Hey everyone,
There are a lot of topics on Longecity about relatively expensive, difficult to obtain and experimental substances. They do have promising effects and benefits, but I'm really conservative and risk averse when it comes to these nootropics.
So I was thinking; what happens if you combine (a lot of) different relatively cheap, widely available and safe supplements and "lifestyle changes"? Is it possible to reach somewhat similar effects? I'm more focused on fixing and preventing possible deficiencies than "adding something new", but I know that this is kind of vague and it's not easy to know (without tons of tests).
Here is what I do and take at the moment.
Supplements and Nootropics:
Fish oil: 2500 mg (18% EPA, 12% DHA) daily.
Vitamin D3: 50 µg daily.
Nicotine gum: 2 mg as needed (around 1-2 times/week).
NAC: 600 mg daily. Although I'm thinking of lowering this dose to 200 mg or taking whey protein instead. See this topic: N-Acetylcysteine: risk–benefit ratio (2015)
Diet and food:
I track my weekly food intake (and take the 7-day average) every once in a while to see if I have any (intake) deficiencies (according to the RDI).
Food products I take with a special reason:
Soy lecithin: around 7.5g (contains 225mg choline).
I take lecithin because I don't think I get enough choline from my diet only and apparently I'm not the only one (Choline: an essential nutrient for public health). It also contains other phospholipids like phosphatidylserine.
Cacao powder
Flavonoids! Although the cacao I'm using at the moment is Dutch processed. I should find a non-Dutched product next time which is going to be difficult since I'm living in the Netherlands and they're probably all Dutched here.
Non-alcoholic beer: 300-600 ml.
I have to admit that I haven't looked into (the dosage and effects of) Uridine enough to say anything sensible about this, but according to Examine.com: "ingestion of beer at 10mL/kg can increase serum uridine levels 1.8-fold, which is similar levels at supplemental intake of the same uridine dosage (0.05mg/kg)". There might also be some additional benefits of drinking non-alcoholic beer (https://en.wikipedia...#Health_effects). I guess I just like it as an alternative to soft drinks too.
Coffee/caffeine.
I drink around 500ml of coffee in the morning and another 500ml in the evening. I should lower the amount of coffee I drink.
Green tea
I started drinking green tea years ago when there was this big hype around green tea. A lot of claims have been debunked since then, but I still drink around 1000 ml every day. I'm not sure if this amount (of green tea catechins and/or theanine) is enough to have any effect though.
Tomato paste: 100-120g almost every day.
Rich source of lycopene and uridine (0.5 to 1.0 g uridine per kilogram dry weight, according to the wiki). Possible con: canned tomato paste probably contains some BPA, but I'm not sure if that's really a problem. Does anyone know a little bit more about the current scientific consensus around BPA?
Lifestyle adjustments
Physical exercise: at least 30 minutes of moderate/vigorous exercise every day.
Mindfulness/meditation: 2 x 20 minutes every day.
Sleep: at least 8 hours of sleep every day.
So what do I actually want with this topic? I'm looking for some feedback on this regime; suggestions, additions, questions and especially some criticism is more than welcome! Thanks.
Edited by Now, 12 May 2015 - 05:09 PM.