Some of them sound rather pseudoscientific ("leafy greens boost energy"? "brain food magnesium"?) but others have worked wonders for me. Walking and hydration are the kind of things I just don't feel like doing when I'm depressed; doing them reverses the feedback cycle. When it comes to Omega 3 I would also recommend chia seeds.

Serotonin!

Lol at leafy greens boosting energy. Some of the worst "foods" in existence.

Care to explain? I tried looking at the science behind this when I first saw it, but most of it went over my head.

1: Antinutrients/toxins

Basically, since plants generally don't employ mechanical defenses, they have evolved a whole host of interspecies warfare chemicals to prevent themselves from being eaten. These compounds do everything from block nutrient absorption (tannins, phytic acid, protease inhibitors, etc.) to stimulate autoimmune diseases (lectins).

The leafy greens that civilized humans eat, of course, have been selectively bred by agriculture for reduced antinutrient content, so they're not as bad as eating wild plant fodder. But they're still there, and they still have significant effects.

In small amounts, these compounds can be used medicinally- hence one of my dietary maxims: Plants are excellent medicines, but terrible foods. There is nothing wrong at all with drinking teas, taking herbal supplements, eating small amounts of herbs, etc.- but eating these plants in large quantities, as foods, is counterproductive and unhealthy.

2: Fiber

Believe it or not, fiber actually generally stunts nutrient absorption, and it even scrapes up your intestines in a real mechanical sense (causing mucous release, which also prevents nutrient absorption by causing food material to slide right through your intestines). This is actually one reason why medical professionals advise the consumption of copious amounts of fiber: they assume everyone eats carbohydrates, and the best way to ration the absorption of carbohydrates into the bloodstream (and thus prevent massive insulin surges) is to consume them with indigestible carbohydrates (i.e., fibers), which block their intestinal absorption. But this blocks nutrients in general- it makes more sense to simply reduce one's carbohydrate consumption, and keep nutrient absorption high.

Note that, in the case of the action of many antinutrients, this blockage of nutrient absorption is irrelevant. Protease inhibitors, for example, block the action of enzymes in your stomach that break down proteins- they don't have to enter your bloodstream to exert their negative digestive effects.

3: And finally, per unit weight, they are just really low in nutrients compared to nutrient-dense animal foods. In nutrition and health classes and resources, plant foods like leafy greens are considered nutrient-dense, and animal foods are considered nutrient-poor, but this is on a per calorie basis (animal foods simply have a lot more calories per unit weight, and leafy greens have practically nothing in this regard). On a per weight basis plant foods don't hold a candle to animal foods. Also, plant foods lack compounds like triglycerides and fat-soluble vitamins that facilitate mineral absorption and utilization.

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Relatedly, fruits are crap because they have so much sugar in them (and domesticated fruits are worse than wild fruits, because they have been bred for higher sugar content). Nuts are borderline okay, but they have a lot of antinutrients, as well (after all, the seeds must be protected from being digested by animals, in order to germinate and produce a new plant). Supposedly there are special soaking methods to remove antinutrients from nuts, but I haven't bothered with any of that.

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Lykos just blinded me with science. Any word on dairy products? I heard good things about Greek yogurt, but I'm not 100 percent on that now!

Obviously the main potential issues with dairy products are lactose intolerance and casein allergy. If you don't experience symptoms of indigestion, or symptoms of an allergic reaction, after consuming them, then you're probably good as far as these issues go.

If you drink milk, avoid drinking a lot of it, all the time- due to its high protein and relatively high sugar (lactose) contents, it stimulates a large insulin release. Insulin surges can be useful if induced sparingly and strategically- but in general, you want your insulin levels low. Also, ALWAYS drink whole milk- without fat present, you will be absorbing very little of the vitamin A and vitamin D in the milk, and without vitamin D in your bloodstream you will be absorbing relatively little calcium. Also, without saturated fats, your absorption of minerals in general will be less.

Cheese is fine, as far as I know, though I wouldn't eat it in large amounts, especially if it has added salt, etc.

