Podcast
Summary
Ted, Erica and Nicole discuss Nootropics and dig into these brain boosting supplements, as well as, l-theanine, blood-brain barriers, GABA, phenibut, the Impossible Burger and other topics.
Transcription
Ted:
Hey guys, welcome back to Rising Core Podcast powered by Burman’s health shop. Tonight we have, we’re missing Marty, but we’ve replaced them with Nicole and Erica is here to join us tonight and we’re going to be talking about, did we decide, is it nootropics, nootropics?
Erica:
Either, or. Tomato, tomato. Yeah, it’s nootropics.
Ted:
Okay. I’m going to be talking about mass brain brain performance. What do you guys know about Nootropics? Have you guys ever experienced them?
Nicole:
Tried them a little bit.
Erica:
Not really. I mean like kind of my education through what you’ve told me. But no, I haven’t,
Ted:
I’ve probably been experimenting with them for, I don’t know, maybe three years now. Different compounds, different synthetics and natural nootropics. Just trying to find the best way to support cognition and improve all aspects of my brain performance and controlling anxiety and boost mood and focus. And I’ve come across some really cool ones that like, actually I’m surprised they actually work. They actually work really well.
Erica:
Yeah, like, I mean when we started talking about nootropics before, you know, I used to be on Adderall,,and I was looking for something that like, you know, mentally stimulate me.
Ted:
Did Adderall help you?
Erica:
I mean it did I think in the initially initial period, but,uyou know, I think I abused my prescription and I think the longterm effects… I mean we can have a whole podcast. I do think that there are better alternatives.
Ted:
Before for the euphoric benefits or for the energy? And I guess because I wasn’t using it in a, a setting where I would notice if it actually helped me focus better or increased brain performance. I really don’t know if it would be something that would benefit me. But I did like the way I felt on him.
Erica:
Yeah. Well, I don’t think that my blood pressure was crazy high.
Ted:
Like, yeah, literally like the first time I ever I ever took him. I laid there, I think we were at, we were actually at a hotel party and I took a couple of them and I think I laid on the floor of that hotel room. Like could literally hear my heart beating for like all night. Yeah, I took a shit ton a lot.
Erica:
All right. Have you had any experience with Adderall?
Nicole:
I have, yeah. It definitely depends on the setting though because I have taken it and not been in a setting where I’m really doing tasks and that just made my anxiety goes through the roof. Like I was like a sitting duck and I wanted to do something, but mentally I couldn’t because I was racing. But then I have taken it again where I’m constantly like on the at work when I used to clean and I would get so much stuff done more than when I wasn’t on it. So I definitely think it depends on the setting. Yeah.
Ted:
We have a few, a few folks that come in here now and some of them work in rehabilitation centers and parole officers and they’re apparently there’s a huge increase in people that are taking both prescription and non prescription amphetamines yeah. And I don’t know if that’s because everyone, because our lifestyle is so fast paced now that people feel like they need to take something to keep up or if you know, if there is an actual epidemic of A.D.D or adult ADD.
Erica:
I don’t think that, I think it, yeah, I think it’s just the time. Yeah, I agree.
Erica:
There’s so much stuff going on. You want to be like always alert. I mean it’s why caffeine…
Ted:
Yeah. And it’s probably the most widely abused. Yeah. You can drive up and down any of these streets around us and you’re going to see a coffee shop every 10 feet, you know?
Nicole:
Well, I mean, I think that, and you can go and get coffee five, six times a day where you can go take one Adderall for $10 and then zoom and all that. So I think it, I mean, it all depends.
Erica:
Yeah. But I, I definitely think that there are much better longterm alternatives to it. So I, I guess that’s why we’re sharing our own experiences with amphetamines because I think that it’s something that a lot of people are, you know, looking for maybe in a natural supplement or looking for natural alternatives or they want to get off the drug, which I totally support. You know, this, like I did and finding alternatives. So I think that’s how we had started the conversation about nootropics.
Ted:
Yeah. No, and I, and I think you’re right. I think that’s, you know, we do a lot of CBD, we do a lot of supplements like ashwagandha, which we’ve talked about before for, you know, we, we see a big increase in stress and anxiety, which goes hand in hand with the fast paced lifestyle that everyone’s living. I mean literally like whether I’m home at work, whatever, my emails are going off, my text messages are going off. I have 20 tasks I’m about completing in my head. So I do feel like at times a, I might have an attention disorder, but in reality it’s probably, there’s just so much stuff going on. Whereas before, you know, 20 years ago you went to work, you didn’t have a phone in your pocket, you didn’t, you know, you took care of one task at a time. Now we’re multitasking on such a much bigger level that I think people just feel like they have, you know, attention issues. But yeah, which is probably also the reason whyNootropics are starting to become such a hot topic now is because people are looking to optimize brain function and trying to get the most out of, you know, the 24 hour day.
