How to feed 100 trillion friends
For many years I did not eat a single piece of food containing complex carbohydrate/starch/
Not a single sodding mouthful.
Meat & salad. Repeat.
I ate fruit as it’s a single sugar unit as fructose and some glucose, depending on the fruit, but starchy food was a big no no.
For me this was painful.
I loved crisps and pizza and chips……who doesn’t on occasion?
But I’d learned my recurrent SI pain, plus assorted aches and pain all over my body were in fact my immune system gone rogue.
Ironically despite being trained to recognise the symptoms of AS, I couldn’t spot in myself. (To be fair neither did the numerous tutors at the AECC or the multitude of colleagues who treated me.)
Back in 2007 I’d learned that an overgrowth of the bacteria Klebsiella, could lead (via molecular mimicry) to the condition we call Ankylosing spondylitis (AS). https://link.springer.
They generally hang out in the colon, and feed on the residue/breakdown of starches/complex carbohydrate, which are simple sugars.
Simple sugars eaten are generally absorbed in the small intestine so shouldn’t make it to the colon and so can’t feed Klebsiella.
So having seen the devastating effects of AS on my brother and many patients I declared war on starch.
These days though I am an absolute bastard for a bag of crisps & a slice of pizza.
I know it’s full of omega 6 from sunflower oils.
I know potato is (deadly) nightshade.
But having fought (and won) a long battle, it’s now time to loosen the lifestyle.
I am also now in possession of the kind of fabulous news that will make you ketogenic, high fat low carb peeps, weep with joy.
I am currently writing the microbiome section of the Core Concepts in Chiropractic Nutrition course.
I’m taking the very best of the knowledge and research from the microbiome world and making it Chiro specific.
You see, there is a “hack” that will make white carbs OK again.
No longer will you be subjected to wild blood sugar swings when you eat rice with my curry.
You can enjoy white potato without worrying it will give muffin tops.
Relax! It turns out they won’t necessarily give you a massive case of dysbiosis in your gut.
Here it is…….
When you boil white rice and white potato and let it cool down, the starch present becomes resistant to your own digestive processes.
They get chewed up but then no more breakdown.
They arrive in the colon and it’s time for the party to begin.
You see your bacteria (all 100 trillion of them) CAN break this new “resistant starch” down. In fact they bloody love it.
They eat and eat and make a wonderful thing called butyrate.
Butyrate is a critical short chain fatty acid that is the primary fuel for the gut lining cells. It’s also an excellent anti-inflammatory for the gut and has some systemic effects too.
This explains why after I started eating some starch again, I could eat and eat sushi with no adverse blood sugar effects. But give me rice with curry and I’d be in a carb coma in 45 minutes.
So love your gut bacteria and break out the cold potato salad and chill that rice before you eat it. You can even heat it up again and it’s still all good.
You could even try some specific resistant starch powders like Bob’s red mill potato starch or green banana powder (both available via Amazon).
But be warned, start low and slow; Butyrate isn’t the only thing your bacteria make, they generate a LOT of gas too…
Action to take today:
Tell your patients on a low carb diet about the magic of resistant starch.
Tell your patient with IBS and IBD to very VERY slowly try eating some resistant starch.
Grab yourselves some powders and let rip like your Grandad.
As always, don’t waste those valuable adjustments.
Speak soon
Simon