Confirmation Bias: Resistant Starch
There were only two options.
The first was for Tim & I to have our little gig in posts and comments and giggle in emails and keep it cloistered, or just put it out there and see what happens. Obviously we chose the latter. Since it’s gone Plaeoviral, there’s problems.
- Wow, I ate that 30oz porterhouse and I don’t feel so good.
- Wow, a quart of heavy cream per day and I’ve gained weight. Who knew?
- I broke my leg the other day, and it was only a week since I started Paleo/LC.
- I started low carb a week ago and I can’t stop peeing.
- I started low carb a week ago and I’ve lost at least 5 pounds. This is a miracle.
- Etc.
I would have expected Fred Hahn to be better than this, given that LC is a 2-week induction and weeks beyond that, with admonitions every step of the way. But PS is obviously a magic bullet, or it’s shit. Yep, feeding 3 billion year old gut bugs that number 100 trillion with a proven substrate studied over 30 years in numbers of studies that dwarf paleo and low carb studies combined is dismissible in a week, because Fred Farted, and gained 2 pounds, weight he’d scoff at with any LCer, on either side.
Shame, but it is what it is:
Hell, I’m in since April (8 months) and even now doing more experiments with dosing, timing, fasting, etc. I’ve come to control flatulence in curious ways (bolus dosing 2-3 days, zero 2-3 days). I’m a chronic GERD sufferer since a teenager and this has made it better in time. But what does that matter? Low Carb essentially comes from a perch of knowing everything.
“We have no [resistant] starch deficiency.” So saith the Lord; so say we all.
Or, is Fred’s dismissal just an attempt to dismiss PS quickly, because it undercuts the mutherfuck out of LC dogma (the discovery of the import of the gut biome renders all previous pronouncements on metabolism as rather ancient) and puts them in short pants on a bunch of levels? You decide.
Side note: if you do insist on an LC diet qua “healthy lifestyle,” potato starch is ironically your potential salvation. You’re fucking welcome.
Recent stuff that makes a laughing stock of LC ignorance. I get this stuff every fucking day and any full text is but keystrokes away.
~ Microbiota-Generated Metabolites Promote Metabolic Benefits via Gut-Brain Neural Circuits. Published last week.
- Propionate directly initiates portal-brain neural communication
- Butyrate and propionate induce intestinal gluconeogenesis via different mechanisms
- Intestinal gluconeogenesis provides a causal link for benefits of dietary fiber
- Propionate and butyrate positively influence the host metabolism
Eat all the dietary fat you want, but all that above, you need to eat fiber and resistant starch to get, because that’s the way it is. They make it for you.
How many recall back in the early days, the most common Paleo/LC fancy term was gluconeogenesis? It was like, “huck, huck huck; I don’t need no stinkin’ carbs, and I don’t have a starch deficiency; i got gluconeonozgenesezez.”
Now, hear me clearly: they have a new kind of gluconeogenesis to account for and if you do not hold every LC guru to account for this and demand that they explicitly account for it, then you are part of the problem. Study summary.
Soluble dietary fibers promote metabolic benefits on body weight and glucose control, but underlying mechanisms are poorly understood. Recent evidence indicates that intestinal gluconeogenesis (IGN) has beneficial effects on glucose and energy homeostasis. Here, we show that the short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) propionate and butyrate, which are generated by fermentation of soluble fiber by the gut microbiota, activate IGN via complementary mechanisms. Butyrate activates IGN gene expression through a cAMP-dependent mechanism, while propionate, itself a substrate of IGN, activates IGN gene expression via a gut-brain neural circuit involving the fatty acid receptor FFAR3. The metabolic benefits on body weight and glucose control induced by SCFAs or dietary fiber in normal mice are absent in mice deficient for IGN, despite similar modifications in gut microbiota composition. Thus, the regulation of IGN is necessary for the metabolic benefits associated with SCFAs and soluble fiber. [emphasis added]
I’ll probably get to some other interesting stuff in the study one of these days, unless a low carber, starving of glucose and enamored of all things neo and genesis in the realm, beats me to it. I’m sitting here, holding my breath because I know I’m going to see this on an LC blog any minute now.
~ GPR109a: The Missing Link between Microbiome and Good Health? Published last week.
A complex partnership between the host and the vast intestinal microbial ecosystem serves numerous biological activities including nutrition, immunity, and barrier function. In this issue of Immunity, Singh et al. (2014) demonstrate that microbial-derived butyrate mediated its protective activity against inflammation and colorectal cancer through GPR109a signaling.
Don’t look, low carbers. You need not apply because you don’t need to worry about it. And I’ll tell you why.
Now listen. This means something. Not a single one of your LC gurus has the slightest clue about this (and likely not to this day). They have never told you, never even suggested that it might be of concern. It’s all about carbohydrate, the food of so many who are not you.
That’s forgivable, because this at least is new. Therefore, you should expect them to be telling you that maybe LC might not be the cat’s meow any time, now. I’m holding my breath, again.
Jeff Leach, Human Food Project:
Yes, you can shift your gut microbiome (dramatically) with diet in a very, very short period of time. Below is my microbial composition – at the phylum level – after shifting my diet. In short, while maintaining a high fat / protein diet, I simply dropped out the plants and fiber. This, in theory, resulted in less fermentation in my colon which shifted to the pH to be more alkaline. Under these conditions, the genus Bacteroides within the phylum Bacteroidetes, was able to bloom as strains of Bacteroides are pH sensitive and don’t grow as well in acidic conditions created by the productions of short chain fatty acids and organic acids during fermentation of fiber/resistant starch (and fermentation of host-derived substrates. Take home message (IMO): acidity good, blooms of Bacteroides (which is driving the spike in the phylum Bacteroidetes in right-hand side pie), not so good.
He elaborated in a post I highlighted the other day, one that no LC gurus pointed you to because it makes them look, um, primitive.
~ Activation of Gpr109a, Receptor for Niacin and the Commensal Metabolite Butyrate, Suppresses Colonic Inflammation and Carcinogenesis. Published week before last.
Commensal gut microflora and dietary fiber protect against colonic inflammation and colon cancer through unknown targets. Butyrate, a bacterial product from fermentation of dietary fiber in the colon, has been implicated in this process. GPR109A (encoded by Niacr1) is a receptor for butyrate in the colon. GPR109A is also a receptor for niacin, which is also produced by gut microbiota and suppresses intestinal inflammation. Here we showed that Gpr109a signaling promoted anti-inflammatory properties in colonic macrophages and dendritic cells and enabled them to induce differentiation of Treg cells and IL-10-producing T cells. Moreover, Gpr109a was essential for butyrate-mediated induction of IL-18 in colonic epithelium. Consequently, Niacr1−/− mice were susceptible to development of colonic inflammation and colon cancer. Niacin, a pharmacological Gpr109a agonist, suppressed colitis and colon cancer in a Gpr109a-dependent manner. Thus, Gpr10a has an essential role in mediating the beneficial effects of gut microbiota and dietary fiber in colon.
~ Diabetes is predominantly an intestinal disease. Published three months ago.
This one bears some extensive fucking quoting.
Diabetes mellitus (DM) is a chronic, progressive, medically incurable disease and is poorly controlled in a vast majority, in spite of tremendous advancements in pharmacotherapy. Altered gut microbiome can predict diabetes. There is strong and consistent evidence regarding role of the gut and many gut hormones like incretins in energy and glucose homeostasis. Incretin group of agents including glucagon-like peptide (GLP-1) receptor agonists and dipeptidyl peptidase IV (DPP-IV) inhibitors are efficacious therapeutic agents in diabetes treatment. A growing body of evidence, however, appears to indicate that type 2 DM (T2DM) may be an operable intestinal illness—a novel revolutionary concept about an old disease. This may facilitate research that can better clarify our understanding of the etiology of the disease and provide a new opportunity to develop new and more effective therapies. Future research should focus on an approach to bypass the bypass, that is, to replace the gastric bypass by equally effective but less invasive treatments for majority of diabetics. [emphasis added]
Did you catch that reference? Well, I’m sure you’ve learned on all your LC forums and diabetes forums that type II is cured in the recovery room after gastric bypass surgery.
Oh, wait. I know: they’re cured in anticipation of a lower carbohydrate intake!
More:
The connection between gut microbiota and energy homeostasis and low-grade inflammation contribute to dysregulation of normal glucose tolerance. In animals models, altered gut microbiota led to development of obesity, insulin resistance, and diabetes by altered fatty acid metabolism in adipose tissue and liver, modulation of gut peptide YY and glucagon-like peptide (GLP)-1 secretion, activation of the lipopolysaccharide toll-like receptor-4 axis, and modulation of intestinal barrier integrity by GLP-2.[1] Gut bacteria were recently proposed to contribute to differences in body weight, insulin sensitivity, glucose metabolism, and other cardiometabolic risk. A recent study by Karlsson et al., found that the gut microbiome with abundance of particular bacterial species in the gut could differentiate diabetic vs normal glucose tolerant individuals with a degree of accuracy similar to that of traditional predictive models. The bacterial species most predictive of T2D was not consistent across different ethnic groups.[2] In mice with substantial changes in their gut microbiome were unable to make fatty acid synthase (FAS) in the intestine developed chronic inflammation in the gut, a powerful predictor of diabetes. People with diabetes also have defects in FAS.[3]
The gut is the most exciting endocrine organ in the body with important neuroendocrine role of the gut in energy homeostasis, a finding consistent with evidence that many gut hormones are involved in glucose homeostasis.[4] Incretins are hormones released from the gut into the bloodstream in response to ingestion of nutrients in the food, and modulate the insulin and glucagon secretory response to food. The incretin effect accounts for at least 50% of the total insulin secreted after oral glucose. Incretin hormones are insulinotropic, that is, they induce insulin secretion at usual physiological concentrations seen in the plasma after food ingestion.[5] [emphasis added]
IT’S THE CARBS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
IT’S JUST THE CARBS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I DONT HAVE A STARCH DEFICIENCY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
GLUCONEOGENESISEZ!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Or, it’s complicated, and bringing one’s self to task (like I have, over months) involves asking questions.
