Many thanks to Richard Nikoley, Tim “Tatertot” Steele and Grace Liu for not only giving comprehensive answers to my many questions about resistant starch, but for taking the time to answer questions in the comments section as well. I appreciate your dedication, gang.
Speaking of the gang, Richard was the guest host for the latest episode of Jimmy Moore’s Livin’ La Vida Low-Carb show. Tim and Grace were his primary guests. I came on at the end. The topic, of course, was resistant starch.
I started the three-part interview series by saying my next few posts should be filed under Stuff I Got Wrong or Stuff I Wish I Hadn’t Ignored. Resistant starch was one. Okay, got that one covered for now. The other was “safe starch” as prescribed in Paul Jaminet’s Perfect Health Diet.
I’ve already explained why I dismissed resistant starch when the topic first hit the media: the people pushing it were the makers of an industrial corn product that’s used to add a little resistant starch to muffins and other baked goods that are still frankenfood garbage. They’re still promoting resistant starch that way.
I mostly ignored the “safe starch” issue when it created a buzz in 2011 because I’d given up starchy foods and felt fine. In fact, I didn’t even watch the Ancestral Health Symposium debate on safe starch until last week. I say mostly ignored because the one time I commented on it was when Jimmy Moore wrote a blog post and asked for a comment. I hadn’t read the Perfect Health Diet book, but knew Jaminet recommended a diet that included “safe starches” such as white rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams and plantains to avoid a glucose deficiency. So I made a wisecrack about how my Irish ancestors died off from a glucose deficiency because they didn’t have access to white rice, potatoes, sweet potatoes, yams and plantains – none of which are native to Ireland. (Potatoes didn’t come to Ireland until they were brought from the New World.) Then I went back to ignoring the topic.
I did, however, start adding sweet potatoes and squashes back into my diet here and there after I read more on paleo and ancestral diets and realized that tubers and other starchy plants have been part of the human diet for a long, long time. Unlike wheat and other cereal grains, roots and tubers are not Neolithic foods that require farming and processing. They’re ancient foods that can be (and were) gathered by hunter-gatherer societies. In the book Catching Fire: How Cooking Made Us Human, the author cites research showing that humans began cooking meats and tubers hundreds of thousands of years ago. It was these calorically-dense foods, easily digested after cooking, that allowed our big brains to develop.
So when we talk about Paleo Man with his tall stature and good bones and teeth, we’re talking about a man who gathered and ate some roots, tubers and other starchy plants to go along with his meat and fish. My Irish ancestors didn’t eat rice or yams or plantains, but that’s not the point (or so I realize now). Because the truth is, none of us eats exactly what our paleo ancestors ate. We can’t. They hunted animals that have gone extinct. They gathered plants that have mutated or gone extinct. When we shift towards what we now call a paleo diet, the best we can do is try to eat foods that provide the nutrients they consumed, not the same plants and animals that provided them with those nutrients. My Irish ancestors didn’t eat yams, but they likely discovered species of edible roots and tubers while digging up the Guinness bushes to make themselves a yummy drink.
With all that in mind, I added small servings of sweet potatoes and squashes back into my diet, but considered them an acceptable real-food treat, not a necessary part of a healthy diet. I figured I could just easily live without any starchy foods, and perhaps I can … but perhaps some people can’t, and perhaps I’m better off with those foods than without them.
As you know if you saw my most recent speech, I’m a fan of the Wisdom of Crowds effect: when people communicate what they know with each other, the answers bubble up. In the cyberspace crowd of health-oriented blogs and Facebook groups, I noticed more and more people saying they developed problems on a strict very-low-carb diet – low thyroid function, cold hands and feet, high fasting glucose, dry eyes, etc. – which went away when they added some “safe starches” back into their diets as prescribed in the Perfect Health Diet. In the same post about safe starches where I made the wisecrack about my Irish ancestors, in fact, Chris Kresser made this observation:
I see a fair number of patients in my practice struggling with symptoms like hair loss, cold hands and feet, plateaued weight loss, low energy and mood imbalances after following a VLC diet for several months. In many cases they adopted this approach to lose weight, which was successful – at least to a certain point. However, others were not overweight to begin with and simply chose to eat VLC because they got the impression that “carbs are bad”, even for people without metabolic problems. I believe many of these issues are related to the decrease in thyroid hormone levels seen on VLC diets.
In cases where there is no significant metabolic damage, when I have these folks increase their carbohydrate intake (with starch like tubers and white rice, and fruit) to closer to 150g a day, they almost always feel better. Their hair loss stops, their body temperature increases and their mood and energy improves.
So I figured there had to be something to it. Kresser is a brilliant guy and treats a lot of patients. That’s real-world experience talking. But he followed with this:
For people that are overweight and are insulin/leptin resistant, it’s a bit trickier. In some cases increasing carbohydrate intake moderately, to approximately 100g per day, actually re-starts the weight loss again. In other cases, any increase in carbohydrate intake – in any form – will cause weight gain and other unpleasant symptoms. A different approach is required for these patients.
