Many of you are probably familiar with Dr. David Perlmutter because of his book Grain Brain. I recently finished his follow-up book, Brain Maker: The Power of Gut Microbes to Heal and Protect Your Brain–for Life. I can’t quote from it directly because I listened to the audiobook instead of reading a paper copy. (That’s what I do while spending five hours at a time behind a lawn mower on our property: listen to books.) But I can tell you I consider this book a must-read, especially for low-carbers.
I say “especially for low-carbers” because there’s a belief in the low-carb community (which I once shared) that fiber is useless. That belief stems from studies showing no relationship between fiber intake and rates of colon cancer – and that’s why most of us were told to eat our fiber: to prevent colon cancer.
However, the fiber in those studies tended to come from whole grains – which Dr. Perlmutter of course doesn’t want us to eat in the first place, since grains can damage our intestines. Perhaps other fibers do protect against cancer.
But even if they don’t, cancer isn’t the whole story. Not by a long shot. The real benefit of plant fibers is in feeding our gut bacteria. Dr. Perlmutter pounds home that point over and over in Brain Maker: if you want to be healthy, both physically and mentally, you have to feed your beneficial gut bacteria — period, end of story. Those gut bugs want to eat plant fibers. They need to eat plant fibers. In fact, Dr. Perlmutter recommends you fill two-thirds of your plate with plant foods.
Since he’s a hero in the low-carb community, I’m delighted to see this message coming from him. Perhaps some people with a nyaaa, fiber, who needs it? attitude will be inspired to change their minds. As I wrote in some posts last year about why I started adding resistant starch to my diet, if there’s a potential danger in a very low-carb diet, I believe it’s in not feeding the gut bacteria. Dr. Perlmutter is very much on board with a carb-restricted diet, but teaches the reader how to add those all-important fibers without relying on high-starch or high-sugar foods.
As the title suggests, much of the book explains the connection between a healthy gut and a healthy brain. Dr. Perlmutter recounts a number of cases where rebuilding the gut microbiome (with diet or, in a few cases, a fecal transplant) cured patients of depression, or ADHD, or autism, or Tourette’s Syndrome. In some cases, the gut-cure worked after everything else had failed.
But I’m guessing the title is also partly the result of marketing. When your runaway best-seller is named Grain Brain, you’d best put Grain or Brain in the title of your next book. Brain Maker is really about the profound effect the gut microbiome has on the entire body, brain included.
Let’s take an example near and dear to the heart of many readers: weight loss. Dr. Perlmutter describes experiments in which gut bacteria were transferred from thin mice (or thin people) to obese mice. The obese mice became lean. It works the same in reverse, too. When researchers disrupt the gut microbiome of lean mice and transfer gut bugs from fat mice, the lean mice become fat.
As Dr. Perlmutter explains, there are strains of gut bacteria that seem to induce obesity and strains that seem to protect against it. Eating fermented vegetables and other fermented foods helps to populate our guts with protective bacteria. If they’re fed the right kinds of plant fibers, they flourish. But without the right fibers, their numbers dwindle. They can, of course, be devastated by antibiotics. There’s also evidence that certain pesticides and even artificial sweeteners like aspartame can either diminish the number of good gut bacteria or encourage overgrowth of the bad bacteria.
Listening to the book got me thinking about two classes of people: lean vegetarians and low-carbers who lose weight but stall well above their goal. Don’t worry, I’m not going to suggest low-carbers become vegetarians instead. As I explained in Fat Head and quite a few posts, I grew fatter on a vegetarian diet, not thinner. But my vegetarian diet included lots of grains and few of the types of plant fibers Dr. Perlmutter recommends. Perhaps the vegetarians who really and truly eat lots of vegetables (as opposed to grains and soy) stay lean partly by maintaining a healthy gut microbiome – not because they give up meat, but because they eat lots of beneficial plant fibers.
On the flipside, perhaps some low-carbers stall well above their goal weight because they don’t eat beneficial plant fibers. (For the record, I also believe some people are metabolically damaged to such a degree, they can never be lean without starving themselves, which is unhealthy.) If your diet consists of meat, eggs, butter, cream, more meat, a broccoli sprig here and there, plus a side of meat, there’s not much there to feed your beneficial gut bacteria. Toss in some diet sodas with aspartame, and you could be starving the gut bugs that protect against obesity while encouraging the proliferation of gut bugs that induce it.