- Have we accounted for the gut biome of 100 trillion chemical plants?
- How many drugs on the market have accounted for the 100 trillion chemical plants in our gut, and is this what the list of “potential side effects” that would read longer in any commercial than the commercial if read in a normal voice?
- Granting paleo and Low Carb their due, which I do, have they accounted for these 100 trillion chemical plants?
- And if not, it’s OK, because what’s important is who now does take account. Feel free to place a bet on which one will, and which one will struggle to ignore it.
In conclusion, here’s a comment I wrote this morning, and ended up being the motivation to do this post.
That’s interesting. In over 50 posts on RS with thousands of comments, hundreds of positive anecdotes with the principle one being both improved fasting BG as well as lowered spikes, and all I say is:
You might want to give this a try.
Then, some wench comes along, tells us a 3rd party single anecdote and tells you:
This is not for you.
Amusing.
“Wenchypoo” said via a 3rd party anecdote that someone they know got a higher A1C reading after taking PS (plus, with emphasis as though it helps her report, doing some other stuff).
But hell, it’s nothing. Fred, a gym guy, gained 2 pounds in a week. Bet that never happens in gyms, either way. I’ll bet there’s no protocols in gym settings where one looks to see what the diet was, hydration, etc., and what might have changed. And certainly, full results have to be in by a week’s time, just like anything ever done in a gym.
I think someone else said somewhere that somebody got a nosebleed. That one at least makes sense, because obviously, anything adverse that happens to you after the introduction of potato starch, regardless of anything else, it’s the potato starch. Even though: it’s really just food. Here’s Dr. Josh M, PharmD from that link:
We need more studies to be sure, but this is simply food. Not some exotic root extract or untested laboratory compound. This is real food and the easiest way to supplement it is with Bob’s Red Mill Potato Starch. This may be a critical component of the human diet that processed foods leave out.
…I’ve been at this for eight months with as much as 10T potato starch in a day, chased with beans…and only mix it up and eff with it even more, all while I kinda laf at breathless comments: ‘how much should i take?.’ I dunno, man. How many bites should you eat?
Recently, I’ve even incorporated a 100% paleo food: wild, raw honey.
More on that, later. But don’t listen to me. I’m sure all your Low Carb Gurus are going to be taking all of this up any minute, now.
Thankfully, self experimenters are coming out of the woodwork and some even taking up blogging about it. Michael’s link came to me at just the right time.
I’m shocked at the results so far, and yes they are totally anecdotal. Let’s just say that 2013 was not the year of my digestive system. As a result of my diet completely going off the rails, my digestive system really paid the price. Without going into too much detail of my bathroom activities, let’s just say they were often and not-firm. To make matters worse, I came down with the Shigella bacteria after a trip to Mexico in November. Things were very loose and liquid for an extended period of time. Sorry to gross you out.
I’ve been taking potato starch now for 7 days, and as of about 3 days ago, my digestive system feels like a brand new car. I now have a single bowel movement per day, and it’s the kind of movement that you would see in a text book. I can’t remember any point in my life where I have had such a standard excrement.
Well, there’s the downside to potato starch if you must, and I will side with you. Instead of just talking shit, like I do, people want to talk about their shit.
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People need to realize that a number on the scale is not the final arbiter of health. Judas Priest, this guy cares more about two pounds than a healthy gut? Yikes.
I’ve been doing on average 2T PS/day for a little over a month. Started making garlic rice and traditionally soaked pinto beans, too. Both good and versatile meal foundations. I rotate which one I make from week to week. Everything else is pretty much the standard “paleo” lifestyle I’ve been doing for the past 4-5 years I’ve been “paleo.” I started this over the holiday where I didn’t hold back from the cookies, treats, and other feasts. I’ve lost–instead of gained–adipose tissue during this time. My sleep was really wonky before starting this regime, too. Sleep has become more sound than it’s been in a while, and I’ve been falling asleep sooner, which has ALWAYS been difficult for me to do. My mind has been a lot more relaxed lately as well–certainly less anxiety. I’ve always had acne on my back that’s persistently been an issue (even during strict paleo) clear up noticeably, too. Went to the doctor the other day and my BP was 130/74 with a pulse of 62. I’ve always been hypertensive (like 164/90) when I go to the doctor. But it has been a while since my BP was checked.
Is it the potato starch? The increase in carbs? Is this all because I’ve suddenly adopted some new outlook on life that has put my mind more at ease? A lot of stuff has happened physically and mentally during this month since adding PS, rice, and pinto beans in a positive light. It would be nice to single out, if possible, what exactly the cause may be, but I’m not looking to rock the boat anytime soon with how I’ve been feeling.
Todd:
You go, man. Thanks for keeping it real. in spite of suspicions, you’ve got all your variables in one sack, admit it, and accept it.
Like me. I change to much shit all the time. Moving target.
2 pounds is a rounding error
“2 pounds is a rounding error”
And Fred knows this, which is not a rounding error.
+1
+1. Would gain 20 lbs if GI improved and still looking and feeling good.
Another “paleo leader” who shall remain nameless (hint: coffee salesman) also mentioned on his podcast that he’s abandoning his RS experiment because of a little gas and the (false) belief that RS feeds the bad bacteria along with the good.
Funny how those that have built careers around telling people to question everything in mainstream media are so quick to dismiss anything that rocks the boat.
Fuckin’ hypocrites.
Oh, so that shoe has dropped, eh?
I wonder if anyone asked which specific bad bacteria he knew he was feeding.
Wonder if he’s aware that the RS is not the substrate causing farts, but other foods. Oh, consider that. Makes things a bit complex.
I wonder if he unquestioningly assumes, for convenience, that an increases in farts are a bad thing rather than a good thing.
So much for “Biohacking.” Well, when you have a purported $250K into it, I guess you have bills to pay and I see no way to sell Upgraded Potato Starch for twice what Starbucks would charge.
Oh, and his coffee is dog piss. I’ll take my Italian and French dark roasts any day.
he’s got nothing to sell with resistant starch angle. no money to make for him. nothing to upgrade because the materials needed are very easy to acquire. in as much as he does have some good knowledge it hate reading his newsletter because it is always an “upsell” to any of his products.
I’ve never read it once. I was on his podcast, had dinner a couple of time with him.
The last time, had to sit across from him with his rose colored glasses that do some shit or the other, but I can’t recall. I prefer regular folk with warts, y’know?
🙂 I like Dave, though. I like everyone who touches a nerve in me and that makes me laf, as when I learned this French expression:
si il n’existe pas il faudrait l’inventer
If he didn’t exist, it would be necessary to invent him.
I’ll be first in line to buy mold-free bulletproof potato starch.
here is talk about RS..
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mpdnl_4atoM&feature=youtu.be&t=29m
I think you are massively underestimating the money that can and will be made from this, potato starch is obviously adequate and effective for the overwhelming majority of people but it does cause a BG rise in a small proportion who try it (although I think pretty much everyone who sticks with it and moves to bigger doses reports this stops), some people don’t do well with nightshades and the biggest problem is that it is cheap (if you want to make £’s). Some people struggle to get over that little speed bump, people look at me as if I am insane when I talk to them about it but if they try it long enough to get over the fartage issue (onions + beans + PS still give me comedy wind) they seem to be sticking with it. (Thank you Tim and Richard for bringing it to my attention!)
I posted this link on another thread but it bears repeating here:
http://patents.justia.com/patent/20070196437
Basically a designer starch that target different areas in the colon. You could do many things to incrementally improve or “upgrade” PS to generate enough differentiation to warrant a higher price. test for solanine (I assume that is what the nightshade folk struggle with?), more gentle processing to avoid damage to the starch granules membrane surface, testing to quantify non-resistant starch %, selecting species of spud with higher RS% etc. most of which will make f-all difference to the vast majority of “consumers” but some people always have to have the best even if the real world difference is practically non-existent.
The coffee man is essentially Mercola Lite sharing a common marketing playbook.
Step One: Educate the population on a huge problem that is killing them.
Step Two: Provide the answer to all the problems.
Step Three: Sell them the crap that will solve those problems.
@Mike. I doubt it’s solanine that causes a problem in PS. Solanine is very water soluble, and the water-intensive PS process would easily wash all of it away. More likely there is trace amount of calcitriol (which is found in nightshades) and that’s what causes the sore thumbs.
Plus, Solanine causes a burning sensation in the back of the throat while it’s in your mouth, before causing digestive pain and diarrhea. PS has no taste and that’s the easiest way to tell that it doesn’t contain solanine. Take a bite of a green-skinned potato and you’ll instantly feel the solanine in the back of your throat followed by nasty digestive issues 6-12 hours later.