As always, there’s no simple answer and no one-size-fits-all approach. If I could leave your readers with one point, that would be it.
I agree completely. We’re all different. Some people may need starchy carbs in their diets, other people probably don’t. Until recently, I put myself in the second camp. I was doing fine without making safe starches a part of my daily diet. I never developed any of the health problems people were saying they cured with safe starches. Cold hands and feet? Nope. Dry eyes? Nope. Depressed thyroid? Not according to the battery of lab tests I had when I turned 55. So I figured if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, and continued pretty much ignoring the safe-starch issue.
It was revisiting resistant starch that finally prompted me to revisit safe starches and read Paul Jaminet’s book. Why? Well, it’s all about gut health and the microbiome. After Richard Nikoley beat me and thousands of other people over the head with a hundred or so posts on resistant starch, I decided to give it try. Within two days, it solved the one issue I had not just with a low-carb diet, but with every diet I’ve ever tried: slow digestion. As I’ve mentioned in several posts, the worst digestion I ever had was back in my grain-eating vegetarian days. I always had a bottle of Pepto-Bismal in my medicine cabinet and packed the chewable version when I traveled. Going low-carb cured that. No more stomach aches, no more irritable bowel, no more gastric reflux – probably because going low-carb meant giving up wheat and other gluten-containing grains.
But the slow digestion stuck around, so I either ate good-sized servings of almonds or swallowed psyllium-husk pills before bed. That usually did the trick. But after starting a protocol of resistant starch and probiotics, my digestion has been excellent – better than it’s ever been. I’m also sleeping more deeply than I have in decades, which is quite a welcome development, since I’ve been prone to occasional bouts of insomnia for most of my life. I feel clear-headed and alert soon after waking. Normally it takes two big cups of coffee before I feel truly awake.
That’s when I decided my if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it confidence was misplaced. Something was broken, or at least far from optimal. My version of a near-paleo diet was controlling my blood sugar and keeping my weight down, but it wasn’t properly feeding my gut bacteria.
In an email exchange with Richard Nikoley, he told me he first learned about the benefits of resistant starch from Tim Steele. In an email exchange with Tim Steele, he told me he first learned about the benefits of resistant starch from … wait for it … Paul Jaminet. Okay, I thought to myself, it’s about time I read this guy’s book.
And so, with apologies to Jaminet for the longest preamble ever to a book review (and for that wisecrack about my Irish ancestors), I’ll explain why I believe it’s one of the best books on nutrition I’ve ever read.
In case you’re not familiar with his story, Paul Jaminet lived on a standard American diet for decades and paid for it with ill health. His health improved on a very-low-carb paleo diet for awhile, but then he developed other problems – scurvy, to name one example. So his low-carb paleo diet was better, but obviously still not good enough. It was the desire to find a perfect diet that inspired all the research that eventually went into the first edition of the Perfect Health Diet book and the Perfect Health Diet website.
Among other careers, Paul Jaminet was once an astrophysicist at the Harvard Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. His wife and co-author, Shou-Ching Jaminet, is a molecular biologist and cancer researcher at the Harvard Medical School. So let’s just say they’re on the smart side of the bell curve and not afraid to delve into the heavy-duty science stuff. Fortunately for the book’s readers, they explain it clearly. In fact, I would describe their writing style as relentlessly logical – and I mean that as a compliment.
The relentless logic that underlies the Perfect Health Diet goes like this: ill health is the result of pathogens, nutrient deficiencies and toxins. So other than avoiding pathogens, the key to robust health is a diet that excludes toxins as much as possible while providing the optimal intake of all necessary nutrients. Optimal intake means enough to derive the biological benefits, but not enough to become toxic – because almost anything can become toxic to humans at some level. Not too little, not too much.
Among many other nutrients, the Jaminets make a case that there’s an optimal intake of glucose – otherwise known as starch. (Fruits provide most of their calories as fructose, and sugar is roughly half fructose and half glucose.) As the book explains:
For glucose, as for all other nutrients, our strategy is to find the peak health range – the intakes at which benefits have ended and there is still no toxicity.
That peak health range is the amount of glucose our bodies require on a daily basis — somewhere in the range of 100 to 150 grams. It’s this chapter of the book that started all the hubbub over “safe starches.” Yes, your body will convert protein into glucose – even if it has to raid the protein stored in your muscles to do so – but the Jaminets argue that forcing your body to meet its daily glucose requirement through gluconeogenesis can eventually cause the health problems Chris Kresser described seeing in some of his patients: slow thyroid, dry eyes, cold hands and feet, low energy, weight-loss stalls, etc.
