ENCORE: Rewiring Your Brain: Conquering Sugar Addiction, Part 2

Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy (HBOT): Beyond the Bends—Wounds, Stroke Recovery, Radiation Injury, and Performance. Nicole Garrett, founder and COO of Under Pressure Hyperbarics, details hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT). She explains how HBOT treats divers’ decompression sickness by recompressing nitrogen bubbles and reducing inflammation, and how therapeutic benefits depend on reaching adequate pressure (commonly around 2.0 atmospheres or more; diver treatment may begin at 2.8). Garrett describes HBOT’s history, FDA-approved uses such as diabetic wound healing, radiation injury, and sudden sensorineural hearing loss (often combined with steroids), and off-label use for stroke/TBI recovery, cognitive issues, autoimmune flares, Crohn’s disease, athletic recovery, anti-aging research (including telomere findings), and adjunctive cancer care. She contrasts “soft” chambers with higher-pressure medical chambers, discusses treatment courses (often 10–60 sessions), safety and contraindications (ears, pneumothorax, retinal bubble procedures), and practical barriers like cost, insurance coverage, and facility/oxygen regulations.

Dr. Hoffman continues his conversation with Nicole Garrett, founder and COO of Under Pressure Hyperbarics.

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Nutritionist Leyla Muedin discusses a listener question about whether agave nectar can contribute to obesity like high-fructose corn syrup, arguing that regular use of sweeteners—including agave, honey, monk fruit, stevia, aspartame, sucralose, allulose, and sugar alcohols—can maintain sweet cravings, spike insulin, and contribute to weight-loss plateaus, with added concerns such as microbiome effects, GI upset, and aspartame’s neurotoxicity. She notes insulin’s role in fat storage and blood pressure via sodium retention, and suggests that needing a sweetener in coffee or tea may indicate dependence on sweetness. She then covers a newly developed, validated Food Noise Questionnaire (FNQ) published in Obesity to measure intrusive food-related rumination, highlighting its five Likert-scale items, study sample characteristics, and the need for further research, including effects of GLP-1 drugs.

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Sugarless: Dr. Nicole Avena on Hidden Sugars, Brain Addiction, and Practical Steps to Cut Back: Neuroscientist and author Dr. Nicole Avena reveals sugar’s pervasiveness and health impacts, drawing on her book “Sugarless: The Seven-Step Plan to Uncover Hidden Sugars, Curb Your Cravings, and Conquer Your Addiction.” Avena explains how modern industrialized, highly processed foods—many containing added sugars—have transformed innate preferences for sweetness into harmful overconsumption linked to obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and possible dementia via insulin signaling changes. She discusses research showing sugar can stimulate dopamine reward pathways similarly to drugs and that prenatal exposure may alter offspring metabolism, preferences, and sensitivity to drugs/alcohol. For solutions, she discourages strict “cold turkey” approaches due to hidden sugars and relapse psychology, emphasizes inventorying sources and triggers, starting with eliminating sugar-sweetened beverages and sugary coffee drinks, improving breakfast, choosing protein/fat-based snacks, and viewing alternative sweeteners as a temporary crutch; she also notes diet changes can improve mood stability and reduce anxiety.

Dr. Hoffman continues his conversation with neuroscientist and author Dr. Nicole Avena.

Functional Diagnostic Nutrition: Using Saliva Testing, Food Sensitivity Labs, and Lifestyle to Find Root Causes: Reed Davis, Board Certified Holistic Health Practitioner (HHP) and Certified Nutritional Therapist (CNT), is founder of Functional Diagnostic Nutrition (FDN). He discusses using functional testing alongside conventional care to uncover “dysfunction” when standard labs appear normal. Davis describes assessing adrenal and metabolic stress via saliva testing for circadian cortisol patterns, cortisol-DHEA balance, sex hormones, secretory IgA, and melatonin, emphasizing clinical correlation and individualized “studies of one.” He outlines an approach targeting multiple “healing opportunities” (H-I-D-D-E-N: hormones, immune, digestion, detoxification, energy, nervous system) and applying D-R-E-S-S (diet, rest, exercise, stress reduction, supplementation) rather than relying on supplements alone. A case example links chronic hives, medication-related weight gain, and food triggers identified through additional testing, including the Mediator Release Test. The discussion also covers stress-driven gut dysbiosis, digestion decline, and EFT tapping for stress-related symptoms, and notes FDN practitioners can be found via FDNtraining.com/medicine.