So thatâs the bad news. Mercury retrograde can be a total kick in the teeth for those of us who normally pride ourselves on having our karmic shit together! The GOOD news is that Mercury retrograde provides us with lots of beautiful opportunities if we can just tilt our head and squint.
Turkey is a good source of L-tryptophan. L-tryptophan is an amino acid, one of about 20 that bind together to make protein. Amino acids and proteins are known as the building blocks of life. L-tryptophan is one of nine amino acids your body cannot produce, so it is known as an essential amino acid -- you must get it through your diet. Your body needs amino acids for a number of reasons, and L-tryptophan, like other amino acids, offer a number of benefits.
Serotonin is thought to produce healthy sleep and a stable mood which is why tryptophan in turkey is sometimes attributed to making people sleepy. The truth, however, is that lots of other foods contain more tryptophan than turkey and do not cause drowsiness. High tryptophan foods include nuts, seeds, tofu, cheese, red meat, chicken, turkey, fish, oats, beans, lentils, and eggs. The recommended daily intake for tryptophan is 4mg per kilogram of body weight or 1.8mg per pound. So a person weighing 70kg (~154 pounds) should consume around 280mg of tryptophan per day.