In this episode Marta Anhelush from BioCare joins Kirsten to speak about the pain of mental illness. They discuss the current epidemic of mental health problems and the stigma that still surrounds this, alongside the limitations of our healthcare system, and the lack of education on how diet and lifestyle can support mental health. Marta shares some of the ways she supports mental health issues as a nutritional therapist, with a particular focus on finding purpose in life.
This podcast is sponsored by BioCare.
By understanding the connections between genetics, body systems and lifestyles, BioCare creates effective food supplements, to support their customers health issues; made in the UK, without unnecessary additives. They share their knowledge with others, offering free support, advice and education for all. Because at BioCare, they care, as they always have, about shaping a healthier society. https://www.biocare.co.uk/
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The IHCAN magazine Podcast is provided for professional education and debate and is not intended to be used by non-medically qualified individuals as a substitute for, or basis of, medical treatment.
In this episode Marta Anhelush from BioCare joins Kirsten to speak about the pain of mental illness. They discuss the current epidemic of mental health problems and the stigma that still surrounds this, alongside the limitations of our healthcare system, and the lack of education on how diet and lifestyle can support mental health. Marta shares some of the ways she supports mental health issues as a nutritional therapist, with a particular focus on finding purpose in life.
This podcast is sponsored by BioCare.
By understanding the connections between genetics, body systems and lifestyles, BioCare creates effective food supplements, to support their customers health issues; made in the UK, without unnecessary additives. They share their knowledge with others, offering free support, advice and education for all. Because at BioCare, they care, as they always have, about shaping a healthier society. https://www.biocare.co.uk/
--
The IHCAN magazine Podcast is provided for professional education and debate and is not intended to be used by non-medically qualified individuals as a substitute for, or basis of, medical treatment.
Speaker 1
Thanks for tuning in to this Biocare Special Podcast on mental health with our head of Clinical Nutrition, Marta Anhelush. We're delighted you're joining us. And as a. Thank you. We're offering you an extra 15% off the entire range on top of your existing trade discount using the code ICAN 15 does you're looking for a bit of extra support in making sure you're picking the right supplements for your clients. Martha's team are on hand with free expert product advice. The Clinical Nutrition team are available on Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 5:00 over the phone or e-mail for all of your client related. Questions. Or maybe you're interested in something to yourself. Use the code ICAN 15 to benefit from an extra 15% off on top of your trade discount terms and conditions apply. Visit biocare.co.uk to find out more.
Speaker 3
Hi and welcome to the ICAN Magazine podcast. I'm Kirsten, Chick nutritional therapist and author and on today's episode I'm talking with Martha Annalise, nutritional therapist and head of Clinical Nutrition at Biocare. And we're going to be talking about the. Pain of mental illness. Hello, Martin. Thanks for joining me today.
Speaker 2
Hi Kirsten. Lovely to be here. Hello, everyone.
Speaker 3
So first of all, Martha, how long have you been working in nutrition and how did you come to it?
Speaker 2
Well, I think like many people, many therapists of all sorts of different professions that I speak to, and for many people, it starts with some form of a personal journey, doesn't it? Because that's a huge motivator when it's either our own health for a lot of people or our families health. You know, that's something that really motivates us to, to change, to seek. And your approach is to read to learn, and that was the same for me. So it's my son's health that really. Opened my eyes to nutrition and holistic health and what I could do for him and of course then I started a course. So it was really. Gave me another purpose in life and today talking about mental health so. I'm sure we'll. Come up to a purpose in life and how important that is for our well-being and our mental health. So certainly that. Was that for me? And that purpose can change, and at that moment in time, of course, it was my, my little baby. But also then it was finding a a course of in nutritional therapy and doing that course and and. And it took me. That's how long has it been actually? 1212 years now since I started a. Bit more maybe. Even so, it's been 12 years of of learning, working and being inspired by people, by the fabulous industry we're in, and it doesn't stop, so it's great. Brilliant.
Speaker 3
And and you you work at bike care in fact. I've seen you. Speak at some bike care events and you're very knowledgeable and eloquent and you get to hang out with some really knowledgeable and eloquent experts as well. So that's a really good place to be.