Additionally, though this is probably obvious, generally speaking, the less processed, more organic, etc., the better, particularly because fatty products in general accumulate all kinds of synthetic chemicals.

Personally, I'll occasionally eat cheese (like once or twice every couple years), as long as it's not the super-processed, semi-fake kind, and I have recently incorporated drinking 1/2-1 glass of whole milk post-workout, to experiment with insulin surges targeted around workouts. I limit it to 1 glass per day- any more adds way too many carbohydrates to my diet.

Oh yeah, and Greek yogurt- I don't know anything about that specifically. I guess I could Google it real quick, but in that short time I'd probably learn no more than you already know, haha.

I must say your posts have been a very enlightening read. I'm still doubtful on whether I want to actually put any of this advice into practice though, since there aren't many animal foods I can eat with a clear conscience, and grains/vegetables/fruits seem like the obvious alternative. But at least I'm glad I got more informed.


What are good sources of triglycerides and such vitamins?


fschmidt, I recall you were a fruit advocate. If you're reading this, do you have anything to say in defense of fruits?

I eat mostly meat/seafood with some fruit, vegetables, and nuts. I don't eat much grains or sweets. Fruits vary a lot in sugar content with berries having little and the big fruits having a lot. Fruits contain some nutrients that meat lacks. The serotonin content of bananas is higher than meat. And of course vitamin C is higher in fruit than in meat.

Glad to share.

Even without ethical issues, very few people can ever go full carnivore, and most strongly desire some variety in their diets. Just do a search for "zero-carb diet" threads posted on low-carb forums, and you will see people binging and failing all the time. It's like reading all those "no fap" and "quit masturbating" threads- for every post of "made it another day!" there are 10 posts of "oh shit, I just stumbled on some pr0nz 5 min ago and b4 I knew it broteins everywherezzz!!!11!". The craving for carbohydrates involves very similar reward circuitry to the craving for sexual release.

Assuming you have no oppositions to killing animals in general, another great option is to simply follow the so-called paleolithic diet: basically, just cut out modern, domesticated foods as much as possible, and whenever you can't eat undomesticated foods, find the domesticated option that most closely resembles its wild counterpart (since, for example, the modern person probably can't regularly forage for wild plant foods). In other words, cut out grains, beans, etc., and basically just eat meals that are heavy in organic, grass-fed animal products (mostly muscle meat and organs) with some fruits and vegetables on the side, plus nuts. (It sounds like fschmidt eats something close to this.)



"Triglyceride" is simply a technical term for fat, so animal products in general are good sources of them. Some specific plant products, like coconut oil, are relatively high in them, as well. As you have probably heard, there are several types of fats: saturated fatty acids (SFA's), monounsaturated fatty acids (MUFA's), and polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA's)- in descending order of hydrogen/carbon ratio and thus molecular stability. PUFA's are important nutrients (e.g. omega 3 oils), but you don't want to consume large amounts of them: because they are less stable molecules than SFA's and MUFA's they tend to oxidize more readily to generate free radicals, which leads to higher body-wide inflammation (including inflammation in the arteries, which the body responds to by dumping cholesterol deposits at the sites of injury). In other words, eating a bunch of PUFA's- which is what vegetable oils are primarily composed of -will help put you on the fast track to a heart attack. (Insulin has a similar inflammation-inducing effect, hence part of the reason why high amounts of carbohydrate consumption are so damaging.) Coconut oil is one of the few vegetable oils that is composed mainly of SFA's and MUFA's, and not PUFA's.

As for fat-soluble vitamins (vitamins A, D, E, K): again, animal foods in general. Liver is LOADED with vitamin A (so you don't want to eat too much of it), and also has D, E, and K. Eggs, butter, etc. all have A, D, E, K, to varying amounts depending on the nutritional status of the animals that produced them. Also note that, wherever plant foods appear to have more of these vitamins on paper, in practice, you are absorbing far more of these vitamins from animal foods due to the lack of fiber and the co-presence of fats, and in some cases the vitamins from animal foods are in a more readily usable form (vitamin A in the form of retinol in animal products, vs. vitamin A in the form of beta-carotene in plant products, for example). Also, vegetable oils may be loaded with vitamin E, but you want to vehemently avoid those for the reasons discussed above.

