Read the comments for lots of info on RS and potatoes!
Everything You Might Want to Know About the Potato
The best diet-and-health blog on the Web may be Stephan Guyenet’s Whole Health Source. Those who have read the footnotes of our book may have noticed that he’s our most cited blogger.
Stephan has done a series of posts on the potato, one of our “safe starches” and recommended foods. His latest and final installment has some neat information. His whole post deserves reading, but I want to highlight two points here.
Diabetes and obesity rates may serve as rough indicators of the toxicity of a people’s staple foods.
It is good to see, therefore, that potato-eating cultures have very low rates of diabetes and obesity. Here is Stephan’s graph comparing diabetes rates among the Aymara, an Andean potato-dependent tribe, and Americans:
Stephan notes that the Irish were considered a healthy and attractive people during the period when they obtained 87% of calories from the potato, and quotes Adam Smith’s remark that potatoes were “peculiarly suitable to the health of the human constitution.”
At this blog, we never disagree with Adam Smith.
MachineGhost
Stephan has done a series of posts on the potato, one of our “safe starches” and recommended foods. His latest and final installment has some neat information. His whole post deserves reading, but I want to highlight two points here.
Yes, Potatoes are a Safe Starch
Diseases like obesity and diabetes are primarily caused by toxic foods. Diabetes and obesity became common after vegetable oil and fructose consumption soared in the 1970s – not surprisingly, since omega-6 fats and sugar are extremely effective at inducing these diseases in laboratory animals.Diabetes and obesity rates may serve as rough indicators of the toxicity of a people’s staple foods.
It is good to see, therefore, that potato-eating cultures have very low rates of diabetes and obesity. Here is Stephan’s graph comparing diabetes rates among the Aymara, an Andean potato-dependent tribe, and Americans:
Stephan notes that the Irish were considered a healthy and attractive people during the period when they obtained 87% of calories from the potato, and quotes Adam Smith’s remark that potatoes were “peculiarly suitable to the health of the human constitution.”
At this blog, we never disagree with Adam Smith.
Potatoes provide adequate protein
Stephan cites a curious study in which a Dr. M. Hindhede kept three men on a potatoes-and-margarine diet for a full year and required them to do increasingly arduous labor. After a year of this potato-and-fat diet, the men emerged well-muscled:In his book, Dr. Hindhede shows a photograph of Mr. Madsen taken on December 21st, 1912, after he had lived for almost a year entirely on potatoes. This photograph shows a strong, solid, athletic-looking figure, all of whose muscles are well-developed, and without excess fat. …Hindhede had him examined by five physicians, including a diagnostician, a specialist in gastric and intestinal diseases, an X-ray specialist, and a blood specialist. They all pronounced him to be in a state of perfect health.About 10% of the calories in potato are from protein, and since the margarine may have accounted for 50% of calories and was protein-free, the men’s protein intake was around 5% of calories. The experiment is consistent with our view that protein intake of 200 calories per day is sufficient to maintain excellent health and build muscle.
MachineGhost
2T = savory flatulence galore. It does not ever diminish. It may be the price of feeding the critters.
tatertot
The gas issue is strange. In my SAD days, I would get really nasty gas (sharts) from things like eggs, cheese, kimchi, fruit, etc… When I switched to paleo, gas pretty much went away, but high fructose fruits would tear me up–pears especially. Now, since implementing a high RS diet, most things don’t effect me at all, but every now and then I will get several hours of loud, comedic toots that have no smell, just air.
I really don’t know what’s going on, I have read that some bacteria give off hydrogen and other foul smelling gasses while others give off less noxious gasses. I don’t know what is considered good and what’s bad, but adding RS to my diet definitely made a change to my gut flora.
I’d love to see a good, well thought out blog or article about gas and it’s implications.
If you ever look at a vegan forum, the biggest problem they have is gas, too.MachineGhost
I’m convinced that combining 10g of inulin along with the RS is a cure for leaky gut and lipopolysaccharide-induced obesity (which seems like the majority). Throw in a some milk kefir at 2.5 trillion bacteria count per 250ml and shazam!
At the least, inulin seems like a good challenge test for detecting whether one has SIBO or not.
Galacto-oligosaccharides are also allegedly more powerful than inulin at half the dose: https://www.bimuno.com/about-us/bimuno-research-and-clinical-trials/- MG – how are you getting your inulin? I have been trying to eat more of the inulin foods (garlic, leek, dandelion leaves)but haven’t tried the superfoods yet–chickory root, jerusalem artichoke.