Speaker 2
Thank you. Yeah, it's. A real privilege to work with different people and and. To meet different. Practitioners, because that that is one thing that really inspires me in my work and and in private practise when I've done it before. As many of you know, it can be quite lonely, so I think my having my job is fantastic because I don't get that. But at the same time, I have the the practical part of of working and advising people what to do, but also get the mentor. And and speak and meet different speakers and work with them. Which is. Yeah. Amazing, really.
Speaker 3
So this where you wanted to talk about mental health problems today, and I think that's a really excellent topic and there seems to be a real epidemic at the moment in the UK. Do you think that's because people are more feel more confident to talk about it? Do you think it's more being more diagnosed? Or do you think actually things are getting worse?
Speaker 2
Yeah, it's interesting. It's a big combination of those things. I think in general over the last decades, I think I do feel like we've lost ourselves a little bit and our environments are social. Life has been changing so much, technology has been. Changing how we socialise with people and and therefore what we expose our nervous system to is so completely different and I think. As you know, in terms of evolution and adaptation. A long time. Needs it has for us to adapt, really, truly adapt and settle in in new conditions and in many respects, but in different contexts, and to do with nutrition and health. I don't think we've had enough time to adapt to it and of course. Cliche. We've had the COVID pandemic in the last few years and that was very concentrated and very extreme, and some people did quite well, depending on their circumstances. If they had some time off or enjoy the weather. But for people who may be had some predisposition to mental health issues, or Kate may, perhaps poor resilience or their nutritional status wasn't good enough, that that was a a huge challenge. And for adults and children, of course, and when we talk about children specifically, then. The 2-3 years of that pandemic, that's a huge chunk of their life was, you know, in our adult life when we in our 30s, Forties, 60s, et cetera, 3 years isn't it's. It's a long period and you know, you can go back and. Reflect on how you felt and how long it felt, but in children's life, when they they only 6 or 8 or 1014, even teenagers. That's a huge percentage of their life and so much that happens in their bodies at that time. Yeah, it's it's been a huge challenge. So. So there is that that I think for that patient lots of changes and particularly in the last few years and of course our health service is just not prepared for that. We haven't got capacity to to deal with it. There is no. And not enough support. And we know that from. How long the waiting lists? Are for mental health support, so it's just. Non existent really and of. When we talk about whether it's depression, anxiety, psychiatric disorders, of course, we know that the main solution to that is medication and and that's just not enough and sometimes not good enough for many people. And and you also mentioned whether. We talk about it more and whether it's we just have more diagnosis or we hear about it more and possibly I think that's been the case for many things like ADHD. And children's problems, for example, you know, was that an issue 50 years ago we just didn't diagnose it or we didn't see as such a problem, but it's. Just kids running around. You know. Ohh yeah. You just feel a bit depressed. You know something happened. That's OK. Absolutely. I think that's a factor. But I do believe that. That's great that we do talk about it because well, I I wanted to call this episode the pain of mental illness and actually to add to that, I think it's a silent pain because. Often people with mental health problems. They suffer in silence. And that's the killer, really. When, first of all, the individuals who are affected, they might feel low. They might feel anxious, mood, have mood swings, feel angry and and sometimes they don't even realise themselves what's going on. And they they remain silent. But also there is a lot of stigma. There is a. Lot of guilt and. Shame in that and that's why that silence continues and. I thought that shame was really because. When we talk about physical pain, you know you had an injury or you've got arthritis. It's like this associated from wear to leg that's hurting. It's your head that's hurting. That's OK that's not. You know that's there and it's there's no guilt about it. You know, it's it's genetic or it's because I had this injury at this accident. It's very easy. Generalising quite easy to talk about, but when we talk about. Depression, anxiety, bipolar, schizophrenia, you name it. It relates to you. It relates to you as a person, as an individual, as a human being. It's to do with your personality, your ego. So that's really hard because what they, whatever you say, whatever. However you describe it, comes back to, well, that's about you isn't as a person and it just kind of makes that problem even worse potentially. But I think speaking out and the fact that lots of. People have been and. In the media, lots of celebrities. And that's great. And I think, whoa. Has had those problems in the past currently and maybe got through it and feels better. And can find the courage to talk about it. Then they should. Because then in that will encourage other people to speak out, or even seek help, or do whatever. And I really hope that perhaps in so many years time it will just be normality to say I'm feeling a bit low today. So can I take some time off work? How do you talk to your employer about mental health problems? I I bet lots of people just blame on something else because they don't want to have that conversation, and the silence is on the other side as well because we as a society, I think we don't know how to talk about mental health. We don't know what questions to ask or how to respond. It's very uncomfortable. So it just stops that conversation.