I don’t believe everyone on a very-low-carb diet will develop those problems, of course. I didn’t. But as I mentioned above, I’ve been including occasional servings of sweet potatoes and squashes in my diet for awhile now, plus I usually consume a high-carb Mexican meal on Saturday night. Perhaps that made the difference. Or it could just be that some of us are more efficient at producing glucose from protein than others and therefore avoid the glucose-deficiency problems the Jaminets describe.
The point is, just because a low-carb diet is beneficial for many people, it doesn’t mean a no-carb diet is even better. If the optimal intake for most people is somewhere in the 100 to 150 gram range, which the Jaminets believe it is, then we need to obtain those carbohydrates from foods that also provide nutrients without tossing toxins into the mix. That’s the logic behind what they call safe starches: potatoes, sweet potatoes, taro, tapioca, white rice, plantains, yams and sago. Those are low-toxin Paleolithic foods (with the possible exception of rice) that provide nutrients such as potassium, copper, vitamin A, resistant starch and fiber.
The Jaminets mention resistant starch specifically several times in the book. Here’s an example from a section about the benefits of producing butyrate in the colon:
Although the fiber in cereal bran is harmful, two kinds of fiber seem to be highly beneficial: resistant starch and pectin. These also happen to be the types that generate the most butyrate.
“Resistant starch” is starch that is indigestible to human digestive enzymes. Potatoes naturally come with high levels of resistant starch. But all starchy foods can form resistant starch after cooking and cooling. Cooking gelatinizes starch into a form that is readily digested by human amylase, but if it is allowed to cool, some of this gelatinized starch re-forms into resistant starch.
In a later chapter on meal planning, the Jaminets mention that they regularly cook several potatoes ahead of time and then store them in the refrigerator (a habit Chareva recently adopted as well). That means a good chunk of their safe starch is also resistant starch, the kind that keeps our gut bugs fat and happy.
The Perfect Health Diet is not an invitation to go carb-crazy – not by a long shot. The book specifically says starches should only be eaten as part of meal that includes plenty of fat to avoid glucose spikes. Despite being dismissed or ignored by much of the low-carb world (including yours truly) because of the safe-starch issue, the Jaminets are essentially advocating a lowish-carb paleo diet. It’s just not very-low-carb. If you followed their advice and were at the lower end of the recommended starch intake, your diet would be roughly 20% carbohydrate, 15% protein and 65% fat. Is that high-fat enough for you?
My Fat Head fast-food diet was 22% carbohydrate, by the way, with a lower proportion of fat (55%) than the Jaminets recommend. Funny how I became known as a “fat head” low-carb advocate while the Jaminets didn’t, at least not in low-carb circles. Of course, my 100 grams or so of starch were coming from hamburger buns and potatoes fried in vegetable oils, both of which the Jaminets advise against. I guess we could call my experiment The Very Imperfect Health Diet.
So far I’ve been focusing on the safe-starch aspect of the Perfect Health Diet, since that’s the section that caused all the debate in the paleo and low-carb diet worlds. But there’s way more to it than that. The new paperback edition runs just over 400 pages and offers advice on the optimal levels and best sources for all three macronutrients and plenty of micronutrients. The first chapter is titled Why We Start with an Evolutionary Perspective, so not surprisingly, almost everything in the book will have paleo enthusiasts nodding their heads in agreement. (Mark Sisson wrote the forward for this edition.)
The chapter on grains is titled The Most Toxic Food: Cereal Grains. (It’s like a Reader’s Digest version of Wheat Belly. They could have titled it Wheat Is Murder.) The chapter on vegetable oils is titled Liquid Devils: Vegetable Seed Oils. Sugar takes a beating in a chapter titled The Sweet Toxin: Fructose. (Dr. Robert Lustig would approve.)
There’s a ton of good information in the book, but since this will already be a long post, I’ll just give you a taste with some random quotes in no particular order:
Don’t be afraid to eat fat! Hunter-gatherers flourished on a fat-rich diet.
Too often, experts dole out advice based on unproven hypotheses without ever looking at the scientific evidence from evolutionary selection. In fact, evolution selected for a certain salt intake. Anti-salt advice was not supported by reliable studies.
One often hears that glucose is the body’s primary fuel. That is quite mistaken. It’s true that all human cells can, if need be, metabolize glucose. But mitochondria, the energy producers in most human cells, prefer to burn fat. So in the body, fat is the preferred and primary fuel, except in specialist cells that lack mitochondria or ready access to fat.
Saturated and monounsaturated fats are the safest calorie source – indeed the only calorie source that is nontoxic even in very high doses – and should provide the bulk of calories. Fish, shellfish, beef, lamb, and dairy fats such as butter and cream are the best animal sources; coconut milk and coconut oil are great plant sources.
Saturated fat improves lipid profiles in two ways: it increases levels of protective HDL cholesterol, and it makes LDL particles larger and more buoyant, protecting them from glycation and oxidation.
