Full Transcript for ADHD, Dopamine & Regulation: Nutrition and Somatics Beyond the Label | Luis Mojica

excitatory neurotransmitter. 00:02:50.560 --> 00:02:56.319 It rewards you, it makes you interested in something, it brings you pleasure and joy in doing a simple task like sweeping. 00:02:56.560 --> 00:03:02.560 So if you're low in dopamine, you don't find pleasure in most kind of basic everyday things. 00:03:02.719 --> 00:03:04.960 You need a lot to stimulate pleasure. 00:03:05.360 --> 00:03:16.560 So I also believe a lot of people who are addicted to substances probably have ADHD or some level of this brain inflammation and dopamine issue because they're looking for something to stimulate more dopamine. 00:03:16.879 --> 00:03:19.599 Stimulants will release store dopamine in the brain tissues. 00:03:19.759 --> 00:03:23.280 So then you have this sudden moment of joy and reward and bliss. 00:03:23.599 --> 00:03:33.439 And so I say all that because as I started studying nutrition and then practicing and then kind of testing it all myself, my ADHD symptoms were incredibly improving. 00:03:33.599 --> 00:03:37.520 I'm still a very tangential person because my brain moves in many directions. 00:03:37.680 --> 00:03:48.800 But in terms of being able to sleep, in terms of not having anxiety, but especially not having shutdown, because one thing we don't talk about enough with ADHD is the collapse response that comes out of it. 00:03:48.960 --> 00:04:00.080 Because the amount of overwhelm a body will experience with low dopamine, it's it's beyond the like normal uh levels that an average person that hasn't have dopamine will experience. 00:04:00.319 --> 00:04:05.680 Because every task feels like a massive undertaking because you lack that dopamine. 00:04:06.159 --> 00:04:22.800 When something feels like we call it inescapable attack or inescapable threat, when you haven't paid the bills and you have 20 emails, when there's laundry on the floor, and you have those low dopamine levels, you literally feel like you're about to be attacked, and the body will go into an involuntary shutdown mode known as collapse. 00:04:23.040 --> 00:04:27.120 And in that, we experience depression, lack of motivation, you name it. 00:04:27.279 --> 00:04:32.160 So all that comes from low dopamine, and dopamine is produced in your gut. 00:04:32.319 --> 00:04:37.120 So you have to have a healthy gut microbiome and have the right nutrition to even make this neurotransmitter. 00:04:38.000 --> 00:04:38.959 So interesting. 00:04:39.199 --> 00:04:45.759 What are what are some things that you recommend for optimal gut health as it relates to dopamine and ADHD? 00:04:46.319 --> 00:04:52.240 Yeah, so one of my favorite things is uh beans in general, because of the soluble fiber. 00:04:52.399 --> 00:04:54.639 Soluble fiber is a prebiotic. 00:04:54.800 --> 00:04:58.240 So it's food for your gut bacteria, your native gut bacteria. 00:04:58.399 --> 00:05:00.800 So a lot of people listening have heard of a probiotic. 00:05:00.879 --> 00:05:08.399 That's where you go by the capsule that has a specific strain of bacteria that hopefully will take into your gut and then you'll populate it. 00:05:08.639 --> 00:05:10.399 But prebiotics are food. 00:05:10.480 --> 00:05:16.079 So they feed your native bacteria, which I think are way, it's way more effective for most people, unless you're on an antibiotic. 00:05:16.399 --> 00:05:25.759 So if you have low, if we think of the gut microbiome, a term some people might have heard, it just means the amount of bacteria, pathogens, fungi, all these little creatures that live in your gut. 00:05:26.000 --> 00:05:31.759 And the microbiome, you want to think of like a compost heap, it creates new things. 00:05:31.920 --> 00:05:35.680 It synthesizes nutrients, it synthesizes neurotransmitters. 00:05:35.839 --> 00:05:37.920 And it does that with amino acids. 00:05:38.000 --> 00:05:40.160 And amino acids are connected to protein. 