Thanks DD, one of the things I like about this blog is how freely knowledge is shared. Really helpful.
@Mike, now I’m wondering if the rare sore joint/thumbs that some people experience is just a genetic disposition for some, or if there is some mechanism (calcitriol or perhaps something else) that is increasing calcium absorption, perhaps even into soft tissues. That wouldn’t be so great.
Here is one study that looked at how raw potato starch affected calcium absorption (in rats):
That doesn’t sound alarming, but I wonder if it’s worth testing blood calcium levels. Mine were high normal before starting PS and I haven’t tested since then. What do you think?
DD,
Thanks for that, interesting paper.
Complete paper here: http://bit.ly/KK4Q0o
Interesting that they put PS @ 75% RS and adjust the inulin mass to match the amount of fermentable fibre.
Already take inulin with my PS, 4TBS PS 1TBS Inulin and 1TBS Psyllium, would be nice if there was a paper using all three fibres, so now where near the ratio’s they used here.
Has anyone got a handle on the significance of the other SCFA? Really interesting to see the synergistic propionate production with the two fibre sources.
Amazing to see the fermentable fibre groups had a caecum that weighed about twice as much as the no fibre group.
Thanks for that.
Mike, you go it. A no fibre diet results in colon atrophy. It doesn’t do anything well in that condition.
” abandoning his RS experiment because of a little gas and the (false) belief that RS feeds the bad bacteria” – if so, then the reason is wrong. If one is cautious about bad bacteria then why not getting a test before the experiment and some regular ones during?
Besides it’s not as if gut bacteria is optional – you need to have it anyway, thus feed it anyway, it’s just a decision how much food they get.
DD – thanks for the idea about high blood calcium levels and correlation with joint pain. My test levels show an upward trend but I haven’t tested since August. I will now test again. And I wouldn’t be surprised about a genetic disposition, as my mom had sore thumbs (but was much older than I am now when it got bad). I’ve been off PS and other nightshades since 12/31 and haven’t noticed significant changes.
Bingo.
Here’s why Asprey’s fear mongering is weak. Just look at the evidence (hat tip to Jeff Leach, of the American Gut Project).
Duck:
https://freetheanimal.com/2014/01/jeff-leach-wrote.html
Nice serve!
I’d like to add a success story here. Last August, just a week after starting graduate school, I came down with an intense bout of IBS-D (to keep it clean). Not unusual, as I’ve had the flu before. But this ‘flu’ did not stop, and stranger things began to happen. I developed tinnitus, neuropathy, dizziness, fatigue, muscle twitches and my sleep was terrible. 6 weeks later, I had lost 25 pounds (that I didn’t need to lose) and I was barely able to get out of bed. A colonoscopy, endoscopy, stool examination, countless blood tests and specialists later and still no answers. I took a medical leave from my program, and had to return to my home in California because I was no longer able to take care of myself.
It was around this time that I began experimenting with SCD and GAPS style diets. They did prove to help with some symptoms, but not all, and not with much speed. In fact, I would say that I got worse on these diets, as my sleep became a struggle, and that set everything back. Supplements like Vitamin C, Colostrum and DGL helped but were definitely not the answer, either. It was late December, and I had to make the call whether or not I was going back to school. I decided to go back out of desperation for wanting to be better, without really having made any progress. Not a wise decision, but I got lucky.
It was just two weeks ago, just at the start of the semester, that I began to follow the advice of Dr. BG over at Animal Pharm blog on correcting SIBO, as well as the advice here about resistant starch. I am so, so glad to say that I am 90% back to normal. My tinnitus is almost gone, my muscle twitching is nearly gone, my sleep is incredibly better. I can finally go back to teaching and researching without fears of passing out in the middle of class. The two biggest factors in my success was the inclusion of properly prepared starches (in Perfect Health Diet amounts) and supplementing with potato starch and psyllium husk twice a day.
I can’t speak for all the other successes and failures when it comes to variable carb intakes, potato starch supplementation and general paleo-style eating, but it worked for me. So thank you Tim, Rich, Grace and everyone else who’s been posting about this stuff. I’m not shitting you (har har) when I say that you saved my young life.
What kind of muscle twitching? I’ve had crazy calf twitching for close to a year now and I’ve tried all kinds of solutions. Two different doctors have said it’s not a big deal but I’d love it if RS put an end to it.
My muscle twitching was body-wide and was directly related to my digestive problems. I know muscle twitching can occur for any number of reasons, but as far as using RS as a possible solution, as Richard says, just give it a shot and see how it goes.
Not sure if this is related or not, but three weeks ago I got an eye tic. I guess I hadn’t been sleeping enough. Turns out that Tonic Water (which has quinine) has been shown in studies to relieve muscle cramps and people have anecdotally noticed that it can relieve eye tics and other spasms.
So, I bought a high quality tonic syrup and added it to a little seltzer water. A good tonic water makes you feel really quite good. 24 hours later, my eye twitch disappeared.
Maybe it will come back some day, but I’ll just try drinking another glass or two of tonic water and see what happens 🙂
DD, when I had Restless Leg Syndrome, my doc suggested a few calf stretching exercises, plus tonic water for it’s quinine content. It worked, much to my shock and relief. Though I did notice that if I took Benadryl more than one dose in a day, I’d get the RLS that night, so I’m careful with that, too.
By the way, I’ve been using the PS for about a week now and haven’t had the gas because I take it on an empty stomach, but more important, when I was a very strict LC paleo eater, I had almost daily diarrhea (which was very confusing since a few people have said LC gives them constipation). A week into the PS and the diarrhea is gone. I’m very happy about this as you can imagine. 🙂
Haven’t they reduced the amount of quinine to almost negligible amounts? The drug was blackboxed a few years ago due to cardiac toxicity. Chimay ale has lots of quinine and it helps with certain immune reactions. But the calories, the calories………not to mention it’s a high alcohol brew. And it makes for room clearing farts.
Gabriella, I honestly don’t know about the quinine levels, but I used it for such a short time (perhaps two bottles of diet Canada Dry Tonic Water) and it, or the calf stretches, stopped the RLS. I don’t recall the ‘room-clearing farts’ 😉 but I was probably so exhausted from lack of sleep I didn’t notice much else…But I read what you wrote with great interest, so thanks for sharing! 🙂
Well…The FDA now discourages “off-label” quinine use, and many of the bigger labels have switched from the traditional Cinchona bark to Remijia, which is cheaper and weaker. But, you can still put tonic water under a black light and see the quinine glow (popular in bars with fancy drinks and black lights).
I used John’s Tonic a premium small-batch tonic syrup that was made from steeped Cinchona bark. It’s delicious. You just add an ounce to a glass of seltzer water. I believe some people need a few glasses, but a single glass of tonic water was all it took for me.
“Restless Leg Syndrome”
My dad had this and I believe Gin & Tonic was the cure too. 🙂
For me, when it happens, rarely, I do isometric flexing of the leg muscles as intense as possible, while laying in bed. Works every time.
“seltzer water”
Please, please. Keep club soda alive. I make my own with one of those Soda Stream thingies. 1/2 MEASURED tsp of baking soda per liter. No comparison in taste and enjoyment.
I love, love, love my Sodastream. Giving up soda pop was hard but realized it was the fizz I really liked so voila–fizz at my command with lemon or orange, lime or crushed raspberries. I don’t like the junk they sell to flavor it.
I use mine exclusively for club soda and in fact, some mornings I’ll get up and have a nice pint of throat burning carbonation and don’t even want coffee.
Try doing club soda with exactly 1/2 tsp of baking soda. I put the BS in the bottle, add water, then charge it.
I keep two Co2 bottles on hand so that I’m never out. The exchange for $15 is a pretty good deal.
Upgraded potato starch…Hahhah. Awesome. I can see it now.
Sadly, his interview guest was equally full of shit, so he didn’t get called out.
She sells diet shakes.
http://www.jjvirginstore.com/virgin-diet-all-in-one-shake
But the idea of elimiation diet is a medically proven one, so the basis of her diet seem reasonable.
another “paleo” expert doing a webinar called “Resistant Starch Throw Down”
I’m pretty new to RS (1 week now) and I’ve played with the dose but not the timing. Initially I had wicked gas but that has calmed down. Since I work at home this wasn’t a concern. Bloating was the gas copilot and comes and goes. The real issues for me so far have been on the toilet. I’ve had some constipation, less than stellar movement and it feels like I have a turd jackknifed in the transition from small to large intestine. When I first stumbled upon RS it was suggested that I should include psyllium husks. I have recently discontinued the psyllium and greatly increased my water intake. Even though I’m considered healthy I’m wonder if these symptoms indicate that my gut was out of whack. Are these common issues for newbs and is my plan to power through the right course? I’m really interested to see what this does for my energy levels and cholesterol over the long run.
@Jason H, I had constipation when I first started potato starch. I used extra C and magnesium to get things moving again and within a week that wasn’t necessary anymore. Reading here and the long thread at MDA, it seems like a lot of people get just fartage, but there’s a range of responses. Yours doesn’t sound at the extremely tricky to problem solve, but a little less common. I bought a bottle of Prescript Assist for my husband because he’s a bit farther into the “needs more problem-solving” category.