More generally speaking, animal foods have everything you need to survive and thrive. Even vitamin C can be found in organ meats like liver (although a meat-heavy diet removes one's requirement for vitamin C anyway, and it's possible to go indefinitely without consuming any vitamin C at all as long as you eat lightly cooked to raw, fresh meat; check out the writings of Vilhjalmur Stefansson, an early twentieth century anthropologist that spent some time with purely carnivorous Inuit).

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Strictly speaking, bananas don't contain serotonin (no food does)- they contain carbohydrates (and have a relative lack of fiber) that stimulate the release of insulin, which helps selectively transport tryptophan across the blood-brain barrier, where it can then be made into serotonin (they also, compared to some other foods, have relatively high amounts of tryptophan (relative to other amino acids)). Any high-carb, low-fiber food will do this, and, more generally, any food that stimulates a surge in insulin levels will do this (hence the advice to drink a glass of milk before bed, to fall asleep easier). But this isn't any kind of viable long-term method of increasing serotonin levels- not only are high insulin levels trouble in general, but over time, they will lead to increasing degrees of insulin resistance, including in the cells involved in transporting tryptophan into the brain. The more insulin resistant one becomes, the less of an effect insulin will have on increasing the selective transport of tryptophan across the blood-brain barrier.

Bananas contain tryptophan which is converted into serotonin. But I looked it up and bananas contain less tryptophan than I thought, so meat works fine for tryptophan.

Tryptophan is the precursor to serotonin. Also, vitamin B6 is a cofactor used in creating serotonin. Vitamin D and Calcium cause release of serotonin from cells (I've noticed this myself when I get sleepy after a long time in the sun).

So, to create serotonin you need tryptophan, vitamin B6, vitamin D, and calcium. It's really amazing stuff. I highly recommend it. I have before suffered from insomnia, and these vitamins and minerals have worked wonders.

Lykos: again I am extremely impressed by you. That is third year bio major material you are just cranking out.

The best way to increase plasma and brain serotonin (hydroxytryptamine) though is through supplementation of it's immediate precursor 5-hydroxytryptophan, widely available. This is akin to inserting serotonin into one's body, as 5-hydroxytryptophan crosses the blood-brain barrier easily, while serotonin does not; 5-hydroxytryptophan is rapidly converted to serotonin in both the plasma, and the raphe nucleus cells of the CNS. Also, many foods contain inhibitors of the primary antiserotonergic enzyme, monoamine oxidase A; this causes a fairly rapid rise in brain serotonin. A huge amount of herbs are marketed that do this as well, one being Rhodiola rosea.

Note that bananas actually do contain a good deal of fully metabolized serotonin. Many if not most foods actually do contain it and other neurotransmitters such as dopamine and adrenaline (bananas are loaded with the latter two). The problem is that consumed monoamine neurotransmitters, and most neurotransmitters in general, is that they are rapidly destroyed by the monoamine oxidases, and in any case cannot cross the blood-brain barrier to function as intended. You will know that you have eaten too much serotonin because the food will make you sick; it and dopamine modulate the vomit reflex and nausea through stomach receptors. That is how many powerful operating table anti-nausea drugs work, by blocking serotonin and dopamine receptors in the stomach. In addition, serotonin is the primary active ingredient in bee and wasp venom, and most spiders.

All that said, simply increasing one's overall serotonin levels does not help anything, it's role in psychological events has been twisted, simplified and misinterpreted by the media and general public. Indeed, certain studies indicate that depressed people have more serotonin than average, and especially more of the most "powerful" serotonin receptor, the 5-ht2a. A rapid increase in brain serotonin does seem to provide some degree of anxiolysis and help with insomnia. And we should all be aware of what happens when serotonin is dumped into the synapses by certain drugs, like MDMA: a profound increase in sociability and empathy, followed by exhaustion of serotonergic neurons and a depressive "low", despite 5-hydroxytryptophan supplementation.