So what should you be eating to feed the beneficial bacteria? Like I said, I don’t have a paper copy of the book, but the audio version came with a PDF file of recipes. The common ingredients Dr. Perlmutter recommends include onions, garlic, jicama, blueberries, chick peas, Jerusalem artichokes, leeks, fibrous green vegetables of all kinds, plus plenty of pickled and fermented foods. (Apparently the Scandinavians knew what they were doing when they came up with pickled herring.)
I’d add one suggestion of my own: tiger nuts. I understand why people with blood-sugar issues are hesitant to eat the cooked-and-cooled potatoes or green bananas recommended by Paul Jaminet and others as sources of resistant starch, but I doubt tiger nuts will take anyone’s blood sugar on a roller-coaster ride. They’re 40% fat by calories, with lots of fiber and resistant starch — the type of starch your gut bugs love to digest and turn into short-chain fatty acids in the process.
I’ve been eating a small dish of tiger nuts almost daily for a year or so, and I’m pretty sure my gut bugs have never been happier. My digestion is the best it’s ever been, on any diet. I also sleep more deeply, dream more vividly, and wake up more rested than I used to.
But wherever you get your plant fibers, please get them. (Well, not from grains, of course.) As the book explains, gut bacteria account for 90% of all the cells in your body. We evolved with them, and they evolved with us. They’re as much a part of you as your heart and your liver, and nearly as important. Take good care of them, and they’ll take good care of you.
Brain Maker is an excellent guide for doing just that.
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I find whenever i try to introduce larger amounts of fiber into my diet that my intestines tend to treat it like rotten meat, which can get outright painful. Any recommendations on what schedule to introduce fiber into one’s diet to avoid intestinal rebellion?
From what I’ve read, if you eat plant fibers (assuming we’re not talking about grain fibers) and you experience pain, it could be a sign that you don’t have enough gut bugs to digest the stuff. In that case, you may want to supplement with probiotics first, then feed them by trying a tablespoon of raw potato starch stirred into water. Then build up to a higher intake of fiber over time.
I’ll try that. Any idea where to get the probiotics? Obviously not all probiotics are the same. (Btw, is raw potato starch something fancy, or could one just take a bite out of a potato? I’ve eaten raw sweet potato before, and it’s tolerable in the mouth.)
Hello Tom,
Dr Davis(Wheat Belly) says the same thing as well, that we need to feed our gut bacteria. He says that eating a raw potato helps. Did the book state that they have to be raw to get the benefits? Thank you
Perlmutter didn’t mention raw potatoes. Can’t say I’m a fan of the taste of raw potatoes, so I go with the tiger nuts instead. Way high in resistant starch. Takes some effort to chew them because of the fiber, but they taste good.
I just saw that they sell tiger nut flour as a baking replacement for grains.
Are you ordering them online or is there a place you can get them locally?
We order online. Haven’t seen them locally yet. We plan to try growing our own tiger nuts next year. From what I’ve read, they’re quite prolific. In fact, some farmers warn that they can take over a field and squeeze out other crops. To me, that sounds like “easy to grow.”
re: … eating a raw potato helps. Did the book state that they have to be raw to get the benefits?
Potato, or potato starch, needs to be raw/uncooked in order to be RS.
Cooked potato is largely, perhaps entirely digestible starch, becomes blood glucose, and does not make for happy gut bugs.
Re-cooling cooked potato only repolymerizes 10-15% of it to RS. If you’re minding net carbs, go light on the potato salad.
Raw and cooked potato might as well be entirely different foods. There are a number of other considerations with that crop, but the raw/cooked difference is dramatic.
Thank you for your answers.
Do you still get the benefits if you eat the vegetables cooked instead of eating them raw?
Thank You
Yes. Cooking vegetables also helps us absorb the nutrients. I’d add fermented vegetables to the mix as well.
Too bad there’s not a cheap RS supplement. One sold in food aisles instead of drug stores. Hmmmm.
Heh-heh … the raw potato starch is cheap indeed. But now that tiger nuts are part of my daily diet, I don’t drink the potato starch anymore. No need.
I love Tiger Nuts. I even grew a big row last year, growing more this year. You should try. They do really good in sandy soil. When fresh, they are just like mini potatoes, as they dry they get sweet. No wonder why ancient man was drawn to them.
As far as RS, I have been working with the Chief Nut at TigerNuts USA to get them tested. His supplier in Spain finally got it done…2-3% RS. About the same as cold white rice.
My feeling is that when fresh/raw, they are very high in RS, but just like a banana, this RS converts to sugar. But no matter, they are very high in other fibers.