Jason, even though Spanish reports producing pythons, I usually produce nests of garter snakes but not daily. Well, two nests because I have a low flush toilet. It seems the entire colon empties when it does and then I miss a day. But it’s never hard or big which in my opinion is constipation. More like Bristol Stool Scale #4. I eat vegetables as well because that also seems to make the RPS have a better effect. Low carb, no vegetables, and RPS results in a less than stellar experience. I’ve experimented.
I added a teaspoon of psyillium a couple of times and got bloated. One night (oh help me J) I mixed two tablespoons of psyillium plus 4 tablespoons of raw PS. My guts felt like overstuff sausages and produced thick logs of what felt like very lumpy oatmeal (as it made it’s way to the light of day). Not particularly pleasant. Don’t know what possessed me to OD on psyillium even though as I was mixing this up my ‘gut instinct’ was ‘don’t! don’t”……..and then ‘shouldn’t have!’
Probably a scant teaspoon of psyillium added to the potato starch is not excessive.
here is a quote from the link about Gastric Bypass surgery that Richard posted on this blog post.
“The key message is that after gastric bypass the intestine becomes the most important tissue for glucose use and this decreases blood sugar levels.”
so funny LOL
“Doctors are hopeful they can find a way to mimic the processes that lead to improvements for type 2 diabetics after gastric bypass without actually doing the surgery.”
as usual they are looking for a drug as opposed to real food instead as the cure
I really hope the nosebleed case described, wherein it sounded like the person was blaming RPS, wasn’t referencing my genuine request for input in your comments. I was digging because someone in your comments, months ago, mentioned dry eyes exacerbated by RPS, and I was curious as the nosebleeds and coughing up blood only started after I added RPS to my routine. I was curious, not laying blame.
And yeah, I posted something on FB this week about how I am loving my resistant starch routine and a friend immediately posted a comment “educating” me that I should read with Mike Eads wrote about it. The only post I could find on his site was five years old. But I was stunned with the speed of the admonishing I got for self-experimentation. It took everything I had not to ask, “Who asked you?” (Next day, I posted about a smoothie with raw almond butter that I made and another friend immediately jumped in to tell me almond milk – which I didn’t even use – was “bad” for me. And these are both so-called libertarians!)
Jackie:
No sweat, it wasn’t personal and I purposely did not look it up and call a name, just from memory. Stuff blazes past all day with stuff here, on FB, and Twitter and I can barely keep up with it. So, it was mainly a general comment.
In terms of the Eades deal, check his blog for a post I think last couple of months, long comment thread where Mike admits he knows nothing about RS. So, that old post is completely irrelevant.
I appreciate that, Richard. Thanks.
The sad thing, well maybe not, is these pathetic attempts at critical thinking re resistant starch (I tried RS and my sisters neighbours dog died) is EXACTLY the same thing I encounter taking someone on the SAD/Food Pyramid and discussing Paleo.
I used to use it as a barometer, if someone “gets” the logic that is an ancestral health outlook then they are smarter than the average bear, guess that needs a rethink….
Robb Wolf, if the Facebook comments:
https://www.facebook.com/rnikoley/posts/10151979889556137
“Been doing RS (jumped right in at 4TBL/day…I guess I got lucky I did not explode) Purely subjective findings: Digestion is better than in past 15 years. My pesky problem of not tolerating the carbs I need to train MMA/BJJ is largely gone. I still partition more carbs PWO, have fewer on non-training days, but overall very impressed with the results. I bit leaner, good performance. In the past my concept of “gut health” largely started and stopped with “avoid gluten.” Now I look at green plantain chips as a means to get “awesome poos” and stave off blood sugar wackyness. I would have called extreme BS on this as I;ve always eaten a ton of greens, squash etc but I find Richard does not align with silly shit AND the solution was like $2/bag. When shit is that cheap, it’s got to work.”
I got turned off RW via a podcast where he spoke of the virtues of libertarianism and then proceeded to talk about nuking countries.
You cant fault the guy on the above.
For me he was the original guru in this space and this shows he is still full of integrity.
Yea, Robb is still of the mind that we need just enough thuggery and thievery to function, not too much. He’ll come around, someday.
Learn to welcome and love the contrarians, even the silly LCers. They’re useful because sometimes they point out reasoning flaws. They have no horse in the race.
What if the success or failure of any special diet (LC, GAPS, SCD, all in paleo) is defined by its impact on the gut microbiome?
If LC is working, it’s because of positive effects on the gut microbiome.
When LC stops working, it’s because of damage to the gut microbiome.
Perhaps the whole “find what works for you” shtick may just be based on how your particular diet plan is impacting your particular gut microbiome at a particular time.
I know what you mean. Are we just getting excited because it’s the next big thing ? Maybe. We need to attempt to maintain perspective. But what if EVERYTHING could be explained by its effect on the gut biome. What if every single chronic disease plagging modern humans had its roots in the gut. What if the differences we keep talking about between hunter gatherers and urbanized people was entirely due to the impact of their environment on the gut biome. What if antibiotics not only altered our gut biome but permanently altered the gut biome of our descendants.
Angelyne
Now you’re thinking. That’s my speculation and if not caused by, contributing. And it’s so wonderfully complex it’s mind boggling.
It is odd certain renown biohackers gave up so quickly with little attempt to tweak. Like to back off the amount and ease in more gradually, or to supplement with SBO of varying choices. Maybe they might come around and give another go.
The gut bugs are simple and complex, and each person’s inner zoo is as unique as our bodies are. It doesn’t recompose itself in a few days, change in the trillions takes some time…
But folks who bravely take the discomfort of low carb flu on the entry, but balk at a period of flatulence and GERD on the entry here aren’t exactly shining brightly. I didn’t flinch at the ominous and infamous low carb flu when I switched to Paleo-like lifestyle diet. It did suck. But I was confident it taking it on because I was able to read so many different experiences with it. Maybe in time as a better understanding of the variations in people’s reaction to RS will give folks examples out there where they can identify with and understand how to approach it uniquely for their own mysterious gut biome.
Do you know why Asprey gave up so quickly? Because he’s intermittently ketogenic and doesn’t wanna be caught dead with an idea that low carbing could eviscerate gut flora and lead to autoimmune health problems. He knows how to connect dots.
He knows where the bread crumbs will lead to in the Black Forest — to the low-carb skeleton in the closet. These guys are all making excuses. The same for Fred Hahn and Jimmy Moore. They know that RS is effective.
It’s what that implies about VLCing and ketosis. They’re not willing to admit that they’ve been wrong all along. Why would Jimmy embrace it when he’s writing a book on ketosis? Why would Asprey, when his skin is in the low-carb/intermittent fasting/ketogesis and metabolic advantage via fat burning / ketones raise your IQ bullsheet?
Hahn, too. He’ll have to eat his words and that won’t go over too well with his clients, who are morbidly obese or metabolically deranged. Do you think these people will fess up and admit that they, too, have low T3s, cold hands, low WBCs, Raynaud’s, and God forbid, umpteen food allergies? I bet some of these guys actually have autoimmune diseases and they will never admit it; you’ll never know even if they die from autoimmunity, as they’ll check out quietly.
That’s what being married to a diet will do. It’s like Sigmund Freud saying, look, I don’t have a clue about the unconscious, I really don’t have a handle on it, I made it all up, all my clinical results are manufactured, none of my clients ever overcame hysteria. Freud spent the rest of his life lying and perpetuating the pseudoscience that turned out to be psychoanalysis.
So why would these guys embrace RS? When doing so clearly evinces that low-carbing is not only pseudoscientific but could actively be harmful? If you have something to sell and a face to save, you would steer clear of RS. You would only do it in secret, when no one’s watching. I bet Asprey has his garage full of BRM PS stashed.
I can’t stand that Big Oaf because of that IQ nonsense he’s been spouting, the spurious metabolic advantage he’s been claiming while in ketosis, and the New Age shamanism schtik he’s been foisting on everyone. Him and Ben Greenfield, another purveyor of Paleo rabbit’s feet are proof that there are people out there gullible enough to swallow anything.
Wow. This is an intriguing thread of comments. Just because we’ve been led astray slightly by the LC crowd, you can’t dismiss its efficacy for the morbidly obese, those sick with neurological issues, etc. And Richard has still not dismissed it as therapeutic. Clearly, Dave’s current way of life still seems to be working for him. He’s been cyclic low carb for a while. I have yet to see why people let their nickers get in a bunch over other people, even if the information they spew isn’t 100% right…NO ONE is 100% right. Like Gary Taubes didn’t get everything right, but he blew the lid off of some scientific bullshit. Now is his theory of the cause of obesity correct? Probably not.
If LC works for people anyway, stop caring. When it fails for them, they’ll join the thousands of people on this blog who have been helped by Richard and Tim. When you really have something worth its salt, people will come to you. As this has been proven with RS. And even Richard kinda acknowledges this at the top of the post. They just shut up and put it out there. Look what happened.
Yayyy hippy bullshit, but seriously, let’s just chill for a moment.
I suggest, Spanish Caveman, re-read Richard’s 9 part series on anarchy. Let your quality of knowledge come from your immediate reality, don’t pay much attention to any authority, even Richard
Spanish:
+1
“It is easier to fool someone than to convince them that they’ve been fooled.” – Samuel Clemens aka MT
He probably added it to his bulletproof coffee and gelled it. 🙂
He was very sloppy about it. He originally told people to buy “potato flour”, had to correct that, and then he never even bothered to correct the same post where he erroneously told people to add it to their coffee and just keep it under 160º.
