I had a "bad" night. Dana Carpender is on my shit-list today! ...Okay, not really -- i just needed a dramatic line. ;-) Sorry, D....
For years i've been using shirataki noodles; i don't really LIKE them, but they're a convenient addition to otherwise-appropriate, favorite old recipes which unfortunately contain pasta. If you handle them right and don't overload the dish, the slight extra chewiness isn't a big problem -- hell, some people's "al dente" pasta has worse texture.
Up to now i've used the "regular" version of shirataki, because i'll always and forever TRY to minimize soy products in my life. In the cookbook "Fat Fast," the authors say that having done the math, the quantity of tofu in the hybrid noodles calculates out to be very small ("like a teaspoon of tofu per serving"). They also praise the improved texture of the product, and its availability in shapes that are more appropriate for certain dishes than are the angelhair-like shirataki noodles i get in my local international-foods stores. In addition, they note a new product which is supposed to be similar to tofu-shirataki but without the soy-- Pasta Zero.
I went searching online for PZ (amazon.com didn't have it), and discovered that it's (theoretically) stocked at a local grocery, so i went searching IRL for it: no soap! So as not to waste my errand, and because i'd been assured by knowledgeable people that tofu-shirataki has very little actual soy in it, i picked up a couple of bags of the fettucine version. We tried one of them last evening in a signature dish of J's, shrimp fra diavolo.
Well, the noodles did the job of "carrying" the spicy tomato mixture to the mouth, and kept the shrimps company on the plate, but they're still recognizably shiratakis. They more closely resembled wheat pasta to-the-eye than do the non-tofu kind, and the fettucine shape works better than angelhair, but that's about it. We concluded that the tofu-shirataki was a better choice for certain dishes for non-gustatory reasons.
I changed my mind at 3:00 this morning, when i was awakened by a hot-flash from hell and a very unhappy belly. I don't know what else it could have been, if not those noodles! Though sleepy, i couldn't doze off again till almost 6. A few systemic enzyme caplets helped my stomach, but i really didn't know what was going on with it -- a "normal" person waking up to a belly like that would probably run for the cookie jar! It still feels funky.
Now, i haven't suffered a hot-flash since i started using progesterone creme, which was before i started my current regimen of pregnenolone tablets. Notably, too, i didn't get the "hypo" symptoms i usually feel when overdoing legumes, which are abnormal chilliness, edema or brain-fog. My symptoms were on the estrogenic page, not the thyroidal.
Since there's another little bag of the noodles in the fridge, i'll conduct another experiment with the tofu-shirataki sometime when i'm feeling particularly great (good baseline) and in an analytical mood. I'm not ready to condemn the product YET ... but i'm definitely suspicious.
FOR THE RECORD: so far, i LOVE my "Fat Fast" cookbook! The recipes i've tried so far have been innovative and intelligently-crafted. We're looking forward to trying a lot more of them.
I am sorry to hear of your stomach problems. I still on the fence about shirataki noodles.
ReplyDeleteProbably, I will get the Fat Fast cookbook for my son. It would be easier for than to put my own recipes on the net as he suggested. My main problem - I don't measure ingredients.
:-) we don't have to measure when making OUR recipes, but it sure helps when we're making somebody else's....
DeleteIs it possible the noodles may have prevented absorption of your hormone pills? They must be quite high in non-digestible bulk and typically you eat a very very low carb diet.
ReplyDeleteIn menopausal women soy products typically improve estrogen deficiency symptoms.
ReplyDeleteI'm thinking it may also be related to not eating carbohydrate , your body doesnt make enzymes to digest these foods, which produces malaise and a lot wasted as fiber (which can then prevent absorption of hormone tablets)
Interesting anecdote:
ReplyDeleteWhen I was very thin and had HA (very low estrogen) I found that soy products made me feel so much better and normal. It wasnt until years later that I learned a significant amount of the malaise I experienced then was likely related to very low estrogen, and the soy products were helping as they do any estrogen deficient condition.
yeah, at this point it's hard to guess EXACTLY what went wrong; i wrote down my speculations but that's all they are.... as far as the sex-hormones are concerned, my body seems to do a good job of partitioning the pregnenolone in an appropriate way. it's actually hard to believe that such a small quantity of tofu could throw me off balance, but that hot-flash was really record-setting! my summer nightie was drenched with sweat.
