1. Tell us about yourself! What’s your story? What do you do for work and what do you specialize in? How did you find your niche?
Hi!! My name is Taylor – but you can call me Tay! I’m a Holistic Nutritionist (CNP, NNCP) which basically means when establishing your health plan I focus on you as a whole person, taking into consideration and honouring the physical, emotional, environmental, mental and spiritual aspects of your life. All of this plays a role in your mental health.
Right now I have two jobs. I work as a Nutritionist at a local Health Food store and I also have my own online practice that helps women eliminate their anxiety through a combination of diet & lifestyle changes.
In 2011, when I was 21, after the devastating loss of a family member I spiralled into a deep depression, followed quickly by anxiety.
In what was supposed to be the final year of my undergraduate degree, I had multiple panic attacks that prevented me from physically walking to my December exams. Shortly after I was diagnosed with generalized anxiety disorder, depression and panic disorder.
I had never even heard of anxiety at this point!
I ended up leaving university, heavily medicated and spent the next four years trying to “get my life back on track”. I’m truly not exaggerating when I said I tried everything to tackle my anxiety and depression. Therapy, exercise, yoga, meditation, CBT, medication, floating, tapping… seriously you name it, I tried it. Some things helped and provided temporary relief but nothing took the anxiety away completely.
At one point I was having multiple panic attacks per week, I was on the highest dose of Prozac & I was addicted to Ativan to help me sleep.
I hated being on medication because it left me feeling numb. I felt nothing. Nothing made me happy and nothing made me sad. I felt like a zombie, just going through the motions but not actually living my life.
As I’m sure you know, Ativan can be highly addictive. My psychiatrist recognized that I was going through it way too quickly and stopped refilling my prescription. This was a huge turning point for me. And this is where my anxiety healing journey truly began. He encouraged me to transition off medication and look into nutrition for long-lasting relief.
After months of trying to google my way to anxiety freedom with little success I decided to go back to school and study nutrition. The day I walked onto that campus (September 2015) everything changed. Right away we learned about the importance of gut health in virtually every health condition – which was something I never came across in my googling! I got to work and eventually my depression lifted, I haven’t had a panic attack in years, I came off my medication and eliminated my anxiety. Most importantly, I’ve never felt more free.
It’s important to note here what I mean when I say I’ve eliminated my anxiety. Anxiety is normal. From time to time every single person will experience anxious thoughts and feelings. Feeling anxious, as in feeling overwhelmed and feeling like things are out of your control, usually triggered by emotions and life’s natural stressors is completely normal and part of being human.
What is not normal is anxiety as a chronic state of mind. An anxiety disorder, as in a chronic state of mind where someone feels constantly overwhelmed, constantly fearful and constantly distressed is not normal. This is the type of anxiety we can work to eliminate.
It’s funny because when I went to school for Holistic Nutrition I had ZERO intention of practicing as a nutritionist. I was there to heal myself and eliminate my anxiety so I could “get my life back on track” aka go back to school and become a lawyer.
That nutrition program completely changed the trajectory of my life. I just knew I had to get this information to the masses and help other women eliminate their anxiety, depression and panic attacks. I now run an amazing group coaching program for women called Breaking Up with Anxiety. I post a weekly blog on my website and share tons of free content on my Instagram. My mission is to create a community where every women feel heard, supported and empowered to take control of their mental health.
2. How would you define gut health? What are signs that you have healthy or unhealthy gut health?
These are very exciting times because even the medical community is starting to recognize the massive impact your gut health has on your mental health. For example, researchers are currently trying to figure out if anxiety and depression occur before or after an imbalance in your gut bacteria. That’s how influential your gut is!
Now when I say “gut”, I’m talking about your mouth, esophagus, stomach, pancreas, liver, gallbladder, small intestine and colon … aka your entire digestive tract. A healthy gut is when your entire digestive tract is in tip top shape.
You can have the healthiest diet in the world but in order to actually receive the nutritional benefits from what you’re eating, your food must be properly digested, absorbed and eliminated. To do so your diet and lifestyle must support optimal stomach acid, liver function, enzyme production & motility. This is the definition of gut health.