Erica:
Yeah. I mean, I’ll say I did try the Fuel which I liked. But I had some of the new Nootropics in it. Like, can you tell me which ones were in it?
Ted:
I’m in fuel. We have a combination. It’s a few different things. It’s one of my favorite nootropics is phenylpiracetam now. That’s a synthetic nootropic that was developed in Russia. It’s banned by WADA, the sports agency, the anti-doping agency because it does for a fact increased performance whether mental, physical, whatever. So that is in there for the stimulatory effects. We have CBD in there to help calm some of the anxiety that someone might get. Taking such a strong stimulant.
Nicole:
Isn’t CBD a nootropic? Is it considered? Good question.
Ted:
Could be considered a nootropic.
Erica:
What’s a Nootropic? Can we like, let’s start at the beginning. What is the nootropic? Do we have any definition? I’m going to pull one up.
Ted:
The original guy classified nootropics is now the definition has evolved. Now it’s,
Erica:
Oh, she’s got it. Let’s see. What is it? It’s the supplement and/or substance that may improve cognitive function, memory, motivation, creativity in healthy individuals.
Ted:
I think that’s the modified definition now where as I think the first guy that created the terminology, a lot of stuff that we have now would not classify as nootropics. I don’t know. I can’t quote it.
Erica:
So are they natural compounds? Are they like natural substance? Like the one that you just mentioned phenylpiracetam.
Ted:
That is not, that is, that’s something synthetic.
Ted:
It does. Yeah. So, and that’s kind of where they start to base this stuff off of is we have a few different neurotransmitters in the brain. We have excitatory neurotransmitters, we have calming neuro-transmitters. So, you know, depending on what you’re looking for, and if you’re looking to calm down anxiety, you’re going to look for something like a nootropic that’s going to focus on GABA receptors in the brain or serotonin receptors. Even if you’re looking for something more stimulating, that’s gonna work on norepinephrine. Epinephrin or your glutamate receptors. So it’s going to give you more of a amped up feeling, which, which is what pretty much what Adderall works on. You know, it’s an amphetamine, it releases a bunch of catacholamines like dopamine, serotonin or epinephrin, which makes you feel good taking in larger doses. Now somebody that’s lacking in some of these brain chemicals, they can take it in and actually get to a more balanced state. So, I mean, depending on what you’re looking for there’s different ways to approach it. And that’s the, the cool thing about nootropics and that’s why I’ve been experimenting with them for years. And you know, there’s still new ones that I haven’t tried. There’s still a lot of stuff that I don’t know and I’m only speaking on like my own anecdotal evidence of what I’ve tried, what’s worked for me. And that may work for some and may work, may not.
Erica:
So what, what like products have nootropics in them at Burman’s health shop? Or are you guys like planning to bring in more?
Ted:
Yeah, I’d love to bring in more, we have a bunch of natural ones now. So I mean the fuel number store, the store has it in there too. Has, has a couple of different kinds.
Erica:
It’s like a proprietary like side notes. Like when you read the label you’ll see them under the proprietor.
Ted:
Yeah. And there’s, you know, there’s, we have a lot of, not a natural ones, like one of the ones that’s probably more common is l-theanine. It’s an amino acid that works on dopamine, works on GABA receptors. It’s found in green tea and it promotes a calming relaxation without sedation. So it helps you focus, helps you. A lot of people pair it with caffeine for a synergistic effect. We have a product here called day starter that is a combination of natural caffeine and l-theanine. It’s actually one of my favorite like morning time products kind of gets you going, gets you focused. I like a little bit more caffeine and it’s in the pill, so I take it with a cup of coffee, but it, you know, really good and I’m not one that will say if something, you know, just hype something up for no reason. You know, I have to actually experience it and feel it and I’ll tell people if it does or doesn’t work for me. And that doesn’t mean it won’t work for them. But l-theanine me and Nicole were actually talking about this earlier. I was saying that the first couple of times I took it, I didn’t even notice anything. I didn’t feel it.