I like to take the unpeeled type, soak over night in water, then toast in coconut oil untill slightly charred. They take on a chocolately coffee bean taste and the hard shell melts in your mouth.
We meant to plant some this year, then got sidetracked preparing for my speech on the low-carb cruise. Definitely part of next year’s garden plan.
This all sounds reasonable, but then again I’ve been reading a lot lately about people who eat zero carb – mostly meat, some eggs and dairy. Some of them say they haven’t eaten any veggies at all for years, and they sure are lean, and seem to be healthy. None of them complain that their digestive systems are having problems, so presumably their gut bugs are happy. Sometimes I just don’t know what to make of all the contradictory information out there.
I’d say it depends on the person. I also know zero-carbers who complain that despite maintaining ketosis, they can’t lose weight or have started regaining. Or they have insomnia issues (as I did at one time), which can be related to gut-bug problems.
I find whenever i try to introduce larger amounts of fiber into my diet that my intestines tend to treat it like rotten meat, which can get outright painful. Any recommendations on what schedule to introduce fiber into one’s diet to avoid intestinal rebellion?
From what I’ve read, if you eat plant fibers (assuming we’re not talking about grain fibers) and you experience pain, it could be a sign that you don’t have enough gut bugs to digest the stuff. In that case, you may want to supplement with probiotics first, then feed them by trying a tablespoon of raw potato starch stirred into water. Then build up to a higher intake of fiber over time.
I’ll try that. Any idea where to get the probiotics? Obviously not all probiotics are the same. (Btw, is raw potato starch something fancy, or could one just take a bite out of a potato? I’ve eaten raw sweet potato before, and it’s tolerable in the mouth.)
You can order good probiotics from Amazon if you can’t find them locally. We have a couple of them showing up as affiliate display ads here on the blog. I take the Primal Defense brand now and then.
http://www.amazon.com/Garden-Life-Primal-Defense-Capsules/dp/B000GWG8FS/ref=as_sl_pc_tf_til?tag=fatheadmoviec-20&linkCode=w00&linkId=&creativeASIN=B000GWG8FS
You can find raw potato starch at most grocery stores. We buy the Bob’s Red Mill brand, which is maybe $5 per bag. Just make sure it says raw potato starch. You can stir it into lukewarm water or mix it into a smoothie. Just don’t heat the stuff above lukewarm or it will turn into regular starch.
Just want to clarify the potato starch use, since this is all new to me. It sounds like you need to dissolve it in lukewarm water. If I put it in a smoothie, are you saying the smoothie must be lukewarm to prevent it turning into regular starch? I always have mine cold.
Thanks.
Risa
Cold is fine. What you need to avoid is hot. Hot will turn it into starch.
Hello Tom,
Dr Davis(Wheat Belly) says the same thing as well, that we need to feed our gut bacteria. He says that eating a raw potato helps. Did the book state that they have to be raw to get the benefits? Thank you
Perlmutter didn’t mention raw potatoes. Can’t say I’m a fan of the taste of raw potatoes, so I go with the tiger nuts instead. Way high in resistant starch. Takes some effort to chew them because of the fiber, but they taste good.
I just saw that they sell tiger nut flour as a baking replacement for grains.
Are you ordering them online or is there a place you can get them locally?
We order online. Haven’t seen them locally yet. We plan to try growing our own tiger nuts next year. From what I’ve read, they’re quite prolific. In fact, some farmers warn that they can take over a field and squeeze out other crops. To me, that sounds like “easy to grow.”
re: … eating a raw potato helps. Did the book state that they have to be raw to get the benefits?
Potato, or potato starch, needs to be raw/uncooked in order to be RS.
Cooked potato is largely, perhaps entirely digestible starch, becomes blood glucose, and does not make for happy gut bugs.
Re-cooling cooked potato only repolymerizes 10-15% of it to RS. If you’re minding net carbs, go light on the potato salad.
Raw and cooked potato might as well be entirely different foods. There are a number of other considerations with that crop, but the raw/cooked difference is dramatic.
Thank you for your answers.
Do you still get the benefits if you eat the vegetables cooked instead of eating them raw?
Thank You
Yes. Cooking vegetables also helps us absorb the nutrients. I’d add fermented vegetables to the mix as well.
I will admit I have never even heard of tiger nuts, Tom. What are they like and where do they come from? I have never seen them on sale in England.
They’re ground tubers that were apparently a major part of the early human diet in some regions. They taste a bit like coconut and a bit like raisins.
Don’t know if the U.S. Amazon link does you any good, but here it is:
http://tinyurl.com/p9lcc4e
Ouch! $16+/lb, that’s an expensive snack.
