This is how I helped myself, after all of the following failed me: Omega 3 oils, avoiding sweets, avoiding estrogenic things, doing liver flushes, taking tyrosin, taking phenylalanine, taking zinc, taking B6 (only worked for low dopamine depression, not for low serotonin depression), and attempting to avoid allergenic foods. These things may help other people but didn't me. Note: for a discussion on the difference between low-serotonin Depression and low-dopamine depression, see this link: //www.curezone.org/forums/m.asp?f=27&i=3364

Here is how I tweaked my diet to get rid of my late-afternoon "creepies" - a strong depressed feeling most afternoons. Some people might get that creepy depressed feeling in the evening. Mine was late afternoon, and seems to be related to not getting enough REAL L-tryptophan. 5HTP did not work much for me.

First, I found out that 5HTP doesn't work very well for some people, who need more real L-tryptophan rather than the 5HTP form of it.

Next, I found out that L-tryptophan has to be eaten in a high enough proportion to outweigh these 5 other amino acids, that compete directly in the body for absorption: Isoleucine, leucine, phenylalanine, tyrosine, and valine.

I Went to http://www.nutritiondata.com (a free site) and looked up foods that are proportionately higher in tryptophan and not as high in the above 5 aminos that compete with it. Then I started including more of those foods in my diet.

Result: NO MORE late afternoon creepies.

I read about a study that supports this: people were put on a low-tryptophan diet, and after awhile most of them got depressed. On the last day, they all got injections of L-tryptophan to see if it quickly would do something. It did: within an hour all of those who had gotten depressed during the study felt completely well again.

Next I'm going on the Internet to buy some REAL l-tryptophan tablets. It is no longer illegal to buy them, by the way.

If anyone wants to try this experiment with the foods, here is my short list of some of the foods that have a high ratio of tryptophan as compared to those competing aminos:

Navy beans and other starchy legume-beans
Walnuts
Sunflower seeds, shell removed
Eggs
Hazelnuts
Peanuts roasted
Tuna, canned
Turkey, dark
Pumpkin seeds (shell removed) also called pepitas
Wheat bran and whole wheat flour
Whole Buckwheat flour
Whole Oats

For comparison, an otherwise healthy food like Quinoa flour has NO tryptophan AT ALL! And it has a large quantity of those competing aminos! No wonder I started craving oats and wheat after a few days of using Quinoa bread instead. The Quinoa actually had way to much of the competing aminos, and no tryptphan at all, leading to my being completely off balance as far as the ratio of tryptophan to those competing aminos.

I left out the dairy because I'm not supposed to eat it, but it has a decent amount of Tryptophan too.