Nicole:
And that’s how I was when I, I would take it at night. So I was taking the LT and then I was taking 200 milligrams at night. Did not feel a difference at all. But when I paired it with my coffee in the morning or whatever, I’m drinking caffeinated. It worked, it worked. I saw all the difference. I did not get jittery. Oh, good. Yeah, it was definitely a good calming effect and I feel like it made me focus better.
Ted:
Yeah. Sometimes if you’re overstimulated, you can’t really dial into like specific tasks where if you take something like l-theanine it’ll actually calm down. It promotes something called alpha wave brain activity, which is the same brain activity that monks get when they’re meditating. So yeah, so, but you can take it, you know.
Erica:
Wait they have a study with monks?
New Speaker:
I don’t know if they actually do but I believe you, but they have to you know, they had, they have, you know, alpha and beta waves in the brain and when they meditate and they, you know, they go into that state of relaxation, it promotes more alpha waves. So instead of you sitting on the floor with your legs crossed and you know, fingers together and humming, you can just take a capsule of l-theanine and it gets the same result.
Erica:
Side note, I’ve been doing this meditation app called the Waking Up app and it’s like 10 minutes of meditation every day.
Ted:
It’s really good. Do you think it works? You notice the difference? It’s pretty cool. I tried something called Headspace.
Erica:
Like, you know, you train yourself physically. But like, you know, it’s like training yourself mentally, like, and that’s the way you think.
Ted:
And that’s kind of what nootropics are. They’re like, you know, you take, everyone comes in here and take supplements because they want to feel, you know, stronger, more active or whatever. You know, we all take these performance enhancers for our body, but now they’re starting to be a shift where people want to take performance, enhancers for the brain. Really. and you get, and you know, you get a double benefit. Sometimes it works on both of them. Like the phenylpiracetam, that’s banned by the sports agencies cause it will make you fast or it will make you stronger. Um,even if it’s just temporary.
Erica:
Are there any like studies on like longterm health effects?
Ted:
Um I guess when you’re messing with brain chemicals it’s definitely better to start with the natural ones, especially if you’re on other medications. Absolutely. Yeah. And, and the natural ones are pretty, pretty safe. Most of them are it’s called grass certified, where it’s GRAS it’s generally recognized as safe which means there’s very low potential for like toxicity or interactions and like l-theanine, Bacopa monnieri these are natural compounds that actually, you know, promote nootropic effects, but they’re not synthetic me. You know, I, I’ve, I started with the natural ones, but then I moved to the more synthetic versions, which, you know, I think there’s a place for both.
Erica:
So Nicole, do you have like what do you have to say about nootropics?
Nicole:
What I do want to talk about, is phenibut a nootropic?
Ted:
Yeah, that’s a good question. Yeah, I think so. Absolutely. I think it definitely makes me focus more.
Erica:
What is phenibut?
Ted:
It’s a derivative. It’s actually GABA, which is an amino acid, but they add a phenyl ring, they attach it to it so it can cross your blood brain barrier.
Nicole:
Gabba cannot cross the blood brain barrier, but phenibut can.
Erica:
What is the blood brain barrier? Cause I don’t think a lot of listeners slash I still don’t know. When you talk about it,
Ted:
It’s basically a protective barrier that, you know, if you ate food that was, you know, tainted or poisonous, it’s basically your body’s way of protecting the brain. It only lets certain chemicals and certain vitamins and minerals crossover. It’s kinda like you can like a barrier that, you know your body tries to protect itself. Certain compounds can cross it, CBD can cross it. Magnesium there. I mean there’s a bunch of different ones, but the the nootropics, that’s what basically a lot of them are, are meant to do is to get over into the brain and work on certain brain chemicals and influence your brain in particular ways.
Nicole:
And that’s another topic because they, in everything that I’ve watched, they said that phenibut and alcohol, it has the same effects that works on the same receptors. But I can’t stand alcohol. I don’t like being drunk. But phenibut is a good feeling and I don’t think it, I don’t think you can compare the two.
