Bob's Red Pill #5 - Bro Take the L (Theanine)

by Crypto Psi

phiL-theanine

L-theanine and other amino acid isolates have been experiencing a “moment” in health consciousness lately. I’m stoked that this is happening, as L-theanine (henceforth described in this piece as “L” for brevity) has transformed my life for the better. I’ll also give some crucial tips for using L and similar tools that I often see overlooked, as well as other advice for how to chill out using supplements and herbs. Onward!

First off, just being honest here: I’ve dealt with anxiety in the past, sometimes pretty severe. One of my top priorities as a novice naturopath student was learning all about the biology of mental states. A few years back, I lost my favorite family member in a pretty traumatic way, and started to experience random bouts of panic and unease, even while going for an evening stroll. Taking the L was instrumental in getting me back on track mentally and spiritually, I’m forever grateful for it.

I do think there are taboos against dealing with mental health, just not in the ways the mainstream bog describes — and don’t get me started on their solutions. Most people experience these issues at various points throughout life. The key is having the tools to make sure these experiences don’t tank your life. While consumables aren’t the answer to every problem in life, they can give you a bridge to make some serious strides in your spiritual development.

L is an amino acid analogue of the proteinogenic amino acids L-glutamate and L-glutamine blah blah, you can read the wikipedia page just as easily as I can. I’ll try to keep the nerd facts to a minimum. Basically, L helps your brain produce calming alpha waves. These are the same brain states associated with meditation, indeed, L can be a useful set of training wheels for meditators. It’s naturally found in tea leaves and a few random mushroom species — I find its relative rarity in nature intriguing. Most people associate it with green tea.

Matcha is probably the most concentrated natural source of L that humans consume. Growing matcha in the shade increases L content. Tip #1: always consume high quality Japanese matcha. Chinese tea leaves are often contaminated with lead. When brewed traditionally, the lead is generally trapped in the leaves. When ground into a powder (matcha), the lead is released into your bloodstream. Good Japanese matcha almost never contains lead.

some tea farms use goats to prune their trees, so funny

Of course, tea contains caffeine. You might have noticed that the caffeine effect from tea or matcha is mellower than coffee. This is partially due to lower caffeine content, but also due to the opposing effects of the L. If you enjoy coffee, you can take the L in conjunction with your morning brew. This is an interesting experiment to conduct: one week of coffee, one week of coffee plus taking the L. Compare your mood between weeks.

This brings me to tip #2: strive to take the L on an empty stomach, or as far away from food as possible. This is because, as an amino acid, L will compete with other proteins in your digestive tract for absorption. To maximize absorption, take it alone. This advice goes for other Ls: glutamine, tyrosine, et cetera. I often find this advice left out of articles and online threads, and this leads to people taking the L with a blunted effect.

If money is not an issue for you, you can go to your local store and buy L capsules. I do this while traveling, however I usually buy a huge bulk bag for pennies on the dollar on Amazon, then capsule my own. Tip #3, doing this allows you to get over a year’s worth of L for about twenty bucks. I just capsule them myself using a few bowls while watching TV.

My last tip #4 is to not be shy with larger doses. For acute stress, a few fat capsules of L should take the edge off. I often take 250 mg in the morning and 250 mg before bed. Most people tolerate L well and find it quite benign. It’s a true miracle hack with little to no downsides.

Many herbs and supplements are often taken at too low a dose, while of course some like vitamin D require a more moderate approach. Try brewing five bags of organic chamomile before bed (or its equivalent in bulk) and compare the effect to just one. I got this tip from Rehmannia Dean Thomas, a gentleman who knows quite a bit about chilling out, herbally speaking. Word on the street is his “Shift” formula and his reishi blend have been calming many a Rare Candy listener.

Allow this to be a process of embracing your hippy nature and feeling the vibe of various substances. The more discerning you become, the more you’ll be able to sense exactly what a particular substance is doing for your psyche.

You might find that taking the L will have somewhat of a psychological tolerance after a time. From what I understand, physical tolerance isn’t a huge issue with L, but I’ve still found it becomes less effective over time. Ok, I lied, here’s a few more tips: take breaks from time to time, and combine L with other herbs like reishi and chamomile mentioned above. There are countless other herbal options to experiment with.

But even more fundamentally, you’ll find that anything consumed externally can only take you so far. Will L replace being conscious of your breath? No. Will it solve your issues with your family? Yes. Just kidding, no it won’t. Resist the urge to treat these tools as a crutch, and use them as transformational assets in conjunction with all the other good stuff (especially breathing properly).

Let me know in the comments if you have any experience with L-theanine or are trying it for the first time! Stay chill.

Take the L,

-Psi