I really like Jicama (great source of inulin), but it’s hard to find in stock in my neck of the woods. Only Walmart even carries it (about $1.50/lb) here in small town MO (we have a relatively large number of Mex-Ams for whom it’s a familiar food). Whole Foods carries it but that’s a long trek for me. Bummer. Nice texture (kind of like water chestnuts) and just a hint of sweetness and lots of moisture. I eat it raw in “sticks”; makes a great “dipper” too, like carrot sticks.
The small bags are expensive, true. We now order the 25-pound bag, which lasts us a looong time. Next year we hope to grow our own.
Not quite sure, but it is possible that raw turnip roots(which are easy to find in the south) are comparable to jicama. i have read some that bacteria can become dormant, and active again when food for them is available. During a winter, do certain ones make out ok when going without a lot of fiber? Breast milk contains fiber as well as fatty acids that act against bacteria.I try to keep a balanced mix, some fiber and fatty acids(like coconut oil).
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214540014000061
We keep the tiger nuts around throughout the year. We’ve also found that some of the garden vegetables keep way longer than I would have thought. The squash we harvested last fall is still edible.
Thanks! I see a few suppliers on amazon.co.uk. But marketing-speak seems unavoidable: ‘Tiger Nuts have been around for over 4000 years and that makes them “Paleo Perfect”, and because the sugars are natural, they are ideal for diabetics too!’ Ewwww.
Not sure why a diabetic’s body cares if the sugar is natural. In my own tests, tiger nuts barely budge my glucose level. The fibers that feed good gut bacteria also appear to lower fasting glucose levels over time, which is one of the reasons I’ve reconsidered the importance of plant fibers.
As a type 1 diabetic for over forty years, I can vouch that whether a sugar is natural or not doesn’t matter to my body.
I had wild relatives of tiger nuts on my land in north Florida as weeds (nutsedge) and they were hard to kill; never tried digging them for tubers (the stem or a root snaps and you have to dig) which I have been told tend to be bitter and small. Never got around to planting tiger nuts; a company in the Florida Panhandle was promoting them heavily (as well as other ventures like their Eco-friendly cemetery) last I checked. Horchata is getting popular here in S. Florida, but only the fake stuff made from rice instead of tiger nuts.
Too bad there’s not a cheap RS supplement. One sold in food aisles instead of drug stores. Hmmmm.
Heh-heh … the raw potato starch is cheap indeed. But now that tiger nuts are part of my daily diet, I don’t drink the potato starch anymore. No need.
I love Tiger Nuts. I even grew a big row last year, growing more this year. You should try. They do really good in sandy soil. When fresh, they are just like mini potatoes, as they dry they get sweet. No wonder why ancient man was drawn to them.
As far as RS, I have been working with the Chief Nut at TigerNuts USA to get them tested. His supplier in Spain finally got it done…2-3% RS. About the same as cold white rice.
My feeling is that when fresh/raw, they are very high in RS, but just like a banana, this RS converts to sugar. But no matter, they are very high in other fibers.
I like to take the unpeeled type, soak over night in water, then toast in coconut oil untill slightly charred. They take on a chocolately coffee bean taste and the hard shell melts in your mouth.
We meant to plant some this year, then got sidetracked preparing for my speech on the low-carb cruise. Definitely part of next year’s garden plan.
This all sounds reasonable, but then again I’ve been reading a lot lately about people who eat zero carb – mostly meat, some eggs and dairy. Some of them say they haven’t eaten any veggies at all for years, and they sure are lean, and seem to be healthy. None of them complain that their digestive systems are having problems, so presumably their gut bugs are happy. Sometimes I just don’t know what to make of all the contradictory information out there.
I’d say it depends on the person. I also know zero-carbers who complain that despite maintaining ketosis, they can’t lose weight or have started regaining. Or they have insomnia issues (as I did at one time), which can be related to gut-bug problems.
Perhaps “metabolic damage” is just gut flora damage?
Will have to google tiger nuts. Have never heard of them in Australia.
I will admit I have never even heard of tiger nuts, Tom. What are they like and where do they come from? I have never seen them on sale in England.
They’re ground tubers that were apparently a major part of the early human diet in some regions. They taste a bit like coconut and a bit like raisins.
Don’t know if the U.S. Amazon link does you any good, but here it is:
http://tinyurl.com/p9lcc4e
Ouch! $16+/lb, that’s an expensive snack.
