When you hear the term “neurointegration training”, you may think, “Oh, probably something to do with the brain”. You would be correct. But, the brain affects every part of someone. It affects our responses, our reactions, our relationships, our eating habits, our movements, our sleep, and pretty much anything that makes us who we are and what we do. Our body’s health affects our brain’s health and visa versa. When someone decides with their mind that they are going to eat an entire gallon of ice-cream, their brain waves are not balanced. This increases their risk of making bad health choices. The gallon of ice-cream they just ate is filling their blood stream with excess sugar and stressing their pancreas, liver, gallbladder and pretty much every other organ. The process of the body trying to digest all this excess sugar and fat produces a lot of toxic byproducts. These can cross the blood brain barrier. The blood brain barrier is a barrier that protects the sensitive brain cells from most of what is in the blood. The brain needs the nutrition that the blood provides to help maintain its health and delicately balanced environment. Many of the inflammatory toxins that are in the blood after eating a gallon of ice-cream can enter the brain and prevent the brain cells from communicating properly, which throws the brain waves out of sync. Alcohol is an example of a substance that crosses the blood brain barrier and affect the brain cell. Certain parts of the brain will start to produce too much of one type brain wave while another part of the brain will produce too little, effectively creating an imbalance in our brain waves. The logical thing to do is to stop eating ice-cream in large quantities. However, it is very difficult for the brain to automatically realign its brain wave balance and tell us to eat right at every meal. The neurointegration training gradually feeds our brain healthy brain waves to bring our brainwave activity back into a balanced state. The brain can then communicate with the body to start the healing process and allow us to make healthy eating decisions much more easily. (Cook, 2013) Studies have shown that neurointegration training has had success in balancing brain waves and reducing impulsive eating in people with ADHD and Bulemia. (Bartholdy, S. et al, 2013) The training not only helps prevent us from relying on a poor diet but it can help to restore healthy brain wave balance in an eating disorder, overeating or even depression which affects eating habits. This is because the brain has such an intricate relationship with the gut.
Dr. Mary Brown D.C.
Doctor of Chiropractic
Certified in Acupuncture
San Pedro North Chiropractic Centers
1006 Central Parkway South
San Antonio, TX 78232
P: (210) 490-9169
References
Bartholdy S., Musiat, P. Campbell, I. Schmidt, U. (2013) The Potential of Neurofeedback in the Treatment of Eating Disorders: A Review of the Literature. Section of Eating Disorders, Department of Psychological Medicine, King’s College London, Institute of Psychiatry, 2.
Cook, J.M. (2013). National Eating Disorders Association. J. Reel, Eating Disorders: An Encyclopedia of Causes, Treatment, and Prevention. Santa Barbara, California: Greenwood.