Speaker 3
Yeah, I think I think you're right and the amount of times we hear stories about people who have taken their own lives and everyone that's close to them, saying we didn't see it coming. We see no idea.
Speaker 2
Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah, that's a I I well I. Thankfully, not personally around me, but I. Do see that. A lot because of how many people I talked to. And of course you just hear about those examples even in in the media. The the signs are there but. But people also hide them, you know people. Put a smiley. Face and maybe especially like in our in in the UK and stuff. In the western. World and and and again the changes that we've gone through social media is a little bit to blame because we. You don't want to be. Seeing as as weak struggling because when you look outside, when you look on social media, everything is pretty people achieve amazing things and they constantly learn and they have this beautiful lifestyle and they look amazing. So I don't want to show that I'm not that. That's. You know, that's really hard. That's changing a little bit as well. I see I'm I'm. Mostly off social media other than actually, but I do see that there's more videos or conversation about. Well, this is what it looks. Like on Instagram? But in real life it looks like that, so I'm sure you've seen. That as well, so that's. Something good.
Speaker 3
Yeah, we're we're starting to have these conversations a lot more and I think some of the tabbies are lifting. But you're right, it's it's a, it's like with anything, when anything's changing, you were speaking before about the transition period can be really stressful in itself because we we're not used to behaving in this way and we're finding. New ways, so it's it's great that things are opening up, but it can be really difficult to figure out how to navigate. Yeah, this new way. You know, we're supposed to talk about this more, but actually, how receptive is the bus going to be or the family or? You know it's we're still in really unknown territory.
Speaker 2
Yeah. And it's not resilience. And I remember actually at work here at Berkeley, he relatively recently had some training for managers on mental health. And normally all the training we do is really good and. That was external. And unfortunately, that wasn't a lot of people left. It felt a bit uncomfortable. It it wasn't the best training, unfortunately, but but remember, remember the person talks about stress and that actually it's good to be stressed. She herself felt that it really helped her to do more, get her work done, be motivated, and she felt OK about it, sort of not recognising that there's lots of other people that don't feel like that, but it's about that resilience of how you can adapt to that stress. And of course that you stress the positive. Stress as well that we need. But if you don't have that ability to. To sort of. Move on from that to get through it and I think the support network around you is so important and your your family and your friends and and and having that is part of that resilience. I think whatever that is for you and also just sort of being yourself and not trying to be different. And my quotes and thanks for for that point, she said in her diary. Let me be myself then I'm satisfied. And I think. That speaks volumes really about sometimes we just lose ourselves ourselves as individuals and we we try to be someone else and pretend or be better or be like that other person, or feel really bad about who we are. And and that's just unsustainable. You can only do that for so long. And and it's only superficially. Good. You know, only superficially a better person. Whatever that mean. So I think being ourselves and true to ourselves and acceptance of ourselves is key. And there's lots of talk about loving yourself. And that's great. But with me personally, it just, I just can't. I just can't bring myself to to say I say that that's part of the problem, I think, but. If that works for you, I think that's fine. I don't think you have to work for everyone. That's quite a strong word, you know, loving yourself. You. Yeah. You love your parents, your, your siblings, your children. You can find that you can easily. Resonate with that, but for yourself, you probably have to work on it if it's hard, but I think acceptance isn't for me. That resonates a bit more. Just accept that you know you've you've got certain, maybe you see. Them as flaws, but. They could be beneficial in different circumstances and different therapies, or really meditation, mindfulness, different, different things that we can do that we use or recommend as well. With this as well can be really helpful to just just to find that and accept those different traits and and see. What you see currently is flaws and actually benefits.