Ted:
Yeah, yeah, it does. I, you know, I guess that’s why different receptors, I guess different compounds, even though they’re working on the same receptors, give you a different feel. Like I just, I don’t drink, I never did and never liked it, but I’ll take fun of you and I’ll feel a sense of calm, relaxation. But euphoria, I mean nothing overwhelming, you know, nothing like super, super intense. But definitely the mood lift is there and definitely the potentiation if you’re taking it with other stuff is there and there are people that are like non-responders to it. Where I’ve had a couple of people I’ve given samples to, they come in and they’re like, eh, it really didn’t do much even though they are definitely by far. One of our most repeat purchased products here. People come in for them every day, the same people. I think that it works better on people that are prone to anxiety. If you’re, you know, if you’re maybe more of an anxious person or you know, you have scattered thoughts because it can kind of quiet that inner voice, I guess you can focus a little bit better.
Erica:
Yeah, I have a question. Sois GABA is that a nootropic? Cause I’ve been hearing a lot about GABA.
Ted:
GABA, yeah. I mean a lot of people, yeah, a lot of people take GABA just for anxiety, for calming effect for sleep.
Erica:
Is that similar to phenibut?
Ted:
Yeah, it is. I mean and it is essentially the same thing. They just, both phenibut is a, it is a synthetic. But if GABA could cross Lake our GABA it doesn’t cross the blood brain barrier. That’s the, that’s really the, the main difference is that it can cross that blood brain barrier and get to where it needs to.
Erica:
Do you have any GABA here?
Ted:
We do, yeah. We have, we have a sublingual version, which is supposed to be able to, there’s a couple versions. There’s a version called PharmaGABA, which is like newer on the market, but it does have like a research that shows that it can cross the blood brain barrier. Then there’s, we have GABA lozenges that you can just put under the tongue and they gets absorbed sublingually. And that’s supposed to cross the blood brain barrier a little bit better than like just taking a regular capsule.
Erica:
Well I’m reading here, GABA is found in varieties of green, black and oolong tea,ufermented foods including kefir yogurt and tempeh. Ubut yeah, it seems like that is, if someone is interested in maybe like taking the leap to something natural,ubut not maybe a little nervous about the synthetics. I think GABA is a good
Ted:
Yeah. GABA great. You know, it’s definitely worth trying. Same thing with l-theanine because that works on GABA receptors. So, you know, we have just like, we have opioid receptors for pain, we have GABA receptors. So taking GABA of course is going to bind with GABA receptors, but l-theanine somehow promotes, I think it upregulates your Gabba receptors where like your naturally occurring GABA can work better. I like to try things, you know, and that’s a big thing in the nootropic world is what they call stacking. So it’s where you take one compound and you stack it with another compound to either, like for instance, acetylcholine is a neurotransmitter in our brain that like promotes everything from memory to working verbal fluency to speed of processing. So for instance, you would take alpha GPC, which enhances choline. And then along with that you could take something like huperzine A which slows the breakdown of acetylcholine. So one is promoting a certain neurotransmitter and the other one is inhibiting it from being broken down.
Ted:
So basically you have more circulation, so you kind of hit it with like more circulating you know, choline in the brain or whatever you’re doing. So same thing with like certain SSRI antidepressants. Like those are meant to inhibit the re-uptake of serotonin. They don’t make more serotonin, they just inhibit the breakdown of it. So, you know, there’s different ways to, you know, kind of find a synergy between different compounds with nootropics. And that’s the cool part. You can mix natural with synthetic or you can just take all natural and you know, caffeine and l-theanine and that’s a, that’s a good starter stack for most people.
Erica:
Yeah I think that that’s the opportunity that lies with nootropics with some of the stuff offered at Burman’s is that you can really stack or you can figure out what makes sense for you and pair it with that coffee you have in the morning and you know, why are you drinking that coffee in the morning? Cause it gives you energy. But it also, you know, what else can you pair that with to make your day the most productive? To make your day feel like, you know, you’re not crashing and burning, you’re just like, you’re finding this homeostasis, this, this. I think that’s why people comfort CBD. I think that’s, you know, I’m sure Nicole has some thoughts to the eye. I just want to that just because
Nicole:
Like, just because l-theanine and caffeine, like for me that works for me. That doesn’t mean that Joe who walks in the store, he says, okay, what do you suggest? That may not work for him at all. So I think that’s one of the other things about nootropics is whether it’s synthetic or natural, if one thing works for me, that doesn’t mean that it’s going to work for Ted. It’s not going to work for you. You have to play around with it and see just because one, one supplement didn’t work for you, it doesn’t mean that it’s not working at all.
