Starch; Libido & Hormones

[Runenight201]

@Wagner83, I've had good reactions to juicing beets (whole beet, along with the stem and greens) and carrots and mixing with OJ. On days I do it, the white coating on my tongue disappears, my eyes brighten, and my complexion noticeably improves. My friend who regularly facetimes me even commented on how good I was looking that day, which he's never once said to me, so that was interesting.

Apparently beets have nitrate which turn to nitric oxide, which peat doesn't like, but I'm going to keep experimenting with it for the vain gains. Perhaps for an active individual they're fine, as beet juice is a known performance enhancer (due to the NO). Mixing with the carrots and OJ might mitigate some of the negative effects and just make for a dank juice. Adding coconut water to the mix could be interesting...

I'll try upping my minerals through cooked cruciferous veggies and dank juice with my consumption of starch and see if that helps. I'm avoiding fat cuz I'm overweight and I don't think it helps at all with the whole weight loss process. I think being able to get a solid 8 hours of sleep would also be beneficial, which has been so inconsistent with me for the past year now.

 

[Jon]

I'd be interested in hearing your experiences with starch and how it affects libido and hormones. Many of us here swear by starch and others amongst us hate it.

For me personally, the more starch I consume, the lower my libido is and the less androgenic I 'feel'. In other words, I feel more passive, less motivated in general and less motivated by sex. I feel more physically 'fragile', joints hurt and I tire easier. Some starches such as white rice have a pretty much neutral effect, whereas others such as whole wheat only require a small quantity to completely wipe out any semblance of libido. Zero nocturnal and morning erections, no sexual desire. Cut out starches, and it's the opposite.

The benefits I do seem to get from them is cheap, convenient calories and a calming, anti stress effect, not to mention they are delicious. I find it strange that these negative effects seem to happen as so many thriving, industrious cultures and empires are built on heavy starch consumption. I hope to eventually find a way to make them work but at the moment I'm sticking to dairy, oj and sugar for my carbs.

I love starchy carbs, a diet of mostly potatoes was the thing that brought my digestion up to a normal level from very poor. I will say though, that in that time I noticed a couple things:

1) I avoided fructose as malabsorption happened easily for me, also I felt that burdening my liver with more substrate for it to directly metabolize was probably not the best thing to do as I was simultaneously trying to attenuate my insulin resistance.

2) as time went on I noticed I actually started to crave fruit and fruit juice, around this time my digestion was also doing very well compared to how it had been before the focus on mainly starch.

3) I lost about 3lbs of edema during a starch focus (of potatoes) I think this was the lowering of cortisol as well as finally getting in enough potassium.

4) my fasting, post prandial, and a1c blood glucose all trended down over 6 months from eating mostly starch

5) Wheb I finally gave into my fructose cravings I ate an apple and it was extremely satisfying lol I noticed that my libido was heightened the next morning and so I started to think that maybe my body could finally handle alittle more fructose. I subsequently noticed no poor digestion of the Apple and all the servings of fruit I'd include in the future which was a drastic change from before.

6) over time I ate more white (basmati) rice and made homemade white bread with yeast and fractionated coconut oil for some variation from potatoes. A nice sacrilegious (beef) curry is something to be enjoyed and savor, and though you can make it with potatoes, with some home made naan and basmati its Devine lol.

I think starch should be the foundation of calories for most people with the inclusion of smaller portions comparatively of fruit and fruit juices. I think the more sick someone is, the less they tolerate things like fruit (fructose) just because they call on the liver for more work (metabolism) and at the moment, it's relatively incapable of handling and processing energy appropriately.

 

[Wagner83]

@Wagner83, I've had good reactions to juicing beets (whole beet, along with the stem and greens) and carrots and mixing with OJ. On days I do it, the white coating on my tongue disappears, my eyes brighten, and my complexion noticeably improves. My friend who regularly facetimes me even commented on how good I was looking that day, which he's never once said to me, so that was interesting.

Apparently beets have nitrate which turn to nitric oxide, which peat doesn't like, but I'm going to keep experimenting with it for the vain gains. Perhaps for an active individual they're fine, as beet juice is a known performance enhancer (due to the NO). Mixing with the carrots and OJ might mitigate some of the negative effects and just make for a dank juice. Adding coconut water to the mix could be interesting...

I'll try upping my minerals through cooked cruciferous veggies and dank juice with my consumption of starch and see if that helps. I'm avoiding fat cuz I'm overweight and I don't think it helps at all with the whole weight loss process. I think being able to get a solid 8 hours of sleep would also be beneficial, which has been so inconsistent with me for the past year now.

I think a few of the b vitamins are important. Using cronometer to get an idea of what nutrients you are getting over a day/week has been recommended in the past.

 

[Runenight201]

@Jon I like that. I think that using potatoes/tubers as a base for a long time is the smartest approach, and then from there start incorporating other starches occasionally (rice is the only other one that makes sense imo). What is fructose malabsorption like? Stomach indigestion? Also do you guys consume meat with or away from starches?