00:05:40.480 --> 00:06:00.319 So if you're eating a diet rich in many different whole food fibers, so root vegetables, fruits, nuts, and seeds, beans, green leafy vegetables, having lots of plant fibers, fibers only found in plant foods, you're going to be feeding your microbiome every day, which is going to increase the amount of neurotransmitters your body can make if it has adequate protein. 00:06:00.800 --> 00:06:02.560 What do you feel about probiotics? 00:06:02.639 --> 00:06:09.600 Because you mentioned the prebiotics, and what about adding uh probiotics or fermented foods to your diet as well? 00:06:09.680 --> 00:06:20.879 And I'm personally fascinated in the topic because I studied fermentation through Harvard and love all things like probiotic, but sometimes it can be too much, depending on the person. 00:06:21.519 --> 00:06:22.000 Yeah. 00:06:22.319 --> 00:06:36.639 Well, I I rarely recommend a probiotic for an individual unless they're actually on antibiotic, because I don't see them as effective as having, let's say, a supplemental capsule of a probiotic versus a whole food probiotic like sauerkraut. 00:06:36.879 --> 00:06:37.120 I agree. 00:06:37.360 --> 00:06:37.920 So right? 00:06:38.000 --> 00:06:45.040 So if you have sauerkraut or kombucha, but I prefer sauerkraut because kombucha has sugar in it and it can have caffeine for some people. 00:06:45.199 --> 00:06:52.399 But if you have sauerkraut, you have the prebiotic of the vegetable fiber, the cabbage, with the probiotic of the bacteria. 00:06:52.560 --> 00:07:01.360 So you have this incredible delivery system where you're feeding the bacteria that's already in that jar and you're also feeding the bacteria in your body, and it comes from a whole food. 00:07:01.519 --> 00:07:02.399 So it comes from nature. 00:07:02.480 --> 00:07:06.800 So it's diverse, it's bioavailable, it has way more of the balance your gut would have. 00:07:06.959 --> 00:07:19.600 So when someone says to me, I want to repopulate my gut health or I want to help my digestion or increase my microbiome, I always say have a diverse amount of plant

fibers, especially beans every day, and have one or two fork pools of sauerkraut with your meals. 00:07:19.680 --> 00:07:21.680 And that usually does the trick for most people. 00:07:23.199 --> 00:07:24.720 I completely agree with that statement. 00:07:24.959 --> 00:07:30.240 I I absolutely think like follow the way it's been done for millennia, you know. 00:07:30.879 --> 00:07:33.680 Fermented foods were the way of preservation, right? 00:07:33.839 --> 00:07:36.720 And yet nowadays we we don't get enough of that. 00:07:36.879 --> 00:07:53.680 So when we think about dopamine as kind of the catalyst essentially for ADHD, break that down a bit more because I think for sometimes people think about dopamine more in the negative sense, you know, like, oh, it's a dopamine hit, you know, it's bad. 00:07:54.079 --> 00:07:55.839 What is your perspective on that? 00:07:56.800 --> 00:07:58.480 So there's a couple things here. 00:07:58.800 --> 00:08:03.680 In the modern day, dopamine gets a bad rep because we're inundated with it. 00:08:03.920 --> 00:08:10.000 So before we had screens, even just like 30 years ago, we didn't nearly get as much dopamine as we're getting now. 00:08:10.319 --> 00:08:24.079 So I think most people, whether they actually have ADHD diagnoses or not, they are having the symptoms of ADHD because they're so burnt out from excess dopamine that their stores are completely depleted. 00:08:24.399 --> 00:08:32.399 And when you have a high amount of dopamine, because you're getting all these hits, like you said, your baseline for what you need to feel good and focused and feel rewarded goes higher, higher, higher. 00:08:32.559 --> 00:08:33.679 That's how addiction works. 00:08:33.919 --> 00:08:40.159 So if I'm scrolling every day, whereas I never scrolled 10 years ago, every day I'm getting dopamine hit. 00:08:40.240 --> 00:08:44.879 Dopamine hit literally means a chemical is releasing from your brain into your bloodstream. 00:08:44.960 --> 00:08:45.600 It's incredible. 00:08:45.759 --> 00:08:48.639 So a chemical is being released whenever I have that dopamine hit. 00:08:48.879 --> 00:08:52.559 And if it's, let's say it's 80 points, I'm just giving you arbitrary numbers. 