Favourite Herbs and Vitamins for a Healthy Mind

[Powder_Reality]

What are some of you're favourite herbs, vitamins, minerals, etc. for maintaining a healthy state of mind and body? My personal daily supply includes 5-HTP, ginko biloba, a vitamin B complex, and a multi-vitamin.

[Barebonejoe]

For me, eating fresh, healthy food makes me feel great mentally and physically, ESPECIALLY when I fulfill my body's need for something it's been deprived of.

For example, eating fresh strawberries after a long, hard sleep, puts me in a terrific mood (especially if I wake up with really bad breath). The sugar wakes me up and fulfills my lowered blood sugar (due to not having much sugar to metabolise through the night) and the juicyness takes care of the dry, morning mouth thing. Plus, they taste terrific.

Reputation Comments on this post:

good ;)

[blue_eyes]

I take 5-HTP daily. I also take a "Peak Performance" multi-vitamin and mineral supplement.

I have rheumatoid arthritis (and have done since I was about 25), so I take glucosamine, deep sea fish oil and chondroitin for protection of my joints.

I also have other supplements that I take periodically, depending on how I feel, such as iron, magnesium, folic acid, zinc, chromium and evening primrose oil.

I have the view that its almost impossible for me to ingest all of those nutrients from food, at effective dosages, so I'm better off being proactive in taking supplements, than reactive in taking prescription medications to treat a preventable disease or ailment.

The important thing to remember is that the supplement may not be effective for you, if you choose an inferior brand and/or take a dose too low for it to fully work. You need to ingest quality supplements at a theraputic level to see and feel the difference. In my experience, this can, at times, be a larger dose than stated on the bottle. To determine the right dose for you, do some research on the internet. I DON'T recommend guessing the dose, as some vitamins and minerals are toxic to the system in large amounts.

If you can't figure out the best option for you, then speak to a professional, such as a pharmacist or a herbal therapist/naturopath.

Thanks for reading my post!

[Alfa]

• A high dosed multivitamine/antioxidant. Most vitamin supplements are scams as they sell inacive amounts. For example: 30 mg of vitamine C will not do shit. You need gram(s), not mg's. One cigarette kills 50 mg's. Solgar's good.
• Ginseng. Same here: no herb/root, but high standard extract. 'Power ginseng' is good.
• Royal Gellee 1000 mg. Not that freeze dried stuff, but gelcaps. 'Power health' or 'Bumbles' is good. Fresh is best BTW, but that goes off quite quickly and is hard to get. As far as recreative use: 2000+ mg does great at a rave.
• Q10 100 mg from bional is good for the hearth and thus for energy and well being. Taking 3 or more of these is not advised, but can be fun if you like heat attacks and spacing out.
• Chlorella get's the toxins out and energy elevated.
• Spirulina does the same as Chlorella. Research shows Chlorella is better, but I find Spirulina gives a real energy push. You need to build up the dose during weeks. Marcus rohrer is good.
• Rhodiola rosea gives you a nice kick under the butt. A good motivator IMO and a healthy one as well. Solgar seems a good brand, but I did not try other brands.
• Creatine is good for working out or if you are a vegetarian. Creatine is essential for building muscle tone. It may explain why vegetarians tend to be slim. Anyway, it gives you endurance while working out, decreases muscle pain/aids your muscles with restoring after work out and directs fluids to your muscles, so that they show more. Creatine occurs naturally in meat or in certain berries. (don't know the english word)
• Melatonin, about 6 mg for when I really need to sleep, but am to awake to do so. Occurs once in a while.
• Smart Ginkgo. I found this to be a great supplement, but I forgot what for. O yeah, I think it was memory improvement. Anyway, shoving 6-10 of those do certainly have recreational value.

No, I do not eat those all at once. I normally take a few of them for a month or so and then either switch to another or nothing at all for a while.

The Dutch medicine assocation warns for daily intake of 5-HTP as the serotine system would become to dependend upon it and would not stay self sufficient. i.e. become lazy. Prolonged intake could cause mental depression.

Reputation Comments on this post:

	Very usefull
	usefull info, thanks

[blue_eyes]

Originally Posted by Alfa

The Dutch medicine assocation warns for daily intake of 5-HTP as the serotine system would become to dependend upon it and would not stay self sufficient. i.e. become lazy. Prolonged intake could cause mental depression.

I have read some information on this topic myself. I don't plan on taking 5-HTP for the rest of my life or anything, but unfortunately, there is a family history of us not producing enough serotonin in the first place.

So, taking 5-HTP may in fact exacerbate the problem in the long run, but right now, I need to be level and content enough to look after my 3 children, without regular depressive episodes.

My friend, who takes 5-HTP for the same reasons as me said that she suffered mild, but regular episodes of depression for many years prior to her taking any mdma. So, I'm quite confident in this situation that her drug use hasn't triggered the depression, although it does contribute to her susceptibilty of re-occurances. So, while she indulges in her favourite substance, she feels its important to boost her serotonin levels with 5-HTP.

