5-HTP and low carb diets

[Roger B]

I just read a little something about how a very low carb diet can cause 5-HTP, that really great and powerful sleep inducer, to not be manufactured by the body, or at least decrease it. Since I have been on a very low carb diet, I have been having a heck of a time sleeping. So I tried some 5-HTP from Natural Grocers and it seemed to help.

It makes sense that paleo people did eat carbs now and then. I may have gone too extreme, which is what I do a lot. So, tonight I had a big bowl of butter and salted popcorn, my favorite way to get carbs. (:->)

I'll see what happens.

Roger Bird

[Sheri Nakken]

Original paleo people certainly ate carbs - depends on where they lived how much was available

Paleo diet now isn't about not eating carbs
It is no grains and no legumes but meat, veg, fruit, butter, no dairy except raw organic

Sheri
Sheri Nakken, former R.N., MA, Hahnemannian Homeopath
http://homeopathycures.wordpress.com/ & http://vaccinationdangers.wordpress.com/
ONLINE/Email classes in Homeopathy; Vaccine Dangers; Childhood Diseases and Child Health
Next classes start September

[Roger B]

Sheri,

I am very reluctant to argue with you, so I won't. I will just say that I had/have some bothersome diabetes symptoms, so I tried going very low-carb and it worked for me. But I also at the same time went zero wheat.

Roger
________________________________

To: minutus@yahoogroups.com
From: minutus@yahoogroups.com
Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2014 11:57:20 +0200
Subject: Re: [Minutus] 5-HTP and low carb diets
Original paleo people certainly ate carbs - depends on where they lived how much was available

Paleo diet now isn't about not eating carbs
It is no grains and no legumes but meat, veg, fruit, butter, no dairy except raw organic

Sheri
Sheri Nakken, former R.N., MA, Hahnemannian Homeopath
http://homeopathycures.wordpress.com/ & http://vaccinationdangers.wordpress.com/
ONLINE/Email classes in Homeopathy; Vaccine Dangers; Childhood Diseases and Child Health
Next classes start September

[Ginny Wilken]

Comparing a diabetes diet to true prototypical Paleo is not exactly valid. Type 2 diabetes is a disease provoked by misuse of the digestive/utilization mechanisms, and this misuse is pretty much the opposite of a prototypical human diet. While certainly diabetics or pre-diabetics will do well on a Paleo regime, it appears that normal human function can certainly handle low-sugar carbs. Where the problems started, though, was when agriculture enabled production of "dense" carbohydrates with distorted starch storage, far beyond their occurrence in natural surroundings. My personal take is that many of humanity's ills stem from this advent, as diet changed, population density increased, more borderline climates became marginally survivable - and of course, mental powers and emotional control deteriorated due to the poor nutrition, leading to social pressure, strife, and wars.

Roger, I think you should eat as many slowly metabolizing carbs as you need to feel good - but I surely cannot condone corn, one of the worst of the grains, nutritionally speaking. How about a bowl of oatmeal at bedtime?

ginny

--

Ginny Wilken

gwilken@fastmail.fm
________________________________

[Shannon Nelson]

Also root veggies are fine on it, though nightshades, e.g. potatoes and tomatoes, are a problem for some people.

[Shannon Nelson]

Roger --

Personally I *love* the Paleo diet! For me, being very-low-carb was an important part of it for perhaps the first year, but now I seem to handle carbs okay, tho still hardly any grains at all. For some reason quinoa seems to work well now and then, but that's pretty much my only grain any more. Good luck -- persevere!

Shannon
________________________________

[Sheri Nakken]

quinoa is a seed not a grain though some also have trouble with it
http://www.grainfreeliving.com/is-quino ... r-a-grain/

and it is heavily processed
http://ultimatepaleoguide.com/is-quinoa ... deep-dive/

http://chriskresser.com/rhr-what-scienc ... at-lalonde

http://chriskresser.com/can-you-be-heal ... paleo-diet
Quinoa does have some of the food toxins that we are trying to minimize by not eating grains. It is not technically a grain; it is one of the pseudograins.

I don't miss grains at all when I am at home and not traveling.
Can make nice breads/pancakes/muffins with coconut flour, tapioca flour and almond flour.