Choline is abundant in liver and egg yolks — foods American eat less than ever before, thanks in part to the demonization of cholesterol… Get choline by eating three eggs yolks a day and liver once a week.
As our Paleolithic ancestors who dominated the globe were characterized by tall stature and healthy teeth and bones and their health deteriorated as soon as their diet was altered, we think it’s safe to say that such a low-carb, high-plant, starch-meat-and-fat-based diet is a healthful human diet.
When the obese try to eat less on a malnourishing diet, they sooner or later become hungry and weight loss stalls or reverses.
The long-term effects of eating less without improving the character of the diet are shockingly bad… efforts to eat less often lead to weighing more.
In their own version of what I’ve termed Character vs. Chemistry in several posts, the Jaminets explain that hunger is the body’s way of saying I need nutrients! If your diet is deficient in a necessary nutrient, you’re going to be hungry, and eventually you’re going to give in and eat more. Nutrient deficiencies, in fact, may explain why people adopt a particular diet, feel great for awhile, then feel not-so-great, adopt a different diet, feel great for awhile, then feel not-so-great, lather, rinse, repeat. To quote from the book:
Sometimes people alternate among extreme diets. They do a low-fat diet, and it works great until a fat-associated nutrient becomes scare and hunger returns. Weight starts to rebound due to hunger for the fat-associated nutrient. Disturbed by the weight gain, they shift to the opposite diet – low-carb, high-protein, high-fat. Now weight loss resumes until they become deficient in some plant-associated nutrient that, on their low-carb diet, they no longer obtain. Then weight loss stops, hunger increases, and the weight comes back.
The key to long-term weight loss, then, is a diet that provides all the necessary nutrients without an overabundance of food. When you give your body what it needs, it stops ramping up your appetite in hopes that you’ll keep eating and eventually stumble across some actual nutrients.
Darned if that doesn’t make perfect sense. That’s what I kept thinking to myself as I read the book: Man, this is all so logical. It just makes sense.
Like I said, the Jaminets are relentlessly logical. Their own health problems inspired them to undertake a seven-year, relentlessly logical review of the science and design a diet based on unprocessed whole foods, high in fat and low in carbohydrates … but not low enough to create a deficiency that could cause other problems, and with the carbohydrates coming from real foods that provide real nutrients, such as resistant starch to feed our gut bacteria.
Is the Perfect Health Diet truly the perfect diet? I don’t know, but I was persuaded to move my own diet more in that direction. I’ll describe what that looks like in a future post.
Meanwhile, I asked Paul Jaminet if he’d be up for a Q & A with the Fat Head audience, and he graciously agreed. Ask your questions in the comments section for this post. Put the phrase “Question for Paul Jaminet” at the beginning of the comment so I know it’s a question for him, not for me. I won’t reply to those comments. I’ll pick a dozen or so questions and forward them to Paul, then post his answers.
Perhaps you’ll be persuaded to eat a potato smothered in grass-fed butter.
If you enjoy my posts, please consider a small donation to the Fat Head Kids GoFundMe campaign.
Question for Paul Jaminet:
You have milk as a not to be consumed. But, what about raw milk? I have been drinking raw goat milk for about a year. And then there is the Milk Cure from the early 20th century. Your thoughts?
Tom, I know that you don’t like soy products and I agree, but I am curious about your thoughts on soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce. The soy beans are fermented and you usually use very small amounts.
My thoughts exactly. The dose makes the poison, and we’re talking about small amounts used sparingly.
I know people that are using Bragg’s Liquid Amino Acids as a substitute.
The last time I looked, Bragg’s Aminos contained soy (but, I think, not wheat). Many soy sauces contain wheat. A non-soy alternative is Coconut Aminos, made from “aged coconut sap” and salt.
Nothing wrong with soy sauce. It is fermented soy and the Asians have used it for ages. The reason people are using Bragg’s is because there is no wheat in it.
Coconut aminos is a good soy substitute. I was going to use coconut aminos in a recipe (Korean short ribs), but I would have had to drive all the way across town to Whole Foods and pay $4/8oz. Since I never eat soy products and I don’t have any allergies or other sensitivities I determined using regular soy sauce won’t make a difference and walked to the dollar store to pick some up.
Chuck, I am not sure if you have read/heard Sally Fallon’s thoughts on the subject, but she made the exact same points on the subject that you did on one of her LLVLC show appearances. She also supplemented those points by mentioning that the Asian diet is very supportive of thyroid function (with all the organ meats, seaweed, vegetables, and so on), which even further marginalizes the minimal toxicity from the small amounts of soy in the sauce.
Question for Paul Jaminet.
Do you recommend PHD for diabetics and prediabetics? If VLC eliminates fasting glucose issues and leads to better glocose levels overall, do you see a problem?
