Starch - The Delicious Devil

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“Celiac disease is the most severe form of gluten intolerance.

It is an autoimmune disease that affects about 1% of the population and may lead to damage in the digestive system (1Trusted Source, 2Trusted Source).

However, 0.5–13% of people may also have non-celiac gluten sensitivity, a milder form of gluten intolerance that can still cause problems (3Trusted Source, 4Trusted Source).

Both forms of gluten intolerance can cause widespread symptoms, many of which have nothing to do with digestion.

Here are the 14 main signs and symptoms of gluten intolerance.“

The 14 Most Common Signs of Gluten Intolerance - Penn State PRO Wellness

prowellness.childrens.pennstatehealth.org

 

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Eating (as opposed to binging on) refined starches does not cause weight gain unless consumed with too much PUFA. Considering that refined starches contain much less PUFA than whole starches, they are by far the better option if PUFA from other sources is not kept to a minimum. If PUFA is already low than eating whole starches is fine, with the caveat that they *must* be properly prepared (sprouted, etc.), and both must be balanced with adequate amounts of calcium.

It depends on a persons health….

View: https://youtu.be/S2KAGuSttCI

 

[Jam]

It depends on a persons health….

View: https://youtu.be/S2KAGuSttCI

Of course... taken to an extreme, even the ability to tolerate water depends on health.

 

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Of course... taken to an extreme, even the ability to tolerate water depends on health.

I think most overweight and elderly people have digestive problems. I doubt Ray Peat was warning the rare few about avoiding starches.

 

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“Since cholesterol is the source of progesterone and testosterone (and pregnenolone, DHEA, etc.), and sugar increases it, having fruit rather than starch might increase the hormones. Those hormones, antagonistic to cortisol, can help to reduce waist fat.” -Ray Peat

 

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“There isn’t anything wrong with a high carbohydrate diet, and even a high starch diet isn’t necessarily incompatible with good health, but when better foods are available they should be used instead of starches. For example, fruits have many advantages over grains, besides the difference between sugar and starch. Bread and pasta consumption are strongly associated with the occurrence of diabetes, fruit consumption has a strong inverse association.” -Ray Peat

 

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“When starch is well cooked, and eaten with some fat and the essential nutrients, it’s safe, except that it’s more likely than sugar to produce fat, and isn’t as effective for mineral balance.” -Ray Peat

 

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I had yeast free sourdough toast with lots of butter last night to see how it would affect my sleep, and I slept a solid 6 hours uninterrupted last night. Not that I would be eating that if I were trying to lose weight, but since I am trying to gain a little weight I thought I would have that “splurge”. I have a little lower back ache though this morning, which is not normal for me. It makes me wonder if it may be inflammation from that fermenting in me all night..

 

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“The term “anti-nutrients” suggests what they are. Whereas nutrients are substances that nourish plants and animals to grow and live, anti-nutrients earn their title because they can block the absorption of nutrients. Anti-nutrients are naturally found in animals and many plant-based foods. In plants, they are compounds designed to protect from bacterial infections and being eaten by insects. [1]

There are several compounds in the foods we eat classified as anti-nutrients. Examples include:

Glucosinolates and goitrogens in cruciferous vegetables (broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, kale)—can prevent the absorption of iodine, which may then interfere with thyroid function and cause goiter. Those already with an iodine deficiency or a condition called hypothyroidism are most susceptible.

Lectins in legumes (beans, peanuts, soybeans), whole grains—can interfere with the absorption of calcium, iron, phosphorus, and zinc.

Oxalates in green leafy vegetables, tea, beans, nuts, beets—can bind to calcium and prevent it from being absorbed.

Phytates (phytic acid) in whole grains, seeds, legumes, some nuts—can decrease the absorption of iron, zinc, magnesium, and calcium. [2,3]

Saponins in legumes, whole grains—can interfere with normal nutrient absorption.

Tannins in tea, coffee, legumes—can decrease iron absorption.

