Mastering Nutrition

I used to be addicted to melatonin. I couldn’t sleep without taking a time-release melatonin every night. Well, it wasn’t really an addiction. It was that my sleep just sucked, so I was stuck using melatonin because my body wasn’t working right. I haven’t needed melatonin to sleep for *years.* I regard it as a sign of the success of what I’ve done to fix my sleep that I don’t need it anymore. Do you take melatonin? I’m not against it. I think everyone should have some melatonin on hand in their bedroom and their travel bag. But taking it every night cannot replicate the natural rhythm inside your body. Taking a dual action immediate- and time-release can get close, but it just ain’t the same thing. So, use the melatonin when needed, but consider it part of the journey and not the destination. Until you’re off the melatonin, you still have fixing to do. Tune in for the details! This episode is brought to you by Ancestral Supplements' Grass Fed Beef Brain. Our Native American ancestors believed that eating the organs from a healthy animal would support the health of the corresponding organ of the individual. Ancestral Supplements has a nose-to-tail product line of grass-fed liver, organs, bone marrow and brain... all in the convenience of a capsule. For more information or to buy any of their products, go to https://AncestralSupplements.com This episode is brought to you by Ample. Ample is a meal-in-a-bottle that takes a total of two minutes to prepare, consume, and clean up. It provides the right balance of nutrients needed for a single meal, all from a blend of natural ingredients. Ample is available in original, vegan, and keto versions, portioned as either 400 or 600 calories per meal. I'm an advisor to Ample, and I use it to save time when I'm working on major projects on a tight schedule. Head to https://amplemeal.com and enter the promo code “CHRIS15” at checkout for a 15% discount off your first order. To get these episodes free of ads, with transcripts, and weeks or sometimes even months before they are released to the public, along with access to monthly live Q&A sessions, sign up for the CMJ Masterpass at https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/masterpass. Use the code LITE10 to get 10% off. To make it easier to get the discount, use this link, which has the coupon already activated: https://masterpass.chrismasterjohnphd.com/cmj-masterpass/2200/buy?coupon=LITE10 For more detail on the underlying science behind this episode, see part 4 of my Nutrition in Neuroscience series:  https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/2019/02/01/nutrition-in-neuroscience-part-4/ Here’s a good dual-action melatonin you could take when needed. Purchasing it with my link will earn me a small commission at no extra cost to you, which helps support the free work I put out: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/amazon/dualactionmelatonin Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here.

In order to sleep well, you need to get a good dose of tryptophan into your brain at any point during the day. The simplest way to do that is with natural, whole-food, high-glycemic carbohydrates like white potatoes and sweet potatoes. Tune in for how to make this work on a high-carb, low-carb or even keto diet, when to include a tryptophan supplement, and what to consider when timing the supplements or carbs. This episode is brought to you by Ancestral Supplements' Grass Fed Beef Brain. Our Native American ancestors believed that eating the organs from a healthy animal would support the health of the corresponding organ of the individual. Ancestral Supplements has a nose-to-tail product line of grass-fed liver, organs, bone marrow and brain... all in the convenience of a capsule. For more information or to buy any of their products, go to https://AncestralSupplements.com This episode is brought to you by Ample. Ample is a meal-in-a-bottle that takes a total of two minutes to prepare, consume, and clean up. It provides the right balance of nutrients needed for a single meal, all from a blend of natural ingredients. Ample is available in original, vegan, and keto versions, portioned as either 400 or 600 calories per meal. I'm an advisor to Ample, and I use it to save time when I'm working on major projects on a tight schedule. Head to https://amplemeal.com and enter the promo code “CHRIS15” at checkout for a 15% discount off your first order. To get these episodes free of ads, with transcripts, and weeks or sometimes even months before they are released to the public, along with access to monthly live Q&A sessions, sign up for the CMJ Masterpass at https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/masterpass. Use the code LITE10 to get 10% off. To make it easier to get the discount, use this link, which has the coupon already activated: https://masterpass.chrismasterjohnphd.com/cmj-masterpass/2200/buy?coupon=LITE10 Here is the previous episode on carbs, tryptophan, and stress-resistance: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/2019/01/22/carbs-serotonin-stress-resistance/ Here are some studies on carbs and protein affecting tryptophan transport and sleep: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/573061 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21349213 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17284739 Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here.