Also, is it possible that the self-reported mood issues reported here are a manifestation of mild carb addiction?
This is a sincere question. I am also going to get a copy of your book to learn more about PHD.
Thanks
Question for Paul Jaminet:
Where can I see a very recent photo of you and your wife? (I see the author/advocate’s physical appearance as a data point–not “the only” data point, or a critically important data point, but a point all the same–when considering a proposed approach to nutrition.)
Tom, I know that you don’t like soy products and I agree, but I am curious about your thoughts on soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce. The soy beans are fermented and you usually use very small amounts.
My thoughts exactly. The dose makes the poison, and we’re talking about small amounts used sparingly.
I know people that are using Bragg’s Liquid Amino Acids as a substitute.
The last time I looked, Bragg’s Aminos contained soy (but, I think, not wheat). Many soy sauces contain wheat. A non-soy alternative is Coconut Aminos, made from “aged coconut sap” and salt.
Nothing wrong with soy sauce. It is fermented soy and the Asians have used it for ages. The reason people are using Bragg’s is because there is no wheat in it.
Traditional Tamari soy sauce is also wheat free. It’s even available in many supermarkets now.
Coconut aminos is a good soy substitute. I was going to use coconut aminos in a recipe (Korean short ribs), but I would have had to drive all the way across town to Whole Foods and pay $4/8oz. Since I never eat soy products and I don’t have any allergies or other sensitivities I determined using regular soy sauce won’t make a difference and walked to the dollar store to pick some up.
Chuck, I am not sure if you have read/heard Sally Fallon’s thoughts on the subject, but she made the exact same points on the subject that you did on one of her LLVLC show appearances. She also supplemented those points by mentioning that the Asian diet is very supportive of thyroid function (with all the organ meats, seaweed, vegetables, and so on), which even further marginalizes the minimal toxicity from the small amounts of soy in the sauce.
Question for Paul Jaminet:
I want to know recommendations of how to use “safe starch” for weight loss.
Question for Paul Jaminet:
One of my Resting Metabolic Rate test results showed that my fat burning/glucose burning ratio is .98, meaning I burn .98 glucose. I do not burn much fat (a better score would be .85, for example). Does this mean my dietary fat percentage should be lower than Paul’s recommendations for weight loss because my body is a slow fat burner? What can I do to increase my fat burning rate?
Question for Paul Jaminet:
I want to know recommendations of how to use “safe starch” for weight loss.
Thanks for posting this Tom! The resistant starch issue has puzzled me for a long time.
Question for Paul Jaminet:
One of my Resting Metabolic Rate test results showed that my fat burning/glucose burning ratio is .98, meaning I burn .98 glucose. I do not burn much fat (a better score would be .85, for example). Does this mean my dietary fat percentage should be lower than Paul’s recommendations for weight loss because my body is a slow fat burner? What can I do to increase my fat burning rate?
I crossed this bridge months ago..reintroducing so called safe starches that is…Just naturally occurred as my body felt like it was missing something.
A very low carb diet did initially put me on the right track in regards to healthy eating and losing weight. But as many months rolled by, I did start having some issues mainly with inability to fall asleep. That, combined with moderately intense weight training, is when I started doing carb cycling twice a week. On carb days I would eat as many safe starches as I wanted, sometimes up to 600 grams in one day. It helped and I did not notice any negative effects (in my case).
Nowadays I just casually rotate eating carbs from safe starches, fruits, and vegetables as needed/wanted..the body is usually good at letting you know how much of and when to have them ..assuming it’s not suffering from imbalances due to poor eating habits.
That’s along the lines of what I’m doing. I’m not counting to make sure I get at least 100 grams of safe starch every day. It’s more a matter of adding a potato to dinner, maybe one for lunch. I’m likely under the 100 grams, but higher than before.
Thanks for posting this Tom! The resistant starch issue has puzzled me for a long time.
I crossed this bridge months ago..reintroducing so called safe starches that is…Just naturally occurred as my body felt like it was missing something.
A very low carb diet did initially put me on the right track in regards to healthy eating and losing weight. But as many months rolled by, I did start having some issues mainly with inability to fall asleep. That, combined with moderately intense weight training, is when I started doing carb cycling twice a week. On carb days I would eat as many safe starches as I wanted, sometimes up to 600 grams in one day. It helped and I did not notice any negative effects (in my case).
Nowadays I just casually rotate eating carbs from safe starches, fruits, and vegetables as needed/wanted..the body is usually good at letting you know how much of and when to have them ..assuming it’s not suffering from imbalances due to poor eating habits.
That’s along the lines of what I’m doing. I’m not counting to make sure I get at least 100 grams of safe starch every day. It’s more a matter of adding a potato to dinner, maybe one for lunch. I’m likely under the 100 grams, but higher than before.
