Blog
This is the first segment of a presentation given by Dr. Allott at the Thurston County Court in April 2017 called Optimizing Brain Function in Court and Other High Stakes Settings.This is part 1 of 6 Youtube videos of the presentation.
Eating - or not eating - impacts everyone's decision-making abilities. This is especially true in high stake events. In this segment, Dr. Allott reviews the research that explains how trauma and hypoglycemia impact decision making.
This is part of a presentation given by Dr. Allott at the Thurston County Court in April 2017 called Optimizing Brain Function in Court and Other High Stakes Settings. This is part 2 of 6 Youtube videos of the presentation.
In this segment, Dr. Allott explains the physiology behind brain function and decision making, and how what we feed ourselves can contribute to feelings of anxiety.
This is part of a presentation given by Dr. Allott at the Thurston County Court in April 2017 called Optimizing Brain Function in Court and Other High Stakes Settings. This is part 3 of 6 Youtube videos of the presentation.
In this short segment, Dr. Allott explains how trauma can affect brain function and decision making, and how positive change can be supported.
This is part of a presentation given by Dr. Allott at the Thurston County Court in April 2017 called Optimizing Brain Function in Court and Other High Stakes Settings. This is part 4 of 6 Youtube videos of the presentation.
Dr. Allott explains how eating protein regularly can improve brain function and decision making and challenges us to do a 3-day experiment to see if eating lots of protein helps stabilize our mood and brain function.
This is part of a presentation given by Dr. Allott at the Thurston County Court in April 2017 called Optimizing Brain Function in Court and Other High Stakes Settings.This is part 5 of 6 Youtube videos of the presentation.
Here Dr. Allott talks about how sleep and exercise impacts our ability to make good decisions.
This is the last segment of a presentation given by Dr. Allott at the Thurston County Court in April 2017 called Optimizing Brain Function in Court and Other High Stakes Settings. This is part 2 of 6 Youtube videos of the presentation.
Here Dr. Allott talks about the Protein for All project, the handouts and answers some questions from the audience about how hypoglycemia impact decision making.
By Marcella Hazan
Time: 30 minutes
Servings: 2
Ingredients:
Directions:
Note: Since this recipe was written several decades ago, the size of tuna cans is smaller. Add more tuna as needed.
In May 2015 the Court Improvement Training Academy (CITA) sponsored a talk at the Children’s Justice Conference by Dr. Kristen Allott on Optimizing Brains for High Stakes Events. Central to her experience working with CEO's, judges, lawyers, and individuals with PTSD, addictions and mental health disorders is that how what we eat, what we eat and when we eat can influence whether the decisions come from our reactive brain or responsive brain. Several Parent Allies were at that training and immediately saw that part of the experience of parents entering dependency court is their lack of food. However, the lack of food also carries to the lawyers, judges, and court administration, increasing the likelihood for burnout and turn over.
Over the course next year, Rob Wyman and Kelly Warner King, the co-directors of CITA, and Dr. Allott engaged in conversation with judges, lawyers and Parent Allies in the Dependence Courts. In June 2016, at the Children’s Justice Conference in Spokane, Dr. Allott, Kelly Warner-King and the Parent Allies spoke about the importance of feeding the brain during high stake events for all participants: judges, lawyers, parents and children. During this talk different courts groups and individual law practices developed a list of steps to offer food to parents, colleagues and themselves in order to improve energy and mental clarity.
Commissioner Ressa invited Dr. Allott and Kelly Warner-King to help court officials identify ways to start implementing the information, particularly around the challenges in getting food to parents at shelter hearings, evaluations and visitations.
The Parent Allies, lead by Heather Cantamessa, collected data from 50 parents at shelter care hearings and found that most were not eating protein before their hearings, which physiologically limited the optimization of their brains to understand and respond appropriately to the hearing, putting them at a disadvantage. They worked with all the different stakeholders to explain the barriers to getting protein to parents and successfully petitioned to change the rules about food consumption by parents and families in the lobby of the court.
Additionally, handouts were developed and made available online, in the Hope class (Parenting 101), and in the incarcerated Hope class.
Meetings were held with the food shelf, Second Harvest, to purchase a flat of protein bars. In working Second Harvest, Heather learned that protein is hard to come by in food shelves. This gives a different context to why people in poverty often have mental health problems, diabetes and obesity. Access to protein is essential for treating all three conditions.
The Spokane group persevered in finding new solutions to funding protein bars and drinks. In November 2016, they approached businesses asking them to each sponsor protein for one month per year at $100 per month. Additionally, two grants have been identified for 2017.
This website was created to provide online support for Parent Allies looking to help impoverished parents in the child welfare system gain better access to healthy food during high stake events.
Many thanks to all who are helping with the Spokane Protein for All Project: Commissioner Michelle Ressa, Bonnie Bush, Kelly-Warner King, Dr. Kristen Allott. And most of all Heather Cantamessa whose passion is moving the ball forward for the Spokane Court. Other Parent Allies that were essential to the formation of the Protein For All Project are Alise Hegal, Jason Bragg, and Kim Mays.
If you would like to learn more, or make a donation, please contact us.
I’d like to share this short video, Snacks and Punishment, that highlights the impact of needing a snack break on decision-making by judges (and doctors).
Studies have shown that judges hand out more punitive sentences towards the end of a session, when they’re more likely to be hungry, tired and in need of a break... And then they would be more lenient again after a break.
WOW! Judges make different decisions based on what they eat. The Court Improvement Training Academy CITA at the University of Washington has been offering trainings to Dependency Judges to educate them on the impact of food, sleep and exercise and decision making. What is most important about this video is that if the decisions of well-educated Judges can be influenced by whether or not they ate before a high stakes decision, then our decisions are likely affected too.
The take home message is that for important meetings like shelter care meetings, visitations, and evaluations, we may want to help ourselves and others to be at their best by making sure that we have food with protein in it before we have to make our best decisions.
Watch Snacks and Punishment for the video on Judges and check out the video on Optimizing Your Brain and see the handouts that are there for you to use and share.
Makes: 5 cups
Prep and cook time: About 50 minutes
1 1/2 Cup almonds
1 1/2 Cup walnut halves
1 Cup hazelnuts
1 Cup pecan halves
1/2 Cup maple syrup
1/4-1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh oregano leaves
1 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh sage leaves
1 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme leaves
1 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh savory leaves
1 1/2 teaspoon chopped fresh marjoram leaves
3 Tablespoons olive oil
About 1 teaspoon kosher salt
1. Mix nuts, maple syrup, herbs, cayenne, and oil in a 10- by 15-inch rimmed pan. Sprinkle nuts with 1 teaspoon salt.
2. Bake in a 300° oven, stirring occasionally, until all liquid evaporates and nuts are golden under the skin (break open to test), about 45 minutes. Be careful not to burn.
3. Let cool.
Notes: If no fresh herbs, use dried ones (a 1/2 teaspoon of each) or a mixture of fresh and dried. Or use 3 Tbs Herbs de Provence.
Use whatever nuts that you like and are affordable. Do not use peanuts because they don't taste good with the glaze.
Recipe freezes well for a short period, and ships well too. It is best eaten within a month of making them. Use as an appetizer, or chopped and added to salads and other recipes.
Original recipe from Sunset 1997.