Its a calcualted risk that I am willing to take. The quality of my life has been improved. Now, I just have to find some middle ground with this, so that I don't have long-term side effects that outweigh the short term benefits of using 5-HTP! Its a matter of trial and error, and unfortunatley, hind sight is the only way of knowing for sure if my usage of 5-HTP now, affects me detrimentally in the future.

I was also wondering if taking things like piracetam, which increase cognitive function and memory, would have a similar effect on the brain, making it dependant on the supplement, and thus reducing the brain's natural ability to retain information (like the way 5-HTP can make the brain less effective at producing serotonin). Anyone have any info on that?

[Hyperreal]

Originally Posted by Alfa

A high dosed multivitamine/antioxidant. Most vitamin supplements are scams as they sell inacive amounts. For example: 30 mg of vitamine C will not do shit. You need gram(s), not mg's. One cigarette kills 50 mg's. Solgar's good.

True, but be warned against overdosing on anti-oxidants, as they'll have more pro-oxidant than anti-oxidant effect if you overdo it.

Q10 100 mg from bional is good for the hearth and thus for energy and well being. Taking 3 or more of these is not advised, but can be fun if you like heat attacks and spacing out.

There's a derivitive of CoQ10 called Idebenone, which has all the benefits, but none of the drawbacks. It's the Rolls Royce of nootropics and brain anti-oxidants.

Creatine is good for working out or if you are a vegetarian. Creatine is essential for building muscle tone. It may explain why vegetarians tend to be slim. Anyway, it gives you endurance while working out, decreases muscle pain/aids your muscles with restoring after work out and directs fluids to your muscles, so that they show more. Creatine occurs naturally in meat or in certain berries. (don't know the english word)

Creatine is great. There's no need to take the fancy expensive kinds like ethyl ester or tricreatine; stick to the regular monohydrate. All the drawbacks of the monohydrate (cramps, bloating, water retention) come from the fact that people take 10-20g a day. Research (and my personal experience) has shown that 6 half-gram doses throughout the day are just as effective, and without the side-effects.

A good way to get a physical and mental surge of energy is to take large doses of ginger root. It's not necessary to chew it, but I like to, as it makes it into a little ceremony, like a cigarette, and makes your mouth feel weirdly euphoric.

Reputation Comments on this post:

Good post

[robin_himself]

Originally Posted by Alfa

[LIST][*]A high dosed multivitamine/antioxidant. Most vitamin supplements are scams as they sell inacive amounts. For example: 30 mg of vitamine C will not do shit. You need gram(s), not mg's. One cigarette kills 50 mg's. Solgar's good.

How much does one need to take than? Assuming I eat propar and healthy.

[grichards]

Originally Posted by Alfa

• Royal Gellee 1000 mg. Not that freeze dried stuff, but gelcaps. 'Power health' or 'Bumbles' is good. Fresh is best BTW, but that goes off quite quickly and is hard to get. As far as recreative use: 2000+ mg does great at a rave.

I've never heard of that before...it may be obvious, but why take it at raves?

I've been using 1000mg daily for a while and haven't noticed much special from it.

[hh339]

Originally Posted by Alfa

Smart Ginkgo. I found this to be a great supplement, but I forgot what for. O yeah, I think it was memory improvement. Anyway, shoving 6-10 of those do certainly have recreational value.

Recreational in what way? What are the effects?

[Thirdedge]

Making daily smoothies with Maca, Spirilina, Ginseng, Vit C, Barly Grass had Swim feeling fantastic for a while there, don,t know why he stopped. Hard trying to be perfect aye!

[Alfa]

That differs for each specific vitamine. Choosing a good brand will fix that issue.
Of vitamine C, I'd recommend 2 grams a day.

[jesusfreak666er]

hmmm swim just started with a multi vitamin cheap generic brand with only 60mg of vit C however swim does eat a vitamin c rich diet so w/e but in the future will consider moving to one with a higher level... swim though is interested about this royal gellee... is that like the sorta royal gellee produced by bees?

[jesusfreak666er]

alpha one potential problem with swiys advice regarding high levels of vitamin C, swim just confrenced with a physican in his family about correct levels of vitamin C.... and although swims 60mg of C is miniscule, high levels such as Gram(s) are a good way to get yourself a Kidney or a blatter stone, Swim was recommended to stick around 250-300mgs.

[Dracula]

I use a GNC Mega Men Sport Multivitamin. It seems to work quite well for me. I also take supplements of seaweed and algae extract. Occasionally, I will dabble with shark cartilage, but to be honest, I'm not sure if it has any affect.

[penta]

I try taking 1 multi-vitamin, 1 gram vitamin c, 600mg calcium, 250mg magnesium, and 1,000mcg b-12 every day. This always seems to help me stay in a much better mood. I tend to forget to take my vitamins and end up feeling like shit until I remember to take them again, haha.

[POLSKA]

As soon as I roll out of bed I'm stumbling to the kitchen for my morning shake: Soy milk, Kale, Spirulina, Chlorella, Blueberries, and Honey or Stevia (you can add half a banana if you want). Tastes soooo good, and makes you feel like a million dollars.