelle Brown 23:22
In general, I think that's true. Now, again, sometimes there can be genetic reasons and biochemical imbalances. Pyrrole disorder, for example, that we need to address. But honestly, for most people, the majority of people, we can just deal with, you know, the diet, we can address their nervous system regulation, we can look at inflammation, we may need to look at digestion and gut health. But if we address those areas, and we bring in good quality protein, and they're getting sunlight and exercise, then they don't need to be on neurotransmitter support for the rest of their lives. But in some cases, some people will do fine because of genetic reasons or certain again, biochemical imbalances, they need to be on them for a little bit longer than maybe kind of the average person.
Stephanie Mara 24:07
Yeah, yeah, something that I've seen also, just to bring in that our body is super wise and sometimes it takes some time to understand its language, is oftentimes the foods that we're reaching for when we're feeling dysregulated and we're reaching for a particular food to try to bring us back into balance is sometimes giving that like dopamine hit that we're looking for to have long term. So there's some wisdom in what it is that you're reaching for to try to find balance. But the food isn't doing it long term, which again, I think there's so much focus and pressure on like, just get what you're eating perfect or right and then it'll heal everything but sometimes it goes way beyond food, that your food can only do so much.
Michelle Brown 24:58
Yes, so true. I like how you brought out the idea that we reach for certain foods to get our dopamine hit, because that is very true. Could be things like sugar, but also like caffeine, or you know, people often use things like diet pills or you know, just these other substances that can really increase dopamine and make you feel good in the short term. But over the long term, they're basically depleting a lot of these really important neurotransmitters and you feel worse, right? So it's something to be aware of, and just making sure that you're also avoiding some of these products or, you know, foods that are causing you to feel worse over time. But, you know, again, there's that balance between the need to support neurotransmitters first, because it's so hard to let go of those substances that make us feel better when we just don't have our own feel good neurotransmitters to do that for us.
Stephanie Mara 25:45
Yeah, yeah. So we're talking about dopamine and just curious for those that are listening just again to bring in this wisdom, have you found any correlations with what people will reach for if they're like low in serotonin or low in GABA, like do those food choices change?
Michelle Brown 26:03
They do a little bit. So like with serotonin, I would be looking at someone who's reaching for like carbs or sweets, sugar, especially again in like the late afternoon or evening, kind of binge eating around those timeframes. Whereas with dopamine, we often reach for food or like caffeine or something to give us kind of, again, like that energy. Dopamine is our neurotransmitter that helps with focus, motivation. And so we often will use those types of things to help get that when we don't have enough. Sometimes exercise is something. So people who are using running or different types of exercise to get energy into, you know we feel really good after you've gone on a run a lot of times, and that's part of it. And that's true of endorphins, too. With endorphins, you might notice really intense sugar cravings, or again, just using food or alcohol or other substances to either numb the pain in your life or just for pleasure. So it can go around the food, but also around the motivation for why you're reaching for that food. And that can be helpful to explore as well.
Stephanie Mara 27:05
Yeah, I'm hearing with the endorphin piece, that it's really hard potentially to experience pleasure inside of your body because your endorphins are low. And so you're going to choose particular foods that maybe have been attached to an experience of pleasure to just at least get a hit of that.
Michelle Brown 27:23
Yes, exactly. We associate some of that pain with low endorphins. So it could be physical pain, but it also emotional pain as well. So if you're really sensitive to you know life's pain, then that can be part of it. If you're like reaching for even things like you know, a Netflix binge, or you know, your romance novels to make you feel good, that could be part of that low endorphin picture for you.
Stephanie Mara 27:45
That's really interesting. Yeah, I'm wondering, as just individuals are listening to this, and they're like, well, where do I start with this work? You know, are there any resources that you know of books or otherwise where if individuals are looking are interested to learn more about this and see if this is a part of what's happening in their relationship with food, what would you recommend?
Michelle Brown 28:07
Yes, well, you mentioned Julia Ross's book, The Mood Cure. And like I said, I still pull that book out, because it's one of my main resources for neurotransmitter support that I've used for years. And so that's a great place to start. She does have the quizzes that are similar to what I use with clients that will help you pinpoint the specific neurotransmitters that might be low for you, and then how to support that. And what I love is she also brings in not just the you know supplement support, but she talks about the diet, getting enough protein, really making sure you're getting all the nutrients we need, you know, things like zinc, B vitamins, vitamin D, these all play a role in our neurotransmitters as well. She talks about how to support that gut piece, getting out and getting exercise, sunlight, all of those things. So that is one of my favorite resources for sure.