Could eating protein at night hurt your sleep? In this episode I discuss why it *might* hurt your sleep. Eating protein at the last meal of your day is important if you are trying to build muscle, but if you are trying to resolve sleeping problems then trying a lower-protein meal at night should be one of the tools in your kit. Tune in for the details! This episode is brought to you by Ancestral Supplements' Grass Fed Beef Brain. Our Native American ancestors believed that eating the organs from a healthy animal would support the health of the corresponding organ of the individual. Ancestral Supplements has a nose-to-tail product line of grass-fed liver, organs, bone marrow and brain... all in the convenience of a capsule. For more information or to buy any of their products, go to https://AncestralSupplements.com This episode is brought to you by Ample. Ample is a meal-in-a-bottle that takes a total of two minutes to prepare, consume, and clean up. It provides the right balance of nutrients needed for a single meal, all from a blend of natural ingredients. Ample is available in original, vegan, and keto versions, portioned as either 400 or 600 calories per meal. I'm an advisor to Ample, and I use it to save time when I'm working on major projects on a tight schedule. Head to https://amplemeal.com and enter the promo code “CHRIS15” at checkout for a 15% discount off your first order. To get these episodes free of ads, with transcripts, and weeks or sometimes even months before they are released to the public, along with access to monthly live Q&A sessions, sign up for the CMJ Masterpass at https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/masterpass. Use the code LITE10 to get 10% off. To make it easier to get the discount, use this link, which has the coupon already activated: https://masterpass.chrismasterjohnphd.com/cmj-masterpass/2200/buy?coupon=LITE10 For more detail on the underlying science behind this episode, see part 4 of my Nutrition in Neuroscience series: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/2019/02/01/nutrition-in-neuroscience-part-4/ Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here.

In the last episode, I covered how and why I use alpha-GPC and ginkgo biloba supplements during periods where I need increased focused concentration. But could this hurt your sleep if you take them at night? Tune in for the details! This episode is brought to you by Ancestral Supplements' Grass Fed Beef Brain. Our Native American ancestors believed that eating the organs from a healthy animal would support the health of the corresponding organ of the individual. Ancestral Supplements has a nose-to-tail product line of grass-fed liver, organs, bone marrow and brain... all in the convenience of a capsule. For more information or to buy any of their products, go to https://AncestralSupplements.com This episode is brought to you by Ample. Ample is a meal-in-a-bottle that takes a total of two minutes to prepare, consume, and clean up. It provides the right balance of nutrients needed for a single meal, all from a blend of natural ingredients. Ample is available in original, vegan, and keto versions, portioned as either 400 or 600 calories per meal. I'm an advisor to Ample, and I use it to save time when I'm working on major projects on a tight schedule. Head to https://amplemeal.com and enter the promo code “CHRIS15” at checkout for a 15% discount off your first order. To get these episodes free of ads, with transcripts, and weeks or sometimes even months before they are released to the public, along with access to monthly live Q&A sessions, sign up for the CMJ Masterpass at https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/masterpass. Use the code LITE10 to get 10% off. To make it easier to get the discount, use this link, which has the coupon already activated: https://masterpass.chrismasterjohnphd.com/cmj-masterpass/2200/buy?coupon=LITE10 Here’s the last episode on using the cocktail for focused concentration: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/2019/02/14/alpha-gpc-ginkgo-biloba-focused-concentration/       Here’s the study mentioned in the episode that suggested better improvements in sleep quality when Alzheimer’s patients took an acetylcholinesterase inhibitor in the morning instead of at night: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23948729 Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here.