Speaker 3
Yeah. Second yourself. A little bit more. Yeah. Yeah. And it's, you know, not not everything works for everybody. And that's an interesting point, isn't it? Because some people try something and it just it doesn't feel right for whatever reason. So they're just back off from trying anything else. But there are so many things. There's so many lifestyle changes. Therapies we're much more aware now about how things like exercise can help community engagement. Getting involved in local communities can be really helpful, but not many people realise the importance of nutrition. So, Marta, when nutritional therapists?
Speaker
Are back.
Speaker 3
So we're going to come to this soon or later, but tell us some of the ways in which nutrition can play a big role here.
Speaker 2
Huge. It plays a huge role. It's the foundation really, in terms of nervous system function and mental health. It is dependent on that that good function and neurotransmitter production and their regulation is depending on so many different nutrients. That diet is a foundation really, to to give your body what it needs from protein and amino acid to make different neurotransmitters like dopamine. And for motivation and serotonin and and and the sleep. So Faber transmitting melatonin for sleep. They depend. Done. Good protein intake and I think that's insufficient. And then the process of producing them, managing their levels to make sure they're adequate, not too much, not too little, they're depending on multiple nutrients from B vitamins and magnesium to zinc. That's really critical ones and. And we of course practise personalised nutrition and they will, like you said, just like the different therapies, different types of exercise, therefore different types of diets or different foods and. Might suit individuals, but to be honest, most of the time, especially at the beginning, if somebody's just starting their journey, it's really the basics, you know, it's like I said, the protein, good quality and high levels of protein than we often get from our diets. It's more vegetables and especially lots of different colours and greens and. Just by doing that, you don't have to. Worry about ohh. Does it have enough money? Asian or which which nutrients does this food have? Don't worry about it as long as you clothes different types, good variety, lots of colours. Then they will. Be covered or much better. Without doing that and and healthy fats, of course. So yeah, I'm talking about basics, but and Mediterranean diet comes up a lot in research. Of course, you have to question what that is. You know, it's not the type of Mediterranean diet that you probably have when you go on holiday, it's really going back to. You know, a few decades ago, all those people ate and that was nothing fancy. Lots of lentils, beans, fish with bats and vegetable. But as you know, Mediterranean diet has been research loads and the the basic principles are great. Great starting point for a lot of people. And once that's in place then you can personalise it and you can do some testing to see what might be deficient or what might need more. Support or perhaps? Certain things, such as they agree with certain people so, but a lot of the time is the the basic things that really make a big difference.
Speaker 3
And it is. It's interesting, isn't it? Because we kind of are brought up to think our, our brains, our nervous system, our bodies generally are just these robots that just keep on going and going and going. And we we think of food as fuel, don't we? We we have to put some energy in, but we never really get properly taught. About how all of these different things like nerves and and hormones and the and the basic functions of our bodies need nutrients. They don't just happen on their own, nothing just happens like a robot. We need all of these things you've. Been talking about.
Speaker 2
And yes, and we very much overfed but undernourished. There all the times they. We have plenty of food, but the nutrient status of those foods and often even on a good diet, and it's hard to get all the nutrients and in that we need. In the modern world, the. Requirements for those nutrients are much higher because of the lifestyle because of the toxic environment and very often. Here I've got a very good diet. OK, don't don't doubt that. And that's brilliant that you've. Made these changes. But is that enough? You know? Is that enough for? What we, we then, and even if you have. Avocado fantastic. But it's, you know, it's flowing from across the world roads and it was picked weeks ago. And the spinach right now, you know, it's not glowing outside, really. And he's been sacked on the shelf for a few days and has lost a lot of. Nutrients so it's. Very different to my grandparents and they had a little garden at the back of their house and. With a lot of the vegetables there. Picked it fresh and also ate seasonally. That's completely different. So I think the reality is we need to make other the the best we can and seasonality is important. And I think there are certain nutrients that we just don't have enough and need supplements to some extent. Diet is the foundation, but the reality is we often need to.
Speaker
Do it.
Speaker 2
Especially if people have problems, issues with their health.
Speaker 4
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Speaker 3
So I want to talk about some of the the common things that you might want to add in. But first of all, do you find that blood sugar management? Plays a role as well.