There are many signs and symptoms of an unhealthy gut, but here are the ones I see the most in practice:
- Chronic headaches
- Sleep disturbances
- Indigestion, bloating, constipation
- Acid reflux
- Nausea after eating/ that feeling that food just sits in your stomach
- Feeling tired after meals
- Chronic fatigue
- Brain fog
- Dark circles under the eyes
- Rashes, itchiness, psoriasis, eczema, acne
- Nasal congestion, frequent colds/infections
- Frequent yeast infections
- Muscle aches and/or joint pain
- Seasonal allergies
And of course, anxiety!
3. How does your gut health affect your mental health?
Your gut produces just as many neurotransmitters as your brain does! Because of this, it’s actually considered your second brain!
At some point we have all noticed the connection between our brain and our gut.
For example, have you ever based a life decision on a “gut feeling”? What about butterflies in your stomach before an important meeting or first date? This is the direct dialogue between your brain and your gut!
In a nutshell it comes down to something called the gut-brain axis. Let’s call it the GBA.
The GBA is a bidirectional link between your central nervous system (your brain) and your enteric nervous system (your gut). Yes – there is an entire nervous system in your gut!
There’s tonnnnnss of research out there to support how the trillions of bacteria that populate your large intestine impact the gut-brain axis. These bacteria interact not only with the cells of your intestine and your enteric nervous system (the nervous system specifically in your gut) but also with the central nervous system (your brain!).
This whole link between our gut bacteria and brain isn’t even new … it’s been known for more than 20 years. There’s a substantial amount of research linking a disruption in the GBA to mood disorders like depression and anxiety, as well as autism. So much so that this should be part of the standard treatment of mental health by now, but it’s not, and that’s extremely frustrating.
When it comes to anxiety specifically the bacteria in your large intestine influence stress reactivity and anxiety-like behaviour because of the role they play in the production, expression and turnover of key neurotransmitters, such as serotonin and GABA.
Serotonin is known as your happy neurotransmitter. It regulates anxiety, perceptions, emotion, mood, memory, sleep, appetite and aggression. Up to 95% of your body’s serotonin is stored in your gut.
Also specific strains of probiotic gut bacteria actually produce GABA. GABA is the brain’s most important neurotransmitter. It is THE anti-anxiety neurotransmitter. It’s virtually impossible to feel anxious if you have enough.
So basically, if your gut isn’t a healthy place, it isn’t going to be producing the neurotransmitters needed to keep your mood stable and your anxiety far, far away.
A lifestyle that emphasizes proper gut health will go a long way in the treatment and prevention of anxiety and depression. Leaving the gut out of mental health treatment ignores the root cause, and if we don’t address the root case, we cannot heal.
4. What types of foods or drinks help maintain healthy gut health?
To maintain or restore the health of your gut start by increasing your dietary intake of fibre, probiotic rich foods and water. Every single day aim to drink half your body weight in ounces of water, consume 25-35 g of fibre and eat at least ½ cup of probiotic rich foods.
Probiotics are the living bacteria in your intestines that produce serotonin and GABA. We want to be continuously replenishing this bacteria by eating probiotic rich foods like sauerkraut, kimchi, plain yogurts, kefir, kombucha, apple cider vinegar and miso.
Next we want to be eating food that is high in prebiotic fibre such as onions, garlic, cabbage, asparagus, artichokes, leeks, oats and legumes. These foods contain specific types of indigestible fibre that feed the probiotic bacteria so they can grow, multiply, thrive and keep pumping out key anti-anxiety neurotransmitters. They’re alive, just like us. And like us, they need food or they will die. Seems dramatic but it’s true!
Also, a minimum of one bowel movement a day (and not one stimulated by coffee!) is critical for mental health. This requires a minimum of 25 g of fibre a day and drinking at least half your body weight in ounces of water.
Even if you eat a lot of fruit and vegetables you still might not be hitting your fibre goals. Veggies like spinach, squash, asparagus, broccoli, zucchini, and carrots, although very good for you and filled with vitamins and minerals you need to tackle anxiety, aren’t really that high in fibre.
We need to bring in the heavy hitters. Foods like parsnips, almonds, chia seeds, blackberries, avocados and beans. Lots and lots of beans!