00:08:52.799 --> 00:08:56.559 My body is then saying, okay, our baseline was 10 points to get through the morning. 00:08:56.720 --> 00:08:58.480 Now we need 80 to get through the morning. 00:08:58.559 --> 00:09:01.360 And this is when we get addicted to things that create those dopamine hits. 00:09:01.519 --> 00:09:05.600 So dopamine hits are a good word because dopamine hits we want to avoid. 00:09:05.759 --> 00:09:13.840 And that is what we get from what's known as passive dopamine, meaning I'm sitting back doing nothing physically, but receiving a lot of excitement. 00:09:14.000 --> 00:09:16.000 And this happens with screen culture. 00:09:16.159 --> 00:09:32.799 On a computer, a television, uh, a smartphone, when you're just sitting still, essentially in a freeze response

because the body's tense, not doing anything, you're even barely breathing, but you're taking in a lot of information that's really exciting, you're getting this massive release of dopamine without any output. 00:09:33.039 --> 00:09:41.360 Whereas we have active dopamine, let's say hiking, for example, hiking will create active dopamine 20, 30 minutes into the hike. 00:09:41.600 --> 00:09:44.960 Exercising will create active dopamine 20, 30 minutes into exercise. 00:09:45.120 --> 00:09:48.720 You know, I want to paint a picture of this beautiful tree. 00:09:48.960 --> 00:09:54.399 Maybe once I finally get the shape, it could take me hours to get, I get the dopamine, what we're calling a dopamine hit. 00:09:54.559 --> 00:10:03.360 So it's a much longer road to get the dopamine produced while I'm doing something active, before it's not giving it to me by design, but I have to kind of go out and find it. 00:10:03.600 --> 00:10:09.440 It's slower, it's more of a curve up and down or like a nice soft hill up and down versus a spike. 00:10:09.600 --> 00:10:12.159 And I'm physically doing something to achieve it. 00:10:12.320 --> 00:10:20.720 So in a culture of getting lots of passive dopamine, dopamine is a negative thing because it affects our brain, it affects our personalities, it creates addictions. 00:10:20.960 --> 00:10:36.720 But if we're looking at dopamine from just enjoying life to finishing a task that takes eight hours or eight years to complete, it's this slow drip, and it's sustainable because we're not dumping all those stores out with some kind of hit from passive dopamine. 00:10:37.600 --> 00:10:38.399 That's so true. 00:10:38.559 --> 00:10:39.120 That's good. 00:10:39.360 --> 00:10:39.919 I like that. 00:10:40.080 --> 00:10:45.039 And so when we look at ADHD, you know, a lot of people have that. 00:10:45.279 --> 00:11:03.600 And sometimes, though, I think there's a difference between being ADHD and just also living in this society where we're distracted all the time by everything, you know, the notifications on our phone, the TV, the, you know, the billboards we're driving past, just left and right, there's always trying to grab our attention. 00:11:03.679 --> 00:11:05.360 I think that a lot of people are like, I have ADHD. 00:11:05.440 --> 00:11:07.039 And I think, no, it's just your lifestyle. 00:11:07.200 --> 00:11:10.799 You know, there's a lifestyle component that you've allowed to have this ADHD. 00:11:11.039 --> 00:11:19.759 Well, it's kind of like I was saying, I think in the modern era, like you said, people are being so overstimulated that their symptoms are just like having ADHD. 00:11:20.000 --> 00:11:32.960 What I've found from myself and from a lot of people I've worked with who are diagnosed with ADHD and actually have uh a neurodivergence in their brain of certain chemicals, chemistry, inflammation, gut health, all these things that come together that create this. 00:11:33.360 --> 00:11:37.919 We can treat it with medications, we can treat it with food, we can get off the internet. 00:11:38.399 --> 00:11:41.519 It's gonna get way better, but it never fully goes away for us. 00:11:41.600 --> 00:11:43.039 It's just managed. 00:11:43.279 --> 00:11:52.559 Whereas someone that doesn't have ADHD who's just completely hopped up on dopamine, after two or three weeks of taking a break from the dopamine hits, they'll come back to a pretty normal baseline. 