Eating Less Carbs? There Are Some Downsides To Keep in Mind

The University of Minnesota is a cool place. One of my mentors from Tulane, Dr. William Toscano, left New Orleans and headed to Minnesota. Dr. Toscano became the dean of the School of Public Health there. Dr. Toscano kindly had me lecture to grad students and give grand rounds at the med school. Dr. T arranged for them to even using my book Hormone Deception in the Environmental Health Science program for many years. As a textbook. On endocrine disruption.

Now, researchers from the University of Minnesota found more fascinating stuff out about fiber. Fiber is so much more than we thought.

Each plant source of insoluble fiber also contains unique bioactives -- compounds that have been linked to all kinds of benefits. From lowering your risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, and Type 2 diabetes -- as well as moving hormones through your gut more efficiently.

I have noticed many breast cancer patients, for example, not all, of course, share a history of long periods of constipation. It always boggles my mind that docs don’t ask about “pooptatutional” capabilities, etc., as healthy elimination eliminates or greatly reduces the risk of many woes.

How often has a doc asked you about how often you poop?

I digress.

The University of Minnesota researchers found:

• A variety of plant foods, including fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds, and whole grains contain insoluble dietary fiber, and each source contains unique bioactives that support health in different ways.

• Examples of bioactives are Quercetin, Resveratrol, Catechins, Anthocyanins, Lutein, Lycopene, and Beta-Carotene, which are found in a variety of plant foods that also contain insoluble dietary fiber.

• Healthy pigments and healthy compounds go hand and hand with healthy fiber.

Consuming a more keto-type diet may cause you to miss out on fiber and its many benefits. And these protective compounds.

Many of these protective “bioactives” protect your biome, your gut wall, and the immune response within your gut.

This is why if you do a more meat-oriented diet, it’s a good strategy to make sure you still get in healthy fiber foods or fiber probiotics and nutraceuticals.

Most people really struggle to eat more veggies and fruits.

Not sure why.

One patient told me it was the prep time.

But you can eat them raw, or buy lettuce in containers now, even washed.

You know food companies are gonna want to fortify present foods with bioactives and fiber, once all this becomes more common knowledge.

But whole foods, as little adulterated as possible, allowed to ripen on the vine as much as possible, no matter how much this is harder to achieve today, is truly the best way to try to go.

Back to basics.

Eat seasonally.

I made a red Kuri squash today that shockingly was found in a pumpkin/squash bin at an Ace Hardware Store looking for something else.

It’s cold out. Soup weather. Gourds are in season now.

Fiber is so critical to brush your gut inside and provide a “wallpaper”, or backsplash, like your computer has, for your biome.

As carbs have become less popular, and almost maligned, it’s way too easy to get way too little fiber.

Don’t miss out.

I strategize my meals to a comfy point. Don’t get nutty over it.

My daily mantra:

• Two blue foods a day (anthocyanins are anti-inflammatory and big cancer fighters. There are 18,260 articles on its health benefits on pubmed.gov - with 1,162 articles of these blue/black/purple pigments helping “fight” cancerous mechanisms, yet I have not heard of any oncologists recommend them, how odd. They really think, I think, that food has nothing to do with anything other than maybe fiber or probiotics. SAD!) The Blue Zones are named somewhat after all the “blue” foods the Blue Zoners eat (such as Japanese blue potatoes, purple cabbage, purple kale, eggplant, black rice, radicchio, etc.)

• At least one plant protein a day.

• Organic chicken and lamb, here and there.

• Healthy fish twice/week.

• Avoid beef much of the year, not always, but consume grass-fed organic or bison, when I do.

• Soy about 4-5 times a week. Of course Non-GMO and organic, yada yada. Blue Zone healthy centenarians consume about 4-5 ounces a day! Both genders.

• 5-10 colorful veggies/d.

• Fruit - but not excessively as it still contains sugar.

• Make a lot of it at home, using organic spices and healthy oils.

• Mindful eating: Sit, chew, focus on food, not multi-tasking.

• Two pooptatutional’s daily. “In” is not the only deal.. So is “out”.

• Ponder your blessings, even while the world is going to hell-in-a-hand-basket, as we used to say. As it seems to always be doing. This is the planet of beauty and also of chaos. Rise above the chaos, while adding to the fights for our freedoms.

Knowledge is power.

When lived.

When swallowed.

Freedom isn’t free.

Health, most of the time, isn’t free either. We often have to fight for it.

And, most certainly, “eat” for it.

Dr. B.

Reference:

Beyond Insoluble Dietary Fiber: Bioactive Compounds in Plant Foods. Nutrients, 2023; 15 (19): 4138 DOI: 10.3390/nu15194138

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