What Your Microbiome Wants for Dinner
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Re: What Your Microbiome Wants for Dinner
#2Somewhat interesting and different look at what different types of foods do to us by focusing on our guts and those little things that help us digest. His recommendation seems to be more complex carbohydrates, less sugar... same old conclusion, different way of getting there I guess. It's still "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants."
Re: What Your Microbiome Wants for Dinner
#3Somewhat interesting and different look at what different types of foods do to us by focusing on our guts and those little things that help us digest. His recommendation seems to be more complex carbohydrates, less sugar... same old conclusion, different way of getting there I guess. It's still "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants."
Agreed, but I liked that he walked through the reasoning and the processes that inform that conclusion. The more something looks like a mystery, the less we understand it / the less scientific it really is.
Re: What Your Microbiome Wants for Dinner
#4Somewhat interesting and different look at what different types of foods do to us by focusing on our guts and those little things that help us digest. His recommendation seems to be more complex carbohydrates, less sugar... same old conclusion, different way of getting there I guess. It's still "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants."
Agreed, but I liked that he walked through the reasoning and the processes that inform that conclusion. The more something looks like a mystery, the less we understand it / the less scientific it really is.
Be careful how much you take at face value, though. While a lot of what he has to say is accurate, there's some stuff in there, like a reference to "leaky gut syndrome" which treats it as a legitimate health concern rather than the totally unfounded alternative-medicine BS that it is, which you'd be ill advised to take seriously.
Re: What Your Microbiome Wants for Dinner
#5Somewhat interesting and different look at what different types of foods do to us by focusing on our guts and those little things that help us digest. His recommendation seems to be more complex carbohydrates, less sugar... same old conclusion, different way of getting there I guess. It's still "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants."
The take-away, to me, is to append one more variable when we consider wehat goes in our mouth: the bioavailability / effect in your microbiome.
"We realize a diet like this doesn’t lend itself to being packaged and sold. It emphasizes how to think about food in the context of one’s microbiome, rather than prescribing a narrow choice of foods, counting calories, or advocating “dieting” as a daily activity. This advice is far from sexy and certainly not earth-shattering."
Re: What Your Microbiome Wants for Dinner
#6That's an interesting article, for sure. It also applies to what I've been diagnosed with as well. Type 2 diabetes.
I'm applying data science to this disease. It's what I do, and can afford. Unfortunately, my doctor thinks that pushing pills is an adequate response, which I heartily doubt.
The more I understand this disease, it has to do with either: pancreas is dead (type 1), or your glucose response/insulin response is badly out of whack due to a metabolic carbohydrate problem (type 1.5/2). I was diagnosed with a fasting glucose of 161 and a1c of 7.1 . Met with doctor, and talked about it shortly. Was prescribed metformin and testing kit with 100 strips. I am currently not taking any drugs.
I keep reading that the problem is carbohydrate overload to my genetics. Can I validate or invalidate that? Indeed. I was told to test blood sugar 1x a day for 3 months. That's inadequate, as it's only an instantaneous sample. What about after I eat? What about when I go to bed and wake up? Can I deduce anything about my pancreas and its slow and fast response to glucose? Indeed.
I've started testing myself 4x every meal(1 before meal, 3 half hour increments after meal ends), and 1 when I wake up and go to bed. Turns out that yes, carbs has, in my body a direct correlation to my blood sugar. And it's pretty stark.
Now, if my hypothesis is correct, I can control my blood sugar purely with carb counting and eating to the glycometer. If after 2 weeks this does not show significant changes in my basal glucose rate, as well as weight losses, then I will go on drugs.
However, I already have 2 good side effects: I'm not craving for food any longer, and I no longer overheat. I'm not sure how to classify those effects, but not being slave to extremely annoying bodily issues does seem very beneficent.
Re: What Your Microbiome Wants for Dinner
#7This article opens with, "[New science] is also showing us that advocates of trendy paleo and vegan diets are missing the big picture of how our omnivorous digestive system works." But it concludes with, "Pick a modest-sized plate and make meals using vegetables, legumes, leafy greens, beans, fruits, and unmilled whole grains as the main ingredients. Add some meat if you want and dollops of healthy fats on the side or sprinkled through the plant foods. Desserts and sweets are special, so save them for the special times." Omit the optional meat an you have a vegan diet. What about the "big picture" are vegans missing?
Re: What Your Microbiome Wants for Dinner
#8One topic that was not mentioned in the article that I have found fascinating is that your gut microbiome can actually affect your cravings. (1) Your microbiome accomplishes this through a host of mechanisms including changing the expression of taste receptors, making certain foods taste better; they may release hunger-inducing hormones; or they may manipulate the vagus nerve (which connects the stomach to the brain) to control their hosts’ eating behavior.
Are you sure you really want that extra side of chips? Or has your gut biome decided it wants that extra fat, and influences you to eat it.
Additionally, you can "reseed" your gut biome by changing your diet. Do you crave greasy food? Go vegan for 2 weeks. The new gut biome that develops and takes hold may soon have you start craving healthier foods. A change in diet can change your biome in as little as 4 days. (2) You can witness this phenomena in the movie Super Size Me. At the start of the movie Spurlock is disgusted by eating McDonalds for every meal. But, by the end of his experiment, his gut biome has significantly changed, and you can literally see his mood darken when he is not eating greasy fries and burgers. He craves, or should I say, his microbiome craves those happy meals, and is influencing both his taste receptors, health, and general mood in order to manipulate him in to a trip to the drive though.
1. http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/08/your-gut-b... 2. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-guts-microbiom...
Re: What Your Microbiome Wants for Dinner
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
Agreed, but I liked that he walked through the reasoning and the processes that inform that conclusion. The more something looks like a mystery, the less we understand it / the less scientific it really is.
Be careful how much you take at face value, though. While a lot of what he has to say is accurate, there's some stuff in there, like a reference to "leaky gut syndrome" which treats it as a legitimate health concern rather than the totally unfounded alternative-medicine BS that it is, which you'd be ill advised to take seriously.
While "leaky gut syndrome" as imagined by pseudoscience believers is a little ridiculous, the general idea of chronic low grade inflammation of the intestinal epithelium due to a breakdown of the innate immune system is not. If anyone is interested, checkout out David Artis' work on commensal bacteria on barrier surfaces.
Re: What Your Microbiome Wants for Dinner
#10That's an interesting article, for sure. It also applies to what I've been diagnosed with as well. Type 2 diabetes. I'm applying data science to this disease. It's what I do, and can afford. Unfortunately, my doctor thinks that pushing pills is an adequate response, which I heartily doubt. The more I understand this disease, it has to do with either: pancreas is dead (type 1), or your glucose response/insulin respons…
Mind sharing your readings ?