As drug users we all want to change our chemical make-up somehow. We use MDMA to release bulk loads of serotonin. We're changing who we are and how we feel with that pill, baggie or cap of MDMA. But can we change who we are by altering our diet?
I know some people are probably sick of people asking if dark chocolate consumption will replenish serotonin because it obviously is not that simple as 'have some extra tryptophan sources and then voila, more serotonin'. But I am very interested into how diet impacts on mood and mental health, in particular how diet can aid a recovery from MDMA use or help to lower tolerance after prolonged use. I find I still roll pretty well after using MDMA way too much and for far too long and I've always wondered if my diet had anything to do with it, as I have guilty thing for dark chocolate and other healthy food sources. I'm posting this here because I don't think it will get much of a response in the health forum, but maybe it is too much for the MDMA forums and could be put in Advanced Drug Discussion, I don’t know. I’m not a nutritionist so a lot of this is guess-work. Basically I want to see if it’s possible to recover sooner if we increase the rate of serotonin production through diet – but there are a lot of factors at play here.
According to researchers from Middle Tennessee State University, folic acid deficiency can lead to decreased levels of serotonin in the brain. Folic acid, also known as vitamin B9, helps to prevent neural tube defects during fetal development and can also protect the body against heart disease and some types of cancers. Fruits and vegetables that contain folic acid can help to boost serotonin levels and improve mood. Examples of fruits and vegetables that contain folic acid include oranges, spinach, broccoli, corn, beets, parsnips and brussels sprouts.
We need to start by addressing any diet deficiencies before we can move on to serotonin and dopamine synthesis, namely the vitamin B group. For Zinc you could use a zinc supplement, but for vitamin b it is best to do this with food as too much vitamin b supplementation can be dangerous over a long period of time.
One other thing to remember is that you can lose a lot of the nutrients in food through cooking and bad storage. Zinc is pretty stable, but vitamin b6 is lost through heat. It's best to steam veggies as water and fat can sometimes diminish nutrient density too. So use half a cup of water and no oil. Don't ever fry or boil vegetables. Stirfrying is good too because it cooks so quickly that you don't lose nutrients. Soups are fine because you drink the broth, which contains all the nutrients that have leaked out of the veggies and meat.
Where it gets complicated is that MDMA use, particularly long-term use, can result in the enzymes that convert tryptophan to 5htp and then serotonin being inhibited. But can we help activate this enzyme through diet? This post is getting pretty long so I won't explain it all here, just read this link for more info on how dopamine in particular is a problem...http://www.jneurosci.org/content/18/18/7111.full.pdf
L-Tryptophan needs the enzyme Tryptophan Hydroxylase and the presence of the cofactors Folate, Iron, Calcium and Vitamin B3 , in order to convert to 5-htp.
Vitamin B9 (Folate), Iron, Calcium and Vitamin B3 - we can work with that. Iron and calcium is in spinach and kale leaves. Drink milk/eat cheese. Eat three serves of red meat a week, no more - grass fed lean steaks, lamb, you get the idea.
The activity of tryptophan hydroxylase (i.e. the rate at which it converts L-tryptophan into the serotonin precursor L-5-hydroxytryptophan) can be increased when it undergoes phosphorylation. Protein Kinase A, for example, can phosphorylate tryptophan hydroxylase, thus increasing its activity.
Phosphorylation turns many protein enzymes on and off, thereby altering their function and activity.
This is where we start to get somewhere: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0006295278904197
Your body has the capacity to produce some phospholipids naturally. You can also get phospholipids from dietary sources, however. The administration of phospholipids can influence functions associated with membrane proteins and correct them to some extent if needed.
Studies have shown to essentially phospholipids make your food more functional - by having more of these phospholipds in our system we will be able to keep the active vitamins of our foods available in our body for longer. It also means the activity of tryptophan hydroxylase should be increased. Another article I read suggested calcium and calmodulin will activate it too and bring about phosphorylation.
Once we have 5-htp (5-Hydroxytryptophan), then we need the enzyme Dopa Decarboxylase to convert 5-hydroxtryptophan, in the presence of the cofactors B6 Magnesium,Zinc and Vitamin C, to 5-ht(5-Hydroxytryptamine) aka Serotonin.
Okay so we've got Zinc and B6 on our list of essential nutrients – now we need to add in magnesium and vitamin C rich foods too.
