Neurofeedback and hypnosis are amazingly powerful tools. Their limitation, though, lies in the fact that they are not capable of fixing nutritional deficiencies, and nutritional issues often accompany the reasons that people seek my services.

Whatever your reasons for seeking to change yourself through brain training or hypnosis, making healthy food choices and perhaps healthy supplement choices can accelerate your progress to your goal. The trouble is, it’s hard to know the right thing to do, and it’s hard to access the right foods if you don’t know what to do. Most grocery stores are full of digestible (and perhaps not-so-digestible) food-like substances that carry little or no nutritional value. Then, to make matters worse, there is so much noise in the world of nutrition—fad diet advocates hawking their programs or products, food advertising on television, doctors who lack nutrition training, and even friends and relatives with shaky advice.  Where do you turn?

Certainly, functional medicine doctors and nutritionists are a good start. If you’re looking to educate yourself and make decisions through reading what experts have to say, though, anything by Michael Pollan is worth your time, especially his books In Defense of Food and The Omnivore’s Dilemma. He condenses his advice to the following:  eat real food, not too much, mostly plants.  It’s stunning in its simplicity. His work is my favorite.

I am also fan of the following books that have been helpful to my clients in the past. I am listing these in no particular order:

• The Anti-Anxiety Food Solution, by Trudy Scott. Ms. Scott, too, has simple advice on food consumption, and she also has a section on boosting brain function using amino acids such as GABA, tryptophan or 5-HTP, tyrosine, DPA or DLPA, and glutamine.
• Gut and Psychology Syndrome, by Dr. Natascha Campbell-McBride. I’ll be honest, the GAPs diet takes effort to adhere to for any length of time. That said, her thousands of patients can attest to how effective this nutritional therapy is at helping ADHD, autism, depression, and even schizophrenia.
• The ADHD and Autism Nutritional Supplement Handbook, by Dana Godbout Laake and Dr. Pamela Compart. Dana Laake’s nutritional approaches to healing are famous, and frankly, even readers without ADHD and autism could benefit from her supplement and nutritional advice.
• Potatoes not Prozac, by Kathleen DesMaisons, PhD. Dr. DesMaisons talks about sugar sensitivity and its impact on physical and emotional well-being.
• The Mood Cure, by Julia Ross.  Ross is a pioneer in nutritional therapy for improving mood. Her book includes many examples of supplement use, particularly amino acids.
• Your Body’s Many Cries for Water, by Dr. F. Batmanghelidj. Dr. Batmanghelidj explores the impact of unintentional chronic dehydration on stress and physical disease.
• Healing the New Childhood Epidemics, by Dr. Kenneth Bock and Cameron Stauth. This book explores the foundational patterns to cure rather than symptom suppress a variety of disorders, including ADHD.
• Power Up Your Brain by Dr. David Perlmutter and Alberto Villoldo or Grain Brain, by Dr. David Perlmutter.  Dr. Perlmutter is a household name to many people. His work on the impact of food, especially wheat, on brain health continues to be cutting-edge.
• Nutrient Power—Heal Your Biochemistry and Heal Your Brain, by William Walsh, PhD.  The title speaks for itself in that the author explores the physiological bases of brain health.

These books are good starting points, and there are many other worthy titles you can find. When choosing your reading material, avoiding trendy diets and fads while sticking with common sense nutritional science (ie, Michael Pollan’s work) is a good plan.

And, of course, my work to help you self-regulate your brainwave energy patterns and your subconscious beliefs are excellent ways to help you change your life. Nutrition is just one piece of the puzzle.  You can eat a whole wheelbarrow full of spinach, but you’ll likely still want other tools to improve your quality of life and sense of well-being.

P.S.  If you are local, I believe I have at least one copy of each of the above-mentioned books in my office if you would like to borrow them.