Although one thing that I’ve been curious about is the difference in height between Asian and European populations. Initially I thought it was the dairy, but then I learned that adequate protein and not calcium is the most important factors in terms of adult height. Certainly Asian populations love their fish, and so barring the peasantry they couldn’t have been protein deficient. Then I began thinking how wheat has 3x more protein than rice does, and that perhaps simply their choice of staple starch led to them having height advantage. Now apparently wheat has some deleterious cognitive effects, so perhaps this height advantage came at a sacrifice of optimal cognition. Just some musings...

Just got tired again after eating yams and sweet potatoes. I’m confident I low key have sleep apnea as I sleep on my back, so I’ll be forcing myself tonight to sleep on my stomach (it’s how I slept as a kid/pre-teen until I taught myself to sleep on my back “for my spine”). I think this is probably the best way to sleep as it prevents the throat from collapsing during sleep, preventing snoring and apneas. I’ve also elevated my bed 2 inches this week and will be hitting 4 after a couple days of getting accustomed to it. As long as one sleeps on a firm mattress, and stays mobile and eats well, the spinal hazard is overhyped imo.

 

[Wagner83]

@Jon I like that. I think that using potatoes/tubers as a base for a long time is the smartest approach, and then from there start incorporating other starches occasionally (rice is the only other one that makes sense imo). What is fructose malabsorption like? Stomach indigestion? Also do you guys consume meat with or away from starches?

Although one thing that I’ve been curious about is the difference in height between Asian and European populations. Initially I thought it was the dairy, but then I learned that adequate protein and not calcium is the most important factors in terms of adult height. Certainly Asian populations love their fish, and so barring the peasantry they couldn’t have been protein deficient. Then I began thinking how wheat has 3x more protein than rice does, and that perhaps simply their choice of staple starch led to them having height advantage. Now apparently wheat has some deleterious cognitive effects, so perhaps this height advantage came at a sacrifice of optimal cognition. Just some musings...

Just got tired again after eating yams and sweet potatoes. I’m confident I low key have sleep apnea as I sleep on my back, so I’ll be forcing myself tonight to sleep on my stomach (it’s how I slept as a kid/pre-teen until I taught myself to sleep on my back “for my spine”). I think this is probably the best way to sleep as it prevents the throat from collapsing during sleep, preventing snoring and apneas. I’ve also elevated my bed 2 inches this week and will be hitting 4 after a couple days of getting accustomed to it. As long as one sleeps on a firm mattress, and stays mobile and eats well, the spinal hazard is overhyped imo.

If you don't sleep well enough or are stressed getting tired after a meal isn't necessarily bad although it may be inconvenient.

 

[Jon]

What is fructose malabsorption like? Stomach indigestion? Also do you guys consume meat with or away from starches?

Fructose for me showed up as sweet smelling stools (sorry tmi) like you couldn't help but notice the bathroom smelled like spoiled fruit. In its worst form your stools become very green and tar like. They also float. I realized that my saliva would taste sweet for a long time too when this would happen.

I've always eaten meat with starch. Leaner pastured ground beef is my usual choice, or lean pork loin. I usually have each of these (2 meat meals) a day. I did realize I was overdoing protein in general when fixing my digestion (even with me weight training) and lowering it did make me feel better as well.

Now apparently wheat has some deleterious cognitive effects, so perhaps this height advantage came at a sacrifice of optimal cognition. Just some musings...

Interesting you say this. My a&p professor had her degree in genetics and once told us that in people they've observed that a fetus exposed to a volatile atmosphere (or atleast the mothers perception of a dangerous or volatile atmosphere) will have more genes that express for height and growth as if the fetus is preparing to have to physically withstand a threatening environment. Babies who's prenatal environment is non stressful or threatening seem to have more resources diverted to brain growth expression and cognitive function. I suppose this makes sense since when a mother would experience trauma; physical, or mental, her body would change metabolism to a more fatty acid based energy utilization, and if she were not stressed she'd be running on primarily glucose (if healthy). This would probably also dictate to some degree what the baby was able to utilize for energy as well, and we've seen time and time again that HGH is a lipophilic hormone so I guess it makes sense that babies exposed to a more fat based metabolism would grow more...ahh forgive the ramblings of a mad man lol I just thought it was a good correlation to you hypothesis.

 

[raypeatclips]

I love starchy carbs, a diet of mostly potatoes was the thing that brought my digestion up to a normal level from very poor. I will say though, that in that time I noticed a couple things:

1) I avoided fructose as malabsorption happened easily for me, also I felt that burdening my liver with more substrate for it to directly metabolize was probably not the best thing to do as I was simultaneously trying to attenuate my insulin resistance.

2) as time went on I noticed I actually started to crave fruit and fruit juice, around this time my digestion was also doing very well compared to how it had been before the focus on mainly starch.

3) I lost about 3lbs of edema during a starch focus (of potatoes) I think this was the lowering of cortisol as well as finally getting in enough potassium.

4) my fasting, post prandial, and a1c blood glucose all trended down over 6 months from eating mostly starch

5) Wheb I finally gave into my fructose cravings I ate an apple and it was extremely satisfying lol I noticed that my libido was heightened the next morning and so I started to think that maybe my body could finally handle alittle more fructose. I subsequently noticed no poor digestion of the Apple and all the servings of fruit I'd include in the future which was a drastic change from before.