I really like Jicama (great source of inulin), but it’s hard to find in stock in my neck of the woods. Only Walmart even carries it (about $1.50/lb) here in small town MO (we have a relatively large number of Mex-Ams for whom it’s a familiar food). Whole Foods carries it but that’s a long trek for me. Bummer. Nice texture (kind of like water chestnuts) and just a hint of sweetness and lots of moisture. I eat it raw in “sticks”; makes a great “dipper” too, like carrot sticks.
The small bags are expensive, true. We now order the 25-pound bag, which lasts us a looong time. Next year we hope to grow our own.
Not quite sure, but it is possible that raw turnip roots(which are easy to find in the south) are comparable to jicama. i have read some that bacteria can become dormant, and active again when food for them is available. During a winter, do certain ones make out ok when going without a lot of fiber? Breast milk contains fiber as well as fatty acids that act against bacteria.I try to keep a balanced mix, some fiber and fatty acids(like coconut oil).
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2214540014000061
We keep the tiger nuts around throughout the year. We’ve also found that some of the garden vegetables keep way longer than I would have thought. The squash we harvested last fall is still edible.
Thanks! I see a few suppliers on amazon.co.uk. But marketing-speak seems unavoidable: ‘Tiger Nuts have been around for over 4000 years and that makes them “Paleo Perfect”, and because the sugars are natural, they are ideal for diabetics too!’ Ewwww.
Not sure why a diabetic’s body cares if the sugar is natural. In my own tests, tiger nuts barely budge my glucose level. The fibers that feed good gut bacteria also appear to lower fasting glucose levels over time, which is one of the reasons I’ve reconsidered the importance of plant fibers.
As a type 1 diabetic for over forty years, I can vouch that whether a sugar is natural or not doesn’t matter to my body.
I had wild relatives of tiger nuts on my land in north Florida as weeds (nutsedge) and they were hard to kill; never tried digging them for tubers (the stem or a root snaps and you have to dig) which I have been told tend to be bitter and small. Never got around to planting tiger nuts; a company in the Florida Panhandle was promoting them heavily (as well as other ventures like their Eco-friendly cemetery) last I checked. Horchata is getting popular here in S. Florida, but only the fake stuff made from rice instead of tiger nuts.
And to think that just yesterday, I saw an article where some researcher found a Parkinson’s-gut bug relationship, and went so far as to test it on rodents–he found that bad bugs travel from the gut, via the vagus nerve, to the brain. I’m sure he must’ve read one of Dr. Perlmutter’s or Dr. Davis’s books.
Gosh, it’s taking a long time for science research to play catch-up, isn’t it? Nowadays, we can learn more from books on Amazon than we can reading science and medicine journals. I’m starting to LIKE being on the cutting edge for once!
It’s definitely an emerging science. To his credit, Dr. Perlmutter frequently cites studies to make a point, but also cautions the reader that correlation isn’t proof, or that a study was very small, or that the research is preliminary.
Finally! A review where I know I’m not going to end up buying the book for my nook, then getting a hardcover version, too.
I’d already bought this one.
Cheers!
I have the audiobook, but I’ll end up ordering a paper version too. It’s difficult to highlight sections of an audiobook.
Could you please recommend a good brand of these Tiger nuts and where to get them?
Thank you
Amazon has them:
http://tinyurl.com/p9lcc4e
Kind of pricey one 12-oz. bag at a time. Once we knew we’d be eating them all the time, we ordered the 25-pound bag.
Peeled or unpeeled? I would assume unpeeled, but curious to know your choice.
Unpeeled. We get these:
http://tinyurl.com/p9lcc4e
Tom, Since these are raw, can I soak them overnight and just plant them, or have they been treated not to sprout?
Also, you might want to make kefir to drink. Making it into cheese is also drop dead easy.
From what I understand, they can be planted.
I wonder where one gets a hook-up on a fecal transplant from a thin person. Craigslist personals?
Dr. Perlmutter is adamant about not making it a do-it-yourself project. The donor needs to be medically screened for obvious reasons.
re: Perlmutter is adamant about not making it {FMT} a do-it-yourself project.
Indeed. Bumbling human doctors have already managed to transplant obesity into a thin person while trying to cure something else (C.Diff, as I recall, which is the only thing for which FMT is presently FDA approved).
You {Tom} didn’t mention it in the review, but the book raised the notion of probiotic enema, which might be worthwhile in a variety of tough cases, and does not require FDA approval. There’s a protocol in the book.
Yup, I remember that part.
Perhaps “metabolic damage” is just gut flora damage?