My deepest question at the moment: Is it ok to re-heat a cold potato? Is there a chemical change once again to non resistant starch, also known as glucose? I have read varying thoughts and opinions , but I seek the straight dope.
You can reheat a cold potato, yes. From what Richard and Tim tell me, reheating actually creates a bit more RS.
My deepest question at the moment: Is it ok to re-heat a cold potato? Is there a chemical change once again to non resistant starch, also known as glucose? I have read varying thoughts and opinions , but I seek the straight dope.
You can reheat a cold potato, yes. From what Richard and Tim tell me, reheating actually creates a bit more RS.
Question for Paul:
What’s your opinion on a cyclic-ketogenic diet, with a carb refeed once a week only? Also, does it matter when one eats carbs during a day (e.g. morning vs. evening) and how it is combined with protein and fats?
Martin,
It would help to know what your intent for following the diet is. The pros and cons of ketogenic varietals come into play when you are looking for pure weight loss, weight loss with a significant dose of weight training, or are simply looking to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
The CKD is best (in my opinion – others may argue) for sustained weight loss, if you have trouble staying fulling in keto due to social pressure. The CKD allows you an outlet once a week (say, every Friday night) to go out with friends or family and eat off a “normal” menu without fearing carbs.
The TKD – Targeted Ketogenic Diet – is ideal (again, my opinion – backed up by a lot of science) for those who employ weight training programs. Eating 30-35g carbs directly before or after a workout replenishes muscle glycogen and thus allows you to perform at full power.
IMHO, this is better than a CKD – if you can withstand the social pressure to break ketosis. The low doses of carbs, timed around workouts, take you out of ketosis for only a few hours, if at all. This means you don’t “waste” 48 hours+ getting back into keto after a carbup.
Hope that helps!
Question for Paul:
What’s your opinion on a cyclic-ketogenic diet, with a carb refeed once a week only? Also, does it matter when one eats carbs during a day (e.g. morning vs. evening) and how it is combined with protein and fats?
Martin,
It would help to know what your intent for following the diet is. The pros and cons of ketogenic varietals come into play when you are looking for pure weight loss, weight loss with a significant dose of weight training, or are simply looking to maintain a healthy lifestyle.
The CKD is best (in my opinion – others may argue) for sustained weight loss, if you have trouble staying fulling in keto due to social pressure. The CKD allows you an outlet once a week (say, every Friday night) to go out with friends or family and eat off a “normal” menu without fearing carbs.
The TKD – Targeted Ketogenic Diet – is ideal (again, my opinion – backed up by a lot of science) for those who employ weight training programs. Eating 30-35g carbs directly before or after a workout replenishes muscle glycogen and thus allows you to perform at full power.
IMHO, this is better than a CKD – if you can withstand the social pressure to break ketosis. The low doses of carbs, timed around workouts, take you out of ketosis for only a few hours, if at all. This means you don’t “waste” 48 hours+ getting back into keto after a carbup.
Hope that helps!
Question for Paul Jaminet.
I own your book, but the whole idea of organ meats, bone broth and fish nauseates me. Also, I’ve heard people with AI problems are sometimes fixed by removing nightshades from their diet. In any case, I have an AI problem and am on prednisone all the time, which shoves my blood sugar way up. I’ve felt a LITTLE better on less nightshades, so I want to keep doing that, but I want to eat closer to the Perfect Health diet without gaining too much weight because of the increased blood sugar from the prednisone. What areas do you think I should concentrate on to get closer to perfect health? I’m already avoiding sugars, wheat and crap-oils.
I’m in a similar boat – I have type 2 diabetes and I cannot stand the idea of eating either organ meat or any fish (apart from canned tuna, which I know isn’t that great for you). I’m also allergic to soy, wheat, spelt, barley and any other gluten-containing grain, so I don’t eat those either. I follow a modified Paleo diet and I avoid beans and legumes as well as most fruit (because of the sugar). I rarely eat any starches because I’m scared of what it will do to my blood sugar levels, so I admit I’m skeptical of this idea of “safe” starches. A typical breakfast for me is three or four eggs, a few strips of bacon, a handful of shredded cheese, and some fried onions and mushrooms.
So I’d also like to know how to deal with blood sugar issues if you’re having “safe” starches. I’ve been VLC for over five years at this point and it seems to be the only thing that keeps my blood sugar anywhere near normal.
Perhaps you could eat plantains as your resistant starch (remember to cook and cool them first.) They are not a nightshade. You should avoid rice, tapioca and nightshades while on an AI diet. There’s a book out called The Auto-immune Protocol that would be very helpful to you.
Question for Paul Jaminet.
