Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Tryptophan, Thanksgiving, and other stuff...

Does tryptophan (an amino acid found in turkey) cause us to get drowsy?



I'm a fairly healthy guy. I consider myself to have an athletic build, although I'm no Brad Pitt, to be sure (who is?). I am in the gym 6 mornings a week. I do cardio, weight lifting, and racquetball once a week. Needless to say, I've been considering the negative effects that the pounds of food I am going to eat within the next day or so were going to have on my body. We are going to have cheesecake, peanut butter balls, homemade fudge; of course there will be turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, ad nauseam. In my time of consideration I began to wonder, "Self, I wonder if the tryptophan in turkey has anything to do with weight gain over the Thanksgiving holidays? I mean, after all, you get drowsy, lay down, and all of that food turns into fat while you are sleeping." Such ponderings led me to investigate the tryptophan culprit. My findings were surprising.

According to studies, tryptophan doesn't have anything to do with Thanksgiving drowsiness at all. In fact, according to Snopes.Com, "tryptophan doesn't act on the brain unless it is taken on an empty stomach with no protein present, and the amount gobbled even during a holiday feast is generally too small to have an appreciable effect." What does have an effect on our energy levels are 1. the amounts of food that we eat (which my amount will be almost illegal), 2. the kind of food that we eat (after all, it is mainly a carb infested meal), and 3. alcohol consumed (which in my case will be none - I don't drink). These 3 factors, either just one or all 3 combined, are the determining causes of energy levels on Thanksgiving day. Surprised? I was!

So go ahead - eat the heck out of some turkey. Gobble up (pun intended) the massive, mounted, and mouthwatering, munchables laid before you tomorrow. Just know that after you've partaken of the banquet of butt/thigh gainer, you will become sleep...veeeeeery sleepy - but it has absolutely nothing to do with tryptophan.


I hope everyone has an absolutely outstanding Turkey day. If you don't celebrate Thanksgiving...well, I still hope you have a super day off of work. And just in case anyone wants to read about the history, the unabridged and authentic history, of the Thanksgiving miracle, check this out:

Bridgeway Bible Church (scroll to the bottom where it talks about Thanksgiving)

Dustin...

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