00:11:52.799 --> 00:11:57.279 So it never fully goes, in my experience at least, it never fully goes away. 00:11:57.440 --> 00:12:04.399 It's not reversible that I've seen anywhere, but it's very treatable and the symptoms come down drastically. 00:12:04.639 --> 00:12:16.720 Now, what I find very important and inconvenient for a lot of people with ADHD is when you really, if you really want to treat it, yes, you have to do the nutritional piece, but you have to also design your life so that it fascinates you. 00:12:16.879 --> 00:12:20.480 Because people with ADHD have a very low threshold for boredom. 00:12:20.639 --> 00:12:24.559 And not like in a shady way, but like physically, we can't handle boredom. 00:12:24.720 --> 00:12:26.080 It actually is like torture. 00:12:26.240 --> 00:12:33.440 Whereas someone else can get through a boring situation because they have the dopamine to get them through, we don't make it the same way, we don't uptake it the same way. 00:12:33.600 --> 00:12:37.120 So you have to actually create a lifestyle that interests you. 00:12:37.279 --> 00:12:44.480 And this is why there's a lot of theories that some of the most innovative people historically had ADHD, because they had to do something new. 00:12:44.639 --> 00:12:46.960 They had to diverge from the normal. 00:12:47.200 --> 00:12:58.879 So I think we're tasked, burdened, and and gifted with this task of having to create a whole new way of living that isn't following a mainstream idea or a neurotypical idea. 00:12:59.039 --> 00:13:05.440 And until we do that, we probably uh require lots of stimulants to get through the day, even when you're eating well. 00:13:05.759 --> 00:13:06.960 Yeah, no, it's true. 00:13:07.200 --> 00:13:14.000 You know, it's interesting too, because I I think that I'll just I'll highlight the education system real quick. 00:13:14.159 --> 00:13:27.600 And and actually most forms of learning that we've employed in this world, and it's almost always sitting down, still facing forward, look listening to a teacher and or diving into a book. 00:13:27.919 --> 00:13:36.320 And yet I'd say that for most people on the planet, whether they have ADHD or not, that's not the best route to learn. 00:13:36.399 --> 00:13:42.639 Uh we learn the best by embodiment, which means we're working with our hands, we're moving, we're engaging with others, and we're experiencing it. 00:13:42.799 --> 00:13:46.799 Yet the entire system is almost rigged to be counterproductive towards people. 00:13:46.879 --> 00:13:50.480 And so then they go,

Well, I have all these little kids, you know, like they have ADHD. 00:13:50.559 --> 00:13:51.759 And I'm like, no, they're just kids. 00:13:51.919 --> 00:13:52.639 They're just kids. 00:13:52.879 --> 00:13:55.360 They need to move, you know, and well, let's put them on Ritalin. 00:13:55.519 --> 00:14:01.120 You know, like, no, they have they need to move their bodies and and and engage with it. 00:14:01.200 --> 00:14:07.919 They're actually highly intelligent and highly capable individuals, but the way they learn is not the way we've just cookie-cuttered it all. 00:14:08.159 --> 00:14:09.600 What's your take on that? 00:14:10.080 --> 00:14:11.519 I couldn't agree more. 00:14:11.759 --> 00:14:16.480 I think those responses you're talking about, they're environmental responses. 00:14:16.559 --> 00:14:19.279 So there's not something inherently wrong with the child or their brain. 00:14:19.440 --> 00:14:26.080 They're having a healthy response to an environment shift because all of our human history has been I can move. 00:14:26.240 --> 00:14:31.120 I chop wood with my dad in the morning, I learn how to harvest, I sow, I help with the farm. 00:14:31.279 --> 00:14:32.879 Like we weren't in school. 00:14:33.039 --> 00:14:36.399 The school's even a new invention, the way we think of it today. 00:14:36.639 --> 00:14:38.159 School before was life. 00:14:38.240 --> 00:14:39.840 You know, you lived and you helped. 00:14:40.000 --> 00:14:43.200 There's this great book I'm reading called Hunt, Gather, Parent. 