I own your book, but the whole idea of organ meats, bone broth and fish nauseates me. Also, I’ve heard people with AI problems are sometimes fixed by removing nightshades from their diet. In any case, I have an AI problem and am on prednisone all the time, which shoves my blood sugar way up. I’ve felt a LITTLE better on less nightshades, so I want to keep doing that, but I want to eat closer to the Perfect Health diet without gaining too much weight because of the increased blood sugar from the prednisone. What areas do you think I should concentrate on to get closer to perfect health? I’m already avoiding sugars, wheat and crap-oils.
I’m in a similar boat – I have type 2 diabetes and I cannot stand the idea of eating either organ meat or any fish (apart from canned tuna, which I know isn’t that great for you). I’m also allergic to soy, wheat, spelt, barley and any other gluten-containing grain, so I don’t eat those either. I follow a modified Paleo diet and I avoid beans and legumes as well as most fruit (because of the sugar). I rarely eat any starches because I’m scared of what it will do to my blood sugar levels, so I admit I’m skeptical of this idea of “safe” starches. A typical breakfast for me is three or four eggs, a few strips of bacon, a handful of shredded cheese, and some fried onions and mushrooms.
So I’d also like to know how to deal with blood sugar issues if you’re having “safe” starches. I’ve been VLC for over five years at this point and it seems to be the only thing that keeps my blood sugar anywhere near normal.
Perhaps you could eat plantains as your resistant starch (remember to cook and cool them first.) They are not a nightshade. You should avoid rice, tapioca and nightshades while on an AI diet. There’s a book out called The Auto-immune Protocol that would be very helpful to you.
Question for Paul:
Based on the information recently presented, I have added potato starch and cooled white rice to my diet. I have added probiotics as well….but nothing is moving except air. What can be done to help everything else move as well…..? Tom, if you have any ideas, and want to jump in, it would be appreciated!
Question for Paul:
Based on the information recently presented, I have added potato starch and cooled white rice to my diet. I have added probiotics as well….but nothing is moving except air. What can be done to help everything else move as well…..? Tom, if you have any ideas, and want to jump in, it would be appreciated!
Great post Tom,
I agree one size does not fit all and while certain things agree with all of us we are each unique people.
I am reading a great book atm called Death by Food Pyramid: How Shoddy Science, Sketchy Politics and Shady Special Interests Have Ruined Our Health by Denise Minger.
She realizes also you have to be open to change and grow and keep learning.
Excellent book. Review coming soon.
Great post Tom,
I agree one size does not fit all and while certain things agree with all of us we are each unique people.
I am reading a great book atm called Death by Food Pyramid: How Shoddy Science, Sketchy Politics and Shady Special Interests Have Ruined Our Health by Denise Minger.
She realizes also you have to be open to change and grow and keep learning.
Excellent book. Review coming soon.
Question for Paul Jaminet:
I recently modified my low-carb diet to something more like the PHD, with an added emphasis on RS. The problem: I’ve developed a pretty severe, chronic form of GERD. In doing some research on what might be contributing to the problem, and what I might do about it, I came across the book “Fast Tract Digestion: Heartburn” by Norman Robillard. Recommended by Mike Eades. Robillard attributes GERD to SIBO, which, as I understand, was one of the conditions for which RS could be helpful (feeding the good gut-critters). However, I note with dismay that Robillard’s dietary advice includes the elimination of all resistant starches! His reasoning is that including resistant starches in the diet provides more fuel for the bad gut-critters in the large intestine, aiding their propagation and subsequent leakage back up into the small intestine, exacerbating the SIBO. I’d be interested in your (or anyone else’s) thoughts on this apparent contradiction. I’m (obviously) confused. Many thanks for all that you do!
Question for Paul Jaminet:
I recently modified my low-carb diet to something more like the PHD, with an added emphasis on RS. The problem: I’ve developed a pretty severe, chronic form of GERD. In doing some research on what might be contributing to the problem, and what I might do about it, I came across the book “Fast Tract Digestion: Heartburn” by Norman Robillard. Recommended by Mike Eades. Robillard attributes GERD to SIBO, which, as I understand, was one of the conditions for which RS could be helpful (feeding the good gut-critters). However, I note with dismay that Robillard’s dietary advice includes the elimination of all resistant starches! His reasoning is that including resistant starches in the diet provides more fuel for the bad gut-critters in the large intestine, aiding their propagation and subsequent leakage back up into the small intestine, exacerbating the SIBO. I’d be interested in your (or anyone else’s) thoughts on this apparent contradiction. I’m (obviously) confused. Many thanks for all that you do!
I don’t have any questions for Paul, but I wanted to thank you Tom for the article. I really enjoyed reading how your thoughts about starch changed. keep up the good work.
Thanks for reading.
Q: What is wrong with gut bacteria of a carnivore cat?
I don’t have any questions for Paul, but I wanted to thank you Tom for the article. I really enjoyed reading how your thoughts about starch changed. keep up the good work.
Thanks for reading.
Q: What is wrong with gut bacteria of a carnivore cat?