Will have to google tiger nuts. Have never heard of them in Australia.
And to think that just yesterday, I saw an article where some researcher found a Parkinson’s-gut bug relationship, and went so far as to test it on rodents–he found that bad bugs travel from the gut, via the vagus nerve, to the brain. I’m sure he must’ve read one of Dr. Perlmutter’s or Dr. Davis’s books.
Gosh, it’s taking a long time for science research to play catch-up, isn’t it? Nowadays, we can learn more from books on Amazon than we can reading science and medicine journals. I’m starting to LIKE being on the cutting edge for once!
It’s definitely an emerging science. To his credit, Dr. Perlmutter frequently cites studies to make a point, but also cautions the reader that correlation isn’t proof, or that a study was very small, or that the research is preliminary.
Finally! A review where I know I’m not going to end up buying the book for my nook, then getting a hardcover version, too.
I’d already bought this one.
Cheers!
I have the audiobook, but I’ll end up ordering a paper version too. It’s difficult to highlight sections of an audiobook.
Could you please recommend a good brand of these Tiger nuts and where to get them?
Thank you
Amazon has them:
http://tinyurl.com/p9lcc4e
Kind of pricey one 12-oz. bag at a time. Once we knew we’d be eating them all the time, we ordered the 25-pound bag.
Peeled or unpeeled? I would assume unpeeled, but curious to know your choice.
Unpeeled. We get these:
http://tinyurl.com/p9lcc4e
Tom, Since these are raw, can I soak them overnight and just plant them, or have they been treated not to sprout?
Also, you might want to make kefir to drink. Making it into cheese is also drop dead easy.
From what I understand, they can be planted.
Thanks so much for the review. I want to read this AND buy the tiger nuts!
I wonder where one gets a hook-up on a fecal transplant from a thin person. Craigslist personals?
Dr. Perlmutter is adamant about not making it a do-it-yourself project. The donor needs to be medically screened for obvious reasons.
re: Perlmutter is adamant about not making it {FMT} a do-it-yourself project.
Indeed. Bumbling human doctors have already managed to transplant obesity into a thin person while trying to cure something else (C.Diff, as I recall, which is the only thing for which FMT is presently FDA approved).
You {Tom} didn’t mention it in the review, but the book raised the notion of probiotic enema, which might be worthwhile in a variety of tough cases, and does not require FDA approval. There’s a protocol in the book.
Yup, I remember that part.
While the benefits of fiber and gut flora sounds reasonable some of the 1-3 star reviews on Amazon make a good case for Dr. Perlmutter’s scientific arguments being that of a blind advocate/ crackpot.
I noticed the 1-3 star reviews only make up 7% of all reviews. But like anything else dealing with diet and health, all you can do is check it out and see if it makes sense to you.
I’m assuming we should start slowly with the tiger nuts? We have a 3-year-old and I don’ t want to cause her any gastric distress. How many do you suggest we start out with for her, and for us grownups?
Keep in mind they’re very fibrous, so it takes a lot of chewing. Not sure I’d give them to a three-year-old. I started out with maybe a half-cup of them. I eat about a cup per day now.
Thanks so much for the review. I want to read this AND buy the tiger nuts!
Tom, you may already be aware of this but thought I would chime in. I recently purchased the LCHF Conference held in Capetown, SA earlier this year with Professor Tim Noakes and numerous other notables. You and your movie were mentioned at least twice by the speakers I have listened to so far. I have had Brain Maker for a few months and enjoyed it thoroughly. Hope to try the Tiger Nuts.
Nice to be mentioned at the conference. I wasn’t aware of that.
I have watched a few videos by / with Noakes recently. he uses a clip from Fat Head in some of his presentations
While the benefits of fiber and gut flora sounds reasonable some of the 1-3 star reviews on Amazon make a good case for Dr. Perlmutter’s scientific arguments being that of a blind advocate/ crackpot.
I noticed the 1-3 star reviews only make up 7% of all reviews. But like anything else dealing with diet and health, all you can do is check it out and see if it makes sense to you.
re: … some of the 1-3 star reviews on Amazon make a good case for Dr. Perlmutter’s scientific arguments being that of a blind advocate/ crackpot.
I looked at them. Unsurprisingly, none of them were based on simply trying his harmless but promising suggestions. What he’s proposing that people do for their brains, vis-a-vis gut biome, is almost exactly what Wheat Belly Total Health suggests people do for their waistlines, hearts, diabetes, etc.