00:14:43.440 --> 00:14:44.639 And it's all about this. 00:14:44.720 --> 00:14:56.320 Um, I believe she's a doctor or psychologist who went to different indigenous tribes and learned from them how they parent, uh, opposed to how the West or compared to the West or Europe's way of parenting. 00:14:56.480 --> 00:14:58.000 And it's exactly what you said. 00:14:58.240 --> 00:15:02.399 They really believe in teaching the child through life experience. 00:15:02.559 --> 00:15:09.039 They say as as soon as that child can look around when they're a few days old, we have them with us while we're working so they can see what we do. 00:15:09.120 --> 00:15:11.440 And then we let them do it as soon as they can pick something up. 00:15:11.679 --> 00:15:16.720 Whereas with our kids, we give them a tablet and we say, go watch a movie while I clean the house. 00:15:16.960 --> 00:15:22.879 So it's the same thing school does sit here and look at this book versus let's learn how to cook or move or talk to each other. 00:15:23.120 --> 00:15:32.240 So I do think the loss of the tactile learning and relational experience, um, it's prioritizing a part of the brain, not the whole body. 00:15:32.320 --> 00:15:35.759 And I think it is too overwhelming for most people, but kids especially. 00:15:36.480 --> 00:15:37.120 Yeah. 00:15:37.840 --> 00:15:42.399 You you obviously have accomplished an awful lot, even though you've had ADHD. 00:15:42.480 --> 00:15:53.440 You know, you've even

written a book, you have a podcast, you have a business, you know, that you're doing nutrition, somatic, you know, work, you know, you do workshops, you travel, you speak. 00:15:53.919 --> 00:15:57.919 That's very accomplished for someone who has ADHD. 00:15:58.159 --> 00:16:09.440 And I know you've given us some nuggets of gold here that of steps that you've taken to really hone in and maximize your yourself through proper dopamine balance and lifestyle. 00:16:09.600 --> 00:16:14.879 But what are some things that you do daily to keep yourself focused and able to accomplish your goals? 00:16:15.360 --> 00:16:16.320 A couple things. 00:16:16.480 --> 00:16:29.360 So one of the big, big life changers for me was just recently, about three years ago, I was vegan for almost 20 years and I started eating animal protein again, which I don't think anyone has to do. 00:16:29.519 --> 00:16:35.440 But I have learned just from my work, amino acids, they are the building blocks of neurotransmitters. 00:16:35.679 --> 00:16:40.799 L-tyrosine is the amino acid that will turn into L-dopa, which makes L dopamine. 00:16:41.120 --> 00:16:47.519 So if you don't have enough amino acids, you literally don't have the building blocks to make these very important neurotransmitters. 00:16:47.840 --> 00:16:57.519 So if you're like me and you're already very low in dopamine, you have a hard time making it or taking it in, you need to make sure you have the right foundation that can create a lot of it. 00:16:57.679 --> 00:17:04.319 And so if you have a quarter of a cup of chicken, for example, you know, you're getting a massive amount. 00:17:04.400 --> 00:17:09.759 I think I I could be wrong here, but I think half a cup of chicken gives you all you need to make the dopamine you need for a day. 00:17:09.839 --> 00:17:10.880 It's a very small amount. 00:17:11.200 --> 00:17:13.119 No carbohydrates attached to that. 00:17:13.279 --> 00:17:25.119 But if you have two to three cups of quinoa, which is probably what you need to have the same amount of bell tyrosine, you're getting a ton of carbohydrates, which is then kicking up your glucose, adrenaline, all these other things. 00:17:25.359 --> 00:17:31.680 So someone who's vegan, like I was for a long time, we're getting our amino acids bound to carbohydrates. 00:17:32.000 --> 00:17:41.519 And because of hormones, because of aging, different circumstances, carbs will either turn to sugar and glucose and will be stored as fat, create adrenaline, or they'll be burned efficiently. 00:17:41.759 --> 00:17:46.160 And my body stopped using them efficiently around age 34 or 35. 