Tom,
Thanks for this article. Would you happen to know whether sweet potatoes or white potatoes have more resistant starch?
I believe white potatoes do if you cook and cool them.
Thanks for the post. I’ve tried PS a number of times, even in doses as small as a tsp. I get bloated and very uncomfortable. Same with kefir. I also gain weight at the drop of a hat. I started to include more fermented foods, but can’t seem to find a formula to lose the last 15 pounds. Perhaps a probiotic? Fruit and sweet potatoes/squash put the weight on, too. I’m sort of scared to try rice and white potatoes. I’ve been paleo over 5 years now and my lipid panels are outstanding (I know I need to exercise more, or some, really). Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
A probiotic might be a good idea, since the inability to digest resistant starch is (from what Richard, Grace and Tim told me) a possible sign that your gut bacteria aren’t up to snuff — although some people are sensitive to nightshades and probably should avoid potato starch. Green banana starch might be an option in that case.
Tom,
Thanks for this article. Would you happen to know whether sweet potatoes or white potatoes have more resistant starch?
I believe white potatoes do if you cook and cool them.
Thanks for the post. I’ve tried PS a number of times, even in doses as small as a tsp. I get bloated and very uncomfortable. Same with kefir. I also gain weight at the drop of a hat. I started to include more fermented foods, but can’t seem to find a formula to lose the last 15 pounds. Perhaps a probiotic? Fruit and sweet potatoes/squash put the weight on, too. I’m sort of scared to try rice and white potatoes. I’ve been paleo over 5 years now and my lipid panels are outstanding (I know I need to exercise more, or some, really). Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
A probiotic might be a good idea, since the inability to digest resistant starch is (from what Richard, Grace and Tim told me) a possible sign that your gut bacteria aren’t up to snuff — although some people are sensitive to nightshades and probably should avoid potato starch. Green banana starch might be an option in that case.
Hey there,
Nice review 🙂
I am French, and I must say, the PHD is simply the french traditional diet minus the cereal grains (wheat mostly). So, remove wheat and other cereal grains from the traditional french diet, and you get the PHD 🙂
And the content of the diet is not the only thing, the traditional meal timing is :
– no early breakfast
– 2 hour lunch (12 to 2pm)
– early evening dinner (6 to 8pm)
So basically, 2 square meals / day, with family and friends, taking the time to eat.
I believe this explains why the French had been doing so well on their traditional diet. They would have done even better without the cereal grains when I think of it 🙂 But again, these grains were traditional, not the frankencrap of today.
Of course, with the SADification (ha!) of the world, France is now following the same trend, except in more rural areas maybe, when local traditional cuisine is still important.
That’s about the timing of my meals. I’m rarely hungry for breakfast anyway, so it’s an easy schedule to follow for me.
Hey there,
Nice review 🙂
I am French, and I must say, the PHD is simply the french traditional diet minus the cereal grains (wheat mostly). So, remove wheat and other cereal grains from the traditional french diet, and you get the PHD 🙂
And the content of the diet is not the only thing, the traditional meal timing is :
– no early breakfast
– 2 hour lunch (12 to 2pm)
– early evening dinner (6 to 8pm)
So basically, 2 square meals / day, with family and friends, taking the time to eat.
I believe this explains why the French had been doing so well on their traditional diet. They would have done even better without the cereal grains when I think of it 🙂 But again, these grains were traditional, not the frankencrap of today.
Of course, with the SADification (ha!) of the world, France is now following the same trend, except in more rural areas maybe, when local traditional cuisine is still important.
That’s about the timing of my meals. I’m rarely hungry for breakfast anyway, so it’s an easy schedule to follow for me.
Hi Tom,
I was wondering which probiotic you used. I know that Richard of Freetheanimal recommends a few, but I want to narrow it down to a single one to try at first.
Thanks
Hi, Kurt — I take Primal Defense and AOR Probiotic-3. I have Amazon links for both in the sidebar.
Hi Tom,
I was wondering which probiotic you used. I know that Richard of Freetheanimal recommends a few, but I want to narrow it down to a single one to try at first.
Thanks
Hi, Kurt — I take Primal Defense and AOR Probiotic-3. I have Amazon links for both in the sidebar.
It works for some people and not for others. I know a friend who lost 10 lbs in 1 month with it. You hasn’t regained any weight back so far. I’ll give it a try and see how it works. They got a money back guarantee if it doesn’t work anyway. Have a look at the one down below – honest, detailed and answers all of the questions you might have. http://healthsprig.com/go/phen375-review-and-result/
It works for some people and not for others. I know a friend who lost 10 lbs in 1 month with it. You hasn’t regained any weight back so far. I’ll give it a try and see how it works. They got a money back guarantee if it doesn’t work anyway. Have a look at the one down below – honest, detailed and answers all of the questions you might have. http://healthsprig.com/go/phen375-review-and-result/