The Mood Cure: Take Charge of Your Emotions in 24 Hours Using Food and Supplements. Julia Ross
been using lots of coffee or other, harder, stimulants like cocaine. But they do need to take them two to three times a day at first: early morning, midmorning, and midafternoon, if they tend to have a three P.M. slump. (If you’re a poor sleeper, however, keep your midafternoon dose no higher than 1 or 2 capsules, and take it no later than three P.M. Like coffee, tyrosine might interfere with your brain’s efforts to build up your natural sleeping potion, melatonin, as I explain in chapter 12.)
Caffeine and the Cats
If you rely on coffee as your pick-me-up, it is particularly important to take tyrosine supplements and to eat tyrosine-rich protein foods in the morning so that you can make and keep yourself alert without it. Caffeine raises your mood for a short time, only to bring it crashing down later. To make matters worse, it robs you of the crucial morning appetite that would otherwise lead you to eat a good cat-stimulating breakfast (not to mention impairing your sleep, your blood pressure, and the other things I mention in chapter 7). You’ll be surprised at how well substituting tyrosine for caffeine will work for you. (Plan on going through the usual caffeine withdrawal headache at first, though.)
Don’t overdo tyrosine or it can make you jittery or even raise your blood pressure too high. Let me give you an example of what can happen when you take more tyrosine than you personally need. David and his daughter Sharon were experiencing the blahs after years of demanding careers and unrelenting family-related stress. They read about tyrosine in The Diet Cure. It sounded so good that they decided to take 4 capsules three times a day—much more than the recommended starting dosage—because they assumed that more would be better and they were so run-down. Both did have overnight increases in energy and a complete elimination of their depressive symptoms.
After two weeks, however, David started to feel unusually tense and to wake up a little too early. When he went for a physical, his doctor told him his blood pressure was too high. David came to see us soon afterward and we told him to stop his tyrosine and read the warnings he’d apparently overlooked in The Diet Cure; too much tyrosine can cause headaches, elevated blood pressure, and a wired, jittery feeling.
David reported that his mood and energy slumped as soon as he stopped taking tyrosine, but his blood pressure went back to normal. A few weeks later, we suggested that he take 1 tyrosine capsule in the early morning and again at midmorning for a while, monitoring his blood pressure as he went along. His apathy disappeared again right away, but this time his blood pressure stayed down.
David’s daughter Sharon, on the other hand, could initially handle 4 capsules of tyrosine at a time just fine. She loved them. After six weeks she cut back to 3 capsules (three times a day). In her third month, she settled at 2 capsules three times a day; and after six months, she no longer needed tyrosine at all.
Your body’s reactions must be your guide in determining how much tyrosine you’ll need and when you can start cutting back. If, for any reason, you feel discomfort or no benefit after starting tyrosine, but you clearly have the symptoms associated with cat deficiency, do the following:
1. Stop taking your tyrosine and review the amino acid warning signs in the “Caution Box” on pages 199–200.
2. Read part 2 of this chapter starting on page 65 to see if you have a low-thyroid condition.
IF YOUR CATS NEED MORE ATTENTION
The Amino Acid Phenylalanine
Most low-cat people will experience wonderful results with tyrosine; however, a small minority may not respond to tyrosine alone. Tyrosine can be converted from another amino acid, called phenylalanine, which is also plentiful in high-protein foods. Phenylalanine converts into tyrosine and several other important brain- and body-regulating biochemicals. Like tyrosine, it is available as a supplement and can be used instead of tyrosine, if tyrosine turns out, after a day or so, not to be as helpful as you’d like. You might do better on one amino than the other, or do best combining the two. If you want to try phenylalanine, start with a 500-milligram capsule and increase as needed. Stop taking it if it also causes any discomfort or does not provide benefits.
Other Cat Boosters
There are several other natural cat boosters that you’ll want to add to your supplement regimen if you feel that you need a bit more support than either tyrosine or phenylalanine, or both, can provide you.
Actually, all of the basic vitamins, minerals, and fats described in chapter 10 help your brain to convert tyrosine into the catecholamines. The following basics are particularly pro-cat:
Omega-3 fish oil—You’ll certainly need this one. By correcting fatty-acid imbalances in your brain (the brain is 60 percent fat), this supplement can usher out low-cat depression and increase concentration in a hurry. By eating more fish and taking omega-3 fish oil supplements, you can raise your cats by 40 percent! And you may feel the effects very quickly. Fish oil contains DHA and EPA, the brain-activating form of omega-3 fats. (Flax oil is also a good source of omega-3 fats, but less helpful, especially in the brain, for most people than fish oil, because it doesn’t readily convert to DHA or EPA.)
In addition to taking omega-3 fish oil supplements, I recommend that you reduce your intake of vegetable oil (except for olive oil, which is fine), because doing so will help protect your brain’s supply of the vivacious omega-3s. Soy, corn, canola, and other omega-6 vegetable oils compete with the omega-3s for space in the fatty walls of your brain cells and are typically rancid and brain harmful anyway (as you will learn in chapter 7).
Vitamin D—This fat-soluble vitamin is actually a hormone that directs the conversion of tyrosine to cats in both your brain and your adrenal glands. Vitamin D orchestrates much of this action through its relationship with calcium, which is literally at the controls in your brain cells (as well as in your bone cells). Your basic supplement plan, laid out in chapter 10, will explain how to use the omega-3 fats, vitamin D, and minerals like calcium.
Pycnogenol and OPCs—These pine bark or grape seed extracts encourage cat activity in the brain and can be helpful with focus and concentration problems. Try them if you have attention deficits and if tyrosine, phenylalanine, the basic supplements, and eliminating bad-mood foods aren’t enough.15 Take 100 milligrams twice daily.
SAM-e—SAM-e is world-famous for its pro-cat antidepressant effects. We’ve found that about 5 percent of our clients have needed it. This crucial natural chemical is used throughout the body and brain and tends to be too low in some people—for example, in those who have used stimulant drugs. Add 800 to 1,600 milligrams of SAM-e per day, if tyrosine, the omega-3s, and dietary protein don’t perk you up in a week or two.16,17 (SAM-e can also be marvelous for the liver and joints.) If it doesn’t take effect after one bottle’s worth, though, it probably won’t.
You’ll find a recap of all the above supplement suggestions in the Action Steps at the end of the chapter. But before you drop the book and rush to your local supplement supplier, please read the next section and give some thought to whether or not your thyroid is part of what’s giving you the blahs.
IS YOUR THYROID BRINGING YOU DOWN? MEET THE NUMBER TWO CAUSE OF THE BLAHS
There’s one prescription antidepressant that you may never have heard of, though it outsells most other medications in America, far outstripping even Prozac in sales. That drug is the synthetic thyroid hormone Synthroid. Psychiatrists have been using Synthroid and similar thyroid-promoting medications to treat depression for many years, either alone or to improve the effectiveness of antidepressant drugs.
According to Professor Ridha Arem, M.D., chief of endocrinology at Baylor University’s