Another fallacy promulgated by a certain dietary camp.

High Carb diets are tasteless and monotonous. Steaks, cheeses & butters for the win.

From http://www.slideshare.net/jer04/taiwan-rice-challenge-17671208

If you think that High Carb diets comprise only potatoes, sweet potatoes or rice all day (which some populations actually eat without complaint), then you're mistaken.

Here's a High Carb diet (the food in the picture can sit on top of Basmati rice, if you like).

From http://gluten-free-zen.com/2011/02/13/asian-chicken-wings-vegetable-stir-fry/

Here's another High Carb diet.

From http://bit.ly/1W2fzqh

And another.

From http://www.recipeshubs.com/muesli/18025

And yet another.

From http://www.dreamstime.com/stock-photos-fresh-mixed-fruit-berries-image14688313

The above can be eaten with animal produce, which includes some steaks, cheeses & butters.

Anyone who claims that High Carb diets are tasteless and monotonous has zero imagination.

Dry carbohydrates, wet carbohydrates & energy density.

Karen N Davids thought of it first!

From http://www.amazon.co.uk/Carbs-Weight-Manage-Nutritional-Carbohydrates-ebook/dp/B00DJF2GKU

Here's a list of commonly-eaten carbohydrates and their Energy Density, in kcals/100g. From http://nutritiondata.self.com/

Dry Carbohydrates:-
Bread, White_________________________________________________266
Bread, Multi-grain___________________________________________265
Bread, Rye___________________________________________________258
Bread, Pumpernickel__________________________________________250
Bread, Whole-wheat___________________________________________247
Bread, reduced-calorie, white________________________________207
Bread, reduced-calorie, wheat________________________________198

Wet Carbohydrates:-
Pasta, fresh-refrigerated, plain, cooked_____________________131
Rice, white, long-grain, regular, cooked_____________________130
Rice, brown, long-grain, cooked______________________________111
Peas, green, frozen, cooked, boiled, drained, with salt_______78
Beans, kidney, red, mature seeds, cooked, boiled, with salt__127
Lentils, mature seeds, cooked, boiled, with salt_____________114
Vegetables, mixed, frozen, cooked, boiled, drained, with salt_60
Broccoli, frozen, spears, cooked, boiled, drained, with salt__28
Sweet potato, cooked, baked in skin, with salt________________92
Potatoes, boiled, cooked in skin, flesh, with salt____________87
Grapes, red or green (European type), raw_____________________69
Cherries, sweet, raw__________________________________________63
Pears, raw [Includes USDA commodity food A435]________________58
Apples, raw, with skin________________________________________52


If a diet is high in carbohydrates:-
Which of the above foods are most likely to result in weight gain?
Which of the above foods are most likely to result in weight loss?
Answers on a postcard, please!

The proteins are the problem: Safe proteins for people with compromised gut integrity.

First, Matt Lalonde Ph.D's video "The Science Behind the Paleolithic Diet."

The title of this post comes from Matt Lalonde. As mentioned in Keep 'em tight., about 10% of healthy blood donors have antibodies in their blood to something that shouldn't be in their blood - gliadin. How do gliadin fragments get into the blood? Compromised gut integrity (a.k.a. Leaky gut).

It's possible to repair compromised gut integrity, as mentioned in the above post. In the meantime, it's advisable to avoid "problem proteins" and eat only "safe proteins". Which proteins are the problem?

1) Prolamines: Prolamines are a group of plant storage proteins having a high proline content and found in the seeds of cereal grains: wheat (gliadin), barley (hordein), rye (secalin), corn (zein), sorghum (kafirin) and as a minor protein, avenin in oats.

2) Casein: Of the six major protein types in cow's milk, four are casein proteins and the other two are whey proteins. The caseins usually make up about 80% of the protein in cow's milk. Cheese is ~100% caseins. As Matt said, caseins are also high in proline. Whey is rapidly digested (which is why it's used by bodybuilders post-workout) so it's pretty safe.

3) Anything that makes you feel ill: As everyone is different, this could be anything (peanuts, eggs, shellfish, tomatoes etc). If "X" makes you feel ill, stop eating "X" until your gut is working 100% correctly. There's a possibility that your gut will never work 100% correctly. Which proteins are safe?

Rice, quinoa & amaranth contain generally safe proteins. Properly-cooked legumes (peas, beans & lentils) contain generally safe proteins. Seeds contain generally safe proteins, but most types are very high in omega-6 fats (except for chia & linseeds). Tubers, root veggies & buckwheat contain pretty safe proteins. Meats & fish contain pretty safe proteins.

Pigging-out on safe proteins, (resulting in significant amounts of incompletely-digested proteins reaching the lower intestine) is asking for trouble. Ditto for eating excessive amounts of fruit with or shortly after eating safe proteins, as this increases the speed of peristalsis, which increases the amount of incompletely-digested proteins reaching the lower intestine.

That's all for now. If anything else comes to mind (or if you come up with a bright idea), I'll add it.

Grains & soyabeans: more bad news.

Jamie Scott (THAT PALEO GUY) has been doing some digging and found more dirt on...

From http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Various_grains.jpg

See Wheat amylase trypsin inhibitors drive intestinal inflammation via activation of toll-like receptor 4.
"We identify the α-amylase/trypsin inhibitors (ATIs) CM3 and 0.19, pest resistance molecules in wheat, as strong activators of innate immune responses in monocytes, macrophages, and dendritic cells. ATIs engage the TLR4-MD2-CD14 complex and lead to up-regulation of maturation markers and elicit release of proinflammatory cytokines in cells from celiac and nonceliac patients and in celiac patients' biopsies. Mice deficient in TLR4 or TLR4 signaling are protected from intestinal and systemic immune responses upon oral challenge with ATIs. These findings define cereal ATIs as novel contributors to celiac disease. Moreover, ATIs may fuel inflammation and immune reactions in other intestinal and nonintestinal immune disorders."

See Impact of antinutritional factors in food proteins on the digestibility of protein and the bioavailability of amino acids and on protein quality.
"Examples of naturally occurring antinutritional factors include glucosinolates in mustard and canola protein products, trypsin inhibitors and haemagglutinins in legumes, tannins in legumes and cereals, gossypol in cottonseed protein products, and uricogenic nucleobases in yeast protein products."

"Among common food and feed protein products, soyabeans are the most concentrated source of trypsin inhibitors. The presence of high levels of dietary trypsin inhibitors from soyabeans, kidney beans or other grain legumes have been reported to cause substantial reductions in protein and amino acid digestibility (up to 50 %) and protein quality (up to 100 %) in rats and/or pigs."

"Normally encountered levels of phytates in cereals and legumes can reduce protein and amino acid digestibility by up to 10 %. D-amino acids and LAL formed during alkaline/heat treatment of lactalbumin, casein, soya protein or wheat protein are poorly digestible (less than 40 %), and their presence can reduce protein digestibility by up to 28 % in rats and pigs, and can cause a drastic reduction (100 %) in protein quality, as measured by rat growth methods. The adverse effects of antinutritional factors on protein digestibility and protein quality have been reported to be more pronounced in elderly rats (20-months old) compared to young (5-weeks old) rats, suggesting the use of old rats as a model for assessing the protein digestibility of products intended for the elderly."

I eat grains, also peas, beans & lentils, but not as a dietary staple. I make sure that they're thoroughly cooked at 100°C.