6) over time I ate more white (basmati) rice and made homemade white bread with yeast and fractionated coconut oil for some variation from potatoes. A nice sacrilegious (beef) curry is something to be enjoyed and savor, and though you can make it with potatoes, with some home made naan and basmati its Devine lol.

I think starch should be the foundation of calories for most people with the inclusion of smaller portions comparatively of fruit and fruit juices. I think the more sick someone is, the less they tolerate things like fruit (fructose) just because they call on the liver for more work (metabolism) and at the moment, it's relatively incapable of handling and processing energy appropriately.

Past week or so my main carb source has been starch, with practically no juice or sugar for the first time in years and my stomach bloat is way, way down.

 

[Runenight201]

@Jon very interesting. Could be why the stereotypical jock is athletic, big, and strong, but dumb as a whistle, while your nerd is weak, yet with cunning intellect. After all, stereotypes have some basis in truth don't they?

I think epigenetics trumps everything though, and I'd imagine that even with babies born in stressful environments, if they were then transplanted to a non-stressful environment and fed a peaty diet that encouraged glucose oxidation, they'd switch over to that type of metabolism. I'm always sympathetic towards the environmentalist way of viewing things, it certainly makes it seem like we have more control... Genetics is so fatalistic, but I can't deny that there are some things that perhaps can't be changed (at least for now....(CRISPR???)

After reading some more Travis posts, I do think that lean beef is a good choice, but only if you're not overweight. If you got some pounds to shed limiting it is probably useful, and if you got some pounds to gain, eating more if it would be useful (with some gelatin to balance the AAs).

 

[Jon]

Past week or so my main carb source has been starch, with practically no juice or sugar for the first time in years and my stomach bloat is way, way down.

My long lost brotha! That's awesome news man! I've missed our chats!

 

[Jon]

@Jon very interesting. Could be why the stereotypical jock is athletic, big, and strong, but dumb as a whistle, while your nerd is weak, yet with cunning intellect. After all, stereotypes have some basis in truth don't they?

I think epigenetics trumps everything though, and I'd imagine that even with babies born in stressful environments, if they were then transplanted to a non-stressful environment and fed a peaty diet that encouraged glucose oxidation, they'd switch over to that type of metabolism. I'm always sympathetic towards the environmentalist way of viewing things, it certainly makes it seem like we have more control... Genetics is so fatalistic, but I can't deny that there are some things that perhaps can't be changed (at least for now....(CRISPR???)

After reading some more Travis posts, I do think that lean beef is a good choice, but only if you're not overweight. If you got some pounds to shed limiting it is probably useful, and if you got some pounds to gain, eating more if it would be useful (with some gelatin to balance the AAs).

I couldn't agree more! What my professor was describing was in fact epigenetics :)

Something like 80% of genes expressed are via epigenetic factors. This is why I'm a huge component of bettering your mindset before anything else. The mind is our biggest epigenetic factor :)

I think lean ground beef is fine for everybody. The palmitic acid in it should help with glucose oxidation, along with its Zinc.

 

[Lokzo]

I've been with my partner for many years. She's very attractive and we have a good sex life. However, without a doubt certain foods can completely kill my libido and desire for intimacy. The first sign is no nocturnal/morning erections. When I go high saturated fat, high sugar, no starch, I have the libido and stamina of a teenager. I'm also noticeably larger downstairs when flaccid as well. I've experimented many times, where the only variable I change is introducing starch (as I said in the original post; white rice has a neutral effect) and after 1-2 days, same thing every time. It's a shame because I love the taste of starches (especially whole grains), and the calm, clear headed effect I get from them, but it's at the expense of my own virility. I have no idea why this seems to happen. I'm not arguing with anyone here, just sharing personal experience.

THIS!!!!

Man, we are literally identical. I get the exact same negative effects from Potatoe starch. Or even corn starch in high amounts. I get anhedonic, low libido, zero morning wood, and in a really calm/headspace.

It's so bizzare. We must have some strange inability to process these?
It also takes me about 3 days to return to normal after ingesting these foods.

 

[Cameron]

Incidentally my sleep is best with lots of complex carbs; grains like oats and brown rice/wheat really allow me to fall asleep easily; they also produce a very calm mental state. The problem is, as I mentioned, I physically deteriorate from them and my libido tanks, I have little idea behind the mechanism. The first symptoms are arthritic - type stiffness and pain in my fingers.

For me the order goes from worst to neutral - Grains, tubers and rice.

Dinner is usually just meat and rice with oj. I quite like white Italian pasta but I'm not sure if this also causes deleterious effects for me. Unfortunately I can only go completely go starch free when I do very little all day, if I'm active (most of the time) I need the calories.

Brown rice severely lower dht

 

[japanesedude]

I think Rice lowers my libido.

 

[jet9]

Bump!

 

[AinmAnseo]

Starches are pro-libido as long as you combine them with protein, saturated fats and salt, and avoid gut-irritating starches which raise serotonin.

Vinero,
What do you count as "gut-irritating starches "?