I agree 100% that RS + Inulin or other good plant fibers will cure leaky gut and keep a good gut in top notch.
When they (Paul included) talk about plant fiber and recommend 20-30g/day, it is just always ‘plant fiber’, this includes the soluble/non-soluble, fermentable, non-fermentable and RS. I think if you want to pin down a number, it should be about 20g of RS and 20g of other fermentable fibers, like inulin. I think one day someone really smart will figure out the ideal ratio, and when they do, I’ll bet it includes, RS, inulin, and other fermentable fiber.- I am using a powder from Swanson. It is surprisingly pure looking (white) unlike other fibers. I mix it with 2T of PS and 2T of apple fiber (not pectin) in my smoothie.
Darrin
hi MachineGhost,
i’ve never seen/noticed apple fiber in the shops before, so i just did a quick search on iherb to see if they stock it.
Any reason you mentioned ‘not pectin’…?- Pectin is a vicious gelling agent. It would be too hard to work with in quantity for smoothies and does nothing for poop formation.
The apple fiber is from NOW Foods and is 75% insoluble and 25% soluble. - “Pectin is a vicious gelling agent. It would be too hard to work with in quantity for smoothies”
thx MachineGhost, that makes sense.
I currently occasional use psyllium husk powder in shakes, but i need to bring my ‘fiber research’ up to date, & reinvestigate psyllium husk powder.
who would have thought the subject of fiber is so interesting (at least to me at the moment).
I think i need to look into this further, things like pectin, inulin, fos, gos…(& psyllium husk powder).
Paul ‘likes’ Pectin (from fruit & vegetables) at the appropriate ‘dose’.
Whereas i was just ready Roddy (quoting Peat) which reads,
“The fructose content of pears is probably helpful, but you should watch for what effect it might be having on your intestine, from the pectin. Pectin tends to increase serotonin by irritating the intestine.” – Ray Peat
http://www.dannyroddy.com/main/2011/12/29/ray-peats-brain-building-a-foundation-for-better-understandi.html
“One of the factors promoting excess cortisol production is intestinal irritation, causing absorption of endotoxin and serotonin. Fermentable fibers (including pectins and fructooligosaccharides) support the formation of bacterial toxins, and can cause animals to become anxious and aggressive. Fed to horses, some types of fiber increase the amount of serotonin circulating in the blood. Grains, beans, and other seeds contain fermentable fibers that can promote intestinal irritation.” – Ray Peat
http://www.dannyroddy.com/main/your-gut-from-hell-or-why-the-evolut - & i have also read this attributed to Peat,
“I do not recommend apple juice or grapefruit juice. The former contains pectin which feeds bowel bacteria. The latter is too estrogenic” – Ray Peat.
Funny, i think the statement that ‘pectin feeds bowel bacteria’ may be why Paul likes it, & for the generation of butyrate.
Tho its probably a case of the dose makes the poison, ie. you don’t want to over-populate your gut with bacteria (over feed them). - Ray Peat is of the belief a sterile gut is best–that thinking is so backward it’s ridiculous! He even recommends taking antibiotics to kill them off completely, if I remember right.
I would definietely not combine the PHD with Ray Peat/Danny Roddy, pick one or the other. My money is on PHD.
Some thoughts off the top of my head on fiber: Fiber is classified as soluble or non-soluble (in water), but this distinction is meaningless. What we need to think about is fermentable vs. non-fermentable.
We don’t need a lot of the non-fermentable type of fiber, these do nothing but bulk the feces and are thought to cause the irritation that Ray Peat and Paul Jaminet talk about. Non-fermentable fibers are cellulose,
hemicellulose, lignans, and plant waxes.
Fermentable fiber is what we are after, in a range of 20-50g/day. Paul J. recommends about 24g/day, based on the amount of fermentable fiber found in human breast milk. Fermentable fibers are called: beta-glucans, pectins, natural gums, inulins, oligosaccharides, resistant dextrins, and resistant starch.
When you see the dietary fiber content on a nutrition label, most of that is cellulose and hemi-cellulose!
Brocolli is a high fiber food, but almost all of the fiber is cellulose that acts as roughage and doesn’t ferment, meaning it is of no benefit to gut microbes.
To naturally get enough fermentable fiber and RS, you will end up eating a lot of non-fermentable fiber. This isn’t a bad thing, per se, just don’t be lulled into a false sense of your fermentable fiber intake by reading the ‘dietary fiber’ contents on the food label.