“even Richard”
I’d have said ‘especially.’ 🙂
@Justin,
Meh. I get what you are saying, but I think when you take a step back, it all smells of snake oils salesmanship over there. And we look at it and feel a little sad for the people who literally buy into it all. Oh well. Then we move on.
I have to say at this point that though Dave is a curious sort, why anyone would have to go to make a special glen of shit coffee that tastes awful but is supposedly devoid of “mycotoxins” is beyond me.
If you’re a fan of Dr Adamo at SuppU as I am, I believe he just put all the micotoxin BS to rest. I didn’t pay any attention because I always sensed that all this nand wringing over plant toxins was BS. It’s all individual.
I listened to that YouTube clip. All I heard was that his wittle tummy couldn’t handle a few days of gas. Pretty pathetic when you consider the deluge of research constantly coming in about the health benefits of RS consumption.
I will never in my life understand the marketing schtick of both Asprey and Stone.
“I’m a tender little flower.”
That’s seriously their schtick. Guess women at large and some men just love it, or whatever.
“…because Fred Farted, and gained 2 pounds, weight he’d scoff at with any LCer, on either side.”
Bahhahhaha! speaking of ‘peeing a lot’ that above remark of yours nearly made me pee myself–thanks for the healthy dose of endorphins or whatever gets released with a good belly laugh, Richard 🙂
“The Bulletproof Diet… Now with less Butyrate”
Reduced Dietary Intake of Carbohydrates by Obese Subjects Results in Decreased Concentrations of Butyrate and Butyrate-Producing Bacteria in Feces
Shhh… don’t tell the herd.
Some independand info about toxins in coffee.
“while the major human bioburden for this important toxin is derived from contaminated cereal products, a significant contribution might also be made by coffee and cocoa products.”
“Ochratoxin A is a cause of kidney disease, birth defects, cancer and may also have toxic effects on the immune system. Due to its toxicity to kidneys, ochratoxin A has been regarded as an important factor for human endemic nephropathy in the Balkan countries”
Dave Asprey’s coffe has the benefit of being guaranteed to be virtully free of mold toxins, while most other select coffees are there, but only statistically – that is you can still get toxic ones from time to time, but rarely. That’s because most do the testing of the supplied beans, not the final product. As I understand Dave’s coffee is both tested as a final product, as well as having high mycotoxins is a reason for complaint and possible refund? – in other coffees getting one from the affected, high-toxin batch is not, as long as government norms are fulfilled.
If you actually listen to what he said you’d know he stopped because he got hives, not just because of the gas. Maybe he never read That One Weird Comment recommending taking a break for a few days then resume if you have gas and that it works best with a decent carb intake? If Richard brought RS to his attention, can’t he just as easily give him feedback?
I’d hate to see people dismiss RS because they read some of these reactions. They annoyed me enough to waste my time defending stuff that doesn’t affect me.
(Hate the gross tone of his podcast though, but that’s what happens when programmers get business degrees)
I guess my deal, GTR, is this continual hand wringing over various “toxins” in the environment. I think it gets obsessive and irrational, at times.
Thank you, Justin. I’ve been diagnosed with a rare mysterious neuropathy which is thought to be autoimmune. My journey started with Gary Taubes, (who I still admire). I started with low-carb, then ketosis (3+ years now) and I’m now focused on the gut microbiome. It didn’t take long to get hooked on kombucha and other fermented foods, which seems to have had a salutatory effect on digestion, and the logical next step is soluble fiber to feed all those lovely bugs.
Of course it’s wise to suspect the motives of anyone who is selling something, as they have a vested interest in maintaining their particular status quo. But I also wonder about the motivation of someone whose writing drips with sarcasm. Is that really helping to get their message across? I’m already convinced that soluble fiber, whether it’s potato starch konjac or oat fiber (which has been separated from the other nasties in the grain), is a useful addition to my diet, despite the tone of this and other posts.
I read a lot of stuff about nutrition and metabolism. The western habit of reductionism is helpful for understanding how the parts fit into the whole, but I wish there was more effort to step back and look at the big picture. There are no silver bullets. One has to devise a lifestyle that is overall beneficial to one’s own organism. Picking useful kernels of information from a variety of “authorities”, whether or not their overall philosophy is the One True Path, is the best any of us can do.
Hi Richard,
I’ve been reviewing a handful of the studies you and Tim cite when discussing the benefits of RS (type II &/or III). I’m unable to explain some of the conflicting results when it comes to insulin responses following RS protocols – could you maybe try to explain these?
Also, the consumption of 100+ grams of RS that has been said to be part of many HG societies – can such levels only be obtained ‘naturally’ by including pollen and other non-edible items? Do you know of a ‘high-fat’ HG society which obtained such levels of dietary RS? Or are such levels only present in non ‘high-fat’ consuming HG groups?
Thanks!
rs711
Since I can’t read your mind, I don’t know what studies you mean, nor what conflicting results.
Not saying there aren’t any, but you need to give us something specific to address. I’ve probably posted upwards of 100 studies in the 50+ posts on RS so far.
In terms of the HGs, certainly not everyone got 100g, probably few. But, they surely got more than we do principally because of raw foods. This is probably one good thing about a raw diet. So, perhaps closer to optimal is lots of raw veg & fruits in various states of ripeness, plus animals and seafood cooked. Perfect.
And I would speculate that HG consumption of RS and or soluble fiber would go up when animal food was hard to come by. I have some slippery elm bark that I give my elderly German Shepard to keep him regular. It happens to be one of the mucilaginous soluble fibers on the list Tatertot put out somewhere, probably on Dr BGs site. The container notes that it was an important source of food for native Americans during times of scarcity.
rs711 – Lots of the older studies didn’t take the gut microbiome into account and didn’t give enough time for an adjustment period. A lot of studies were basically one day of eating RS and checking blood glucose.
Newer studies give at least 14 days to acclimate, but still often show conflicting results, presumably from differences in gut microbe populations.
Hey Richard,
An example of the conflicting/contradictory results regarding RS & insulin responses I mentioned before.
— Dietary Fibre Improves First-phase Insulin Secretion in Overweight Individuals — doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0040834
“Analysis of the 7-day dietary records revealed no significant differences between the HAM-RS2 and placebo for either energy or macronutrient intakes. Fibre intake was significantly higher during the HAM-RS2 intervention compared with the placebo (57.861.2 g/day versus 17.561.6 g/day, respectively; p=,0.001) which can be directly attributed to the HAM-RS2 supplement. Blood glucose concentrations during the FSIVGTT were not significantly different following supplementation with either HAM-RS2 or placebo (Figure 1). However, plasma insulin (Figure 2) and C-peptide (Figure 3) concentrations were signifi- cantly higher following 4 weeks supplementation with HAM-RS2 compared with placebo (p=0.009 and p=0.016, respectively).
Whilst modelling of the data showed no significant difference between the supplements for insulin sensitivity or disposition index, there was a significantly higher first-phase insulin response (AIRg) following supplementation with HAM-RS2 compared with placebo and a trend for increased glucose effectiveness with the HAM-RS2 (Table 2).”
“Although this study showed an improvement in insulin secretion following HAM-RS2, it did not demonstrate an improvement in insulin sensitivity which we have shown previously using the hyperinsulinemic-euglycemic clamp [7–9].”
Do you think the fact that they were testing RSII (aka raw potato, banana, and high-amylose starch) & not RSIII is meaningful to the results in any way?
This study looks at the incidence of scFOS, RS and wheat bran on colon tumours, also exploring the SCFA angle. Curious ‘non-linear’ affect of RS in terms of butyrate/tumor suppression.
— Short-chain fructo-oligosaccharides reduce the occurrence of colon tumors and develop gut-associated lymphoid tissue in Min mice — [Cancer Research. 225-228, January 15, 1997
[RS was retrograded high-amylose corn starch]
“Neither starch-free wheat bran nor resistant starch modified the number of tumors. However, short-chainfructo-oligosaccharides dramatically reduced the incidence of colon tumors and concomitantly developed gut-associated lymphoid tissue.”
“sc-FOSs and RS are fermentable fibers that provide protection against earlier stages of colon carcinogenesis: they both reduce the number of azoxymethane-induced aberrant crypt foci in rats, in conjunction with high butyrate production (4). The inefficiency of RS in the present experiment suggests that fermentation either is not involved in the protective effect or is not sufficient by itself. In vivo and in vitro studies indicate that fructo-oligosaccharides can be used successfully as prebiotics to enhance the population of BifidobaCterium in the large intestine (15, 16). Direct evidence that Bifidobacterium stimulate murine antitumor immunity and modify cytokine expression has also been reported (17).”
This one quoted an unexpected wheat bran/RS interaction in terms of butyrate production (no idea why – any thoughts? Also, why does wheat brans’ ‘butyrate enhancing’ effect not then translate into positive morbidity/mortality results in the literature?)
— Resistant Starch-A Review —
“when RS was combined with an insoluble dietary fiber like wheat bran, much higher SCFA levels, in particular butyrate was ob- served in the feces”
Yo Richard,
The thing with RS is though that it can actually contribute to weight gain in a significant way. As mentioned Bacteroides decrease in comparison to Firmicutes when RS is added. However, obese people also tend to have a higher Firmicutes:Bacteroides ratio than leaner individuals.