Sheri

At 02:42 AM 6/21/2014, you wrote:
________________________________
Sheri Nakken, former R.N., MA, Hahnemannian Homeopath
http://homeopathycures.wordpress.com/ & http://vaccinationdangers.wordpress.com/
ONLINE/Email classes in Homeopathy; Vaccine Dangers; Childhood Diseases and Child Health
Next classes start September

[Roger B]

I'll try it, if I can have it with butter and salt. I like oatmeal with butter and salt.

The popcorn gave me a little bloating in my left foot, so that was the wrong direction.

Roger
________________________________

To: minutus@yahoogroups.com
From: minutus@yahoogroups.com
Date: Fri, 20 Jun 2014 10:38:20 -0700
Subject: Re: [Minutus] 5-HTP and low carb diets

Roger, I think you should eat as many slowly metabolizing carbs as you need to feel good - but I surely cannot condone corn, one of the worst of the grains, nutritionally speaking. How about a bowl of oatmeal at bedtime?

ginny

--

Ginny Wilken

gwilken@fastmail.fm
________________________________

[Irene de Villiers]

Dear Ginny.

You did not explain what YOU mean by a "diabetes diet", so as to compare it witih anything else.

In any sensible diabetes diet, there will be very low carbs, as carbs are, quite simply, toxic to diabetics.
It would be very unwise to do anything that the American Diabetes Association suggests for example, especially with regard to so-called slow digesting carbs.
Carbs are toxic to diabetics period. Slow-digestion does not make them less so.

Not necessarily.
It is triggered by the presence of high glucose and insulin resistance combined, in the bloodstream, but dietary indiscretion is by no means the only way to arrive at that state of being. Several illnesses, such as those involving various hormone imbalances or metabolic imbalances, also trigger type 2 diabetes.
It is too easy for naturally skinny folks to assume everyone with diabetes, ate their way there via the donut counter, but it's simply not true.
So it is not correct to mis-characterize T2-diabetes as as self-inflicted eating issue as you seem to be doing.
Why do you suggest low-sugar carbs to be relevant?
Starch is the dangerous stuff, more so than natureal sweetness from fruits and vegetables.
grains for example.
Well....did population increase due to grain agriculture or did grain agriculture increase to meet population increase?
It was not corn, but popcorn, one of the few grains not yet GMO'd at all, so I see no harm.
Really?
Why?
It is a whole grain, low in fat and calories, and 100g (about ten cups popped, so divide by ten per cup) contains:
13g protein
14.5g fiber
387 cals
78 carbs
144mg Magnesium
329 mg Potassium
only 8 mg sodium
3 mg Zinc
2.3 mg Niacin
small amounts of thiamin. riboflavin and B6
10 IU Vit QA
31 Mcg Folate
1.2 mcg Vit K
3g of mono and poly unsaturated fats

It's no superfood but it looks like a reasonable snack, with nothing harmful, that can be eaten any time.
Why?

If a diabetic wants to eat something at bedtime, a scrambled egg IMO is far superior, with a grating of sharp cheddar.
It provides sustained blood glucose due to protein density and fat, and will avert the "dawn phenomenon" when the liver kicks in to make more glucose after 8 hrs of non-eating.

If carbs are desired, the best time for a diabetic to eat them is right before exercise, not right before sleep. The gluciose from them is then burned off before the insulin converts it to fat.

Namaste,
Irene
--
Irene de Villiers, B.Sc AASCA MCSSA D.I.Hom/D.Vet.Hom.
P.O. Box 4703 Spokane WA 99220.
www.angelfire.com/fl/furryboots/clickhere.html (Veterinary Homeopath.)
"Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt one doing it."

[Irene de Villiers]

Research shows that 5HTP interferes with the dopamine metabolism in the forebrain, and that would make melatonin relatively more effective, making you sleepier.

I'm not so sure messing up the dopamine is a good idea though.
Hormone supplements usually backfire sooner or later.

.....Irene
--
Irene de Villiers, B.Sc AASCA MCSSA D.I.Hom/D.Vet.Hom.
P.O. Box 4703 Spokane WA 99220.
www.angelfire.com/fl/furryboots/clickhere.html (Veterinary Homeopath.)
"Man who say it cannot be done should not interrupt one doing it."