In my read of the Brain Maker book, Perlmutter came across as being very restrained in what was obvious enthusiasm for something that, finally, works. For perhaps the first time, he’s got an effective treatment for a lot of conditions that were either hopeless, or required really nasty meds that at best would manage symptoms.
Kids today are not suffering from Ritalin Deficiency. Anyone with a kid on these cocaine analogs needs to think instead about just changing aisles at the super market.
And then we also have the recent discovery of the previously unknown brain lymph system, and the stunning gut-vagus-Parkinsons connection. Real progress may be afoot in dread neurological ailments.
But for those dogmatic skeptics – if you like your ailment, you can keep your ailment.
I also noticed one of the one-star reviews was from a shrink who was apparently offended by the notion that autism and other mental conditions are caused by a gut-bug imbalance.
I’m assuming we should start slowly with the tiger nuts? We have a 3-year-old and I don’ t want to cause her any gastric distress. How many do you suggest we start out with for her, and for us grownups?
Keep in mind they’re very fibrous, so it takes a lot of chewing. Not sure I’d give them to a three-year-old. I started out with maybe a half-cup of them. I eat about a cup per day now.
Tom, you may already be aware of this but thought I would chime in. I recently purchased the LCHF Conference held in Capetown, SA earlier this year with Professor Tim Noakes and numerous other notables. You and your movie were mentioned at least twice by the speakers I have listened to so far. I have had Brain Maker for a few months and enjoyed it thoroughly. Hope to try the Tiger Nuts.
Nice to be mentioned at the conference. I wasn’t aware of that.
I have watched a few videos by / with Noakes recently. he uses a clip from Fat Head in some of his presentations
So, do you just plant some of the nuts that you’ve purchased, or do you need to source the ones you’re going to plant from somewhere else.?
Cheers
According to what Chareva learned by calling the producer, we should be able to plant the ones we buy.
So with these Tigernuts you buy, unpeeled, how exactly do you eat them? Do you wash and peel them? Soak them? Just pop them in your mouth and chew? inquiring minds want to know.
Thanks
They’re washed before being bagged. Just pop ’em in and chew.
And I guess a follow-up… if you buy the massive bag.. is there a risk they will rot or go bad? Other than potentially ending up as rat food in basements, is there any preservation risk? Must they be refrigerated? etc. Sorry if I’m turning you into an unofficial salesperson but can’t seem to find credible information anywhere.
No worries, happy to explain. They’re dried, like rice. We store them in a food-grade bucket with a screw-on lid. Never had them go bad on us.
Another great post! I’m just reiterating what you say about people finding what’s right for them. Before everyone goes out and spends a bunch on different forms of RS, I would like to caution that each person start slowly and see what it does to your own particular gut, weight, blood sugar, etc. I embraced the RS wholeheartedly at first and all I got for my trouble was weight gain, spiking BS, and a particularly unpleasant bloated feeling. I do believe I’m one of those people who has found what it right for me. I eat meat, cheese, a LOT of asparagus, broccoli, tomatoes, eggs and not much else. Some kale or other greens tossed in here and there when I can find them looking decent. Since I have to cook for a bunch of “carboholics,” I occasionally eat a FEW spoons of rice. No other grains. When I eat like this, I’m happy, sleep well and have no problems. Veering off of this the least little bit causes me problems. For instance, I have totally given up wheat. Yesterday my brother brought in fried chicken for “everybody.” Sigh… I took one lousy piece and stripped all the crusty battered goodness off of it that was possible and ate the chicken underneath. My body knew I had gotten hold of a wee bit of wheat (and who knows what else) in that part of battered crust that didn’t come off my piece of chicken. Within a couple of hours, I was feeling out of sorts with mild joint pains and with ominous rumbling in the gut. So, word to the wise. Take it slowly enough to find what works and what really doesn’t.
As always, you have to listen to your own body. I should mention that the inability to digest resistant starch can be a sign that you don’t enough of the good gut bacteria. Some people find RS works well if they supplement with probiotics and slowly increase their RS intake. I wouldn’t suggest anyone go whole-hog right away.
So, do you just plant some of the nuts that you’ve purchased, or do you need to source the ones you’re going to plant from somewhere else.?
Cheers
According to what Chareva learned by calling the producer, we should be able to plant the ones we buy.
So with these Tigernuts you buy, unpeeled, how exactly do you eat them? Do you wash and peel them? Soak them? Just pop them in your mouth and chew? inquiring minds want to know.
Thanks
They’re washed before being bagged. Just pop ’em in and chew.