It is not known how much nutrient loss occurs in our diets because of anti-nutrients, and the effects vary among individuals based on their metabolism and how the food is cooked and prepared. Many anti-nutrients like phytates, lectins, and glucosinolates can be removed or deactivated by soaking, sprouting, or boiling the food before eating.

Another consideration is that these anti-nutrients affect the absorption of nutrients eaten at the same meal. Therefore to lower this risk, it is recommended to avoid eating large quantities of foods containing anti-nutrients at one meal, and to eat a balanced diet throughout the day with a variety of foods. [3] For example, instead of eating two cups of bran cereal with milk for breakfast, choose one cup of cereal with milk and one cup of fresh berries.

People who are at high risk for diseases related to mineral deficiencies, such as osteoporosis with calcium deficiency or anemia with iron deficiency, may wish to monitor their food choices for anti-nutrient content. Another strategy could be altering the timing of eating foods with anti-nutrients. Examples are to drink tea between meals instead of with a meal to reduce the chances of iron being poorly absorbed, or taking a calcium supplement a few hours after eating a high-fiber wheat bran cereal that contains phytates.“

Are Anti-Nutrients Harmful?

The takeaway: The pros and cons of anti-nutrients on long-term human health is an area of active research. Though certain foods may contain residual amounts of anti-nutrients after processing and c…

www.hsph.harvard.edu

 

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“I have a confession to make- it all started with an unwelcome box of mini wheats my fiancé bought last Monday. One unfortunate evening, when I was too lazy to overcome the convenient allure of cereal, I told myself, "well, at least they're frosted."

Within an hour of eating the bowl of mini wheats, intense cravings for more. I experienced the opiate effect I've heard about. Then, days of sudden acute depression. Mind you I couldn't stop eating the damn things that whole time. No exaggeration here, I spent 2 days at home from work in a daze, wanting to do nothing except sleep all day and eat mini wheats. I've had severe depression before and this was like being dropped right back into the midst of it.

Somehow I dragged myself to the supermarket and while walking down one of the aisles I experienced an intense craving for condensed milk. I went with my gut and bought a can, got home, opened up the can and dug right in. Half a can later I felt myself coming back to life, depression and lethargy fading. Hours later, I was my normal self.”

Mini-Wheat Devil & Condensed Milk Glory

I have a confession to make- it all started with an unwelcome box of mini wheats my fiancé bought last Monday. One unfortunate evening, when I was too lazy to overcome the convenient allure of cereal, I told myself, "well, at least they're frosted." Within an hour of eating the bowl of mini...

raypeatforum.com

 

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“Stress and anxiety sharply reduce the circulation of blood to the intestine and liver. Prolonged stress damages the ability of the in-testinal cells to exclude large molecules. Local irritation and inflammation of the intestine also increase its permeability and decrease its ability to exclude harmful materials. But even the normal intestine is able to permit the passage of large molecules and particles, in many cases particles larger than the cells that line the intestine; this persorption of particles has been demonstrated using particles of plastic, starch grains which are sometimes several times larger than blood cells, and many other materials, including carrageenan.” -Ray Peat

 

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“Volkheimer found that mice fed raw starch aged at an abnormally fast rate, and when he dissected the starch-fed mice, he found a multitude of starch-grain-blocked arterioles in every organ, each of which caused the death of the cells that depended on the blood supplied by that arteriole. It isn’t hard to see how this would affect the functions of organs such as the brain and heart, even without considering the immunological and other implications of the presence of foreign particles randomly distributed through the tissue.“ -Ray Peat

 

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“Once the protective barrier-functions of the intestine and liver have been damaged, allergens and many materials with specific biological effects can enter the tissues. The polysaccharide components of connective tissue constitute a major part of our regulatory system for maintaining differentiated cell functioning, and absorbed starches act as “false signals,” with a great capacity for deranging cellular functioning. Several types of research indicate that carrageenan changes cellular function in complex ways, imitating changes seen in cancer, for example.” -Ray Peat

 

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“I readily admit my interest in raising koi led me to look into this. It comes as no coincidence to me that the premium koi food use potato starch, while the regular koi food use wheat. While the price of premium koi food is prohibitive and I haven't used them, the makers of such koi food claim that with the use of potato starch, there is less waste produced over feed made with wheat as binders. Knowing that potato has none of the anti-nutrient properties of wheat, I think the claim is legitimate.”