One mechanism that can explain this association is that Firmicutes allow the body to extract more nutrients (and thus calories) from food, making it so that you can gain weight while eating less, due to the more efficient nutrient absorption.
On a personal note, I’ve been trying to stuff for a couple weeks now. At first there was huge flatulence, but lately I haven’t really noticed any effects. Didn’t get any tests though, but I didn’t really notice any significant improvements so far (then again, I was already feeling healthy and still am).
I’ve got to call BS on that Nils, because in hundreds of anecdotes, only slight weight gain has been reported, and it appears to be temporary.
This is the real fraud of LC, BTW. It’s well known why you lose a shit ton of weight in induction. It takes about 3g of water to bind 1g of glycogen, so as glycogen is depleted, there’s excess water. And yet, to this day, LCers prefer to allow people to think it’s some hocus pocus.
The valid speculation here, of educated guess is that with healing the biome via RS, one might gain some weight, could be a number of things…better absorption, gut waking up to a need for nutrients, pure mass of multiplying bacteria, slower elimination so people walk around with 2 pounds more shit in processing, etc.
But, over the long haul, a healthy biome ought to result in normalized hormonal signals such that the body ultimately resets itself to a proper composition. Of course, that’s going to be individual, we’ll see.
I don’t even weight anymore. I can tell there’s something very slow going on here and I’m patient.
Well Richard, consider this: sterile lab animals (i.e. no gut biome) need to eat about 30% more calories just to remain on the same weight as their normal counterparts.
I think the mechanism is solid and could in certain individuals definitely make them gain some weight (though I suspect this is highly individual). That said, I th ink it’s 100% clear that a healthy gut biome is essential for good health and that RS helps that goal. So I’m definitely not stopping with the RS. My own weight has remained pretty much the same btw,
Nils
Yep, that’s what I’ve suspected and research suggests that. A more robust gut biome extracts more energy from what you eat (even raises body temp if anecdotes are to be believed). It’s entirely to be expected that folks will initially gain some pounds.
But, this is totally different than Matt “Moron Charlatan” Stone shit. But, ironically, the more crap you eat, it’s probably going to impact the gut biome. So, it;s complicated.
What Tim and I believe we’ve delivered is a means by which, over time, we allow our gut biome to do its thing, regulate all sorts of hormonal signals, and in the end, you loose weight because your bugs are satiated and they’ve released the chemicals that tell your brain that you are, too.
Richard,
Yeah I know, a one week anecdotal test obviously doesn’t prove anything, other than the fact that it makes him an ignorant fool 🙂
If weight loss / reduction in food consumption is what you are targeting then increasing production of Propionate should be a goal as well, consuming more inulin (presumably it should be fairly easy to get enough directly from whole foods, onions / garlic / Jerusalem artichoke) should cover that base and it works synergistically with RS according to a study Duck Dodgers posted earlier. http://bit.ly/KK4Q0o I
Inulin is also thought to improve insulin sensitivity in diabetics as well (presumably through similar mechanisms to RS? i.e. increased SCFA production?).
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3638225/
I live in Netherlands. English is not my language. So if I make language mistakes, forgive me.
I am now on RS 6 weeks and my results are quite remarkable.
70 years, Diabetic for 24 years, DM T2.
Two years ago I started with Paleo/HFLC/ketosis. And also IF. With good result. 45 pound weight lost (still need 40 pound), A1c improved (mostly 6.3), less medication (no actos more and less insulin lantus use, blood pressure very well, eyes improved, muscles building, etc.).
Until May/June 2013, it stopped. I did not lost any weight more and worse, my blood sugar was getting higher. November A1c 8.1 What now. I broke my head, what am I doing wrong?
Until I was pointed out, through a Dutch blogger, Melchior Meijer, on RS. He pointed to you, Richard and Tim. I could not believe it. This would be the missing link? Also, I saw the information by Steve Cooksey and his experiment.
Although I am 70 years, I like new and experiment. I immediately started with RS/PS.
My blood sugar went from high to low, and back again. Frightening. But I insisted. it was clear that something was happening. Only after 3 weeks I got good result.
I got hypo’s and had to reduce insulin use. Of 55 units down.
Now, after 6 weeks, my blood sugar is dramatically improves. I start losing weight again. Mainly belly fat.
FBG 4.5 and 3.4. Through the day 5.1, 5.4, 4.3, 5.7, 5.6.
My insulin use drops to 38 units and this is not the end, I think.
I am very grateful for the information I’ve gotten by Melchior Meijer, your Richard, Tim and many others, who unselfishly shared. Not at least Steve Cooksey, which I already 2 years follow.
At the end of February I will be getting A1c measurement and doctor’s visit. What do you think happens?
Mariet:
That’s just beautiful. Thanks for sticking with it.
Thank you Richard, I stick with it. Because it works 😉 I still eat LC. But haven’t eat so much fat to push away my hunger. This does the PS better. If I measure the ketosis, I have it sometimes and sometimes I’m out of it. I don’t care. What is important to me are my good blood sugars. The goal is reversing diabetes.
Update. Now it is March 2, 2014. I started with RS/PS on 12 December 2013. (my A1c was 8.1) It took until January 10, to my BG began to decline.
On 18 February, my A1c measured again. On February 24, I went to my doctor and I heard the news.
A1c 6.5.
In a month’s time!!!
Over three months, I think (new measure) A1c 5. I hope so.
I’m happy 🙂 )))
Oh, and I forgot to tell : I lost 11 pounds
Mariet: congratulations. Did your doctor ask how you did this? (In Canada they wouldn’t.)
Thanks gabriella. Yes, I told him about the RS/PS. He was surprised. I gave him an overview of my measurements of the last months, with graphs. He went straight to his computer and search for RS.
My doctor is working in a big hospital in Amsterdam. So I hope that he’s going to study again:-) and changes his view on the treatment of diabetes.
When I saw him the first time, years ago, I was tricky for him. I never wanted the usual opinion. Not anymore. I’m his inspiration, now.
Just kidding 🙂 ))))
Correction : I foget to mention one reading, after diner from 7.0 ( 126, wishfull thinking ? )
For the VS the bloodreadings are : FBG 82 and 62 ( between 4.5 and 3.4 ) Through the day 92, 98, 90, 104, 102 ( 5.1, 5.4, 4.3, 5.7, 5.6.)
congratulations. those are great readings.
Thanks sootedninjas 🙂
Mariet, when I read about someone older than me (though you’re only 13 years older 😉 who talks about always wanting to learn new things and keep trying and trying, it’s very inspirational to me. I hope you live as many years as you wish and that they are healthy, wise, open-minded and happy years for you–All the best and Thank You! 🙂
Theresa, thanks for you kind words.
Age is only a number. In my thought I’m still 18. Only my mirror says something else. The reason I mentioned my age is, if I can do it, then anyone can. I mean, try new things, with an open mind.
There are plenty of great examples, as someone as Art de Vany. So,” But I’m not the only one. ( John Lennon – Imagine ) Imagine there is no heaven, It’s easy if you try, No hell below us, Above us only sky”
This life is the only life, what I have. I love this life. I want to last as long as possible, in good health, of course.
At least another 30 years, or longer 🙂
Hartstikke Leuk! Veel bedankt.
tatertot, 🙂 ))) I would like to thank you too, for sharing, your experiment.
Wait to go Mariet! 🙂
I have been on PS for a long time now. But I never went low carb or very shortly a long time ago. I love my starchy veggies and rice, and eat anything cooked, cooled, roasted, baked, stir-fried, etc. Adding garlic, onions, leeks, etc to the game is a no-brainer. Tasty and healthy 🙂
Well, I don’t know about FODMAPS. Some people seem very sensitive to those. Tough luck …
Anyway, I don’t experience any glycemic crash, I feel full of energy every day, and I don’t get sick. It’s absurd to think how long I haven’t been to a doctor, or felt miserable (no flu, colds, rash, etc). And the mind feels sharp and clear. Maybe it is the PS, maybe it is something else but why change something if it ain’t broken ?
Thanks La Frite, We are not the same. Everyone is different. 😉
But for me: Take it from me, I was broken for a long time. By wrong opinions of doctors and others. I took my life in my own hands.
And intend to continue doing 😉
Mariet, if you are still reading – How much RS (in grams) are you taking per day? I am having a lot of unpleasant side effects and would like to reduce my dosage, but I still want it to work. So I am looking around to see what others are doing. Thanks!
Anna, Now I take 2 times a day, 2 tablespoons PS. I think that are 20 to 30 grams at a time.
In the beginning I did take a spoon and slowly have it intensified. I hear from others, that they take only one or two coffee spoons per day. So its different for everybody.
It took me 2 weeks, before I noticed something changed in my intestines (gas)
Maybe its my intestines worse, than that of others. Then it takes longer before they change.
I wish for you, that you will have a quick health benefit.
Thanks for sharing this. I took the same amount as you do. I had no problems until the 4th day, then the gas and other discomforts became so unbearable that I decided to stop for one day. I would like to continue but I will have to find the minimum dosage that still has a positive effect on blood sugar. Perhaps I will try your suggestion (1-2 teaspoons) and see if it is sufficient for me.
Well, I guess any LCer that says that they don’t have a resistant starch deficiency is technically correct… although their 100 trillion organisms in their gut might not be happy about that.
