Re: [fast5] Beans Re: The 4 Hour Body

Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Re: [fast5] Beans Re: The 4 Hour Body

On Wed, Mar 2, 2011 at 7:00 AM, angi <angelamom25@yahoo.com> wrote:

what have you been doing to work out having a happy gut? I have been trying things as well. For me eating fiber one cereal once a day has helped me greatly, as well as taking a probiotic(a good one). I would love some more ideas:)
thanks
angi

Well, it's been a 10-year journey, so it's a little hard to summarize in

one post. But the Cliff notes version goes something like:

1. Went totally gluten-free (I never was much of a bread-eater, but I got

rid of ALL the gluten in the house and stopped drinking beer).

2. Went on probiotics (made our own kefir etc: kefir is a great probiotic!).

3. Stopped eating dairy (this had more to do with migraines than my gut).

4. Started taking bentonite clay in small amounts with each meal.

5. Went on Fast-5.

6. Started taking konjac/psyllium with each meal.

7. Switched from a beef-based to fish/egg/chicken based diet.

At each of these steps there were improvements in my health ... at this point,

at 57, I actually feel younger than I did at 30!

Losing gluten was a huge step. But it changed everything, including my

perspective on life and food. It's becoming a fad now, but at the time,

my relatives practically disowned me.

Probiotics did wonders for our family, but at the point we started with them (1998 I

think) they were very expensive and cost $150/month for everyone to take them,

so I went for kefir instead. Which worked as well or better, plus it's fun to make.

Dairy seems to have been the cause of my lifelong migraines, though

I don't know why. It also seems to cause urinary issues for me. So I

don't miss it. I use the kefir grains to make cider, which has about the

same probiotic effect without the casein.

Bentonite works, but I was concerned about the amount of iron in the brand

I was taking. I'm not sure the iron is actually absorbed much, but it might be

an issue for some people.

Fast-5 probably saved my digestion. At the time I started, I wasn't having

major gut problems (the previous steps fixed most of those) but I couldn't

digest a lot of foods, and got supremely hungry all the time. It is very

difficult eating many small meals and also being gluten-free! But when

things like fats started making me queasy, it got even harder. After starting

Fast-5, I can eat pretty much anything that doesn't have gluten or casein in

it.

I still had 6-12 BM's a day though. When I started konjac, THAT stopped

and now it's just once a day, like clockwork. Nice.

Now I'm experimenting more with a Japanese-style diet: more vegies, more

fish/eggs/poultry, more stuff like sata-imo yams and beans and seaweed.

Semi-digestible polysaccharides, which the Japanese eat a lot of. They

seem to make me feel more "satiated" and calm. Also my joints are less

"cracky" and my skin not so dry. My blood pressure and blood sugar

have been going down too (fish are known for doing that, so is vinegar,

and the Japanese diet has plenty of both). There are lots of other variables

in this kind of diet, including ginger, turmeric, wasabi, umiboshi plums,

seaweed, garlic, hot peppers, fermented cabbage ... all of which are very

active at a biological level.

I am nothing like an expert on Japanese cuisine, so anyone who

actually grew up in Japan would probably laugh at my food choices!

Plus I borrow liberally from Korean and Vietnamese and Hawaiian

cuisines.

It tastes really great though and it's an easy way to eat. I was inspired by

the book "Japanese women don't get old or fat" ... the book never really

goes into WHY the Japanese diet might do that (they concentrate mainly

on cultural variables like, "stop eating when you are not quite full").

From a scientific perspective though, the folks in those Pacific Rim

countries seem to have done really well health-wise as long as they

stay away from European food. Active, healthy old folks! When I look

at my Mom, I'm very motivated to NOT do what she did, although she

is in far better shape than most folks in their late 80's.

I've also been working to lower my iron levels ... high blood ferritin

levels are associated with diabetes and heart disease, which run in

our family (as does high ferritin, it seems, even though we don't have

the hemochromatosis gene). The Japanese diet is by nature low in

absorbable iron, which might be one reason it works. I think iron messes

up your gut too ... the gut cells absorb the iron until it's needed, then

shed it. But in the meantime, it changes the bacterial mix in the gut,

since some bacteria LOVE iron and they overgrow, plus it is

irritating and promotes oxidation. Fiber in the diet, and stuff like tannins

and vinegar, tend to block the iron and change the bacterial mix.

Some cuisines block or chelate iron: some promote absorption, and the

Standard American Diet is the latter type.

--- In fast5@yahoogroups.com, Heather Twist <HeatherTwist@...> wrote:
>
> You need to have the right enzymes and bacteria to digest them. Not all
> people do. Ditto for milk, meat, fruit and pretty much everything else. I
> have
> to say though, that since I've been working out "having a happy gut", beans
> are fine now. The non-bean-tolerant folks I know seem to do ok with them
> by taking beano.
>
> Also beans are not all alike. Peruanos are way easier to digest ... and to
> cook ...
> than the usual Pintos. If you soak them for a day or two, they work better
> also. Lentils and garbanzos are even easier.
>
> Beans are one of those few things I tend to crave. Usually on a salad
> (along
> with roasted nuts: something that is problematic for a lot of people) or as
> hummous.
>
>
>
> On Tue, Mar 1, 2011 at 6:56 AM, tamaratornado <tamaratornado@...>wrote:
>
> > Beans give me terrible cramps. When I went on the paleo diet, I was so
> > happy to stop eating beans. YUK !!!!!
> >
> >
> >
>

------------------------------------

Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fast5/

<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional

<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/fast5/join
(Yahoo! ID required)

<*> To change settings via email:
fast5-digest@yahoogroups.com
fast5-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
fast5-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/