Tooty Juice

Yep, like a lot of people, I've added some potato starch into my diet to feed the little critters in my gut.  It works well for this purpose.  So well, in fact, that my niece and nephew have named it Tooty Juice.  And I must say, I'm having quite a bit of fun tooting up the house with the kids around.  It wouldn't be near as much of a hoot (pun intended) if I was still living alone.  Nothing better than to just walk into one of their rooms, toot, and then leave.  They love that *

This would be Tooty Juice

Tooting aside, I'm actually not a good subject to be reviewing resistant starch for some of it's purported benefits, like better postprandial and fasting blood glucose levels, weight loss, appetite control, better sleep, etc.  The implications of these are potentially huge for some people, but I don't measure my blood glucose, my weight is spot on, I sleep great, and I don't have any stress (life is good!).  I'm merely convinced by the apparent evidence that resistant starch is a good source of food for our gut bacteria and that this bacteria plays an integral role in our overall health. 

I'm way into soluble fiber as well, and have been for awhile.  I usually have onions, beets, carrots, and garlic with my evening meal.  I also want to rotate in leeks and sunchokes soon.  I've been using a little okra for the mucilage content and have seen some big fat cactus leaves in grocery stores that I might get for that as well ( how to cook it?)  Apples have reappeared in my diet for the pectin (carrots have a bunch of pectin too).  All of this in order to keep my gut bacteria healthy and happy.

I'm still not sure if it's a good idea to eat a wide variety of soluble fibers in a short period of time though.  I've read gut bacteria adapt quickly enough that this wouldn't present a problem, but I've also read the flip side, that if you switch it up too often only 'generalist' bacteria thrive and it might be better to eat a few foods for a longish period of time in order to let bacteria that really specialize in feasting on those particular items flourish.  

Interestingly, resistant starch is actually an insoluble fiber.  One that happens to be able to feed the bacteria in your gut.  As you know, I'm not a big fan of stuffing my face with insoluble fiber (looking at you leafy greens).  It's all good in the hood though.  I'm just tinkering away here with stuff I learn.  What you learn and tinker with will be different, but you already knew that.   

Here are some good blogs worth checking out for information on gut bacteria, soluble fiber, resistant starch, and all that jazz.

Mr. Heisenbug
Free The Animal/resistant-starch 
Cooling Inflammation 


PS  It's interesting watching information begin to see the light of day now that we have the internet machine.  One word you'll see popping up is SBO's (soil based organisms).  I recall learning about these from the company Garden of Life at least 13 or 14 years ago (they called them homeostatic soil organisms), and thinking how much sense it made.  Likewise, I tossed a very old bottle of powdered Inulin before my move that I had originally intended to feed my gut bacteria with years ago (I stopped quickly after much discomfort).


*I'm in my nephews room with him when I let a good one rip, after which I say, oh man, that was a horse fart!  Laughing, we quickly evacuate the room.  About a half hour later I'm somewhere else in the house with my niece and sister-in-law when my nephew comes in the room and exclaims: Mom, my room smells like horses!  She is obviously puzzled by this, but I can offer no clarity as I'm in tears on the floor laughing.