Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

What Your Microbiome Wants for Dinner

nautil.us

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

21–30 of 99 posts

Re: What Your Microbiome Wants for Dinner

#21

Post by Sargos »

kuschku wrote: post #19
shanusmagnus wrote: post #16

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And omit the legumes and grains and you have paleo. Agreed, it's pointlessly contrary.

You don’t even need to omit the grains. You can just eat Dinkel or Urkorn, two very common (like, in every bakery) types of grain that existed even in the paleolithic times. EDIT: Seriously, how is this not contributing? Please provide a comment if you think it is not contributing.

Those grains aren't good for paleo though since we didn't really eat them while evolving. Our bodies haven't been primarily digesting them for very long.

Re: What Your Microbiome Wants for Dinner

#22

Post by amlgsmsn »

kefka wrote: post #6

That'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…

Here's an interesting study that found that different people have different blood glucose reponses to the same foods.

http://news.meta.com/2015/11/19/cell-nutrition-is-personal-i...

>Participant A maintained a stable blood glucose level after eating a cookie but responded with elevated glucose levels after eating a banana. Conversely, participant B experienced an increase in blood glucose level after eating a cookie, but not after consuming a banana.

>In another striking example one of the participants, a middle-aged woman who was obese and pre diabetic learned that her “healthy” eating habits may have actually been unhealthy for her. The researchers found that in her case, eating tomatoes resulted in an “unhealthy” blood sugar spike, as the woman ate tomatoes frequently over the course of the week long monitoring period, this “healthy” habit may have been undermining her health.

Re: What Your Microbiome Wants for Dinner

#23

Post by classicsnoot »

Rolled out this idea in a thread long ago about Apple not including a Period Tracker in their health app and it was taboo then, but here is as best a place to try again... There should be a poop tracking app. It would help a user track their waste over time, identify important red flags, act as an incredibly detailed source of diagnostic data for health care professionals, and promote healthy and happy living. Two topics that people seem so afraid of discussing are shitting and masturbating which seems so silly to me, as those are two things all humans do. If you want to be healthy, start with your poo; understanding your waste will tell you how to eat, sleep, exercise, and live better.

Re: What Your Microbiome Wants for Dinner

#24

Post by magicalist »

_fs wrote: post #8

One 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)…

> One topic that was not mentioned in the article that I have found fascinating is that your gut microbiome can actually affect your cravings

It's worth noting that the study[1] does not suggest that. It says that there has been some "circumstantial evidence for a connection between cravings and the composition of gut microbiota" and notes that there would be evolutionary pressure on microbes to be able to influence cravings, but gives no evidence on this point.

The thing the study was actually researching was ways microbes could influence cravings, not whether or not any of them actually were.

Meanwhile, it does appear you can noticeably change the expression of your microbiome by long term changes in your diet, but the effects we've actually found are still fairly subtle (at least in terms of metabolic outputs), and I've found no studies that indicate you can change cravings due to those changes. For example, in [2], "chocolate desiring" subjects had noticeably different microbiomes than "chocolate indifferent" subjects, but that difference was significant even when on the exact same diet (which was necessary for the study's methods).

You have to be careful not to extrapolate from actual data to "what makes sense". Spurlock's stuff appeals at a gut instinct level, but that's often the most dangerous kind of thing for science since our brains desperately want to make patterns out of data even when there isn't one.

[1] http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/bies.201400071/fu...

[2] http://pic.plover.com/chocolate.pdf

Re: What Your Microbiome Wants for Dinner

#25

Post by kefka »

shanusmagnus wrote: post #20
kefka wrote: post #6

That'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…

Congrats on your approach to managing your condition. Couple of things to think about. First, you may find a continuous glucose monitor helpful to get a more granular view of what's going on. Dexcom [1] makes the most popular one, which is also hackable [2]. Second, keep in mind that all carb avoidance isn't equal. If you up your protein a lot, you could still get postprandial glucose spikes due to gluconeogenesis fr…

Thank you.

I've looked at the Dexcom unit. I would like to run with it for 2-3 needles (20-30 days) to get accurate data on things I surmise are good, but yet cannot prove.

I've also worked on guessing the score before I test. Interestingly enough, after about 2 days with the meter, I within +-2 points. That really surprised me.

And a very good point about the exercise after I eat. I have been doing that in the evening, not always after I eat. I'm going to believe you without proof, only because my body knows I need the exercise. I've also heard that HIIT is also great (meter backed results).

If I do worsen, I do have the metformin I can fall back on. I'd rather not make that the first response if diet shows more effect.

Re: What Your Microbiome Wants for Dinner

#26

Post by kefka »

scholia wrote: post #15
kefka wrote: post #6

That'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…

Are you able to watch this BBC TV program? (I hope it's the right one: my wife suggested it.) http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b06rdtx0/doctor-in-the-...

I'm not able to watch it. Is it this per chance?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fFfkdKfpgFw

Re: What Your Microbiome Wants for Dinner

#27

Post by Retric »

Sargos wrote: post #21
kuschku wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You don’t even need to omit the grains. You can just eat Dinkel or Urkorn, two very common (like, in every bakery) types of grain that existed even in the paleolithic times. EDIT: Seriously, how is this not contributing? Please provide a comment if you think it is not contributing.

Those grains aren't good for paleo though since we didn't really eat them while evolving. Our bodies haven't been primarily digesting them for very long.

I think you underestimate how fast evolution happens. Lactose tolerance is a fairly recent, but widespread adaptation.

Re: What Your Microbiome Wants for Dinner

#28

Post by hondo77 »

asciimo wrote: post #7

This 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 o…

Dairy.

Re: What Your Microbiome Wants for Dinner

#29

Post by kefka »

fasteo wrote: post #10
kefka wrote: post #6

That'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 ?

Sure. You'll need LibreOffice. there's not many readings thus yet.

However, given some of my previous symptoms (thirst, extreme hunger, overheating) along with family history, a basic test was done. a1c=7.1 and initial fasting glucose = 161mg/dL

I'm approaching this aggressively, as I'm not sure exactly how many medical symptoms were caused/still caused by this, including mental fog during programming.

https://mega.nz/#!oxEkGATQ!n78-fzrCFy_wv6HPIqyFIozzgpPvLeIiR...

Re: What Your Microbiome Wants for Dinner

#30

Post by montecarl »

kefka wrote: post #6

That'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…

I like your scientific approach. It would be awesome to have continuous monitoring of blood sugar, heart rate, body temperature, blood pressure, and other vital signs.

From what I have read, early type 2 diabetes can be completely controlled via diet changes as you have already started to see. The amount of insulin your body needs to make is by far the largest for carbohydrates, then somewhat less for protein, and then near zero form fat.

I liked this talked which summed up the argument for treating diabetes (type II at least) with diet and not drugs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=da1vvigy5tQ

Post reply on HN