00:17:46.400 --> 00:17:54.880 And so when I stopped eating as many carbs and started having animal protein, I felt a brain clarity I don't think I've ever had in my life. 00:17:55.119 --> 00:17:59.519 And it was amazingly powerful, especially because I follow a bean-based diet. 00:17:59.759 --> 00:18:03.359 So I had this good microbiome health from the beans and the vegetables. 00:18:03.519 --> 00:18:08.240 And I have all these amino acids from the chicken and the eggs and the fish that I primarily eat. 00:18:08.400 --> 00:18:29.680 And to me, together, having those as my meals, low sugar, not using my smartphone all the time, it allowed my brain to just be nourished in a way where I can deeply dive into a project like a class, a retreat, a book, and put out a lot of content and not feel burned out by it or overwhelmed and stuck and frozen by it, which I had earlier in my life. 00:18:29.839 --> 00:18:36.079 I mean, if you would have seen me in my 20s, I was smoking four packs of cigarettes a day and having 12 cups of coffee. 00:18:36.240 --> 00:18:37.839 That's how I was getting through the day. 00:18:38.079 --> 00:18:42.480 So I once I at one point I did need to stimulate in order to function. 00:18:42.640 --> 00:18:47.680 And then I started learning with nutrition and somatics, I could actually nurture myself to function. 00:18:48.160 --> 00:18:48.400 Yeah. 00:18:49.200 --> 00:18:50.000 Thanks for sharing that. 00:18:50.079 --> 00:18:52.799 Because that's it's very interesting to me on a personal level. 00:18:52.960 --> 00:18:56.559 I mean, I have my body does not produce dopamine. 00:18:58.000 --> 00:19:00.559 So I take L tyrosine. 00:19:00.799 --> 00:19:03.599 Uh and every day. 00:19:03.759 --> 00:19:04.240 Every day. 00:19:04.400 --> 00:19:09.440 And it's it's interesting because you know, I don't want to take the L tyrosine, you know what I'm saying? 00:19:09.519 --> 00:19:10.640 Like as a as a supplement. 00:19:10.799 --> 00:19:18.799 I agree with you that our diets can have it, but for some reason I eat pretty healthy diet, you know, and I do all the things, but it still was low. 00:19:18.880 --> 00:19:20.400 And so I take the L tyrosine. 00:19:20.480 --> 00:19:38.000 And I I think a lot of people don't know about that component, you know, that that we you know, and and they're like struggling with depression, and they're like, I need to be on antidepressants, or I have ADHD, and so I need to have ADHD medication, and yet we can sometimes it can just be a deficiency in something. 00:19:38.319 --> 00:19:40.400 It's I think that's exactly the way to look at it. 00:19:40.640 --> 00:19:49.359 When you have any kind of mental, quote, mental illness or mental health issue or emotional imbalances, that's your brain's way of showing you a symptom of deficiency. 00:19:49.519 --> 00:19:51.279 Just like if you had a rash on your skin. 00:19:51.359 --> 00:19:54.000 It's the it's it's the brain's way of showing deficiency. 00:19:54.160 --> 00:20:03.039 And I recently learned, um, based on what you're saying about yourself, that it let's say you make plenty of dopamine and your microbiome is functioning really well. 00:20:03.200 --> 00:20:07.599 If your vagus nerve is too inflamed, the dopamine can travel up to your brain from your gut. 00:20:07.759 --> 00:20:21.519 And that's where somatics comes in because as

you start settling your system more, not calming down necessarily, but coming out of trauma response and orienting to the room and updating and having a parasympathetic response more often than a sympathetic one. 00:20:21.680 --> 00:20:26.640 So more peace than stress, the inflammation of your vagus nerve will also start coming down. 00:20:26.880 --> 00:20:33.119 And so that could be, you know, it's like the straw your brain sucks up to transport those those neurotransmitters. 00:20:33.200 --> 00:20:35.440 So that can be a reason for a lot of us too. 00:20:35.759 --> 00:20:36.400 Yeah. 00:20:36.960 --> 00:20:43.839 One thing I I love about what you're saying, and it's something that I've often said to people, is we we live in a society where we want a quick fix now. 00:20:44.240 --> 00:20:47.039 And it it's like, I have this, so I want this now. 00:20:47.200 --> 00:20:53.759 I need to take this medication or inject myself with this, you know, and really it's about common sense lifestyle. 