5. Does food taste different depending on your mood? If so, why?
A person’s emotional state can absolutely affect their perception of taste, promoting emotional eating in times of negative emotion but I haven’t read a lot of the research or science behind why.
6. Why does our appetite sometimes change or fluctuate when we’re anxious, down, or stressed? How does someone who frequently deals with this, make their appetite more “stable”.
When we feel anxious or stressed our body releases stress hormones that activate the sympathetic nervous system, commonly known as our “fight-or-flight” stress response.
Stress is great… when we are running away from a hungry bear. The problem is that literally everything is a bear these days. So that fight with your significant other, your finances, a bad boss, traffic, your overbearing family member, sleepless nights, eating inflammatory foods, the news, watching scary movies… to your body this is the same dang thing as running from a bear.
Your body tries to protect you by pumping out stress hormones, shifting you into your sympathetic nervous system which actually suppresses digestion and therefore appetite.
If your body thinks you’re in danger it’s going to prioritize an increased heart rate, pumping blood to your muscles and pushing more sugar into your bloodstream so that you can run away from that dang bear.
One of the best things you can do in this situation is work towards bringing those blood sugar levels down. To stabilize blood sugar include protein and fat with all your meals. If you find you have no appetite, slowly snack on nuts and seeds for protein and fat throughout the day and sip on a smoothie or bone broth so you’re still giving your body the nutrients it needs.
When you eat in a way that balances blood sugar, this lowers stress hormones, increasing your ability to handle stressful situations, over time decreasing anxiety and leaving you calm, cool and collected. It’s a win-win!
7. What advice do you have for women who have healthy diets and lifestyles, yet still deal with anxiety and depression frequently?
Ohhh I love this question and it’s something I see a lot in practice!
First, even if you have the healthiest diet in the world you may not have optimal gut health. Digestion is a chain, everything is linked. If there’s a breakdown somewhere in the chain it’s going to impact the rest of the digestive process. Let’s start with the stomach.
Stomach acid does many things but most importantly for our mental health it digests protein, activates B12 absorption through something called intrinsic factor and simulates the delivery of bile from the liver.
If stomach acid is not high enough we are not breaking down the proteins we are eating into their simplest form, amino acids. The body uses amino acids to build serotonin and GABA.
Second, we need high enough stomach acid to absorb B12. Intrinsic factor is only activated by stomach acid, which binds to B12 so that it can be readily absorbed by the small intestine. Without enough intrinsic factor we do not utilize B12 from our food, creating a deficiency. A B12 deficiency causes anxiety, fatigue, weakness and depression.
Finally, we need enough stomach acid to stimulate the delivery of bile from the liver. Bile is extremely important for the absorption of fats, vitamin D, calcium and iron. It also makes stool soft by drawing water into the stool. So if there isn’t enough bile the stool becomes hard and difficult to pass.
Fats, vitamin D, calcium and iron all play a crucial role in our mental health. Fats regulate the release and performance of neurotransmitters in the brain & play a role in vitamin D and calcium absorption. Vitamin D reduces inflammation in the brain. A deficiency in this vitamin is linked to anxiety, depression, low cognitive function and dementia. Additionally ,we need vitamin D to absorb calcium … because remember everything in the body is connected! The body works synergistically, not independently! Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the body but deficiencies are the most common because we need sufficient levels of vitamin D to absorb calcium into the bones. But vitamin D is fat soluble, therefore you need adequate levels of essential fatty acids to absorb enough vitamin D so you can absorb enough calcium. Calcium deficiency has been linked to anxiety, lethargy, depression and irritability. And finally iron. Iron is an important mineral used in the pathway to create neurotransmitters in the brain. Changes in brain iron change the balance between excitatory and calming brain chemicals. Low iron can result in low serotonin, dopamine and norepinephrine which contributes to anxiety, panic, ADHD, insomnia, irritability, poor concentration, restlessness, depression and addiction.
You can see just how connected everything is!
Most importantly, you are what you absorb, not what you eat. In order to gain the nutritional benefits from the food you are eating, it must be properly digested, absorbed AND eliminated. Which brings us to colon function. A bowel movement every 12-24 hours is critical for your mental health.
