[Annemieke]

Though I have no coffee and not much chocolate, I am rather a zoomy type. However, eating crab seems to calm/slow me down, probably due to the tryptophan.
Now if I were to eat crab every day, would I become more relaxed, or will the effect go away because my body gets used to it?

[tickle]

Your body will eventually get used to the effect of eating crab, and you will no longer feel calm when you eat crab, but if you took the supplement, it would work all the time. Tryptophan also is a good sedative, available in tablet form in health food stores.

Probably a lot cheaper taking supplement.

Tick

[Annemieke]

Although I love crab, I can see there are advantages in taking a supplement instead! But why would I get used to the crab, but not to the supplement?

[tickle]

The way I see it, it is more economical and much easier to take a supplement along with your other vitamin pills every day, rather then sit down and eat crab every day with something else. Where I come from, crab is a luxury item and only consumed on rare occasions.

Tick

[Wondergirl]

Have you tried eating roasted turkey?

[Annemieke]

I only mentioned crab because that's what I was eating when I felt so relaxed afterwards. There are lots of foods with tryptophan, turkey, yes, and bananas, tuna, chicken breast, spinach, cheese, tofu and beans apparently.
But I wonder whether these things would make me calmer if I eat them all the time - in fact, I do eat them all the time! And I did not notice anything. Maybe there's not enough trypto in them, not as much as in the crab?

[Wondergirl]

Turkey has lots. Maybe it's a mental thing with the crab. The placebo effect.

Warm milk and decaf green tea will work too.

[tickle]

I only mentioned crab because that's what I was eating when I felt so relaxed afterwards. There are lots of foods with tryptophan, turkey, yes, and bananas, tuna, chicken breast, spinach, cheese, tofu and beans apparently.
But I wonder whether these things would make me calmer if I eat them all the time - in fact, I do eat them all the time! And I did not notice anything. Maybe there's not enough trypto in them, not as much as in the crab?

This sounds like an obsessive compulsive disorder. You should not be fixating on any food groups to attain what you need. Why don't you just focus on one thing to get what you want over a period. Introduce these things, in a small amount, into you normal diet. As in, a cold turkey plate with some veggies, the next day try salmon plate.

I could not eat like that, although my diet is suitable for a diabetic diet so is quite substantial most days.

You are fixating on this crab thing too much.

Tick

[Annemieke]

O dear, I did not mean I go out of my way to eat all those. It's just that all these are foods which I eat regularly anyway! I love spinach, beans, cheese etc.