Ted:
Yeah, cause that makes sense. Well that’s the thing. I think there’s, you know, there’s there’s a difference between, you know, getting high, like you said earlier and, and just operating better. You might not feel the effects like, you know, like a light switch turning on. But you know, there’s certain lion’s mane mushroom is like really popular right now and that promotes it’s called nerve growth factor in the brain. That’s something that’s going to stimulate new neurons and new nerve growth. But you’re not going to feel that tonight or tomorrow. Like, that’s something that you have to invest some time in, you know, and, and you know, it’s not going to be like, wow, I took it and 10 times smarter. A lot of these nootropic is nootropic nerds like myself that like they’ll go on like these brain games and they’ll, they’ll keep track of their scores.
Ted:
I’ve never done this, but a lot of people, yeah, like there’s different like brain tests. There’s the, just go on like Google and type in like nootropic brain tests. And what it’ll do is like, you can create an account, right? And you can take a test and it’ll give you like your score and a lot of it’s like memory, like stupid stuff. And then you can take some nootropics and take that same test over again or you know, a test of, you know, similarity. And then you can kind of compare like, all right, did my score improved? Did it decrease? And that’s what a lot of these people do. And they like keep like spreadsheets on it and like, you know, to find the perfect stack and you can kinda see it’s getting really big in well they call it silicone Valley.
Erica:
Well, people want to track their progress. People want to know, I mean, even if it’s a physical, you want to track your progress. Now I know you do that. The gym, like you want to track your mental progress as well, like working out your brain. That’s what I’m doing. Like a 50 day meditation challenges. So I can say, all right, how many minutes have I meditated?
Ted:
Yeah, exactly. And the first time you meditate, you might not completely feel like a new person, but you do. It’s every single day for that 50 days. At the end of it, you might be able to look back and be like, Holy shit, like I feel more calm or, you know, I feel a greater sense of gratitude.
Ted:
Yeah. And that’s, you know, and that’s my emotions. I mean, I think that’s human nature to want to be better for them. I mean, for the most part, you know, back in, back in the day, like farmers, they wanted to learn how to get, you know, find the best soil, best place to grow, the best growing conditions. You know, and they got better and better and better at it, you know, to yield better results at the end of it. So we’re not, maybe you might be farming, but not all of us are. So you know, you gotta find what, you know, where you can improve that performance in your everyday life. You know, as far as the nootropics go, you guys are gonna be hearing about them a lot more there. They’re definitely making a come up and,uyou know, you can come in and talk to me and I’ll tell you which ones I’ve used and which ones I’ve had the best success with and which ones, you know, did nothing for me.
Erica:
We’re going to talk about the impossible burger. Okay. Nicole tried it.
Nicole:
It’s good. You could not, you could not tell the difference between burger King’s burgers, their Whoppers.
Ted:
They like isolated out and they, they couldn’t understand why the plant based meat didn’t taste like regular beef and they found that it was like a compound, like iron Ferris or whatever. And they added it to this and that’s why they say it tastes exactly the same cause that was the missing link. So they had little kids eat like multiple multiple burgers and like say which one’s your favorite? And the kids were like, you know, Oh this one. And they all picked, every kid picked the impossible burger. And it’s funny because it’s like such a mindset. Like the guys that were doing these testing were like, well what if we told you that was made out of like veggies and all the kids were like, I’ll never eat it again. And they were like, but you said it’s your favorite one. And they’re like, I don’t care. It’s veggies, it’s nasty. And like that’s where the mindset is. Like, people think that like, you know, a burger can’t, you know.
Ted:
Think about the variety of, you know, the different vegetation and season. Like throughout a year you’d eat a little bit of everything. So there was no nutrient deficiencies because you were eating so much throughout the entire year of a different variety and different colors of fruits and veggies that, you know, you probably were cool.
Erica:
You know, it’s interesting, I made a turnips that we grew at the farm. I work at a farm in Newtown square called urban roots. So, shout out to Urban Roots. Ubut I brought turnips to, to a dinner in Harrisburg and the parents,uso like my aunts and uncles, they had all had turnips. They remember growing up on turnips. They hadn’t had them in a while. And all the cousins were like, I’ve never had a turnip in my entire,
Nicole:
I don’t even think I know what that is.
Erica:
They’re delicious, swear. And I think they skipped a generation. I think that became unpopular.
Ted:
Um,not the most appealing name.
Ted:
All right guys, thanks for listening to Rising Core for myself, Erica and Nicole. The content on Rising Core is for informational purposes only and should not be taken as medical advice. Please consult with your healthcare professional for any questions.