If you want to break up with anxiety you have to address gut health by supporting stomach acid, liver function and proper elimination. My gut love ebook explains how to do exactly that!
The second thing I see all the time in practice is that most women are unintentionally under-eating. They don’t even realize it. We are indoctrinated to think we need to look a certain way and that usually means we should be eating less. So many women are eating healthy foods but they’re only consuming 1200 -1300 calories a day. If you aren’t eating enough calories your thyroid hormones are going to slow down and this has a powerful effect on brain chemistry. Women should not be eating under 1600 calories a day. On average my clients eat between 1900-2100 calories a day and they do not gain any weight.
And finally a quick note on exercise…
Obviously exercise is really good for us and part of a healthy lifestyle. It decreases tension, elevates and stabilizes mood, improves sleep, improves self-esteem and of course, decreases anxiety! But the wrong type of exercise can actually increase anxiety by wreaking havoc on our hormones.
High intensity exercise like HIIT or spin classes are sending your heart rate through the roof, triggering stress hormones. If you don’t have anxiety, if you had a good night’s sleep, if you are well fed and optimally nourished, if you are hydrated and if you have generally low stress levels this is great. But if you have anxiety, your body is stressed and your hormones need some lovin’, and those high-intensity workouts will be adding more stress to a body that is already stressed.
I’m not saying you can never do high-intensity workouts! But when women understand their hormones they can get more strategic with their workouts in order to effectively use exercise to reduce anxiety, not make it worse. This is also something I teach in my group coaching program Breaking Up with Anxiety.
8. For all my gluten free and gluten sensitive gals, could you explain the impact of gluten on the body, brain, and gut?
Gluten often gets the worst rep out of all the food groups and is most commonly the number one food any holistic health professional will tell you to dump it.
The first, and maybe not so obvious reason to most people, is that the grains we use today are not the grains of the past.
Because of this, 50-100 years ago grains didn’t cause the level of inflammation they do today. Our grandparents somehow lived to be 100 eating gluten on gluten on gluten … lucky them! But for us unlucky bunch living in the now, gluten wreaks havoc on our body.
The grains we use today to make breads, pasta, sweets, flour and basically everything processed is devout of any sort of nutritional value and are often GMO (genetically modified). This causes a “wear and tear” of the gut lining creating inflammation and impacting opioids receptors in the brain, creating mood disturbances.
Second, the most significant impact gluten can have on your mental heath is the role it plays in your thyroid health.
There’s a protein in gluten called gliadin which has a freakishly similar molecular structure to an enzyme that’s particularly abundant in the thyroid called transglutaminase. Gliadin irritates the lining of your small intestine. This lining is naturally very thin, so when something is constantly poking and prodding at it, it’s eventually going to make its way through. When that happens, gliadin is now swimming in a place where it shouldn’t be (your blood).
When that happens, your immune system sounds the alarm to signify to the body that there’s an invader and it mounts an immune response by producing antibodies to gliadin.
Your body is like a guard dog. When gliadin starts to come near, it goes a bit crazy because it doesn’t want to let it close. But remember how we said the gliadin molecules look a bit too similar to transglutaminase?
Well yeah, the body can’t recognize the difference between the two and starts to attack your thyroid…
So, every time gluten (gliadin) is in your system, your body starts to attack both gliadin AND your thyroid.
For a lot of people, they may not feel an immediate response to gluten. It may manifest in a headache a few days later, or a low mood the next day, or maybe your anxiety flares up. Because it’s not an IMMEDIATE reaction, we don’t associate it with inflammation caused by consuming gluten.
And what might be more devastating is that when this happens, damage can ensue for UP TO 6 MONTHS after gluten intake… which is wild. Millions of people are experiencing mental health challenges due to inflammation and no one is telling them! This is extremely frustrating as a holistic practitioner and the reason I put out a lot of free content around this on my blog!
9. How do you identify and eliminate dietary deficiencies?
Every client who enters my group coaching program Breaking Up with Anxiety fills out several intake forms and a detailed questionnaire using the Nutri-Body method (originally created by David W. Rowland). This questionnaire helps me pinpoint what nutrients, vitamins and minerals are deficient in the client’s diet, creating their anxiety. On our private initial intake call I give them on a tailored supplementation protocol to address these deficiencies.
