http://drbganimalpharm.blogspot.com/2014/09/dont-take-resistant-starch-alone-and.html ... TLDR
Ah, Magic Health Superfoods (TM)! They come and they go, and the poor suckers who think there's a shortcut to weight loss and optimal well-being are out a lot of money and, sometimes, physical discomfort, as well.
I'm not saying that paleo food is all you need, as some of the innocent young primalists do -- it's well-documented that some people do not absorb nutrients well enough to get what they need, and MORE who don't convert them, in their bodies, in textbook fashion! It may be imperative to take specially-formulated vitamin, mineral, enzyme or other supplements, and take them in combination (or not) at the right times, to get the right molecules to go to the right places.
But instead of taking your potato starch (at least a couple of tablespoons per day!) plus whatever else kind of cooked starch and this fiber, and that fiber ... is there any reason that eating, say ...VEGETABLES might not provide the benefits of all of them, in one convenient package?
It has become glaringly apparent to me that different people tolerate different oligo- and polysaccharides in widely different forms and quantities. Here's a novel idea: each of us chooses the vegetables and/or fruits which we know we can tolerate, and EAT THOSE! Not too much ... plants if you like 'em. Unless i've been grossly misled, they all contain fiber and starch in varying amounts.
[evil grin]
The comment like "everything is simple, just eat the real food!" is one of mostly annoying for me, right after "the weight loss is simple - stop sitting on your butt and stuffing your face with a garbage!". I immediately assume the commenter is some simple-minded individual, and the only useful thing he (usually, but not always, it is a male) can do is to shut up ! There are a lot of real foods which don't suit everybody, and quite few people live healthy and productive life eating whatever is handy. Food is medicine, and there is no universal prescription. That is why we gather in circles of people with similar diet needs.
ReplyDeletethere IS one simple answer -- everybody needs to eat what agrees with their own systems. ;-) of course, nobody ELSE can tell anyone what's best for them to eat ... even though a lot of people sure try to do it anyway.
DeleteYes, I've noticed for a while that many are backing down a little on the potato starch advice. RN seems to have given up completely for a while, going on a junk food diet for a month. Woo called it correctly as a fad.
ReplyDeleteWhat really boggles the mind is that virtually everybody felt the need to try it. What was/is driving that? I'm still trying to figure it out. Even Gary Taubes recently stated that he tried it. That really surprised me.
HAhahahahahahaha! RN has gone completely 'round the bend, it seems! First he renounced LC, then it was milk, then potatoes, then RS, and now junkfood.... I understand that some people DID find good results with potato starch, at least at first, and i can certainly respect their enthusiasm, but it became apparent pretty soon that not everyone does well with it. If it really DID improve carbohydrate tolerance in the MAJORITY of people, i'd have been tempted, too ... despite the fact that i don't tolerate a lot of nightshades. Red potatoes do to my bad knee exactly what wheat does!
DeleteMany people who read nutritional blogs are interested in a food experimentation because we know how much our food affects our well-being, much more than it affects the sense of taste. Many lately complained on RS for obvious reasons. I tried it too - horrible.
Deleteinteresting! was it bloat and flatulence, or something more?
DeleteI tried it out of curiosity, I was wondering what would be my reaction. I have a reputation in our family as a person who would digest anything, unlike my husband who may have heartburn, diarrhea, stomach cramps, flatulence... Raw potato starch took flatulence on a complitely new level, like the content of final product was toxic for my body , or more than usual amount of vibration irritated anus way too much. Sauerkraut does cause flatulence, the same could be said about a green piece, also eating some starchy foods while visiting other people gives gases, but not such violent reaction. Tatorod (sorry if I misspelled) would advise very special probiotic regiment and being patient, but what for? All that ridiculous "after RS regiment" pictures of still bloated and unhealthy looking people on Richard's blog were less than not inspiring. I look much healthier and I have no symptoms that my GI micro-flora is suffering , like it used to be after antibiotics course. On the top of everything, Richard was much more stable when he followed LCarbing, so we must have to take his example into account too.
DeleteMay be the people who have no real health issues could take caring about intestinal flora as a new hobby to occupy their mind. Probably it would be still better use of their personal time that fuming about politics, climate change or other things we can't influence, but I am not in the mood to immerse myself into that. On the top of it, I should already have a wrong kind of mix of gut bacteria after eating sugar substitutes for almost seven years. However, my glucose tolerance was not good before that anyway.
Deletei've never read the details on the studies which claim artificial sweeteners damage gut flora -- until i see one done on humans, i'm not going to worry much.
DeleteYeah--why are so many of the "just eat real food" crowd eating boxed potato starch?
ReplyDeleteone of the great ironies of our day....
DeleteI am one of the "just eat real food" less the carbs headbangers. BTW keep well away from resistant starch. I have heard it can send a man completely batshit.
ReplyDeleteKind regards Eddie
Real food is so vaguely-defined therm, almost like a paleo diet. On another hand, some LC junk (pork skins are a good example) is way better than sweet potatoes, bananas or agave nectar for the people who feel better counting carbs.
Delete:-D Eddie, i think it would be the most hilarious thing in the world if it's discovered that all those good bacteria RS-eating are promoting were sending some really strange messages to the head-brain....
Deleteand Galina, yes! most of what i eat actually IS processed in one way or another (like cooking, chopping, grinding...). where does "real food" end and "processed food" start? whole nuts are a much better weight-loss-diet choice than the same item reduced to a powder and mixed with eggs, for example....
I remember how one of young women who regularly visits Wooo's blog now, started commenting at the beginning (I guess it was 2-3 years ago) how she was cooking all from-the -scratch foods like breakfast burritos for her children, how she made everything in a traditional way, however she was in a obvious need for LCarbing. I think she is the one who lives in Alaska, and her husband does a lot of fishing and hunting.
DeleteI know how it feels - you cook with love really good food, you know every ingredient which went there, but still it may be not good for you. It is possible to be fooled by the emotional part of cooking, it is often the case with traditional recipes, after reading or hearing about goodness of different superfoods like raw milk, fermented something, kale, whatever veggie is in a fashion right now, but your body may have a mind of its own, and no amount of what you think about that food , raw milk or under cooked broccoli may give you an unexpected surprise, and you may feel less than optimal after a beautiful breakfast burrito. "Real food" is often a romanticized idea, an ideological argument against everything modern, while most traditional starch-based recipes are way worse that a meal in a fast food place if you discard bread and fries (at least for the people who read Tess's blog).
I enjoy eating real food things like meat, fish, poultry, eggs, cheese, butter, broccoli, cabbage, swede, peppers, mushrooms and many others that do not cause blood sugar numbers to spike and I'm not allergic to them.
ReplyDeleteReal food is far more healthy than boxed cereals, processed meats, margarine soft spreads etc
But I guess each of us get to choose what we eat, how we live. We choose which blogs to follow, magazines or articles to read and then we make or continue with our choice.
My day has started with eggs and bacon ....a good choice?
All the best Jan
eggs and bacon -- I can hardly think of a better breakfast! :-)
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