Not totally surprising that people who are married to the concept of Low Carb having to be “right” are the most resistant to resistant starch. Steve Cooksey, on the other hand, has totally embraced resistant starch, probably because Paleo LC was the best thing that worked for him, and it turns out that Paleo LC + RS worked even better. If adding safe starches such as potatoes improved his health, I bet he’d add those to his diet too, and who knows, in a few months on his current protocol, he may be able to do just that.
Steve Cooksey is a friend who struck my right off as an honest guy with a passion to help people do the best thing available to control diabetes—not make a bunch of money, etc.
I sensed it right off. Didn’t know he’d go on to help so many but I’m proud to have been the first to tell his story in 2009.
https://freetheanimal.com/2009/12/two-adas-same-awful-advice.html
Something funny and mildly related, with a weightlifting tangent. The most ripped I ever was, was when I was following a high carb/protein low fat diet, and doing whatever I felt like in the gym. I have progress pictures to prove it.
After working out for 10 years sporadically, I finally committed fully in 2009. I’m between 5’9″ – 5’10” I bulked from 155 to 188 following a high calorie zone macro-esque diet, and a sort of do whatever for the bodypart split workout routine. I looked muscular but bloated. Late August 09 I began a strict diet.
Went high protein-carb, low fat, 6 “meals” a day, maintained 6 day a week workouts. Took crazy diet cheat day once a week. Didn’t watch calories. Very quickly I went down below 175, and by November I was around 168 and looking shredded (very muscular, very visible veins on abdomen, etc.)
All during this time I was reading about nutrition, and developing an anti-conventional wisdom mindset.
Around December 09/January 10, I came across Marksdailyapple, googling “saturated fat healthy,” soaked it up, and jumped on board. Began eating lots of steaks, veggies, and fruit. Calorie intake was typically around 1800. Removed cheat days. Adopted a stronglifts style workout approach, rather than the 6 day a week body part dickaround. My abdominal definition during that time became very pronounced, but I began to look very skinny, and my musculature appearance became reduced (though I didn’t notice at the time since I was getting stronger). Eventually I found PaNu (like late spring-early summer ’10). Started eating VLC high fat.
At that point – weight stayed low, but definition reduced.
Finally found leangains late ’10, added carbs (after breaking through a huge “I’m killing myself insulin” mental barrier), adopted RPT 3 workout per 8 day cycle, grabbed a progress log, and have since increased my strength greatly, maintained weight between 165-170, and stayed looking pretty good.
The funny thing is, I don’t LOOK as good as I did in late ’09! After my retarded bulk diet with fuckaround workouts, the 6 meal a day high protein/carb eating with Sunday cheat and 6 day a week fuckaround workouts had me looking better than ever, and while now I’m repping dips with 90 lbs, deadlifting 405×3, squatting 315, chins +80 x 5 (at 170) I don’t look nearly as strong/lean as I did in ’09 when I was deadlifting 225, not really squatting consistently, etc., but doing a lot of random weight shit.
The closest I ever got to my late ’09 appearance was following a leangains-style cut, eating 2+ grams of protein/lb of body weight per day, calorie cycling, RPT for maintenance – meticulous. I leaned out, but lacked the muscle size that 6 day a week “blast the muscle group” gave me.
I’ve taken progress pictures the whole time, and what I’ve described is completely apparent.
I’m happy, since my current leangains inspired self-created diet/RPT workout affords me huge flexibility in time/food choice and lets me maintain weight, but after monitoring strength/weight for a few years, and seeing my best aesthetic results coming from when I knew the least (“quality” information) about diet/lifting but put in the most gym time, my next move is as follows.
Diet will be high in protein/carbs, with minimal added fat – most calories will be from carbs. Calories may be king, but protein/carbs as foundation make me look the most muscular and the leanest. Low carb high fat = thinner appearance with noticeable fat layer. Hypercaloric with carbs seems to create both better strength gains and less fat gain than fat calories.
Workout will stay similar, but will incorporate more volume, and higher rep non failure “vanity” sets of curls/tricep stuff/calf stuff etc. These undeniably alter my appearance for the better, and I sort of miss the feel that I used to get on arm day which compound lifts doesn’t give me.
If you’re interested I can share these few years of pictures with summaries of corresponding diet/workout timeframe. I had to ignore them when I was living off of fatty cuts and heavy cream to tell myself “as long as carbs are low I’m getting leaner and healthier!”
I’d be interested in seeing the progress pictures. I’ve also tried bits and pieces of a number of different diets over the last 5-6 years and I definitely *looked* the best during a period where workout volume was high and on a protein/carb heavy diet.
Well of course you will look the best with more carbs and volume. Glycogen stores build up and you’re putting your muscles through more work. I’ve never seen anyone not look good from lifting weights all the time with a solid diet. I prefer a higher fat approach because I dont lift like a madman anymore. 2-3 days a week some heavy lifts and sprints. Nothing too taxing or crazy.
Can you describe your “fuckaround” workout? This has been my routine: run 3 days a week, one of which is my “long” run of 8-12 miles, and at least one is sprint intervals. 3 days a week of resistance training, which I call my “play days” because my routine is literally: push something then pull something and do it for 3o minutes (no plan/split whatsoever). And one day of swimming (again, sprint sets). I eat LCHF, supp. with RS and probiotics. But I’m fricken tired and I’m not as “cut” as I want to be. Maybe my own fuckaround workouts aren’t good enough?
Maybe my own fuckaround workouts aren’t good enough?
or you might be over doing it ?
I would go in the gym with no specific recollection of what I had done the previous week, except that it was “Wednesday chest day” or something similar, and run through like 5-10 different excercises (bench then incline then cable flys then dumbbell bench then dumbbell flys). I had no concept of progression (though it happened to a certain degree) or rep range (would go from 3 – 20 reps depending on the motion, or how much weight I felt like doing). I’d even be that guy trying dumbbell bench on the balance ball, from time to time.
I just went in, felt like doing something, and did it as best as I could. There’s something to be said about this type of approach – its clearly not the most efficient, however, and did not make me particularly “good” at lifting anything (though I definitely looked like I worked out).
I messaged Richard about this over the weekend, but the big effect of supplementing PS for me has been the dreams. INCREDIBLE sleep and winding narrative dreams. I wake up every morning remember that there was a concrete narrative that seemed “Reality based” as opposed to a “mind fucking middle finger to physics” -type of dream.
I jumped in at 4tbsp/day with pretty crazy gas. Brought it down to 2tbsp/day before bed to hopefully leave all the gas to sleeping patterns. Will add another 2tbsp after a month of adaptation.
Skyler “Jews for Jesus” Tanner…
OK, inside joke with a golf clap at the end..
https://freetheanimal.com/2011/08/human-animals-eating-animals-ahs11.html
Oh, and in this post featuring Dr Doug McGuff as well, I should have titled it “Skyler Tanned my Ass”
https://freetheanimal.com/2012/08/my-butt-hurts-so-bad.html
Anyway, Syler, let me give you something to experiment with, that goes way more along my evolutionary perspective.
Try bolus dosing. I’m talking 4-8 TBS per day, 2-3 days straight, then zero for 2-3 days. Now, I’m already 8 months into this and massive funny fartage is, unfortunately, mostly a fond memory. but doing this seems to have even eliminated what little pleasure remained.
Took a few cycles but again, been doing this for 8 months. Would be interested, if you try it, to know if one might be able to leapfrog.
IF’ing my gut sounds like a great idea. Now I have a confounding variable: fermented foods. We make Kombucha at home and I love Kimchi. So I’m adding people to the party AND they’re well fed.
The good news is that 2tbsp/day at night is no big deal. I’ll try bolus dosing.
Skyler:
Not sure if you picked up on this but if you mix RS with probiotics then the ones that eat RS will attack pretty quickly and get a bus ride to the colon.
I do both.
Thanks for linking to my article Richard! It’s really a sad state of affairs with some of the people that are coming out against resistant starch. Like someone else said above, there just isn’t any money to be made promoting it. A bag of bob’s will probably last people a couple of months. It goes to show that Robb is really a top notch guy for coming out with his experience so far and evaluating it with an open mind.
Spoke to my half-dead father about this microbiome business earlier. He usually gives not the slightest fuck about these things, yet he was absolutely fascinated by it all. It’s such an easy sell: at bottom, a sweet little narrative about good guys v. bad guys.
Rather more difficult in the past trying to sell fruit and veg since the mechanisms of their healthfulness seemed pretty nebulous and complex. If you were smart enough or naughty enough you could haughtily dismiss them with not too much trouble.
No more.
The old bastard starts on the potato starch tomorrow (and a little more fruit and veg if we’re lucky).
I mentioned this in the comments on another blog (I’m a whore) and I’ll mention it here. It was me being skeptical of my doctors advice that pushed me to explore other options. His advice was slowly making everything worse and leading to him wanting to prescribe statins and blood pressure medication. He has since been fired but the skepticism remains. It initially lead me to LCHF and then evolved into Paleo, which evolved into higher carb paleo, which continues to evolve. I still occasionally follow some LCHF Facebook groups and I find it comical how closely they match the vegan zealots that they’re constantly trying to prove wrong. Keep tweaking, keep learning and stay skeptical my friends.