Anxiety is a symptom, not a root cause. Most of the women I work with usually enter the program with a long list of supplements that they were told help with anxiety. Don’t get me wrong, there are tons of supplements that help immensely with anxiety but once the individual stops taking the supplement, the anxiety returns. This is no better than the allopathic approach of prescribing SSRIs or benzos that help immensely but once you stop taking them, the anxiety is still there.
This is because anxiety is a symptom not a root cause. Root causes are: macronutrient imbalances, digestive imbalances, macro mineral imbalances, micro mineral imbalances, vitamin imbalances, potential excesses, glandular imbalances and/or systemic imbalances. I never recommend supplements that do not address the root cause.
Hippocrates said “It is more important to know the person who has the condition than it is to know the condition the person has.” This is how I run my practice. Yes, all the women I work with have anxiety, but what is creating their anxiety is going to be a little bit different for each of them. Once we have identified any imbalances or deficiencies, we work to eliminate them through diet, lifestyle and supplementation.
Sticking to a random diet is not the same as figuring out your very specific, unique imbalances. Paleo, keto, low-carb, high-carb, low-fat, vegan… or whatever diet is trending right now… is not the same as working with a qualified health practitioner who has the tools to assess your specific imbalances and address them through targeted nutritional protocols and targeted supplementation.
10. There’s a lot of “trendy” diet options out there (i.e. keto, paleo, veganism, etc), what advice do you have for someone trying to start their journey for a more nutritious diet?
These trendy diets are my nemesis haha! Worry less about following a restrictive diet and focus more on eating a wide variety of whole foods, eating protein + fat with every meal to balance blood sugar, eating a minimum of 25 g of fibre a day, eating your prebiotic and probiotic rich foods daily and drinking enough water!
There are three major food groups: carbs, protein and fat. Each food group serves a very specific biological function when it comes to tackling anxiety.
👉 Proteins build neurotransmitters
👉 Fats regulate the release and performance of neurotransmitters
👉 Carbs are the fuel that the brain and nervous system run on
Eating a balanced diet is where the magic happens.
When you’re cutting back on food intake or cutting out entire food groups, you are cutting out super important foods that you NEED for your brain to function properly.
For example, if you’re trying to eliminate your anxiety … carbs are actually needed to help synthesize important neurotransmitters that keep your mood stable. And without them, we get highs and lows and moods all over the damn place. So something like keto might not be in your best interest.
Or maybe you’re cutting out fat because you’ve been told “fat is bad”. Fats are the building blocks of hormones. If you do not get enough quality fat in your diet your hormones WILL NOT function properly. Now you’re sacrificing your ability to handle stressful situations. Creating overwhelm. Creating fear. Creating anxiety.
I get DMs all the time from women telling me they cut caffeine, gluten and dairy but are also trying to lose weight and eat as little as possible. This is creating anxiety!! Diet culture is infuriating and so damaging. If you eat high calorie from nutrient dense foods you will lose weight but more importantly you will lose the anxiety.
I have tons of clients who are vegan, which is great, but they really need to focus on eating enough protein. If you are vegan or considering going vegan you will need a high quality protein powder to hit your daily protein goals.
You will also want to reduce things like gluten, dairy, corn, soy and sugar. I promise I’m not just a mean nutritionist who wants to take away all your favourite foods. The key is moderation.
But most importantly, when starting on the path to healthier eating, be kind to yourself!
Change and healing is not linear. Sometimes you take a few steps forward only to get knocked down HARD. Healing requires learning new practices and tools, making lifestyle changes and being consistent with them. It requires patience. Soooo much patience. And forgiveness. Always be patient and kind to yourself. Language is so important and the way you talk to yourself matters. Don’t beat yourself up if you “fall of the wagon”. Just get back up and try again.
Don’t ever lose faith in yourself.
Keep going.
The shift is coming.
It’s just around the corner.
Interviewer: Tori Hairston
Interviewee: Tay Gendron / CNP, NNCP
Blog: https://www.taygendron.com/blog
Program page: https://www.taygendron.com/work-with-tay
Gut love ebook: https://taygendron.lpages.co/gutlove/