The enzyme uses pyridoxal phosphate, the active form of vitamin B6, as a cofactor.
So that sorts that out - B6 is the key. I guess you could supplement with L-DOPA too, which should aid the conversion process. What we really want is Mucana beans. Ask your local health store about them. I'm not sure if they are tasty, but they are given to people with Parkinson’s disease to help build dopamine. Alternatively, you could eat foods high in tyrosine.
Mammals synthesize tyrosine from the essential amino acid phenylalanine (phe), which is derived from food. The conversion of phe to tyr is catalyzed by the enzyme phenylalanine hydroxylase, a monooxygenase. This enzyme catalyzes the reaction causing the addition of a hydroxyl group to the end of the 6-carbon aromatic ring of phenylalanine, such that it becomes tyrosine.
Could be why dark choc seems to work, it's high in phenylalanine.
Tyrosine hydroxylase or tyrosine 3-monooxygenase is the enzyme responsible for catalyzing the conversion of the amino acid L-tyrosine to L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA).[1][2] It does so using molecular oxygen (O2), as well as iron (Fe2+) and tetrahydrobiopterin as cofactors.
So as with tryptophan hydroxylase, we need other things to help promote the conversion process. Namely tetrahydrobiopetrin, which some people do have deficiencies in. You can increase its synthesis rate through folate, niacin and vitamin C. It comes in the form of a BH4 supplement.
So to summarise you need:
Vitamin B6: Oats, spinach, sunflower seeds, tuna, turkey and chicken, lean pork, bananas, avocado
Iron: Kale, spinach, red meat
Zinc: Beef, lamb, turkey, pumpkin seeds, quiona, spinach, oats, mushrooms
Magnesium: Pumpkin seeds, tuna, whole grains, bananas, dairy and my favourite food, dark chocolate
Vitamin B9: Spinach, cos lettuce, romaine lettuce, broccoli, asparagus, avocado, mangos
Vitamin B3: Fish, salmon, yellow fish tuna, turkey, chicken breast, pork chops, sunflower seeds, avocado
Calcium: Milk, yogurt, cheese, spinach, kale, fish
Phospholipids: Eggs yolks, milk, soy, sunflower oil, canola oil
Vitamin C: kale leaves, bell peppers, kiwi fruits, strawberries and of course, oranges.
Tyrosine: Eggs, cottage cheese, salmon, turkey, bananas, dark chocolate, poultry, seaweed, pumpkins seeds, sunflower seeds, Mucana beans
Tryptophan: Dark chocolate, bananas, turkey, poultry, cheese, milk, fish, eggs, spinach
UPDATE - The required essential co-factors are
Vitamin C: 1,000 mg / day (Broccoli, Bok Choy, Kale, Bell peppers, Strawberries, Guava)
Vitamin B6: 75 mg/ day (Salmon, Tuna, Turkey - this amount is impossible without a supplement)
Calcium: 500 mg/ day (Milk, Cheese, Spinach, Kale, Bok Choy, Okra, Green Beans)
Cysteine: 4,500 mg/ day (divided doses) (Ricotta, Cottage Cheese, Yogurt, Chicken, Turkey, Duck, Wheat Germ, Oats, Quiona)
Selenium: 400 mcg / day (Brazil nuts, Tuna, Sunflower Seeds, Pork, Beef, Lamb, Chicken, Turkey, Rye)
Folic Acid: 2,000 – 3,000 mcg / day
I would suggest having sources from each nutrient group represented in every meal/snack for this to work.
One last thing – antinutrients need to be eliminated from one’s diet for this to be effective. Antinutrients inhibit absorption of vitamins and minerals. Grains, beans, potatos and legumes are full of antinturients, but they are found in a number of foods. Dark leafy greens, carrots, tomatoes, potatoes – these should all be cooked. Soaking grains and nuts help to. Ultimately, a Paelo diet would be ideal, but without the nuts. This means all grains must be soaked the day before for they are fit for consumption.
On top of this, a carbohydrate must be eaten with every meal. Carbohydrates help the tryptophan conversion process immensely.
UPDATE
It's been a number of weeks since I started this regime and I have seen vast improvements in mood and focus. I have been in a good enough mood to hold back on using drugs and alcohol, which has no doubt improved my results. However, I have started getting a little bit of sleep paralysis, so will hold off on the 5HTP supplement (50mg before bed, which I have been taking on and off) for another week, but continue with my diet. I will take a couple of doses of 5HTP leading up to whatever night I choose to test the MDMA.