A long while back, I visited the wheatbellyblog after I had read about Dr William Davis. I had stopped wheat 2 years ago without reading any of his stuff but when I learned that he had written a book about it, I though it would be interesting to pay his blog a visit.
OK, what I found was nutritional advice with a VERY STRONG bias toward ketosis. I have no problem with ketosis, it is a very smart metabolic advantage that humans had developed, we should be praised for that 😀
But where I cringed at what I was reading is when people on this blog started to trash-talk about bananas, potatoes, white rice, etc. I opened my mouth a little just to say that RS rich foods are certainly not an issue but I got slapped on the wrist for my little intervention (did not last very long).
You were talking about zealots … it amazes me how people can turn into zealots so fast without barely any grounded reasons. We should not be praised for that one 😉
purely n=1
I have commented too about my experiences with Bobsps. Same deal, vivid dreams, luscious farting (wifey less so), happy pappy poops yada yada.
But now something else. And wanted to share.
Was forced into a break from the gym for about 6-7 weeks due to forearm tendon/muscle deal.
In my first few times back from the gym this past week, my body has “blown up”. It’s kinda strange. My wife noticed it too…. as I’m sure many of us manly man think were jacked after a workout, that was enough validation for me that I wasn’t imagining things.
So my speculation is as follows; I’m 100% sure my gut buggies have changed significantly since my 2 months of taking ps. (I alternate between 3 and 4 teasp per day and nothing on Sunday). No tests to confirm this, but going by …sorry… poop quality… digestion and overall well being.
So as such, I think I’m assimilating the foods I eat WAY better than before and thus getting the most out of my food. Now that that is taking place, my muscles can perhaps feed themselves better than before. Does that make any sense?
It’s just weird how pumped I look days after a workout. OH of course NOT complaining 🙂
Richard, Tim…. THANK YOU….AGAIN!
ALLEZ!
Marc
Get a load of this.
and Mr. Hahn is much more concern about the 2lb weight gain. I guess it’s all about the individuals own priority.
Thanks for sharing this, DD, it’s great food for thought–and more research in this area…
Forgive this question if it is ridiculous, but could RS intake have a short term negative effect on immunity? I had my first attempt at RS with 2 TBS of potato starch in a small glass of water, and a few hours later I started to feel under the weather. Today I awoke to congestion and a general lack of energy – tell-tale signs of a cold. Nothing else in my regimen was different yesterday, so that’s why I ask. Thanks.
Matt:
Perhaps you’re just coming down with a cold? That’s what I’d assume before I assumed it has something to do with eating a part of a food.
Richard, I assume I’m coming down with a cold. I was just wondering if the RS might have made me more susceptible to it. I didn’t have any contact with anyone yesterday, and everything else in my day was as normal. Not accusing, just asking.
Matt, I can’t say this with 100% certainty, but I’ve always heard that the cold virus is in us approximately 10 days before any symptoms appear. So you’d be best to look back about 10 days before onset and go from there. Ockham’s razor would suggest that as the most likely scenario–feel better soon!
Thanks, Theresa.
“I was just wondering if the RS might have made me more susceptible to it.”
Why? RS is only associated with greatly enhanced immune function. Unfortunately, I have yet to find any studies where it’s been tested against airborne viruses. Not holding my breath.
This is kinda the lesson of the post. This is just food. Now, suppose you ate a big helping of mashed potatoes the night before. Would you have even imagined to attribute it to coming down with a cold virus?
Die-off effect – the good killing the bad = toxins overload? Even worse if it happens in the small intestine (SIBO).
Matt, say for example bifido increased and changed conditions sufficiently to wipe out some candida….the resulting (something like 79!) chemicals dying yeast releases could temporarily supress immunity.
When I kill candida I get canker sores and a sore throat. Just an alternative perspective there.
Yes, this has been my working hypothesis. I started this gut altering experiment around last March, initially with inulin and probiotic pills (syontix). For a couple days I had pronounced all over muscle achiness, felt like I was coming down with the flu, but didn’t. In June I segued into PS, achiness returned but didn’t last as long. A couple months ago when I added prescript assist to the mix, boom! Another pronounced pre flu like espisode. I’ve come to regard these as a sign that things are moving in the right direction.
In my humble n=1, I cannot say whether PS is responsible or not, but I have been cold free. My 2 kids go to daycare and quite regularly bring home some nasties. In my “former life”, I was catching a major cold every year, with screwed up sinuses, etc. Since cleaning my diet and increasing RS, I have been ailment free. But there are so many confounders, I cannot conclude. If I go 5 years without a single cold, I will be able to say whether it is linked.
Wow! Hot topic! I just finished reading a paper, “Metabolites produced by commensal bacteria promote peripheral regulatory T-cell generation.” We know that butyrate is produced by your gut bacteria, and Foxp3 is a marker of Treg cells. Basically the researchers find that butyrate inhibits deacetylases from acting not only on histones but also on Foxp3 itself (increasing Treg activity). By that mechanism, butyrate is able to keep Foxp3 up and running. Butyrate, and to a lesser extent propionate but not acetate, can induce T cells to differentiate into T-regulatory cells. Well, that’s good. Happy gut bacteria tames the immune system. One interesting finding was that feeding mice butyrate (eating butter?) didn’t change Tregs in the colon, but feeding butyrated starch (eating resistant starch?) or administering butyrate by enema did increase Tregs in the colon. In a later figure they did see an increase in Treg ACTIVITY with butyrate fed mice, but they aren’t clear where they found the Tregs. Blood? If that’s true, then while straight butter might not increase colonic Tregs, it may increase Treg activity systemically. Could be a good argument for adding RS to autoimmune protocols.
I guess that means that the butter eaters need to shove it up their ass…. literally. 🙂
September! Wow, loved it… Usually when I start talking about Tregs, everyone’s eyes glaze over and the start looking at their watch. Glad you dug into it, it’s freaking just amazing, isn’t it?
Once you start reading about Peyer’s Patches, naïve T-Cells, and the entire immune system, and how almost all of it is located IN THE GUT, you realize the magnitude of all this.
Here’s one I haven’t seen: how long does it take to stop farting? I’ll have to work from home the next few days if it keeps up. It’s been in full force since yesterday.
alec – It’s just going to be different for everybody. I always tell people, and in fact just told my Dad, to adjust the amount of potato starch or plantain flour up and down depending on the farts. If 4TBS gives you terrible gas, drop it to 2TBS and see what happens. If 2TBS is bad, try 1.
Play around with it, but the way I did it was to just go full balls with 4-6TBS a day and powered through the fart stage which lasted about 4 weeks if I remember.
Since I’ve been more intermittent and bolus dosing, no farts beyond normal.
So, one day I might have 4T morning, 4T night, the next day 4T at night, go 2-3 days with zero, 4T, 6T, etc.
Also, I do about 3/4 PS and 1/4 Plantain flour most times.
Thanks for the quick replies. I’ll try to remember to post back here once it subsides to reduce the Pollyanna effect. It was already noticeably less uncomfortable today, but that could be due to any number of things.
My gas has died down pretty quickly (4 days) and I’ve been slowly upping the dose..
I don’t know much. What I do know: After 18 months LC GAPS, during which time my digestion improved a lot, something was definitely off. 3 wks w PS and my guts are vastly improved, I think it is early days yet. I’m gonna try the empty stomach thing, cause the gas is significant, but so worth it! What I feel is gratitude. Thank-you.
Richard,
I just want to support your perspective by pondering on gut flora. I think it is hard to pin down the impact of a soluble fiber, e.g. RS, on gut flora, gut and organism, because we don’t actually know what species of bacteria are present in the particular gut being examined. Unfortunately, when people look at gut microbiomes, they usually actually only look at rRNA genes that are correlated with species. As far as I know, the horizontal transfer of genes between species in gut biofilms is fast enough that genes for enzymes involved in digesting complex plant polysaccharides/soluble fiber can end up in many different species or be absent. The “species” may stay the same, but the genomes may be different from day to day. Alternatively, the sum of the genomes may be stable, but species may change. To some extent species are defined by niches. Different gut flora will respond differently to different soluble fibers and adaptation may require introducing new bacteria and may be very slow. It is very easy to cure lactose intolerance, as a simplified example, just by introducing beta-galactosidase genes in the form of dairy probiotics, but since the bacteria don’t persist, only the gene transferred to other gut flora remains. There won’t be any change in the species of gut flora.
Thanks for the discussion.
Thanks for joining the conversation. Between you and Richard, I’m learning a lot about my gut and how important it is to take better care of it.
Cheers
I think that the missing piece to all this is solved by using RS to create an environment where known probiotics thrive and stick around. Eating probiotic foods and supplements with an inflamed, dyspeptic gut does not encourage them to stick around.
Even the earliest studies on RS showed that it lowered the intestinal pH, increased butyrate, and created an environment suitable for lactic acid producing bacteria and the entire bifido clan. The lowering of pH is gut bug moderated and creates a self-fulfilling environment. While not every single person may have the right gut bugs to see immediate results, it does seem that most people have suitable numbers of RS degraders so that RS + probiotic supplements can quickly restore balance that has a lasting effect.
Without RS (and/or other suitable fermentable fiber) the intestinal pH will be higher, butyrate production lower, and create an environment more suitable for pathogens and their biofilms, leading to a decrease in colonocyte health, more inflammation, less immune system regulation, and other downstream effects of the gut-brain connection.
…and TaterTot…
That’s an update, folks…
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