Riboflavin is the ultimate fat-burning nutrient. It makes even a bad MTHFR work right, and it keeps you looking young and beautiful forever. Here’s everything you need to know about why you should manage your riboflavin status and how to do it. In this podcast I join with Alex Leaf of Examine.Com. I focus on what riboflavin is and what it does, while Alex focuses on riboflavin supplements. Going into this podcast I changed my mind about three important things: While I had always discussed riboflavin as relevant to methylation and MTHFR, I had kept it in the back seat in my methylation protocol. Half way through recording this podcast I realized that it really deserves a front seat in my MTHFR protocol. In fact, it may be the case that there’s nothing wrong with the common MTHFR polymorphisms at all and that they only appear to hurt MTHFR activity because most of us aren’t getting enough riboflavin. And why aren’t we? Liver. Liver. We just have to eat liver. In Testing Nutritional Status: The Ultimate Cheat Sheet, I had included HDRI’s erythrocyte glutathione reductase activity test as test for assessing riboflavin status. After doing the research for this podcast, I am now convinced that this test is only reliable as a marker of riboflavin status when the lab tests the enzyme activity with and without the addition of riboflavin, which HDRI doesn’t do. I will be revising the cheat sheet soon to rely solely on LabCorp’s whole blood riboflavin test for assessing riboflavin status. I have, for years, believed that riboflavin 5’-phosphate (aka, flavin mononucleotide or FMN) supplements are better than plain old riboflavin, especially for people who are hypothyroid or have low adrenal status, since these conditions impair the activation of riboflavin to it’s 5’-phosphate form. After doing the research for this podcast I now believe that for healthy people it makes no difference and that for people with small intestinal pathologies, the cheaper, less fancy, plain old “riboflavin” is likely to be more effective. In this podcast we being by considering the fictional stories of people who seem to have little in common. We then explain their stories by looking at the signs and symptoms of riboflavin deficiency. We consider the science of what riboflavin is, how it is used by the body, what it does for us, how to have great riboflavin status, and how to become deficient. We round this out with an extensive discussion of riboflavin supplementation. This episode is brought to you by Ancestral Supplements' "Living" Collagen. Our Native American ancestors believed that eating the organs from a healthy animal would support the health of the corresponding organ of the individual. Ancestral Supplements has a nose-to-tail product line of grass-fed liver, organs, "living" collagen, bone marrow and more... in the convenience of a capsule. For more information or to buy any of their products, go to https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/ancestral This episode is brought to you by Ample. Ample is a meal-in-a-bottle that takes a total of two minutes to prepare, consume, and clean up. It provides the right balance of nutrients needed for a single meal, all from a blend of natural ingredients. Ample is available in original, vegan, and keto versions, portioned as either 400 or 600 calories per meal. I'm an advisor to Ample, and I use it to save time when I'm working on major projects on a tight schedule. Head to https://amplemeal.com and enter the promo code “CHRIS15” at checkout for a 15% discount off your first order.” In this episode, you will find all of the following and more: Riboflavin Show Notes 00:37 Introduction 01:46 Three things that I’ve changed my mind about while doing the research for this podcast 04:24 Cliff notes 14:13 Three stories of riboflavin deficiency 18:05 Signs and symptoms of riboflavin deficiency 21:31 Speculative symptoms of suboptimal riboflavin status 23:49 Chemical properties of riboflavin 27:22 Medical applications: infants with jaundice, eye surgery for keratoconus, and treatment of fungal keratitis 30:38 Chemical structure of riboflavin, flavin mononucleotide (FMN), and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) 33:02 Riboflavin’s roles in the body: energy metabolism, the antioxidant system, methylation, detoxification, and other nutrient interactions 34:03 Riboflavin’s roles in energy metabolism 39:33 How the different macronutrients (carbohydrate, fat, and protein) affect the riboflavin requirement differently 46:05 Riboflavin’s role in the antioxidant system 50:12 Riboflavin’s roles in the methylation system 52:29 Riboflavin’s interactions with other nutrients: vitamin B6, niacin, and iron 55:47 Riboflavin’s roles in detoxification 57:44 Other riboflavin-dependent enzymes include NADPH oxidase, monoamine oxidase, and protein disulfide isomerase. 59:31 The physiology of riboflavin absorption 01:02:31 The physiology of riboflavin utilization and the importance of magnesium, ATP, thyroid hormone, adrenal hormones, and protein 01:06:43 The gold standard marker of riboflavin status is the erythrocyte glutathione reductase activity coefficient (EGRAC). 01:12:11 LabCorp’s whole blood riboflavin test, normalized to the concentration of blood hemoglobin, is the closest commercially available equivalent to the EGRAC. 01:14:02 Why urinary glutaric acid is not a specific marker of riboflavin status 01:14:54 Measuring riboflavin status should be done after an overnight fast, and biotin does not interfere with the test. 01:15:54 How the RDA for riboflavin was established 01:22:02 How much riboflavin is needed to optimize riboflavin status and maximally suppress the EGRAC? 01:27:25 Why high doses of riboflavin might be beneficial in cases of suboptimal magnesium, energy, thyroid, or adrenal status 01:31:04 Dietary sources of riboflavin 01:36:39 Free riboflavin is found in milk, fortified flours, and many riboflavin supplements. 01:38:55 Riboflavin is destroyed by light. 