That’s really interesting, I’ve never heard about that before. Thanks for sharing!
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I never knew 90% of serotonin was made in the gut! I always thought it was made in the brain. I’m learning new things everyday. 
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You and me both!
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So do you think this means that so much of our wellbeing is heavily linked to our diet?
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This is awesome.
I had a discussion at work a couple years ago about whether there was any point of enrolling in a college or university course after 25. I said, of course there is. Are you kidding? If you want to invest the time and you have a goal, do it.
It’s interesting over recent decades how learning and growth has become kind of reduced to a count of mechanical connections - neural connections - as though having the connections was what mattered: it’s like a convenient shortcut. (Do you know how many connections Sam has? 75,000,003,452 connections. That’s 783 more than Alex does. But Alex is 26 years old now, so Alex is done. Game over.)
What if we talked about the measure of another human experience using that same metric of “connections”. Take the US interstate highway system - a system of connections - and ask: is that the measure of what the US is? How fast (and in how many different ways) a truck can get from Florida to Oregon?
How many ways does a person or truck have to be able to travel for the US to be connected enough? Do we have enough connections? Are we using the right trucks?
Yes, connections are interesting. Are they what it is to be human? I’m not sure. And even if they were, how could we assess that across different people and cultures? (Given that the infinite diversity of humanity and our experiences, means an infinite diversity of potential connections or non-connections. And also - negative experiences make connections too. Should those not be counted? Should we cut them out, like some kind of psychiatric eugenics? “This connection is undesirable: erase it.” Who gets to decide?)
For me the idea that learning and growth stops at a given age is not helpful. (I would go as far as to say it’s not true. But that is a deeper psychological discussion.)
It’s clear that humans of all ages learn things. The examples are everywhere. It’s also clear that humans of all ages are capable of growth and change on fundamental levels. (Think of the kinds of lifestyle changes required for improving your overall health and diet. It takes change, and growth.) Humans also make friends at all ages, and try new things.
So: humans of all ages can learn things they didn’t know before, and they can change. They can connect with new people.
To me an adult is a lot like a tree:
Obviously it’s not as bendy-flexible as a sapling. But man, can it shoulder a lot more weight. How many birds can make their nests in the adult tree? How much fruit can it grow? How many squirrels can it host at once?
The sapling and the mature tree both have their place. But it makes no sense to judge one by the standards of the other. It’s not helpful; we don’t get any useful information from that comparison - and we ignore a deep and powerful set of resources and strengths that the mature tree brings to the forest.
This is fascinating - thanks so much for sharing 
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This was a really great topic about a subject I wasnt even aware of. Loved the articles and the potential. Thank you for sharing!
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I’m not an expert in the least, but everything I’m researching directly points to that. I think we’ve known for a while that our diet is linked to our wellbeing, but science has discovered a much deeper relationship between our brain and gut. I’m going to try to find some articles on the subject, because the published papers I’ve been reading aren’t easily understood and they’re definitely not condensed.
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This offers a much broader explanation of the microbiome-gut-brain communication.
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Matt, thanks so much for sharing your thoughts. This subject is exciting, isn’t it? If there’s a way to consciously re-wire our addict brains, and there is, I want to learn all I’m able about it. 
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There absolutely is. We are learning beings.
In fact - getting sober is the first step to learning. Addiction is numbness and rigidity - it’s being stuck. Sobriety is connection, learning, progress.
You will find what you need 
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This is really interesting, thanks for sharing 
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Hey,
There are so many videos and papers freely available online it is a fascinating subject to look in to. My natural tendency is to understand as much about something as I can so have looked in to this and surrounding subjects too.
Anna Lembke just done a podcast with Andrew Huberman re dopamine which is incredible. I got in to this subject not as a result of my own addiction but the loss of my best friend to suicide. I found myself thinking “no, I don’t want a drink tonight” but there was my body 5 minutes later doing what my brain had learned to do. I was interested in whether suicidal thoughts and attempts could work similarly. Everything I have read, watched or listened to would suggest there is merit to it but it is a massive subject and the professionals are not keen on discussing it with us common folks!!
Great post and for those keen to understand I would definitely say there is a benefit in understanding addiction, trauma, stress, depression and anxiety etc. It helps to understand what we go through.
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Thank you for explaining it further - it’s all super interesting and makes so much sense. I look forward to hearing your other findings!
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Thank you for sharing. I’m so sorry for your loss, and I find it uplifting that you took your grief and sorrow and have been learning from it. 
I would love to know that we could use the findings of this research to help stop suicidal thoughts or tendencies. Having suffered through that, I’m just not sure. I like to believe that anything is possible, and hopefully this will one day be.
I was suicidal for many years, and I couldn’t for the life of me find a method of willing it away. Depression is a selfish disease. I believe the only thing that kept me alive was being a mom. I put my children and their well-being above all else, even my belief that I eventually wanted to die. They were my motivation for living, and for whatever reasons, I’m grateful that I kept telling myself I couldn’t leave them. It kept me alive, so I think there’s hope in that.
Edit to add: I guess my children were my method, not for willing away the depression, but for staying alive. I just kept putting off killing myself until “they didn’t need me anymore”. If you’re a parent, you know… they don’t stop needing us. 
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Hi Carolyn just dropping by the neuroplasticity and recovery thread to say I love you 
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I love you right back. 
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Yes, crazy right? This is why my addictions specialist has suggested I eat from Julie Daniluk books. Unfortunately I am not there yet with cooking from recipe books but I have been trying to incorperate the idea of “food temperatures” and acidity into my food.
Neuroplasticity is a beautiful thing. I have experienced the ability to “retrain” my brain over the last five years. It was interesting when I stopped drinking my brain tried on those old pathways that had not been used for a few years and they felt so uncomfortable. I, like you, am so grateful we never stop being given the opportunity to grow and change.
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I’d not heard of Julie Daniluk, so thanks for sharing. I can throw a meal together without even thinking about it, but I found many years ago that preparing foods from recipes is therapeutic for me. When I use a recipe, it causes me to be mindful of what I’m creating, and I put more of myself into it. Reading the recipe carefully, gathering the ingredients, measuring and adding, the act of putting it all together… it puts me in an almost meditative state of mind. Add some music to the mix and voilà! You’ve given yourself a gift. 
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The book she suggested I try first (or if I were to only get one) was “The Hot Detox”.
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