Speaker 2
Yes, absolutely. Yeah. And you're talking to to therapists so you know about the roller coaster of your glucose levels going up and down because. Of lots of carbohydrate diets, not enough fats and protein to balance it out, and not enough complex carbohydrate even and and that can have that that roller coaster. Can be mimicked in your neurotransmitter. Production response. So if you your blood sugar levels are dysregulated, we can also see that in a similar way, for example dopamine, because it's very it's it's linked to a stress response dopamine as a neurotransmitter is one of the neurotransmitters that is released with stress. And and low blood sugar levels. Or fluctuations is a is a stressor. And of course, little dopamine is going to make us quite low. Pathetic. You can't. Be bothered to. Do anything we're not interested in anything. Not motivated? Yeah. It's high dopamine. Excessively high. It's going to make us very stressed and anxious. And that's where the mood swings.
Speaker
Right.
Speaker 2
Well, yeah. You feel low and then you put stress after a while and you can't handle it and. Because dopamine is about if you've got low dopamine, you you want to increase it again, your body will do things or make you reach for things that will increase. That doping again is that anticipation that build up that drives you. And of course it's the. The things that will raise that doping quite immediately. And that's things that are not very good for us. So we get a dopamine spike will make us feel good for a little while and then it will fall again. So it's things like high sugary foods. So obviously things like chocolate and sweets and high carbohydrate, highly palatable foods which are so big. And our feeling, the street with sweetness and flavourings and lots of different ingredients, actually we say that our diet is lacks diversity, but actually. It is diverse, but in the wrong way because if you look at one food one. I don't know. I don't you probably. I hope I don't. Eat those things so I can't think. Of examples, but you know 11 food can have 20-30 different ingredients and often it is different sweeteners and different flavourings and different types of carbohydrates, and all of those very potently simulated. Help me. But then there is no nutrient coming with it, and to produce dopamine and to detoxify it. So you don't get the highs and that roller coaster that constantly drives to, OK, I need to do something else, something else and some stimulants or it could of course lead to addictions. And those linked to addictions. But the nutrients that you need is zinc, vitamin B6, magnesium, not good methylation, so methyl folate and B12, so so many nutrients. So you you have this food, you produce lots of food for me, but all you have from that food is those additives, lots of carbohydrates. OK, maybe some vitamins if it's from some flour, for example. I I don't know what I think. I'm. I keep thinking about sausage roll.
Speaker 3
You're probably right. You know, I I remember. Doing a thing once, so we we were. Pairing, gluten free and non gluten free ever like standard versions of the same thing. And we looked at custard creams like a standard custard cream. Actually, you know only had about three or four ingredients. They weren't the best, but you know, really simple but gluten free custard creams. The ingredients list was off the hook.
Speaker 2
Yeah. So you might as well suffer the gluten. You don't have that.
Speaker 3
And you can see how people get stuck into these cycles, can't you? That you're talking about? Because if. You're if you're on the floor with your energy and your mood, then you haven't got the energy or the motivation to to Kirk or even to go out shopping. And these things are like, really. Easy to grab. Give you a little dopamine in here, and then you're just trapped in that.
Speaker 2
Cycle. Yeah. And you need to break that cycle. And genetically, some people just have more propensity to that, that fluctuation those behaviours. So it's not their fault, you know, it's their Physiology, it's their genetics. But having a learner so they can be very helpful in the first place. Because you will blame yourself. You know you will have lots of guilt. Ohh. I did it again. Yeah, yeah. And why did I do that? I know it makes me feel bad after, you know, the next day, etcetera. So you just need to break the cycle. And the simple thing. So blood sugar control and just have a really good breakfast with lots of protein. Just start with that. So have three eggs, you know, not just one. Have if you have a smoothie, put a really good amount of protein. Powder in it. And and if you adventurous I I will eat anything for breakfast. But you know, people have routines but that you can even have a piece of fish or or some some don't you know. And I guess in in Asia and in India in those countries they will have a bit of. Curry, probably for. For the morning. What's what's wrong with that? That's brilliant, you know? And that really sets your day. And that's really important. And, you know, is breakfast the most important meal? Of the day. You know you can have a different time. It doesn't have to be, you know. Very early in. The morning. Because if that doesn't work for you, that's OK, but. It is true that. You know, if you start well then the the rest of the day is just going to be much more easier to handle and you might not even notice that. And that's important because you're just going to feel better. You're not going to think about. Ohh, I need some chocolate or some coffee because I'm feeling tired. And slowly but surely, you'll be able to include more of those good habits and good food.
