The Certified Mental Wellness Coach (CMWC) will be going ONLINE in just a couple weeks!!! (just a few last details to upload – so stay tuned)…

The CMWC is a streamlined, focused, intense course spanning 16 hours of instruction on the role of diet and lifestyle factors in balancing the Microbiome-Gut-Heart-Brain-Axis for improved Mental Wellness.

Your digital badge (see below) will be issued by Marietta College (where I got my Sports Medicine degree and where I am part of the Faculty) – and you’ll have access to dozens of videos, hundreds of slides, a numerous books, articles, and special reports on Mental Wellness, microbiome, gut health and so much more.

“Follow” my blog (lower right) to get updates (your email is ONLY used when new articles are posted to this blog).

Background – Why Becoming a CMWC is Important

At no time in human history have we ever been so “advanced” technologically and yet so miserable psychologically.

It’s no exaggeration to describe stress, depression, anxiety, and burnout as epidemics – literally the “Black Plague” of our modern times.

How you feel is not just in your head, it’s also in your gut, and your heart, and your immune system, and in many other places inside and outside the actual brain in your head.

National surveys show that happiness and life satisfaction levels are at all-time lows, while depression, suicide, drug addiction, and use of prescription antidepressants and pain-killing opioids are at all-time highs.

There is no physical health without mental wellness. They are two sides of the same coin, and they are vital for each other and for our ability to reach our peak potential in this one life that we have to live.

The CMWC will explore research-supported natural approaches can improve how we feel mentally and perform physically in every aspect of our daily lives, including:

• What is Mental Wellness Coaching
  • Education, Guidance, Training, Support to help unlock potential
  • Why EVERYONE needs a coach!
• What Mental Wellness Coaching is NOT
  • Counseling, treatment, prescribing, medicine…
• Objectives
  • Workshop Format
  • 500+ slides (many for reference)
• Part 1 – Science
  • New Paradigm of the Gut-Heart-Brain-Axis
  • Science-based products (how Amare fits)
  • Mental Wellness Economy
  • Science Deep Dive
• Part 2 – Practice – What to DO?
  • Mindset
  • Ingredient Sourcing
  • Functional Nutrition
  • Immune System
  • Stress
  • Gut-Brain-Axis
  • Leaky Gut / Endotoxemia / Metabolism
  • Heart-Brain-Axis
  • Physical Performance
  • Sleep
  • Anti-Aging

I’m one of the “Founding Experts” at AnyQuestion – sort of like an “in-person Google” where real-live experts answer your questions.

This is really cool because it is getting more and more difficult to find credible health information on the internet (amid all the crazy health conspiracies and “Bro-Science” nonsense).

The mission at AnyQuestion is to “democratize access to insights and wisdom from the world’s greatest experts” – so it has been a lot of fun (and educational!) to be a part of this team.

The “tagline” at AnyQuestion is “Stop searching and start asking. Get the insights and perspectives you’re looking for, from world-class experts at the top of their fields.”

And – it’s FREE!

There are LOTS of interesting categories (not just nutrition and integrative medicine where I answer questions) – such as Cycling, Strength, Swimming, Photography, Running, Triathlon, Pets, and lots more!

If you have questions – AnyQuestion has answers (from experts) – and if you have a question for me, please let me know at = https://link.anyquestion.com/DocTalbott

A recently published study showed that daily use of AHCC® (a cultured extract of the underground root network of the shiitake mushroom – the “mycelium”) – supported the immune system in clearing HPV infections in two-thirds of study participants after six months of supplementation. The randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase II study by researchers at UTHealth Houston was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and published in the prestigious peer-reviewed journal Frontiers in Oncology.

The study focused on women with a greater than two-year history of persistent high-risk HPV. Patients in the treatment arm received AHCC® supplementation for six months, followed by six months of a placebo. Patients in the placebo arm received a placebo for 12 months. Researchers confirmed that of those who received six months of AHCC®, followed by six months of placebo, 63.6 percent (14 of 22) cleared the infection with no adverse side effects.

I’ve been a big fan of AHCC® for a number of years – and I’m pleased that I have used it in the GBX SeedFiber product at Amare – to help with not only supporting the immune system, but also supporting the microbiome, Gut-Brain-Axis, and overall mental wellness.

I keep reading all these articles about people who are paying thousands of $$$$ per month for Ozempic and Wegovy to help with blood sugar balance, appetite control and weight loss.

No doubt that the drug ‘works’ for people who are obese – but it comes with potential side effects that include diarrhea, nausea, and maybe even cancer of the pancreas and thyroid – and that doesn’t seem like a very good trade off if you’re looking to lose 10-20lbs?

Semaglutide in Adults with Overweight or Obesity
— Read on http://www.nejm.org/doi/10.1056/NEJMoa2032183

There are actually a lot of safe, effective, and natural solutions that can help your gut to make its own appetite control hormones and blood sugar balancing signals – we have specific strains of probiotic bacteria and specific structures of prebiotic fibers that are amazingly effective.

Why would you choose an expensive synthetic drug with serious side effects, when you could choose a safe natural and affordable option?

Due to popular demand, we have shortened the upcoming Certified Mental Wellness Coach program to 2 days – but the same 16 hours of course content.

The new location is in Mesa (see flyer below).

