I live my life by injecting as much joy and magic into the present moment as possible. Recently, I made the connection that biohacking, supplements and cooking are magical alchemical practices, full of intrigue and power. How’d I arrive here? Let me recall.
I’ve found the concept of alchemy appealing since elementary school, where I’d play pretend and battle in imaginary wars on the playground. Whenever I got “hurt”, I turned to the trusty roll of SweetTarts I always had equipped. The original SweetTarts resembled chalky medicine tablets, but had a firmer bite & stronger flavor than Smarties. Inspired by the mushroom items in Mario & Luigi: Partners in Time, I designated the blue heals 100HP, the purple 50 and the red 25. Why those? Well they were the best flavors of course. Pretending these candies possessed healing properties injected magic into my youth. They empowered me, lending strength to overcome any foe.
The fantasy of giving substances magical properties isn’t novel; it’s part of the foundation of chemistry, pharmacology, psychiatry, and the original: alchemy. It’s extended beyond reality and into fantasy, capturing our imaginations for generations. While SweetTarts are nothing more than refined sugar that’ll spike your blood glucose, certain foods spices and supplements do have real-life unique and powerful effects. In this article, I’ll be discussing the magic & joy generated with an alchemist mindset & aesthetic and how it’s added joy to my life.
Alchemy: an Enchanting Aesthetic
According to google’s definition: alchemy was the very real medieval father of chemistry, based upon the transformation of matter. However the secondary definition is closer our modern view of alchemy: “a seemingly magical process of transformation, creation, or combination.” The keyword here being magical. When I picture alchemy, I see a witch brewing a caustic-green, bubbling brew, putrid in scent and granting untold powers. I see that one scene in Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets where the squad downs poly-juice potions after meticulously collecting various ingredients, polymorphing into other students. I see a potion seller tending to his store, brewing up a batch of potions before the opening rush of knights going into battle seeking his strongest potions. When I use the word alchemy in this article, I’m referring to the fictional fantasy of alchemy we’ve all imagined, not the medieval practice. Media is full of these motifs that inspire and awe us: I was inspired by their use in video games in my youth. Tales of the elixir of life have permeated history for centuries. These tales of crafting magical brews instills and extracts curiosity, excitement and joy in us.
Making the connection
Recently I’ve been rereading How Not to Age by Nutrition scientist Dr. Michael Greger, MD of NutritionFacts.org. This is one of my favorite books covering the science of aging from a nutritional perspective with humor, factual accuracy & accessibility in mind (check out my thoughts on the book here). As I was reading, I noticed the same magic I felt back on the playground again. Throughout the book, Dr.Greger mentions over a dozen spices, 4+ drinks, and dozens of whole foods that have ofetentimes unique, direct, and synergistic effects on our health and some of the major pathways of aging. Oats can remove forever chemicals? Mushrooms are the only main source of ergothioneine? Kale and onions are really that good? Broccoli sprouts and nutritional yeast have anti-cancer properties? Strawberries can help kill senescent “zombie” cells? Whaaaaaat? Beyond that, there were so many interesting nuances in ingredient preparation. For instance, dark roast coffee has all the chlorogenic acid (the part with all the beneficial phytonutrients) roasted out, so light-medium is best for activating the enzyme AMPK, which we want turned on more to slow aging. Also, dairy milk proteins can bind to and prevent the absorption of these beneficial nutrients in tea and coffee, while plant-based milk does not. Or, how about the fact that cooling cooked potatoes before eating them, even if you reheat them, can significantly lower their glycemic load and make them even healthier?
Does this remind you of anything? Look back at our examples of alchemy in media. The common thread is acquiring an understanding of the medicinal and magical properties of ingredients, then combining them to create potent elixirs stronger than the sum of their parts. These brews appear magical due to the magnitude of their effects, as any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. In reality, alchemists in these worlds must still amass a level of knowledge & understanding required to craft these potions.
Now compare this to real-life nutrition science. We’re learning about the unique properties of ingredients (ex. fisetin in strawberries, lycopene in tomatoes), how they can be combined to increase potency (eating a meal with healthy fats or lemon juice can improve certain nutrient absorption, the fibers in different foods can help our gut microbiome when combined synergistic-ally), and how an understanding of their preparation is required (coffee is most nutritious light-medium without plant milk in drip coffee form with paper filters to filter out cafestol) in order to create potent potions and brews. This is just alchemy!
This same connection applies to researching & creating your own supplement stack, whether it be nootropics for cognitive performance, for longevity or a specific ailment: it requires sifting through scientific data, determining what is relevant to human versus only animal models, what the study actually shows, if there’s bias involved, if it’s actually statistically significant, and then trialing it in your own life. Many modern pharmaceuticals originated from isolating compounds found in plants. In this way, creating a supplement stack is a meticulous process of researching, refining and preparing specific compounds at just the right dosages in order to amplify your health and vitality. Sounds magical to me!