Speaker 3
It's umm brilliant. Yeah, really great. And I wanted to come back to some of those other nutrients. So once you've got somebody's, once you got the basics in place, you said, then you can move on to test to see what else might be lacking and and are there some, like, really good. Except for nutrients for mental health that you find yourself reaching for a lot.
Speaker 2
Sure. We mentioned methylation and that process of methylation is critical for proper nervous system function, so. It works on. All different levels that are vital. First of all the. The formation of our nervous tissue, our nerves and the milling. Sheet the fatty sheet that insulates the nerves and makes sure that those nerve impulses are happening really quickly. That's dependent on methylation. So the structural components and then we already mentioned the production of neurotransmitters such as serotonin such as dopamine, noradrenaline, adrenaline and is dependent on it as well. And then the breakdown. So it kind of works on all different levels. So and in terms of nutrients that you need. Or it's it's. It's quite a few, but of course. You're familiar with. Most critical ones. That are involved in family production, so ethanol methionine in the methionine cycle that we folate as methylfolate the methylated version vitamin B12, magnesium. You can use zinc and B6 also useful for different pathways. So I think those are critical and we know. On various research that a lot of people who suffer from mental health illness, psychiatric disorders often have different genetic variants, and polymorphisms that perhaps slow that process down at different levels. And you know, we can do some testing to see which pathway it is affected. But I think making sure that methylation is well supported. And the diet is going to help, but very often a supplement I think is important to add in. But gently, because it does so much, you don't want to irritate it very quickly, so be gentle with that supplementation. But you can do wonders, really.
Speaker 3
Marvellous. OK. And you also mentioned sleep earlier and it's a lifestyle aspect that's had a lot of attention recently and there's there's a really quite worrying data out there about mental and physical health related to lack of sleep. But actually it can be really tricky to improve. So what? How do you usually tackle that?
Speaker 2
Sure. Yeah, it's it's so crucial and actually funny enough, I was watching telly yesterday and an advert came. Up and it. Was the dream mattresses, I think. And obviously they've caught on to like the research or you know what we're saying about how important sleep is? I think they're saying something about. Ohh if you sleep better, you're going to be more productive and have better blood pressure. And buddy buddy, don't listen. In these, the health problems are going to improve. If you sleep well on the nice mattress and the last thing they said was sleep can make you. Feel alive again. I'm for mental health. It's it's. True, it's funny that it comes from that advert, but when when we have mental health issues, we probably don't feel very alive, so we can do that. We can do wonders and sleep is a time where. Our nervous system can process all their multitude of stimuli, information, memories, you know, behaviours, experiences that we have during the day. It needs to process that, put that in the right place. Decide do I need to. Remember that is that going to be useful to me later on? I was a bit stressed. What do I need to do with that? Is needed for processing all the toxins or the inflammatory cytokines from the nervous tissue, because within the brain within the nervous tissue specifically, we don't have pain receptors. We don't, you know, feel those things like we do in other parts of the body. So sleep is that critical period to. Repair things, clear things and process and organise everything. So if we don't sleep enough, or the quality of that sleep isn't good, then that's going to. Have a huge impact on on our mental health and in health in general and and we just need to allow ourselves to sleep. And I think sometimes often we felt like. There is so much to do and so much to achieve, and with a huge To Do List and making ourselves. Comparing ourselves with other people than sleep doctor often not be prioritised and we do need to prioritise it. So a lot of people struggle with it of course. Good routine as important before you get to bed and making making sure. We don't have any excessive light coming into the bedroom and of course technology phone usage before bed is not great. But in terms of I think he wants to know about nutrients. Some of the nutrients we've already talked about are critical, like magnesium. But I do use a lot of botanicals to support sleep and really prepared. For the for. Relaxation, and for some people you lost. You want to focus on the. Lifestyle thing, I think. These different herbs can really be really helpful just to take the edge off just to relax the body. So I love things like feeling and lemon bar hops and cherry different types. Of cherry like. The Montmorency cherry. They're really fantastic, really relaxing the nervous system. Putting Gabba levels. Reducing the the breakdown of Gaza so we've got more gabas to have that inhibitory effect on the nervous system and also reduce glutamate, which is the opposite very excitatory. And if you have lots of glutamate, you're going to be quite irritated, quite wired and tired in the evening. So those botanicals. And work really well really effectively really quickly. You can notice a difference within half an hour, an hour of taking or something like that, or having tea. If that's enough for you.
