Guys hi,
I wonder if any of you notice any anti-anxiety effects of beans/legumes/lentils ?
Found 2 interesting reports from longecity members:
Bump. I'm wondering if there's any update on this issue. I think high serotonin is (or I should say, was) an issue due to my extremely high (200 g dry weight/day) intake of lentils for a period of time, of all things. They're very high in bifidogenic β-GOS fibers, and in turn bifidobacteria produce / raise (not clear from the research I skimmed) serotonin levels. I liked the mental effects... the calmness, equanimity, the hippy-dippy feeling of connectedness to all things (kinda like being on a low dose of mushrooms all the time, almost), which in turn made it pretty easy to pick up girls, but then the act would be something of a struggle (and due to the calmness, performance anxiety seemed an unlikely culprit). Lending credence to this idea, I made a big pot of yohimbe tea, and it gave me a raging, ahem... except that's some dirty, dirty stuff, hitting all kinds of receptors (with decent antagonist effects at 5-HT1B and 1D), and the heart racing and orthostatic problems ended up making me have to lie down and then pass out.
Then I went on a vacation, stopped eating lentils, started getting sort of anxious, less calm, less spiritually connected, but much, much better function downstairs.
So, yeah, any update on these antagonists? Would peripherally acting antagonists also work, or is this a CNS effect? It'd be nice to have the mental effects but be able to turn off the vasoconstrictive / erectile inhibiting effects.
[1]
I've been experimenting with various supplements for 2-3 years and while there are short term beneficial results, long term results are not very impressive.
Incidentally, I figured out that every time I have cooked beans (different types) for lunch, usually together with other cooked vegies, and with the galactosidase enzyme (beano) I'm much calmer and content in the next several hours. The effect is much stronger compared to the various supplements I'm taking.
What would be the mechanism for that? I'm thinking slow and steady release of carbs helps with tryptophan transport in brain and serotonin production, but I don't experience that with any other complex carbs.
Ironically, I tended to avoid beans most of my life due to gas and reading how legumes/lectins are supposedly bad for humans. Now, I stocked up on generic enzyme capsules and carry it with me when I go out to lunch.
[2]
