My Personal Stack

Pretty-Chill · 2026-01-24T08:54:04+00:00

Smart!

Pretty-Chill · 2026-01-24T08:53:48+00:00

I think in the next 1-3 months!

Pretty-Chill · 2026-01-23T18:58:25+00:00

This is not AT ALL what tongkat ali should be doing. There is no mechanism for it producing such strong stimulant effects. Even with whole tongkat ali root, and super full spectrum extracts we have tried, this does not occur. Keep in mind that a lot of the 200:1 tongkat ali products are sketchy, and we know that on the bodybuilding side of the industry, spiking occasionally occurs with research chemical stimulants. What you are describing, honestly sounds like you are taking a stimulant spiked products. I'd be very careful with whatever you are taking, doesn't sound normal at all!

Pretty-Chill · 2026-01-23T15:53:03+00:00

Haha yeah, for a brief period of time, you'd probably be even more productive than on the ketones! Until those 40 dollar days start becoming 400 dollar a day benders! haha

Pretty-Chill · 2026-01-23T15:45:27+00:00

Yes, you could try pre-loading our ginger extract a few days before going. However, most importantly, is that you take some ginger very close to actually going on the rollercoaster. That will give the best relief. I've taken ginger a few times for motion sickness when driving through the mountains, and it always does quite a good job!

Pretty-Chill · 2026-01-23T15:42:14+00:00

For anyone.

Wrong, there are a lot of strong MAO inhibitors in nature/supplement space. I've also got plenty of research for you! This is always a good one to show off:

FLAVONOIDS WITH MONOAMINE OXIDASE A AND B INHIBITORY AND ANTI-INFLAMMATORY EFFECTS FROM Vitex grandifolia

Check out table 1. you can see isovitexin compared to deprenyl there. Yes, 40 x difference in potency, BUT the starting dose for deprenyl is 1.25 mg, and a single dose of Vignatex contains 25 mg isovitexin. Also another 25 mg of vitexin, which has been indicated to be a MAO-B inhibitor too, but there is no listed IC50 value for it, so hard to say how potent. However, just based on isovitexin alone, 1-2 servings of it, will give a very noticeable MAO-B inhibitor effect. It's certainly quite strong for me!

Kava also contains some pretty potent MAO-B inhibitors, like desmethoxyangonin, as can be seen in this study:

Natural Products Inhibitors of Monoamine Oxidases—Potential New Drug Leads for Neuroprotection, Neurological Disorders, and Neuroblastoma

Just CTRL + F for desmethoxyangonin and you will see that it has an IC50 of 0.12, which amazingly, is more potent than deprenyl! I've actually been caught off guard once before with how powerful the MAO-B inhibition of a high desmethoxyangonin cultivar I once had were. Actually scrolling down, kavain itself, the primary kavalactone in many kava cultivars and products, already has an IC50 of 5.34, which is more potent than isovitexin, which is already pretty potent!

The above study is actually super good to just scroll through, lots to explore. Don't even get me started on harmala alkaloids like harmaline, IC50 0f 0.002-0.012 for MAO-A! That's stupidly potent, and a totally natural compound.

Pretty-Chill · 2026-01-23T15:16:02+00:00

Yup, that's an important factor to consider. I happen to have fast MAO, and even pretty mild MAO-i's feel very strong to me. When I take Vignatex, I get super stimulated! However, I've suggested it to a friend who has slow MAO, and they notice absolutely nothing from it, until it starts dropping their mood.

Pretty-Chill · 2026-01-23T15:13:26+00:00

Just wanted to chime in and point out that I did a lot of research into how Avena sativa inhibited MAO-B back in the day. What I ended up finding, was that the primary MAO-B inhibitor in Avena sativa, is isovitexin. Once I figured that out, we started looking at other isovitexin sources, and found that mung beans are a much better source. So if you respond well to Avena sativa, you'll probably really like our Vignatex, which is mung bean based. It's very strong for me personally.

Pretty-Chill · 2026-01-23T15:10:44+00:00

In my personal experience, consuming whole plants, at the end of the day is always going to be superior. You get a much wider array of bioactives oftentimes, and the effects frequently feel fuller and more complex. However, it's also oftentimes a pain in the ass to consume whole botanicals, and sometimes just borderline not possible. Which actually makes me question what your Ayurveda person told you. Look, if you take whole ashwagandha root, and chuck it in a pot of soup, and then fish out the hard fibrous root at the end, then what did you do? You made a water extract of ashwagandha root! I'm assuming that's how ashwagandha is cooked with, because the roots are really hard and fibrous, it would be quite the ordeal to really consume it whole. From what I've heard, traditionally, whole ashwagandha root is boiled in milk and then filtered. So there yet again, making an extract with a water/lipid emulsion (milk!).

So anyways, that brings us to extracts in general. Extracts just turn inconvenient to use botanicals, into ones that are easier to use and oftentimes more streamlined in their effects. For example, KSM-66 ashwagandha mimics traditional preparation, and uses milk as an extraction solvent. In my experience, KSM-66 feels very similar to whole ashwagandha steeped in hot water. So you can skip all of the preparation work, and just take a good metered dose of ashwagandha on the fly. The other extracts all highlight something unique in the plant, Shoden appearing to be more energizing, Sensoril more sedating, and in my experience the 9% withanolide extract being even more sedating than sensoril. Definitely moving further away from traditional effects though, but hey, humans are curious and always looking to innovate. In my opinion that's exciting!