I know some people are probably sick of people asking if dark chocolate consumption will replenish serotonin because it obviously is not that simple as 'have some extra tryptophan sources and then voila, more serotonin'. But I am very interested into how diet impacts on mood and mental health, in particular how diet can aid a recovery from MDMA use or help to lower tolerance after prolonged use. I find I still roll pretty well after using MDMA way too much and for far too long and I've always wondered if my diet had anything to do with it, as I have guilty thing for dark chocolate and other healthy food sources. I'm posting this here because I don't think it will get much of a response in the health forum, but maybe it is too much for the MDMA forums and could be put in Advanced Drug Discussion, I don’t know. I’m not a nutritionist so a lot of this is guess-work. Basically I want to see if it’s possible to recover sooner if we increase the rate of serotonin production through diet – but there are a lot of factors at play here.
According to researchers from Middle Tennessee State University, folic acid deficiency can lead to decreased levels of serotonin in the brain. Folic acid, also known as vitamin B9, helps to prevent neural tube defects during fetal development and can also protect the body against heart disease and some types of cancers. Fruits and vegetables that contain folic acid can help to boost serotonin levels and improve mood. Examples of fruits and vegetables that contain folic acid include oranges, spinach, broccoli, corn, beets, parsnips and brussels sprouts.
We need to start by addressing any diet deficiencies before we can move on to serotonin and dopamine synthesis, namely the vitamin B group. For Zinc you could use a zinc supplement, but for vitamin b it is best to do this with food as too much vitamin b supplementation can be dangerous over a long period of time.
One other thing to remember is that you can lose a lot of the nutrients in food through cooking and bad storage. Zinc is pretty stable, but vitamin b6 is lost through heat. It's best to steam veggies as water and fat can sometimes diminish nutrient density too. So use half a cup of water and no oil. Don't ever fry or boil vegetables. Stirfrying is good too because it cooks so quickly that you don't lose nutrients. Soups are fine because you drink the broth, which contains all the nutrients that have leaked out of the veggies and meat.
Where it gets complicated is that MDMA use, particularly long-term use, can result in the enzymes that convert tryptophan to 5htp and then serotonin being inhibited. But can we help activate this enzyme through diet? This post is getting pretty long so I won't explain it all here, just read this link for more info on how dopamine in particular is a problem...http://www.jneurosci.org/content/18/18/7111.full.pdf
L-Tryptophan needs the enzyme Tryptophan Hydroxylase and the presence of the cofactors Folate, Iron, Calcium and Vitamin B3 , in order to convert to 5-htp.
Vitamin B9 (Folate), Iron, Calcium and Vitamin B3 - we can work with that. Iron and calcium is in spinach and kale leaves. Drink milk/eat cheese. Eat three serves of red meat a week, no more - grass fed lean steaks, lamb, you get the idea.
The activity of tryptophan hydroxylase (i.e. the rate at which it converts L-tryptophan into the serotonin precursor L-5-hydroxytryptophan) can be increased when it undergoes phosphorylation. Protein Kinase A, for example, can phosphorylate tryptophan hydroxylase, thus increasing its activity.
Phosphorylation turns many protein enzymes on and off, thereby altering their function and activity.
This is where we start to get somewhere: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0006295278904197
Your body has the capacity to produce some phospholipids naturally. You can also get phospholipids from dietary sources, however. The administration of phospholipids can influence functions associated with membrane proteins and correct them to some extent if needed.
Studies have shown to essentially phospholipids make your food more functional - by having more of these phospholipds in our system we will be able to keep the active vitamins of our foods available in our body for longer. It also means the activity of tryptophan hydroxylase should be increased. Another article I read suggested calcium and calmodulin will activate it too and bring about phosphorylation.
Once we have 5-htp (5-Hydroxytryptophan), then we need the enzyme Dopa Decarboxylase to convert 5-hydroxtryptophan, in the presence of the cofactors B6 Magnesium,Zinc and Vitamin C, to 5-ht(5-Hydroxytryptamine) aka Serotonin.
Okay so we've got Zinc and B6 on our list of essential nutrients – now we need to add in magnesium and vitamin C rich foods too.
The enzyme uses pyridoxal phosphate, the active form of vitamin B6, as a cofactor.
So that sorts that out - B6 is the key. I guess you could supplement with L-DOPA too, which should aid the conversion process. What we really want is Mucana beans. Ask your local health store about them. I'm not sure if they are tasty, but they are given to people with Parkinson’s disease to help build dopamine. Alternatively, you could eat foods high in tyrosine.
Mammals synthesize tyrosine from the essential amino acid phenylalanine (phe), which is derived from food. The conversion of phe to tyr is catalyzed by the enzyme phenylalanine hydroxylase, a monooxygenase. This enzyme catalyzes the reaction causing the addition of a hydroxyl group to the end of the 6-carbon aromatic ring of phenylalanine, such that it becomes tyrosine.
Could be why dark choc seems to work, it's high in phenylalanine.
Tyrosine hydroxylase or tyrosine 3-monooxygenase is the enzyme responsible for catalyzing the conversion of the amino acid L-tyrosine to L-3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine (L-DOPA).[1][2] It does so using molecular oxygen (O2), as well as iron (Fe2+) and tetrahydrobiopterin as cofactors.
So as with tryptophan hydroxylase, we need other things to help promote the conversion process. Namely tetrahydrobiopetrin, which some people do have deficiencies in. You can increase its synthesis rate through folate, niacin and vitamin C. It comes in the form of a BH4 supplement.
So to summarise you need:
Vitamin B6: Oats, spinach, sunflower seeds, tuna, turkey and chicken, lean pork, bananas, avocado
Iron: Kale, spinach, red meat
Zinc: Beef, lamb, turkey, pumpkin seeds, quiona, spinach, oats, mushrooms
Magnesium: Pumpkin seeds, tuna, whole grains, bananas, dairy and my favourite food, dark chocolate
Vitamin B9: Spinach, cos lettuce, romaine lettuce, broccoli, asparagus, avocado, mangos
Vitamin B3: Fish, salmon, yellow fish tuna, turkey, chicken breast, pork chops, sunflower seeds, avocado
Calcium: Milk, yogurt, cheese, spinach, kale, fish
Phospholipids: Eggs yolks, milk, soy, sunflower oil, canola oil
Vitamin C: kale leaves, bell peppers, kiwi fruits, strawberries and of course, oranges.
Tyrosine: Eggs, cottage cheese, salmon, turkey, bananas, dark chocolate, poultry, seaweed, pumpkins seeds, sunflower seeds, Mucana beans
Tryptophan: Dark chocolate, bananas, turkey, poultry, cheese, milk, fish, eggs, spinach
UPDATE - The required essential co-factors are
Vitamin C: 1,000 mg / day (Broccoli, Bok Choy, Kale, Bell peppers, Strawberries, Guava)
Vitamin B6: 75 mg/ day (Salmon, Tuna, Turkey - this amount is impossible without a supplement)
Calcium: 500 mg/ day (Milk, Cheese, Spinach, Kale, Bok Choy, Okra, Green Beans)
Cysteine: 4,500 mg/ day (divided doses) (Ricotta, Cottage Cheese, Yogurt, Chicken, Turkey, Duck, Wheat Germ, Oats, Quiona)
Selenium: 400 mcg / day (Brazil nuts, Tuna, Sunflower Seeds, Pork, Beef, Lamb, Chicken, Turkey, Rye)
Folic Acid: 2,000 – 3,000 mcg / day
I would suggest having sources from each nutrient group represented in every meal/snack for this to work.
One last thing – antinutrients need to be eliminated from one’s diet for this to be effective. Antinutrients inhibit absorption of vitamins and minerals. Grains, beans, potatos and legumes are full of antinturients, but they are found in a number of foods. Dark leafy greens, carrots, tomatoes, potatoes – these should all be cooked. Soaking grains and nuts help to. Ultimately, a Paelo diet would be ideal, but without the nuts. This means all grains must be soaked the day before for they are fit for consumption.
On top of this, a carbohydrate must be eaten with every meal. Carbohydrates help the tryptophan conversion process immensely.
UPDATE
It's been a number of weeks since I started this regime and I have seen vast improvements in mood and focus. I have been in a good enough mood to hold back on using drugs and alcohol, which has no doubt improved my results. However, I have started getting a little bit of sleep paralysis, so will hold off on the 5HTP supplement (50mg before bed, which I have been taking on and off) for another week, but continue with my diet. I will take a couple of doses of 5HTP leading up to whatever night I choose to test the MDMA.
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