00:20:54.160 --> 00:20:56.720 It's doing what the body needs. 00:20:56.880 --> 00:21:10.160 And we need prebiotics, probiotics, we need anti-inflammation, we need to do somatic work, we need to really focus on, but it's not like this activity that I'm gonna go out and do this activity, it's a lifestyle. 00:21:10.480 --> 00:21:11.039 That's right. 00:21:11.680 --> 00:21:18.720 That's one of the big reasons why I tell my clients like one of the best things you can do is make your own food. 00:21:19.359 --> 00:21:22.319 You know, whole food-based, make your own food. 00:21:22.880 --> 00:21:33.359 Because not only do you appreciate the food more because you made it, it's a bit more sacred, you know, but you're also working right and left brain when you're working with both hands. 00:21:33.519 --> 00:21:42.720 It helps you regulate, then you're eating the food with this level of gratitude and appreciation for the labor, you know, that you did, and the body enjoys it more. 00:21:42.799 --> 00:21:56.799 So you do have a little bit more of that dopamine, and you know, depending on what you're eating and what you're feeding yourself, uh that just that simple act of making a meal can be very healing for your for the body, mind, and the spirit. 00:21:57.039 --> 00:21:59.519 So I'm a huge proponent of that. 00:21:59.920 --> 00:22:06.160 I'm so glad you said that because that's a really great example of the comparison between passive and active dopamine as well. 00:22:06.400 --> 00:22:09.200 Getting a microwave meal, that's passive dopamine. 00:22:09.440 --> 00:22:10.960 It's really quick, it's processed. 00:22:11.119 --> 00:22:21.279 Processed food stimulates dopamine, but slowly making food, going to the grocery store, cutting it, smelling it while it's cooking, it's all these slow steps of more of that reward system. 00:22:21.440 --> 00:22:26.880 So we get a lot of passive dopamine hits from the food that we we binge or we eat very quickly, that's processed. 00:22:27.039 --> 00:22:32.720 But to actually have to process it yourself, make it yourself, it's a much slower, more active dopamine in a healthier way. 00:22:33.279 --> 00:22:33.839 So true. 00:22:34.000 --> 00:22:34.480 So true. 00:22:34.640 --> 00:22:45.759 Now you have a book that which we mentioned earlier that you that you wrote, and uh it's called Food Therapy: Conscious Eating to Navigate Anxiety, Stress, and Trauma. 00:22:46.400 --> 00:22:50.640 And this book is launching in April 2026. 00:22:51.359 --> 00:22:58.559 So uh you are offering people to be able to pre-order it, and then they can also access some materials of yours. 00:22:58.720 --> 00:22:59.519 What are those? 00:23:00.000 --> 00:23:04.319 Yes, I'm doing a two-month program in, I believe it starts in May. 00:23:04.480 --> 00:23:10.880 And the program will have four 90-minute sessions with me live where I'm going to walk you through the four sections of the book. 00:23:11.039 --> 00:23:15.599 I'm gonna teach you the practices, kind of break some things down, answer questions live. 00:23:15.680 --> 00:23:18.240 And anyone that pre-orders the book gets it for free. 00:23:18.400 --> 00:23:23.039 It's a$150 program, and the book to pre-order is like$17 right now. 00:23:23.119 --> 00:23:25.200 There's a discount, so it's it's a pretty good deal. 00:23:25.279 --> 00:23:28.319 Um, but you can go to my website or any book retailer to get it. 00:23:28.640 --> 00:23:29.039 Love that. 00:23:29.200 --> 00:23:32.640 And we include the link to pre-order his book in the description box. 00:23:32.720 --> 00:23:34.319 So for those listening, check that out. 00:23:34.480 --> 00:23:42.240 Luis, I have loved this conversation and all the other conversations we've had as well, and uh really appreciate your wisdom and your insights. 00:23:42.559 --> 00:23:44.799 You too, you feel like a sibling on this journey. 00:23:44.960 --> 00:23:45.519 Thank you so much. 00:23:45.680 --> 00:23:47.599 Yeah, very much so, likewise. 00:23:47.839 --> 00:23:51.759 Thank you, and thank you for all who have joined us, and we'll see you next time.