Distilling Alchemy into my life
There’s many ways in which I’ve brought this perspective into my day-to-day. The central theme in this and all my joysparkers is finding ways to make my life feel brighter, more magical & surreal in each and every moment. It’s about using flowery language and adding beauty, mystique and a dash of magic into everything I do. To find ways to accentuate the natural beauty and joy present in everything. To make your reality feel magical and fantastical. Here’s how I do it:
Recipe modifications
When I’m cooking a recipe now, I find myself thinking about small ways I can make my dish even healthier & yummier. For example, when I’m making a dressing that calls for maple syrup, Instead use a half and half blend of date syrup and allulose. Dates have a lower glycemic load and have their own wonderful health properties. Allulose is a 0 calorie sugar that uniquely has blood glucose lowering properties. When making baked oats, I keep the oats whole instead of blending them into flour to lower the glycemic load of the meal.
I’m also thinking of extra ingredients I can add to enhance the nutrient profile of the meal. When I make smoothie bowls now, I sneak in some beetroot powder for enhanced nitric oxide production and circulation. It also turns the bowl a wonderfully red color, and gives it a unique earthy sweetness. Instead of just eating blueberries & strawberries, I’ve included cherries, goji berries, and blackberries for their own unique properties! Tart cherries can help with sleep, blueberries have wonderful anthocyanins, blackberries & goji berries have incredible antioxidant power, and strawberries have senolytic properties and soluble fiber.
Knowledge illuminates power
The joy and magic I feel making these changes are driven by my understanding of the nutritional properties of these ingredients and the biological pathways they impact. Knowing the science behind this opens my eyes to the magical and power residing within each ingredient I incorporate. Mushrooms aren’t just yummy, they’re giving me a ton of ergothionine, spermidine, and beta glucans which help my mitochondrial function, cellular cleanup, and rid my body of toxic forever chemicals. Nutritional yeast isn’t just an incredible seasoning: it also has anticancer properties!
This also applies to supplements. Learning about how substances effect our bodies through pathways & scientific studies gives them an heir of beauty, wonder and power. It’s so cool trying a supplement to help sleep, and then seeing it actively improve your total time in REM sleep, lower your blood glucose or something else.
Learning about the properties in whole foods and supplements gives them an heir of power that would otherwise be absent. It makes you respect and be grateful for them that much more. And when you realize the power you wield through your ingredients whenever you cook, bake, blend, spice or stack, you truly start feeling like an alchemist!
(note: this is often a fine line between enjoyment and stressful obsession. There’s no way to fully optimize diet because it really is just eat as big a variety of healthy foods as you can. If you’re already eating plant based, whole foods you’re 90% there. Just have fun with it! To hear more on this topic, check out my thoughts on Dr.Greger’s book: How Not to Age)
Cooking with Witchy Music
Music adds an entire dimension of flavor to our everyday lives. I recently found LoFi Girl’s Halloween 2024 collection, and it immediately transported me to another realm. No longer am I a middle-class mid-20’s something in a small studio apartment making soup, I am now a witch in a hut brewing a wondrously-spiced concoction. It’s just so fun to let your imagination flow and have fun with the moment. Music has the ability to immediately change the energy of a space and whisk us off to another reality (For more LoFi and Ambient mixes I use to set the tone, check out my list here).
Making the kitchen magical
Finally, there’s many small additions I’ve made to my kitchen, and living space in general, that add functionality and joy-sparking beauty to my space. I’ve replaced all my cups with high-quality glassware I thrifted and mugs that I really enjoy. I use kitchen rags with pretty illustrations of fruit, my home state, cats, sunflowers etc. I keep my space organized into different sections: my coffee and tea stations, my utensils, my spices. I use all wooden and metal cookware the best that I can, and a lot of my cookware adds a nice pop of color against my neutral modern kitchen. Finally, I’ve labeled my supplement stack tins by the day of the week, and added pops of color to each day of the week!
Finding little ways to simultaneously add joy-sparking decoration and practicality to a space is the key to creating an intentional, well-loved dwelling.
I’m also continuing to add as I’m able! I just ordered a tea station rack I can hang on the wall to organize all my teabags. I’m also ordering spice bottles to make and label my own spice blends to add extra flavor and health to my meals. Finally, I’m going to start growing broccoli sprouts soon for sulforaphane, and am looking into adding some more plants & lighting to my space.
Mo Mo O’Brien made a fantastic video on this topic called Fantasy Kitchen on a Budget. It’s a cozy video with a ton of joysparking suggestions and I highly recommend giving it a watch!
Wrapping it all up
Cooking and researching supplements are a central pillar supporting other aspects of my life. Making it feel magical through knowledge acquisition and embracing it as alchemy creates that much more happiness in my life. What are some ways you all have made cooking more enjoyable? Leave your rituals in the comments below, I’d love to learn!
With joy,
-Juniper