Roots And Tubers

The topic of starch has become more interesting for me lately. It starts with Ray Peat advocating potato over rice and wheat, to name a few seed-based starches. Potato is a root crop, and it doesn't suffer the stigma of being called a seed. A seed would contain anti-nutrients, is the plant's way...

raypeatforum.com

 

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“Industrially processed grains have most of the nutrients, such as vitamin E, the B vitamins, manganese, magnesium, etc., removed to improve the products' shelf life and efficiency of processing, and the government required that certain nutrients be added to them as a measure to protect the public's health, but the supplementation did not reflect the best science even when it was first made law, since food industry lobbyists managed to impose compromises that led to the use of the cheapest chemicals, rather than those that offered the greatest health benefits. For example, studies of processed animal food had demonstrated that the addition of iron (as the highly reactive form, ferrous sulfate, which happens to be cheap and easy to handle) created disease in animals, by destroying vitamins in the food. You should read the label of ingredients and avoid products that contain added iron, when possible.” -Ray Peat

 

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“This study found that a diet rich in bread and pastries, desserts and eating out independently predicted hypogonadism. Those who ate the most of these foods had lower testosterone than those who ate the least of it. So it has a dose-dependent inhibitory effect (R).”

https://men-elite.com/2023/03/02/bread-lowers-testosterone-and-dht/

Bread on testosterone and DHT: best avoided?

https://men-elite.com/2023/03/02/bread-lowers-testosterone-and-dht/ Have you ever experienced bread-induced androgen resistance?

raypeatforum.com

 

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“R.J.V. Pulvertaft found "a close similarity between Burkitt cells and human lymphocytes stimulated by bean extract." He concluded that "…the possibility of a relation between Burkitt's lymphoma and a diet of beans should not be neglected," though he emphasized that other factors must be considered, since most people who eat beans don't develop the disease. The intestinal parasites which are common in tropical Africa can cause inflammation of the bowel, leading to the absorption of large amounts of antigens.

Since the bowel becomes inflamed in influenze, it is reasonable to think that some of the symptoms of "the flu" are produced by absorbed bowel toxins.” -Ray Peat

 

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View: https://youtu.be/Z1uPnYGJUDo

 

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“This study shows that maize-based diets cause high rates of maternal infanticides in the European hamster, a farmland species on the verge of extinction in Western Europe. Vitamin B3 supplementation is shown to effectively restore reproductive success in maize-fed females. This study pinpoints how nutritional deficiencies caused by maize monoculture could affect farmland animal reproduction and hence their fitness."

Hamsters with niacin/vitamin b3 deficiency cannibalize their young

https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2016.2168 "This study shows that maize-based diets cause high rates of maternal infanticides in the European hamster, a farmland species on the verge of extinction in Western Europe. Vitamin B3 supplementation is shown to effectively restore...

raypeatforum.com

 

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“Certain foods that are often considered "healthy", due to the misunderstandings around estrogen, are actually potent estrogenic foods that you would want to avoid. These foods are grains, legumes/beans, flax seeds, vegetable oils (polyunsaturated fats), raw cruciferous veggies, herbs like hops and cannabis (belong to the same family), and any alcohol. All of these foods have overlapping effects with estrogen and should be minimized or avoided altogether.”

The Best Ways to Decrease Harmful Estrogen

Estrogens are necessary hormones for normal physiological function and health. However, when even slightly elevated beyond normal ranges, their effects resemble that of a stress hormone. In fact, many toxic effects of estrogen were known by the early 1940s and more are continuing to be...

alitura.com