Attract Women with Garlic!

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One weird little trick to get the woman of your dreams!  Eat Garlic!

Red Meat vs. Resistant Starch!

The Paleo Community is once again backed into a corner, defending "meat." The World Health Organization recently released a report that says:

From

 
Post moved to www.potatohack.com

How to Eat

I love the discussions going on in the "wheat" post, but when there gets to be over 100 comments, it gets confusing and the comment system starts to crash, so I just wanted to put this up to expand on the conversation.

Whenever we all get to talking about different dietary approaches for helping us fix certain problems, whether they be skin, emotions, or poor digestion, it always starts to occur to me that we have simply forgotten how to eat.

Picture borrowed from Cornell University

Who Eats Wheat?

The times they are a-changing.

Dried Plantains...with Pics!

Moved to potatohack.com!

8 plantains resulted in 600g of dry matter, or approximately 75g each.  Assuming a 55% RS content, each plantain yields approximately 45g of RS2. If you made them into eight 'crackers', each one will have about 5-6g of RS.  It's really easy to eat four, lol:

That's 20g of RS, ya'all!

Questions/comments?

Later!
Tim

References:

Impact of resistant starch in three plantain (Musa AAB) products on glycaemic response of healthy volunteers.

Banana resistant starch and its effects on constipation model mice

Resistant starch in Micronesian banana cultivars offers health benefits.

Effects of high-resistant-starch banana flour (RS(2)) on in vitro fermentation and the small-bowel excretion of energy, nutrients, and sterols: an ileostomy study.

Effects of Native Banana Starch Supplementation on Body Weight and Insulin Sensitivity in Obese Type 2 Diabetics

Nutritional evaluation of green plantain flour dehydrated soups. Starch in vitro digestibility

In Search of the Perfect Fiber (Part 5...the future!)

OK.  I think I'm about ready to wrap this up.  It's pretty obvious by now that there is no "perfect fiber."  They are all pretty good!  The problem always is going to be in determining what we each need on a day-to-day basis to keep our gut microbiome well-fed.  Will real food ever be enough?  Do we need to take a supplement?


Updated 1/9/2015:


[I think for me, the most compelling bit of evidence for 25-50g per day of fermentable, prebiotic fiber  is the fact that human breast milk contains 15-25g of HMOs (fermentable, prebiotic fiber) per 700 calories.  Recognizing that a baby's immune system is weak, they obviously maybe need more immune stimulating fibers than an adult.  But relatively speaking, it's clear to me that recommending adults get more than 25g per day is a no-brainer. 

A baby, from birth until he, or she, is weaned, ingests about 15-25g of fermentable fibers per day.  Recommending an adult get at least that much, via resistant starches, inulin, and a whole host of other fibers makes perfect sense to me.]

In Search of the Perfect Fiber (Part 4...'ancient' science)

So far we've defined fiber and prebiotics, discussed that 20-50g/day of fermentable fibers is a good target, looked into real food and supplemental fiber sources, and also created a bit of confusion.  The topic of "fiber" is anything but simple.  You'll see in this post why so much confusion exists and why we really should pay attention.  The concept of fermentable fibers is very new, though we've relied on them for millions of years..

In Search of the Perfect Fiber (Part 3...supplements)

In Part 1 we discussed a target of 20-50 grams per day of the fiber types considered "fermentable" or "prebiotic." In Part 2, I confused things a bit by showing you that it's nearly impossible to accurately count fiber.

In Part 3, I'd like to show you what is available for fiber supplementation and give some ways to incorporate a fiber supplement into your diet.  I want this post to be a reference that people stumble across in 2,5,10 years from now when they are looking to buying fiber because their neighbor/doctor/kid told them they 'need more fiber.'

In Search of the Perfect Fiber (Part 2...food)

In Part 1 we discussed what fiber is, does, and how much we need.  To recap, nearly all governing agencies and nutritional advisory boards recommend that we need somewhere in the range of 20-40 grams of fiber per day.  Less for women, children and the elderly (defined as 'over 50,' ha!).

I proposed that we shoot for a similar amount, 25-50 grams per day, but we should only be counting what has traditionally been called "soluble" fiber, or the type that we now consider prebiotic fiber.  We also discussed that it is probably not necessary to eat an exact amount every day, and even taking a day or two away from fibers is maybe a good plan, in line with ancestral eating patterns.

In Part 2, let's discuss food choices designed around getting as much fermentable/soluble/prebiotic fiber as we can. I've invited three very knowledgeable folks, GabKad, Gemma and Wilbur, to help me write this post.

In Search of the Perfect Fiber (Part 1...quantity)

I learn so much writing this blog.  I feel very honored to have so many people who read and comment here.  My next few blog posts will relate mainly to fiber.

You've maybe clicked on the "Dietary Fiber" tab at the top.  It's kind of messy.  It's the first draft of a project I was working on last year.  Lots of good info and cites linked, but in the last few months I realized that people need more practical advice.