01:41:16 Riboflavin is produced in the colon, but it is unknown how much this contributes to systemic riboflavin status. 01:43:55 Factors that interfere with riboflavin status and utilization 01:51:02 Genetic defects in riboflavin metabolism and transport 01:53:50 How common is riboflavin deficiency and suboptimal riboflavin status? 01:58:36 Riboflavin supplementation for iron deficiency anemia 02:00:29 The relationship between riboflavin and the MTHFR C677T polymorphism and effects on homocysteine and blood pressure 02:09:32 Riboflavin supplementation and exercise performance 02:14:30 Whether or not riboflavin supplementation could impair adaptations to exercise 02:18:25 Riboflavin supplementation for migraines 02:25:06 Rapid fire questions 02:25:21 Does it matter whether we take free riboflavin or riboflavin 5’-phosphate?   02:26:51 Should riboflavin be taken with food? 02:30:28 How often should you take riboflavin? 02:32:20 Does it matter if you take riboflavin in one dose or divided doses? 02:33:13 Are there any adverse effects of riboflavin supplements? Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/p/058-why-you-should-manage-your-riboflavin

Here’s how and why I use alpha-GPC and ginkgo biloba supplements during periods where I need increased focused concentration. Tune in for the details! This episode is brought to you by Ancestral Supplements' "Living" Collagen. Our Native American ancestors believed that eating the organs from a healthy animal would support the health of the corresponding organ of the individual. Ancestral Supplements has a nose-to-tail product line of grass-fed liver, organs, "living" collagen, bone marrow and more... in the convenience of a capsule. For more information or to buy any of their products, go to https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/ancestral This episode is brought to you by Ample. Ample is a meal-in-a-bottle that takes a total of two minutes to prepare, consume, and clean up. It provides the right balance of nutrients needed for a single meal, all from a blend of natural ingredients. Ample is available in original, vegan, and keto versions, portioned as either 400 or 600 calories per meal. I'm an advisor to Ample, and I use it to save time when I'm working on major projects on a tight schedule. Head to https://amplemeal.com and enter the promo code “CHRIS15” at checkout for a 15% discount off your first order. To get these episodes free of ads, with transcripts, and weeks or sometimes even months before they are released to the public, along with access to monthly live Q&A sessions, sign up for the CMJ Masterpass at https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/masterpass. Use the code LITE10 to get 10% off. To make it easier to get the discount, use this link, which has the coupon already activated: https://masterpass.chrismasterjohnphd.com/cmj-masterpass/2200/buy?coupon=LITE10 For a collection of my dopamine and choline resources, see https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/methylation where they are collected together with my methylation resources. Here is a science paper documenting the different plants that contain acetylcholinesterase inhibitors: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17346955 Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here.

Here’s how to make your own GABA, not in your basement, but in your brain. GABA helps relax you, helps you make faster and better decisions under pressure, and helps you face your fears with less of a harmful stress response. To make it ourselves we need glucose to enter the brain, then we need to use seven B vitamins, at least four minerals, and a robust supply of cellular energy to make the GABA, and we need salt, potassium, and energy to make it function properly. Tune in for how to get all these nutrients from food and make it happen. This episode is brought to you by Ancestral Supplements' "Living" Collagen. Our Native American ancestors believed that eating the organs from a healthy animal would support the health of the corresponding organ of the individual. Ancestral Supplements has a nose-to-tail product line of grass-fed liver, organs, "living" collagen, bone marrow and more... in the convenience of a capsule. For more information or to buy any of their products, go to https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/ancestral This episode is brought to you by Ample. Ample is a meal-in-a-bottle that takes a total of two minutes to prepare, consume, and clean up. It provides the right balance of nutrients needed for a single meal, all from a blend of natural ingredients. Ample is available in original, vegan, and keto versions, portioned as either 400 or 600 calories per meal. I'm an advisor to Ample, and I use it to save time when I'm working on major projects on a tight schedule. Head to https://amplemeal.com and enter the promo code “CHRIS15” at checkout for a 15% discount off your first order. To get these episodes free of ads, with transcripts, and weeks or sometimes even months before they are released to the public, along with access to monthly live Q&A sessions, sign up for the CMJ Masterpass at https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/masterpass. Use the code LITE10 to get 10% off. To make it easier to get the discount, use this link, which has the coupon already activated: https://masterpass.chrismasterjohnphd.com/cmj-masterpass/2200/buy?coupon=LITE10 Here are the recent episodes on GABA: GABA for Faster Decision Making https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/2019/01/24/gaba-faster-decision-making/ Facing your Fears with GABA https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/2019/01/29/face-fears-gaba/ Why You Might Need Carbs With Your GABA or Glycine https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/2019/02/05/7367/ How to Get GABA from Food https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/2019/02/07/get-gaba-food/Does GABA or Glycine Wake You Up? https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/2018/12/25/glycine-gaba-wake/Here are other episodes on the nutrients mentioned in this one: How to Monitor Your Thiamin Status: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/2018/08/28/monitor-thiamin-vitamin-b1-status/ How to Monitor Your Vitamin B6 Status: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/2018/11/13/manage-vitamin-b6-status/ Why You Need to Manage Your Iron Status and How to Do It: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/2017/01/27/need-manage-iron-status How to Manage Your Copper Status: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/2018/11/08/manage-copper-status-2 How to Manage Your Magnesium Status: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/2018/08/23/manage-magnesium-status/ 3 Ways to Get Enough Potassium: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/2018/07/19/3-ways-get-enough-potassium/ The Best Way to Supplement With Potassium: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/2018/08/14/best-way-supplement-potassium/ For a comprehensive guide to managing nutritional status for all of these nutrients, making the information easier to find and use, get your copy of Testing Nutritional Status: The Ultimate Cheat Sheet at https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/cheatsheet Use the code LITE5 for $5 off, and save over 15%. Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here.

GABA helps relax you, helps you make faster and better decisions under pressure, and helps you face your fears with less of a harmful stress response. Tune in to find out how to get it from FOOD! This episode is brought to you by Ancestral Supplements' "Living" Collagen. Our Native American ancestors believed that eating the organs from a healthy animal would support the health of the corresponding organ of the individual. Ancestral Supplements has a nose-to-tail product line of grass-fed liver, organs, "living" collagen, bone marrow and more... in the convenience of a capsule. For more information or to buy any of their products, go to https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/ancestral This episode is brought to you by Ample. Ample is a meal-in-a-bottle that takes a total of two minutes to prepare, consume, and clean up. It provides the right balance of nutrients needed for a single meal, all from a blend of natural ingredients. Ample is available in original, vegan, and keto versions, portioned as either 400 or 600 calories per meal. I'm an advisor to Ample, and I use it to save time when I'm working on major projects on a tight schedule. Head to https://amplemeal.com and enter the promo code “CHRIS15” at checkout for a 15% discount off your first order. To get these episodes free of ads, with transcripts, and weeks or sometimes even months before they are released to the public, along with access to monthly live Q&A sessions, sign up for the CMJ Masterpass at https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/masterpass. Use the code LITE10 to get 10% off. To make it easier to get the discount, use this link, which has the coupon already activated: https://masterpass.chrismasterjohnphd.com/cmj-masterpass/2200/buy?coupon=LITE10 Page 84 of this PDF has a table of the GABA content of foods: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/gabathesis Here are the recent episodes on GABA: GABA for Faster Decision-Making https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/2019/01/24/gaba-faster-decision-making/ Face Your Fears With GABA https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/2019/01/29/face-fears-gaba/ Why You Might Need Carbs With Your GABA or Glycine https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/2019/02/05/7367/ Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here.

Most people won’t have adverse effects from taking GABA or glycine supplements, but some do. If you find that either of these cause anxiety from tanking your breathing or heart rate, a dose of high-glycemic carbs like white potatoes, sweet potatoes, or rice, could be the thing that helps. Tune in to find out why! This episode is brought to you by Ancestral Supplements' "Living" Collagen. Our Native American ancestors believed that eating the organs from a healthy animal would support the health of the corresponding organ of the individual. Ancestral Supplements has a nose-to-tail product line of grass-fed liver, organs, "living" collagen, bone marrow and more... in the convenience of a capsule. For more information or to buy any of their products, go to https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/ancestral This episode is brought to you by Ample. Ample is a meal-in-a-bottle that takes a total of two minutes to prepare, consume, and clean up. It provides the right balance of nutrients needed for a single meal, all from a blend of natural ingredients. Ample is available in original, vegan, and keto versions, portioned as either 400 or 600 calories per meal. I'm an advisor to Ample, and I use it to save time when I'm working on major projects on a tight schedule. Head to https://amplemeal.com and enter the promo code “CHRIS15” at checkout for a 15% discount off your first order. To get these episodes free of ads, with transcripts, and weeks or sometimes even months before they are released to the public, along with access to monthly live Q&A sessions, sign up for the CMJ Masterpass at https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/masterpass. Use the code LITE10 to get 10% off. To make it easier to get the discount, use this link, which has the coupon already activated: https://masterpass.chrismasterjohnphd.com/cmj-masterpass/2200/buy?coupon=LITE10 Here are the recent episodes on GABA: Face your Fears with GABA: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/2019/01/29/face-fears-gaba/ Courage, Not Confidence, For Facing Fears: https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/2019/01/31/courage-not-confidence-facing-fears/ Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here.

Part 4 of how NUTRITION has a HUGE impact on your BRAIN! Everything in your brain is something you ate, something you made from something you ate, or, in a few cases, something your mother ate. Nutrition impacts your mental and emotional health, the function of your five senses, and your conscious and unconscious control over your body movements. Join me as I lead you in a safari through the textbook, “Neuroscience,” pointing out along the way all the interesting connections to nutrition. Listen in for part 2 on the COGNITIVE FUNCTIONS! Mental and emotional health, cognitive performance, and sleep! Ads This episode is brought to you by Ancestral Supplements' "Living" Collagen. Our Native American ancestors believed that eating the organs from a healthy animal would support the health of the corresponding organ of the individual. Ancestral Supplements has a nose-to-tail product line of grass-fed liver, organs, "living" collagen, bone marrow and more... in the convenience of a capsule. For more information or to buy any of their products, go to https://chrismasterjohnphd.com/ancestral This episode is brought to you by Ample. Ample is a meal-in-a-bottle that takes a total of two minutes to prepare, consume, and clean up. It provides the right balance of nutrients needed for a single meal, all from a blend of natural ingredients. Ample is available in original, vegan, and keto versions, portioned as either 400 or 600 calories per meal. I'm an advisor to Ample, and I use it to save time when I'm working on major projects on a tight schedule. Head to https://amplemeal.com and enter the promo code “CHRIS15” at checkout for a 15% discount off your first order.” In this episode, you will find all of the following and more: 00:39 Cliff Notes 12:08 Anatomy of the brain 16:41 The role of the basal ganglia in suppressing the investment of energy in any type of program until there is a worthwhile reason not to suppress it, and how dopamine acts as a signal of value in the basal ganglia via disinhibition 24:56 Why we can view Parkinson’s as fundamentally not a problem with movement but as a problem with a perception of the value of investing energy in controlling movement 28:23 Tonic and phasic dopamine and the importance of COMT-mediated methylation for regulating the tonic level of dopamine 36:34 The importance of GABA in suppressing the programs that dopamine doesn't signal has value in order to make the dopamine signal of value meaningful 37:28 Overview of the autonomic nervous system; the sympathetic nervous system mediates the fight-or-flight response, and the parasympathetic nervous system mediates the rest-and-digest response. 41:11 The roles of acetylcholine and norepinephrine in the autonomic nervous system, and the importance of nitric oxide to the sexual functions of the autonomic nervous system 44:28 Sleep and circadian rhythms, the importance of vitamin A, morning sun exposure, and avoiding blue light at night 48:12 Melatonin synthesis, the importance of vitamin B6, BH4, oxidative stress, vitamin B5, methylation, and tryptophan uptake into the brain 51:10 Why you can't mimic your natural melatonin rhythm with melatonin supplements 52:55 Antidiuretic hormone, the importance of light hygiene for preventing you from getting up to pee in the middle of the night, and why salt might also help 56:14 Whether the timing of carbohydrate, protein, and choline supplements makes a difference for your daytime wakefulness, your nighttime sleepiness, your deep sleep, and your REM sleep 01:00:44 The possibility that glycine and magnesium could help get rid of conditioned fear responses 01:01:30 Thoughts on consciousness; are we a ghost in the machine, or are we just a machine? 01:06:25 The default mode network is fundamentally about our inward, introverted-directed processes, contrasted with the executive control network, which is fundamentally about our relationship to the outside world and our extraverted functions. 01:10:52 How activities that had nothing to do with people skills but allowed me to flex my extroverted muscles, like exploring the outside world on my own, helped me with my people skills 01:16:48 Nutrition cannot replace the cognitive work necessary to have a healthy mindset and life, but nutrition does make it easier to do the right thing for your mental health. Access the show notes, transcript, and comments here: https://chrismasterjohnphd.substack.com/p/056-nutrition-in-neuroscience-part