Speaker 3
And you were you were speaking about the influence of GABA, which can be really kind of anti anxiety and calming and seething, and glutamate that can be the opposite. And obviously these are. These are gonna be helpful for sleep, but they're going to be helpful for mental health. Generally, for most people, aren't they?
Speaker 2
Yes. Yeah, yeah. So I would use that similar nutrients and botanicals for anxiety or depression. And then because absolutely the depression will have a lot of glutamate, a lot of inflammation. That's another pain of mental illness. Is the inflammation, the silent inflammation that. We don't necessarily see and know about that. We know it's hugely linked to all of those issues. So all of those botanicals are not only sort of gather promoting nervous system relaxant but also they're very anti-inflammatory, very antioxidant. So they can reduce neuroinflammation. So that's, that's the beauty of nutritional nutrients that they don't just do one thing like medication does.
Speaker 3
Yeah, I love an efficient supplement or feed. So find a couple of questions for you are to firstly and who in the world of nutrition is really inspiring you right now?
Speaker 2
It's a hard one to answer, but. I think based on the topic today. Constant thing to say something maybe a bit unexpected, but I think it's really important to actually. Look around you. And actually you don't need to look very far for many things, but also for inspiration. Uh-huh. So it doesn't have to be anything fancy or someone out there on the other side of the Atlantic, you know, inspiring you. But actually the people around you, and sometimes we forget about it and we don't see it. Cause it's it's you just take things for granted a lot. So I'll I'll say it's my partner who's also a therapist and a brilliant one. And he's got such a depth of knowledge. But at the same time, he's got such a unique view on health and nutrition and. And sometimes you get into a deep conversation and I'm always surprised and inspired by what? The outcome is. So that's that's my inspiration on a daily basis, yeah.
Speaker 3
That's a really lovely answer I.
Speaker
Love that one.
Speaker 3
And back to you again. So what do you enjoy most? About your work.
Speaker 2
A lot, and I'd say cliche working with like minded people. That's huge privilege of of my job. But I've always had a think, a deep need to to change, to improve things so. I think it's the ability to see change in people's lives. And when I talk to our customers and talk to you practitioners and get feedback about how things have changed in their life for for the better of course, and sometimes simple things or sometimes even a conversation when somebody really listens. And it's a change in in people. Perhaps I work with and see the change in people's confidence, as I often start, have people in my team, he have come out from, from college and have all this knowledge and and are very. Passionate about what they do and what they've learned, and then I can see how they grow in confidence of not only. Having learnt all about nutrition but also applying it in practise and even maybe then speaking and delivering training and education, and I love that. So that scene change and I know there is more and I'm excited to see what's there to come from me.
Speaker 3
Brilliant. Thanks, Martin. That was really great. I really enjoyed that.
Speaker 2
It was lovely to talk to you, fantastic host. Thank you very much.
Speaker 3
Brilliant. Thank you. So that was Martha and Alesh, nutritional therapist and head of Clinical Nutrition at Biocare, chatting with me. Kirsten Chick, I hope you enjoyed listening and gained some useful insights about the pain of mental illness.
Speaker 1
Thanks for tuning in to this Biocare Special Podcast on mental health with our head of Clinical Nutrition, Marta analysis. We hope you enjoyed it and as a thank you for joining us, we're offering you an extra 15% off the entire range on top of your existing trade discount. Using the code I can 15 this you're looking for a bit of extra. Support in making sure you're picking the right supplements for your clients. Martha's team are on hand with free expert product advice. The Clinical Nutrition team are available Monday to Friday from 9:00 to 5:00 over the phone or e-mail for all of your client related quest. Or maybe you're interested in something for yourself. Use the code ICAN 15 to benefit from an extra 15% off on top of your trade discount terms and conditions apply. Visit biocare.co.uk to find out more.