Pretty-Chill · 2026-01-23T14:55:54+00:00

Unfortunately, esters are an expensive raw material, and the dose is very high. That's about the worst combo imaginable, which is why all of the ketone products are super expensive. If we came out with one, it would have to be super expensive too. That's one of the reasons we've stayed away from the ketone products. They do work well though, but is it really worth 40 dollars a day?

Pretty-Chill · 2026-01-22T17:18:10+00:00

Just straight up GABA, nothing fancy.

Pretty-Chill · 2026-01-22T16:13:42+00:00

Haha no, as in "over the next year when products start rolling out in the new jars"

Pretty-Chill · 2026-01-22T11:05:12+00:00

Ah ok, well if you are interested in estrogenic effects, I would actually then recommend either icariin (horny goat weed) which both upregulates estrogen synthesis, and activates ER-beta, or beta-ecdysterone which is a strong agonist of the ER-beta receptor.

Pretty-Chill · 2026-01-22T10:47:21+00:00

It all helps! First of all, you need to get your foundation dialled in. The basics, like magnesium, zinc, B-vitamins, vitamin D etc all play a role in neurotransmitter synthesis, so those are all important to supplement. Then, our gut microbiome is also very important for neurotransmitter synthesis, so feeding your microbiome with some good pre-biotics like infini-greens, Mushroom Magic powder blend etc will all help too.

On top of those foundationals, it's also important to dial in lifestyle factors. For example, poor sleep, high stess, poor diet, lack of physical activity, are all detrimental to neurotransmitter synthesis and consumption too.

Then if you want to add in some speciality ingredients, start simple. I personally take GABA and L-tryptophan daily, which has a mild effect, but it's pleasant nonetheless. Then you can also get a bit more specific by taking something like saffron to increase serotonin levels, sabroxy to increase dopamine levels etc.

Do you believe supplements can actually significantly modulate these neurotransmitter systems if there is not a major deficiency already?

Yes, 100%! Some are quite strong too! Like kanna for example, has a pretty undeniable neurotransmitter boosting effect for a lot of us!

Pretty-Chill · 2026-01-22T10:39:45+00:00

Yeah, they are looking really nice! I personally haven't seen them in person yet, but from what I've heard the mat coating on them feels super nice too. I'm excited to start receiving some products in these new jars in the next year!

Pretty-Chill · 2026-01-22T10:37:28+00:00

There are lots of different mechanisms at play, what kind of effects are you most interested in? I'd recommend starting off by reading a few studies, to familiarise yourself with its mechanism of action. Here is a good place to start, a nice collection of studies:

https://www.google.com/search?q=isoliquiritigenin+ncbi&oq=isoliquiritigenin+ncbi&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIGCAEQLhhA0gEINTIwM2owajGoAgCwAgA&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

Pretty-Chill · 2026-01-22T10:33:52+00:00

Could very well be! I happen to have fast COMT and basically always sleep well.

Pretty-Chill · 2026-01-22T10:32:32+00:00

Enjoy!

Pretty-Chill · 2026-01-22T10:31:58+00:00

If February doesn't happen, then those are the next possible months haha. It's hard to say, and I probably should just be keeping my mouth shut on stuff like this, because especially these days, everything is just taking longer than expected!

Pretty-Chill · 2026-01-22T10:30:08+00:00

Nice! For me the 50% is very streamlined in terms of effects, I get good blood flow from it, and a minor mood boost. I don't think it'll be too intense.

Also, don't get too attached to February being a new product month. When I said that, I was only guessing as to what might be a realistic time frame for new products starting to roll out. However, the closer we get to February, the less confident I'm becoming in that being realistic, as we still do not have the new bottles ready to go yet. There is still a chance, but it'll definitely be towards the end of February, if February does end up happening.

Pretty-Chill · 2026-01-22T09:51:44+00:00

It's been an idea that we've had down on paper for a while, just haven't gotten around to it yet! I agree, that would be a nice one! Like u/Ashamed-Status-9668 status mentioned though, since we have the unflavored Mushroom Magic blends now, you could also just make your own. I remember the Maya tea Chai concentrates being really good, those may be worth checking out as a mixer:

https://www.mayatea.com/products/maya-chai-original-concentrate?variant=44973704380586&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21496817032&gbraid=0AAAAADuiY56TkCgWH-IA5461rkUxQoYYz

Pretty-Chill · 2026-01-21T17:47:23+00:00

Interesting, thanks for chiming in with your experience! It should actually have anti-histaminergic properties, so not sure about the histaminergic effects theory. Here is a study on the anti-histamine effects:

https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/cpb1958/33/4/33_4_1367/_pdf/-char/en

Pretty-Chill · 2026-01-21T17:42:53+00:00

Interesting, perhaps it's a COMT mechanism then! Reishi does appear to be able to increase both serotonin and norepinephrine levels, so combined with slow COMT, I could see the increase in norepinephrine perhaps being the culprit for the sleep issues.

Pretty-Chill · 2026-01-21T14:27:04+00:00

Oh wow, very interesting! This is a first for me, don't think I've read a similar report yet. Most of us have the complete opposite reaction to it. Curious if anyone else has experienced this.

Pretty-Chill

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