Stephanie Mara 28:52
Yeah, it's an older book at this point for anyone who looks up this book, and I can drop it in the show notes as well. But it's just so classic, I just feel like the guidance in it, and I'm sure other individuals have built off of it and done a ton of work around this as well since then, but it kind of created this new awareness that our mood and our food are very connected to one another. And that also what we crave has information to provide us and so a lot of the individuals who work with me or who listen to this podcast, know that it's so important to bring compassion onto this healing journey, because you've been doing the best that you can and that there's wisdom in what you're choosing, why you're choosing, and even like you even mentioned like, oh, if people are specifically choosing foods in the evenings, like even the timing that you're choosing something has wisdom to it. I feel like if you are on this journey, and you feel like you still are looking for answers, keep going. You know, trust your body's instincts and what it's trying to tell you and that if you feel like some thing is off, to keep exploring both the physical realm and the emotional realm to find your unique answers.
Michelle Brown 30:07
Oh, absolutely, that is really where I like to help women and where, you know, chronic health issues, because they've often been on this journey for a long time. And they're doing a lot of right things. Like I have clients who are eating a perfect diet, but they're still struggling. And that's always where we're looking at, okay, there's something else going on besides, you know, we need to go to the next step right, the next layer of this and digging a little deeper, and, you know, then we find something that maybe they were overlooking, I feel like it can feel really overwhelming when you don't know what that is, and you're working so hard. But there is something there that, you know, maybe it's just being overlooked. And there's ways to assess for that and to bring in support. And then you know, we can always move forward on our healing journey.
Stephanie Mara 30:50
Definitely. And something I'm hearing in that is how important it is to have support, you know, there's only so much that sometimes we can do on our own. And you've explored all the things on your own that you've explored, maybe, you know, reading some of these resources and looking into your neurotransmitters, or changing up the way that you're eating. And this is what has happened with so many individuals that I've worked with is they've done everything that they possibly can to heal their relationship with food for years, and they still feel like they're struggling. And oftentimes I find that this trauma piece that we've been talking about, and this nervous system dysregulation it is throwing so much off. And you know, this is where also your piece comes in of yeah, it might have also thrown off your neurotransmitters that's making it really hard to do your deeper work. And just to kind of bring that balance in so many different layers back into your life might start moving the needle a little bit.
Michelle Brown 31:50
Absolutely, absolutely. Yeah, I find that sometimes there are deeper layers, like, again, biochemical imbalances that can even drive low neurotransmitters, or gut issues that sometimes are a part of that. So again, like there's so much that can be done. So just don't give up hope and keep looking. And yes, that support is so important. So if what you're doing to support yourself doesn't feel like it's maybe getting you where you want to be, then the next step is definitely to find someone who can help you and get that next piece so you can move forward.
Stephanie Mara 32:21
Yeah. So with those that you've worked with, if there was a baby step that usually you start someone with or that you could offer to those that are listening here, what's one baby step that someone could start on this nervous system regulation, neurotransmitter balance journey?
Michelle Brown 32:40
Yeah. Well, honestly, it would be starting with neurotransmitters, I often start there with almost every client and assessing that. So you know, again, like you can even just get that book by Julia Ross and do her quizzes and figure out what neurotransmitters need support. And then you know, starting with either the supplements or some of the other things that she recommends that we've talked about today, like the food, bringing in more protein, all of that, but just assess those neurotransmitters, and then you know, trial some support for that and see if that shifts things for you. Because I find, again, that can be so helpful to allow women to really start to have the capacity to do all the other things they want and need to do to support their health journey.
Stephanie Mara 33:21
Awesome. Well, I so appreciate you sharing your insights here today. And I'm wondering how can individuals find you and your work and keep in touch with you if they're interested?
Michelle Brown 33:32
Sure, yeah, you can find me on my website, botanacea.com, or I'm on Instagram, I think you're going to put those links in the show notes so you can grab those there. And I also have a book called Energy Reset on Amazon. So you can pick that up if you're interested and that's a good place to get started as well.
Stephanie Mara 33:50
Wonderful. Well, thank you so much for sharing all of this today. This was a fascinating conversation and just goes one layer deeper into just how much goes into our relationship with food.
Michelle Brown 34:02
Absolutely. It was my pleasure. Thank you, Stephanie.
Stephanie Mara 34:05
Yeah, well to all who are listening if you have any questions as always, I will put our contact information in the show notes and if you have any other inquiries, reach out anytime and looking forward to connecting with you all soon. Bye!
Keep in touch with Michelle here:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michelle_botanacea/
Website: https://www.botanacea.com/
Contact: michelle@botanacea.com
Resources in this episode: