Session 24 October 2009

[Mrs. Peel]

Shar, try taking the 5 HTP (around 300mg, perhaps more if needed). It will build up your "will power" against cravings. Think it of it as a chemical imbalance and not as a matter of will power, so don't beat yourself up. Here is a rough guide on how to take 5 HTP:

http://www.cassiopaea.org/forum/index.php?topic=13241.msg102298#msg102298

L-glutamine can also be very helpful in eliminating carb cravings. L-glutamine should be taken on an empty stomach, 500–1,000 mg. twice a day. Higher doses can be used to fix up leaky guts, around 5000 or 6000 a day. Some even suggest to put some L-glutamine powder under your tongue when you have cravings.

I think the 5 HTP is a great idea. As noted in that link, don't just jump in and take 500 HTP all at once without building up - that might very well give you a 'serotonin headache' (speaking from experience here). Build up slowly until you reach the level you need to be.

It's also easier to deal with these things when you realize it is a chemical imbalance and not that you have no willpower, imo.

Well, I do take 5 HTP already before bed, usually 100 mg but I've taken up to 300 mg. I'll try taking more throughout the day. I also take sublingual melatonin every night (5mg) and gaba, and take L-glutamine in my morning shake. Maybe I need to take that by itself, although I used to take the amino acids every morning on an empty stomach but quit as I didn't feel any different, and they were expensive.

I think the biggest motivator to clean up my act is the fact that I now have only two pair of pants that fit me and finding something to wear to work each morning has become a challenge!

 

[Mrs. Peel]

Sounds to me like you are suffering a serious seretonin deficit. Try taking 300 to 500 mg of 5-htp throughout the day and increase your dose of melatonin at night until you sleep through the night and wake up even a tiny bit sleepy. That IS normal, you know!

What??? Sleeping through the entire night is NORMAL???

 

[Jacques]

Sounds to me like you are suffering a serious seretonin deficit. Try taking 300 to 500 mg of 5-htp throughout the day and increase your dose of melatonin at night until you sleep through the night and wake up even a tiny bit sleepy. That IS normal, you know!

What??? Sleeping through the entire night is NORMAL???

I would say also... What??? Sleeping through the entire night is NORMAL ???

I don't even remember the last time i had a complete "sleeping night" ...must be many many years ago. Maybe when i was a toddler. ;)

 

[Ollie]

I concur with Bohort, it was possible early teens that I last slept through the night completely. Since starting the Breathing-Meditation programme it has got much worse, whereas before, in the early part of 'sleep' I woke a few times to go to the bathroom, and could from then on sleep through the rest of the night, now I'm lucky to sleep more than an hour at a time, before I have to get up during 'sleep time'. I am, possibly, convinced that it is a consequence of the buried 'guck' coming to the fore because of the Breathing-Meditation programme. I may be wrong.

However, I am now modifying how I take my 5HTP, melatonin, and GABA, from the advice of Laura and Psyche, as sleep is such a key part in overcoming Adrenal Fatigue/FMS.

 

[Laura]

I started out taking100 mg 5 htp in the evening. Didn't make much difference. Then, I upped the dose - in the evening. No help. I was desperate. Then, I started taking 300 mg between 2 and 3 pm (or thereabouts) and 100 to 200 with dinner about 7 or 8. Then, I take 3 mg of melatonin before bed. We usually watch an episode of something semi-boring or read a bit, and I'm out!

If I forget my 300 mg in the afternoon, I just take 300 with dinner.

 

[Laura]

I concur with Bohort, it was possible early teens that I last slept through the night completely. Since starting the Breathing-Meditation programme it has got much worse, whereas before, in the early part of 'sleep' I woke a few times to go to the bathroom, and could from then on sleep through the rest of the night, now I'm lucky to sleep more than an hour at a time, before I have to get up during 'sleep time'. I am, possibly, convinced that it is a consequence of the buried 'guck' coming to the fore because of the Breathing-Meditation programme. I may be wrong.

However, I am now modifying how I take my 5HTP, melatonin, and GABA, from the advice of Laura and Psyche, as sleep is such a key part in overcoming Adrenal Fatigue/FMS.

Sounds to me like you need to drop the Beatha - round breathing and just do the pipe breathing during the day as needed, and the meditation beginning with some pipe breathing at bedtime. You could also do the ultra-mind quizzes and see if you need some chemical balancing.

 

[Ollie]

Thank you Laura for the last two posts, I'll see what happens from your suggestions and those of Murphree's book which i am just starting to put into practice, by upping the 5HTP dosage.

I have done the Ultra-mind quizzes, and took the appropriate supplements, and only last week redid them to update my supplementation after reading Murphree's book 'Treating and Beating Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome'.

As well as full sessions on Monday and Thursday, I do pipe breathing and meditation in bed each evening.

 

[Joe]

[quote author=Gawan]

because bananas are my main food-stuff: regulating bloodsugar and filling my stomach.
And I think as Oxail wrote, everyone has to find out for themself, what is or is not good.
[/quote]

One of the most effective "do it yourself" ways of determining whether a food is good or bad for you is to stop eating it for a few months and then try again. It's not really enough to just ask yourself if it feels good or bad when you have been eating it for years.

 

[Nienna]

Sounds to me like you are suffering a serious seretonin deficit. Try taking 300 to 500 mg of 5-htp throughout the day and increase your dose of melatonin at night until you sleep through the night and wake up even a tiny bit sleepy. That IS normal, you know!

What??? Sleeping through the entire night is NORMAL???

Shar,

Different things work for different people so I will tell you how I am taking the 5-HTP. I haven't slept through the night for years and years. As a matter of fact, I still wake up, but fall back to sleep once I reposition myself. I am taking 100mg of 5HTP at lunch, 100mg at dinner and then 300mg before going to bed along with 800mg of Magnesium Citrate and 3mb of melatonin. But you will have to work with these things to figure out what works best for you.

Also, adrenal fatigue can have you craving sweets and salty foods. So if you arre under a lot of stress, then this is something you might want to check out. Have you read Treating and Beating Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome? This book is a treasure. Dr. Murphree has done extensive research into the causes and treatments of fibromyalgia and CFS. In it he mentions the 5HTP, the adrenals, the thyroid - sheesh, it all ties together, but he has you take one step at a time. The biggest telltale sign, for me as far as wondering if I have adrenal fatigue is that I am not hungry when I wake up. Eating is the furthest thing from my mind. The rest of the day I am starving though, no matter how much I eat, that darn EE program ;).

So if you can, read a copy of the above mentioned book, and I highly recommend you take the Ultra Mind quizzes and send off the results to Psyche so that she can then tell you what you really need? :) This is nothing to play around with and put off. Your health is at stake and we need you here in the group.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents.

 

[Oxajil]

One of the most effective "do it yourself" ways of determining whether a food is good or bad for you is to stop eating it for a few months and then try again. It's not really enough to just ask yourself if it feels good or bad when you have been eating it for years.

I'm wondering if it's more difficult for younger people to determin whether a particular food is good for them or not, because younger people can tolerate more.
I will try this with yogurt and see what happens.

 

[Laura]

One of the most effective "do it yourself" ways of determining whether a food is good or bad for you is to stop eating it for a few months and then try again. It's not really enough to just ask yourself if it feels good or bad when you have been eating it for years.

I'm wondering if it's more difficult for younger people to determin whether a particular food is good for them or not, because younger people can tolerate more.
I will try this with yogurt and see what happens.

You can't just leave off yogurt - you have to leave off ALL dairy - milk, yogurt, cheese - all varieties.

There are a few young people who have posted about their dietary changes and being able to notice the distinct differences, so I don't think it is very much a matter of age.

This is a house full of young people and they all joined in the diet with me as a sort of support/solidarity thing (and a couple of them had some issues, too)... after a month of experiencing a detoxing body, they discovered that their systems had recovered original sensitivity to negative foods. It activates in everyone slightly differently, and to different foods. But once you have eliminated ALL inflammatory foods for a period, your body sure tells you it does not like it if you slip up.

Along with this heightened sensitivity to what you eat, it seems that you begin to acquire other heightened sensitivities.

Now, sure, this is not going to be the same - or even true - for everyone, but by and large, this is what we have been observing and experiencing.

A little joke from today: we were having lunch and Ark commented that he read in the Russian news that they were scandalized to learn that Americans waste fully half of their food - it ends up in the garbage. So, Allen says: Well, fully 75% or more of what Americans eat SHOULD be put in the garbage!

When you really begin to gather the facts and data on this topic, it is horrifying to realize that billions of people are eating poison that is being promoted to them as "healthy good food" by "Big Food" corporations.

The family that lived across the street from us in FL had three children. Every day at four o'clock they had to stop playing and go inside and sit at the table and drink a big glass of milk. They would sit at the table and their mother would watch to make sure they drank every drop. She thought she was being a good mother, and all she was doing was poisoning her children.

 

[Oxajil]

You can't just leave off yogurt - you have to leave off ALL dairy - milk, yogurt, cheese - all varieties.

There are a few young people who have posted about their dietary changes and being able to notice the distinct differences, so I don't think it is very much a matter of age.

This is a house full of young people and they all joined in the diet with me as a sort of support/solidarity thing (and a couple of them had some issues, too)... after a month of experiencing a detoxing body, they discovered that their systems had recovered original sensitivity to negative foods. It activates in everyone slightly differently, and to different foods. But once you have eliminated ALL inflammatory foods for a period, your body sure tells you it does not like it if you slip up.

Along with this heightened sensitivity to what you eat, it seems that you begin to acquire other heightened sensitivities.

Now, sure, this is not going to be the same - or even true - for everyone, but by and large, this is what we have been observing and experiencing.

Very interesting! Thanks, I don't have any dairy except for yogurt, but I'm going to stop that too.

It's difficult to stay on organic, especially when I go to school. I don't like buckwheat crepes and I can't take bread with me to school, because it's basically poison and if I bring rice with me, I'll have people looking at me like they're seeing a ghost! And rice all the time at school is not very good as well, I think. Recently I read that a variation of food is important to boost the immune system (well, they tested that on chickens). I can also buy all kinds of organic snacks (and there are really good ones), but it will be so expensive.
I guess I'm going to have to be more creative.

A little joke from today: we were having lunch and Ark commented that he read in the Russian news that they were scandalized to learn that Americans waste fully half of their food - it ends up in the garbage. So, Allen says: Well, fully 75% or more of what Americans eat SHOULD be put in the garbage!

When you really begin to gather the facts and data on this topic, it is horrifying to realize that billions of people are eating poison that is being promoted to them as "healthy good food" by "Big Food" corporations.

The family that lived across the street from us in FL had three children. Every day at four o'clock they had to stop playing and go inside and sit at the table and drink a big glass of milk. They would sit at the table and their mother would watch to make sure they drank every drop. She thought she was being a good mother, and all she was doing was poisoning her children.

My parents told us to not forget to drink milk, because it's so important. ''Especially if you want to grow taller.'' But I never liked it, so I just kinda stopped drinking it one day.
Here, parents can also pay some amount of money to the school, so that the school will give milk to their children.
It's really sad..

 

[Mrs. Peel]

Shar,

Different things work for different people so I will tell you how I am taking the 5-HTP. I haven't slept through the night for years and years. As a matter of fact, I still wake up, but fall back to sleep once I reposition myself. I am taking 100mg of 5HTP at lunch, 100mg at dinner and then 300mg before going to bed along with 800mg of Magnesium Citrate and 3mb of melatonin. But you will have to work with these things to figure out what works best for you.

Also, adrenal fatigue can have you craving sweets and salty foods. So if you arre under a lot of stress, then this is something you might want to check out. Have you read Treating and Beating Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome? This book is a treasure. Dr. Murphree has done extensive research into the causes and treatments of fibromyalgia and CFS. In it he mentions the 5HTP, the adrenals, the thyroid - sheesh, it all ties together, but he has you take one step at a time. The biggest telltale sign, for me as far as wondering if I have adrenal fatigue is that I am not hungry when I wake up. Eating is the furthest thing from my mind. The rest of the day I am starving though, no matter how much I eat, that darn EE program ;).

So if you can, read a copy of the above mentioned book, and I highly recommend you take the Ultra Mind quizzes and send off the results to Psyche so that she can then tell you what you really need? :) This is nothing to play around with and put off. Your health is at stake and we need you here in the group.

Anyway, that's my 2 cents.

Hi,

Yes, I have the book already! And I'm also not the least bit hungry in the morning. I could go to and past 10 AM before I feel like eating anything and I get up before 6 AM during the week. On weekends sometimes I don't want to eat till lunchtime.

I took some 5 HTP earlier today and going to take more with dinner. GETTING to sleep usually isn't the problem, staying asleep is!

 

[Gawan]

One of the most effective "do it yourself" ways of determining whether a food is good or bad for you is to stop eating it for a few months and then try again. It's not really enough to just ask yourself if it feels good or bad when you have been eating it for years.

I'm wondering if it's more difficult for younger people to determin whether a particular food is good for them or not, because younger people can tolerate more.
I will try this with yogurt and see what happens.

You can't just leave off yogurt - you have to leave off ALL dairy - milk, yogurt, cheese - all varieties.

I'm having trouble of understanding this, sorry for that question then and does it also mean goat and sheep milk (feta for example)?

[quote author=Gawan]

because bananas are my main food-stuff: regulating bloodsugar and filling my stomach.
And I think as Oxail wrote, everyone has to find out for themself, what is or is not good.

One of the most effective "do it yourself" ways of determining whether a food is good or bad for you is to stop eating it for a few months and then try again. It's not really enough to just ask yourself if it feels good or bad when you have been eating it for years.
[/quote]

Thank you for that!

FWIW here is a quote from Mark Hyman:

Reintroducing gluten and dairy (and any other foods you are sensitive or allergic to)
[...]
If you have a reaction, note the food and eliminate it for ninety days. This will give your immune system to cool off and your gut a chance to heal.

 

[Ben]

I am trying to find a quick and convenient but filling breakfast to replace cereal with milk, I don't have much time in the morning but I get so hungry if I skip it. Bananas seemed perfect but now it seems that might not be a good idea.