And I guess a follow-up… if you buy the massive bag.. is there a risk they will rot or go bad? Other than potentially ending up as rat food in basements, is there any preservation risk? Must they be refrigerated? etc. Sorry if I’m turning you into an unofficial salesperson but can’t seem to find credible information anywhere.
No worries, happy to explain. They’re dried, like rice. We store them in a food-grade bucket with a screw-on lid. Never had them go bad on us.
“Those gut bugs want to eat plant fibers. They need to eat plant fibers. In fact, Dr. Perlmutter recommends you fill two-thirds of your plate with plant foods.”
Isn’t Bob’s resistant starch sufficient?
Not sure. Resistant starch is gut-bug food, so maybe it’s enough.
Great heads up Tom, have bought the book.
I do, though, loooooooooooooooong to see a book about gut health called
No Guts No Glory.
This could have been that book!
Maybe I should write that one. Love the title.
Ha! Thank you! I love titles.
Would love to work on that with you as a proofreader, if you’re up for that. 🙂
Based on your review, I got this book and also Grain Brain. I am reading Grain Brain fist and then this one.
“Those gut bugs want to eat plant fibers. They need to eat plant fibers. In fact, Dr. Perlmutter recommends you fill two-thirds of your plate with plant foods.”
Isn’t Bob’s resistant starch sufficient?
Not sure. Resistant starch is gut-bug food, so maybe it’s enough.
Great heads up Tom, have bought the book.
I do, though, loooooooooooooooong to see a book about gut health called
No Guts No Glory.
This could have been that book!
Maybe I should write that one. Love the title.
Ha! Thank you! I love titles.
Would love to work on that with you as a proofreader, if you’re up for that. 🙂
If not, don’t worry about it. Just practising scouting for work,. 🙂
Based on your review, I got this book and also Grain Brain. I am reading Grain Brain fist and then this one.
Tiger nuts are expensive, obviously catching tigers is a rough job and that’s only half of it.
You need to outsource that part of it.
Tiger nuts are expensive, obviously catching tigers is a rough job and that’s only half of it.
You need to outsource that part of it.
Out of curiosity…are the carbs from RS counted towards daily carb intake?
I wouldn’t count them, since they don’t contribute to blood sugar.
Out of curiosity…are the carbs from RS counted towards daily carb intake?
I wouldn’t count them, since they don’t contribute to blood sugar.
Doesn’t yogurt(plain,full fat) also help the gut bacteria? Where does that fit in?
Properly made yogurts contain live cultures of gut bacteria.
I’ll take a fecal transplant from Mark Sisson please heh heh…
Doesn’t yogurt(plain,full fat) also help the gut bacteria? Where does that fit in?
Properly made yogurts contain live cultures of gut bacteria.
I’ll take a fecal transplant from Mark Sisson please heh heh…
Hey Tom,
Long time lurker here. I saw Fat Head several years ago, and I must say, it was quite revelatory when I saw it and realized things were far more complex then the simple Cal In/Cal Out.
Reading this post, there was one thing that confused me. I read up on the mice study that showed how some bacteria made some mice obese and how some made them lean. From what I can gather, the obesogenic bacteria were known as firmicutes, and the protective bacteria were bacteroidetes (will call them F, and B for short). The lower the ratio of F compared to B, the more obese the subject would tend to become.
After further reading, and it seems that the bacteria in fermented foods (like yogurt, kimchi) are lactic acid bacteria which are squarely in the firmicutes group, which are supposed to be the ‘bad’ bacteria. Then of course, I see studies that show that lactobacillus helps reduce obesity (and studies that show that obese people have higher levels of lactobacillus).
Anyway, thanks again, and keep up the good work!
Hey Tom,
Long time lurker here. I saw Fat Head several years ago, and I must say, it was quite revelatory when I saw it and realized things were far more complex then the simple Cal In/Cal Out.
Reading this post, there was one thing that confused me. I read up on the mice study that showed how some bacteria made some mice obese and how some made them lean. From what I can gather, the obesogenic bacteria were known as firmicutes, and the protective bacteria were bacteroidetes (will call them F, and B for short). The lower the ratio of F compared to B, the more obese the subject would tend to become.
After further reading, and it seems that the bacteria in fermented foods (like yogurt, kimchi) are lactic acid bacteria which are squarely in the firmicutes group, which are supposed to be the ‘bad’ bacteria. Then of course, I see studies that show that lactobacillus helps reduce obesity (and studies that show that obese people have higher levels of lactobacillus).
Anyway, thanks again, and keep up the good work!
You will get better at cooking day after day when you read some good cooking books!