The new dates will be Monday-Tuesday, Feb 20 & 21, 2023

The new location is only ~15-20 minutes East of Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport at the Three Fountains of Mesa Clubhouse located at 1550 N Stapley Dr, Mesa, AZ 85203.

Register HERE

Across 52 studies and more than 4,000 subjects…

Intake of antioxidant supplements is associated with improved depression and anxiety states…
— Read on pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36442656/

There was a good article in the New York Times recently about how so many people are trying to get off melatonin, but are having a hard time kicking their dependence.

It has been known for at least 20 years that melatonin is not very effective for improving sleep quality, yet millions of people still use the hormone every night – including millions of teens and kids. Since melatonin is a hormone (either extracted from pigs or synthesized), concerns exist for dependence, depression, and interference with puberty.

In the U.S., melatonin use has increased 5-fold since 1999, and sky-rocketed during the pandemic – but now that people are trying to return to their “normal” lives, many are struggling with melatonin dependence.

Two recent meta-analyses (one in 1,700 participants and another in ~44k people across 150+ trials) found that melatonin supplements can reduce the time it takes to fall asleep by 7 minutes and increase total sleep time by 8 minutes. In kids, the effect of melatonin is a little better – improving time to fall asleep by 11am in and total time asleep by 15min, but that may not be a great trade-off for potential future problems with dependency and puberty?

Melatonin is actually involved in much more than just our sleep cycles – including regulation of our entire circadian rhythm, energy metabolism, body weight, insulin sensitivity, and glucose tolerance (which is why poor sleep is associated with diabetes and obesity – and why getting better sleep can help with weight loss).

Side effects of melatonin commonly include headaches, irritability, dizziness, dry mouth, and night sweats, with the most common problem being the “melatonin hangover” grogginess experienced by many users the day after using melatonin (caused because your body has not fully metabolized the entire melatonin dose – so your brain still thinks it is night).

Most scientific sleep organizations (American Academy of Sleep Medicine, UK’s National Institute for Health Care Excellence, and the European Sleep Research Society) discourage the regular use of melatonin because of its low efficacy – and based on the “user experiences” of melatonin dependency outlined in the NYT article (and all over TikTok and Reddit), it seems prudent to look for other non-drug natural approaches to improve sleep.

I speak and write a lot about Sleep Quality – there is a whole chapter about sleep in my most recent Mental Fitness book and it is a core section in our Certified Mental Wellness Coach program – and there are LOTS of natural (non-melatonin) approaches for improving sleep quality.

For example, if you have trouble falling asleep, specific strains of probiotic bacteria can increase GABA production to help you fall asleep faster. If you have trouble staying asleep, then having a small balanced carb/protein snack before bed can help you stay asleep with fewer nightly awakenings. If you fall asleep ok and stay asleep ok, but wake up not feeling rested, then your problem might be poor sleep quality – which can be improved with corn grass to increase time spent in Deep sleep (where your body recovers and rebuilds) and REM sleep (where your brain recuperates and “cleans” itself).

Our research group has conducted several studies of corn grass that have shown improvements in sleep quality, mental wellness, weight loss, and sports performance – and corn grass supplements can now be found in capsules, chocolates, and (soon) gummies.

Getting high quality sleep every night should really be considered a SuperPower – but one that is very much in-reach for all of us with a range of effective natural solutions.

Dear Friends,

I’m excited to be joining Team Resilience to raise funds to support Erika’s Lighthouse, an amazing organization raising awareness of teen depression and empowering teens to take control of their menal health.

If you’d like to help, you can visit my page and make a donation here: https://secure.qgiv.com/event/teamresilience2023/account/1406348/donate/.

For the FIRST 12 donations of $100 – I will send you a signed copy of the Mental Wellness Coach Workbook (this is the 500+ page book with all the slides that we use in the Certified Mental Wellness Coach class – it weighs about 10lbs – sheesh)!

Thank you so much for helping me reach my goal, and for supporting Erika’s Lighthouse. We couldn’t do it without you!

Shawn

Last Friday, I wrote about “Quitter’s Day” – the 2nd Friday in January where most people quit their New Year’s Resolutions – and I got a lot of questions about how to help people “not quit” and maintain progress toward their goals.

One of the very best approaches is to use “narrative psychology” to increase your sense of empowerment and self-discipline – this is basically a fancy way of saying that you need to “write your own story” to support your motivation.

As I’ve written about in Mental Fitness, writing your story (actually writing it down) can powerfully shape our resilience to stress and improve our mental wellness.

It’s pretty easy to do this in a paragraph or two where we document our struggles, challenges, and redemptions – and ultimately view our future with the positive outcomes that we desire.

This approach is more robust than simplistic “happy thinking” – because research has shown that writing your “hero’s journey” can not merely change your perceptions, but it can better help you get into (and stay) in ACTION (which is how we actually make progress toward our goals).

Our February Mental Wellness Coach Certification in Phoenix is filling up – where we talk about many aspects of Positive Psychology, including mindset and especially how the Microbiome-Gut-Heart-Brain-Axis impacts mental wellness.

Today is ‘Quitters Day’ – the 2nd Friday in January – which is traditionally the day when most people throw in the towel on their New Year resolutions…

DO NOT let that be you!

No matter what you resolved to accomplish in 2023 – get in shape, grow your business, achieve a goal, whatever – let today instead be your ‘Recommit Day’ and not a Quit Day!

Who is with me?