you’re low in this important brain chemical, you may experience low or flat moods, including depression. You may have difficulty getting out of bed in the morning or tend to sleep long hours. You may find it challenging to concentrate and focus on tasks. Your motivation, drive, and enthusiasm for life may be low, and you may have difficulty activating yourself. You may experience boredom or apathy more often than you’d like. You may feel easily overwhelmed and inclined to procrastinate. Your brain and your life may feel cluttered.
Studies have demonstrated that 12 to 40 percent of adults in the United States are born with a gene that reduces the number of dopamine receptors. A diminished number of dopamine receptors in the brain appears to play a role in the diagnosis of attention deficit disorder. People with fewer dopamine receptors are at greater risk of engaging in substance abuse, compulsive gambling, internet and sex addiction, and compulsive overeating. Some overeaters have been born with an altered gene that also results in lower production of dopamine.
When your dopamine levels are low, you may be attracted to stimulating substances like coffee, tea, soda, chocolate, tobacco, and street drugs like amphetamines and cocaine. You may also have cravings for sweets, starches, alcohol, marijuana, and foods and drinks sweetened with aspartame. Foods high in fat, like fried foods, chocolate, cheese, and meat also increase dopamine levels, so if these are your go-to comfort foods, low levels of this chemical may be playing a role. And, as with endorphins, when our brains perceive our dopamine receptor sites as full, whether from drug-like foods or beverages or from actual brain chemicals, our natural production declines. We’re back to that vicious cycle.
Serotonin: A Sense of Well-Being
Another key brain chemical is serotonin. When you have enough of this important chemical, your mood tends to be stable (assuming your other brain chemicals are in balance). Animal studies have demonstrated that parental nurturing determines the production of serotonin. Even minor imbalances in the availability of this chemical can manifest in behaviors such as fearfulness and hyperactivity.
Serotonin deficiency is by far the most common cause of mood problems in the United States. Low serotonin levels can make you feel anxious, panicky, irritable, agitated, cranky, constantly worried, or depressed. You may act impulsively, obsessively, and perfectionistically. Your thoughts are likely to be negative, fearful, and critical. You may experience phobias, fibromyalgia, migraines, PMS, and tension in your jaw. You may suffer digestive difficulties, since a large percentage of the serotonin in your body is in your gut (which has been called the second brain). You might find it difficult to get a good night’s sleep, as serotonin is converted to melatonin, the so-called sleep hormone. Your mood may worsen with season and daylight changes, a condition called seasonal affective disorder.
Low serotonin levels play a role in food obsession, compulsive binge eating, and exercise addiction. If you find that you’re drawn to high-carbohydrate snacks in the late afternoon and evening, it may be because your serotonin production is dropping. Daylight, physical exercise, and foods containing the amino acid L-tryptophan increase serotonin levels in the brain and the body. You may crave dairy products high in this substance, like ice cream, hot chocolate, pudding, or a warm glass of milk. Marijuana and alcohol can enhance serotonin levels, and this explains why you might find yourself wanting to unwind, as the sun goes down, by smoking pot or drinking wine, beer, or your favorite cocktail. Unfortunately, overuse of marijuana and alcohol can lead to addiction and end up inhibiting serotonin production.
GABA: Soothing Emotional Eruptions
GABA, or gamma-aminobutyric acid, is probably the least-known brain chemical. It is our natural Valium, and it helps us feel relaxed. It’s called an inhibitory neurotransmitter because it turns off certain kinds of brain reactions, such as the production of excitatory chemicals like adrenaline. GABA helps to calm our emotional storms without recruiting our brain-stem areas into the all-too-familiar fight, flight, or freeze reactions. If the integrative fibers that connect our upstairs and downstairs brains are working properly, this brain chemical is released when we experience stress.
When GABA levels are low, we may experience mood disturbances and cravings for alcohol, drugs, and comfort food — particularly substances that calm us down, such as alcohol, marijuana, sedatives, sweets, and fatty foods.
Glutamine: Sweet Cravings and Good Digestion
There is one final key player worth mentioning that affects mood and food cravings. Amino acids are the building blocks of all proteins. Glutamine, the most abundant amino acid in the muscle and plasma of humans, is a stimulating, excitatory organic substance that acts like a brain chemical. Traditionally considered a nonessential amino acid, it now appears to be an essential nutrient in the body’s response to stress, injury, or illness. It is critical for optimal brain function, boosting mood, increasing alertness, and enhancing memory. It also increases libido and facilitates digestion.
Our brains can use glutamine as an emergency substitute fuel, in place of glucose, when we haven’t eaten or when our blood sugar levels are low. If we have enough of this important amino acid, we are less likely to hit the candy machine when our blood-sugar levels drop. When we are under stress, the right amount of glutamine can stop our sugar cravings and save our adrenal glands from overworking. The brains of sugar addicts and alcoholics tend to be low in this important organic substance.
Circuits, Synapses, Chemicals, and Environment
Whether because of insufficient early nurturance, inherited deficiencies, or lifestyle factors, many overeaters have brain chemistry imbalances that make them more susceptible to the energizing, soothing, and calming effects of particular foods and more prone to overeating them.
For some overeaters, a few simple lifestyle changes can help correct these imbalances. I discuss these in further detail in The Emotional Eater’s Repair Manual. Eating more unprocessed, whole plant foods (especially raw vegetables and foods high in amino acids and essential fatty acids) and reducing your intake of processed foods, alcohol, and stimulants like caffeine are a good start. Exercise is critical to good health, and aerobic exercise, in particular, releases mood-enhancing chemicals and promotes the growth of brain cells.
Good sleep is important, as is good sleep hygiene — habits conducive to getting the right amount and quality of sleep. These include exercising early in the day, refraining from stimulating activity and avoiding bright lights in the evening, and preparing for bed by calming down and dimming the lights. If you are having trouble getting yourself to make any of these lifestyle adjustments, your brain chemistry may be holding you back.
If you feel that the symptoms you’re experiencing and the substances you’re craving suggest a deficiency or imbalance in any of these chemicals, an adjustment to your brain chemicals may be warranted. There is a good chance you could benefit from a trial of natural supplements prescribed by an informed health-care provider. These include amino acids, essential fatty acids, enzymes, herbs, vitamins, and minerals. Medications also have a place in restoring brain chemistry. Once a prescribed medication has accomplished the initial restoration, the gentler natural supplements can often sustain it.
A medical examination must always be the first step in ruling out physical causes of brain chemical imbalances and any associated symptoms. Do not stop using any prescription drugs or begin taking any supplements without consulting your physician.
Chemical imbalances are caused not simply by an absence or decreased amount of any particular brain chemical but rather by the complex interplay of brain function and chemistry with environmental factors. All overeating behaviors are the result of a complex set of mechanisms that may include inherited deficiencies as well as faulty neurological programming from insufficient early nurturing and traumatic experiences. These, as well as our internal psychological state and our adult interpersonal connections, must be taken into consideration to facilitate recovery.
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