Deletebtw, i finally made flax bread from your recipe and WE LOVE IT! dinner was hot roast beef sandwiches -- mmmmm!
I used to feel so bad on a low-animal products diet which included eating tofu in fruit smoothies and moyo-like souse with salads, that I am still reluctant to give a soy another try. I understand, there were more things wrong with my before-LC diet than just that tofu, but I am am not ready yet.
ReplyDeleteI plan to test my hormones in a nearest future, but so far LC controls hot flashes.
i'm with you, why eat soy when animal foods are SO much better? :-) i still use properly-fermented soy sauce in modest quantities, and i don't have trouble with miso soup in Japanese restaurants, but that's usually my limit!
DeleteI followed back then Dr. A.Weill's unty-inflammatory diet in hope to improve my allergies . I thought that limiting animal proteins(dairy,meats,eggs) would make sense, but it backfired.
DeleteNO doubt (to me), the best anti-inflammatory dietary items are wild-caught seafood and grass-fed ruminants! :-) if an on-paper idea isn't backed up with real-life observations, it isn't worth ANYTHING.
DeleteNot for people with a fish allergy, like me. In my case safe 100% food is ruminant meat , animal fat,most veggies. When people are prone to allergies, only try and error is the best way to come to a conclusion. When my son was transitioned from my milk to an adult food, at the beginning he had a strong allergy on beef,pork, chicken, fish, and was given a rabbit meat. Fish and chicken are still problematic for him.
DeleteLCarbing helped me a lot with autoimmune issues. Like I am off asthma meds and can visit people who have cats.
oh, i didn't know you had fish allergies. :-( bummer! do you use flax for omega-3s, or just grassfed meat?
DeleteI mostly try to minimize O6. Eating only grass-fed meat would be too expensive. I buy a grass-fed fat and mix it with a lean conventional meat,I also buy organs and a NZ lamb.
DeleteI can get either form of shiratake noodles at a local grocer with a big Asian section, but I've been too chicken to try the tofu noodles despite Dana's endorsement. Now I'm glad I didn't. I like the regular ones in homemade pho where they mimic T&E texture of the bean sprouts, but not. In traditional wheat pasta dishes.
ReplyDeletethe tofu-enhanced shirataki MAY be innocent, but i'm pretty sure my malaise could have had no other source. i didn't eat anything else that day that was likely to have made me feel bad. i'm more likely to forgo noodles completely, unless i'm getting a lot of exercise and feel i can afford to indulge in rice-based pasta!
DeleteAre you sure a hot flash is a problem? I used to have them really bad, but less-so after meno and when laying off cereal carbs. But now that I have worked on mito efficiency, I can respond to food better, I think. I have a mini-flash after eating too much sugar, after eating coconut oil (but not coconut) after taking a multi, and especially after taking any type of magnesium. I am rethinking hot flashes, and/or also thinking that refined fats can be just as much of a problem as refined carbs. But then again, maybe I just finally fine-tuned my ferrari lol.
ReplyDeleteBut, srsly, Dana-bashing? You are such a traffic whore.
That said, I don't eat them, after I nearly choked on home-made aloe gel. It's like the candy cigarettes, these fake pastas.
i DO get "mini-flashes" when i've had larger carb loads, and like you i consider them a sign that my body is actually doing what it's supposed to, and creating heat from "excess calories." :-) this was different, though -- over the top. ...still a mystery to me!
Deletefake pastas are like nut-based breads -- a crutch. most of the time we don't use them at all, but when nostalgia-recipes call, they make it possible to enjoy without guilt ... or carb load! i just HATE how my body feels when i've given myself permission to have a little wheat or "bad legumes."
I guess I am not as nostalgic for former foods. Too many years as a vegetarian, and the idea of eating lots of beans and rice doesn't appeal to me at all anymore.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first started low carb, I used to use pasta from time to time, but it was so not worth it. Just a tiny bit and then so hungry for more.
yeah, it's the particular dishes that i miss, the family chicken tetrazini recipe, J's shrimp fra diavolo, fettucine as a side with parmagiana or scaloppini (sp?).... :-)
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