The Resistant Starch Challenge: Is It The Key We've Been Looking For?

[adreno]

Hmm...perhaps I will reconsider the shark cartilage:

Environmental neurotoxins β-N-methylamino-l-alanine (BMAA) and mercury in shark cartilage dietary supplements.

 

[knackers323]

Has anyone noticed light coloured stools from the PS/RS?

 

[Asklipia]

I found another source of Resistant Starch, cheap and nice to nibble on : Roasted Chickpeas. If they don't sell them where you are you can easily make them yourself. To add another type of RS to your daily mix.

 

[Christopher]

So anyway, back to the subject of the thread, is anyone still experimenting with these prebiotics?

 

[Vegas]

@Vegas, is the chitin glucan you're trying Artinia, and is that different from Jarrow's NAG?

yes, and yes.

 

[Vegas]

So I got some shark cartilage. @Vegas , what is a good dose? The caps are 750mg, and the bottle recommends 6 caps, which sounds a little excessive. I'm starting with 1 cap.

Sorry, I have not used this, so I can't offer any guidance. I was actually looking at an algal source for N-Acetylgalactosamine, but I haven't gotten to this yet. The red algae, Dumontiaceae, is reportedly abundant in GalNAc, but when I looked at this last month, I think there are a number of other algal sources that would fit this criterion as well.

 

[Vegas]

Has anyone noticed light coloured stools from the PS/RS?

I think this would relate to a reduction or conservation of bile acids. This is not all that unexpected. Are you having accompanying symptoms? If you figure that your are mobilizing a substance that can cause significant harm-- lipopolysaccharide--it should make sense that there are multiple processes whereby biliary synthesis, secretion, conjugation, secondary bile acid synthesis, etc. are affected. It's actually quite complex, but cholestasis, which is the condition wherein bile acid secretion from the liver to the small intestine, is inhibited, is a protective response, I believe.

Bile is good, if you can hear bile "squirting," you may start to feel better. Unfortunately, we have limited detoxification resources and lots of stuff to conjugate. You should decrease the substrate that which the bile may need to act on...slow down the prebiotics. This is most important. This resolves itself to some degree as the microbiota is restored, secondary bile acids are produced in greater quantities, the liver because more functional, etc. You may also benefit from taurine, glycine, & sulfate, if you can tolerate these. At the very least, omega 3's and magnesium. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Christopher]

yes, and yes.

So you're not taking a full pill, just a portion of it? The capsules come in 750mg servings.

 

[Sushi]

Note the discussion of cold therapy has been moved to the existing thread on this subject--beginning here.

 

[Aileen]

I am continuing to take 1/4tsp Swanson's FiberAid (LAG) daily. Had to stop everything a few days ago because of headaches. Restarted the LAG a couple days ago and everything was ok. Tried the Prescript-Assist today and started to get a headache so took an AlkaSeltzer Gold to try to ward it off. So far, so good.

I am finding that my sleep schedule is changing. Before starting on the pre/probiotics, I was having a difficult time sleeping. I would typically be up until 4-5am and sleep until 10am or so.

Since I've been on them (started April) I have actually been getting sleepy! The normal heavy eyes, yawning, wanting to lay down. It has been years since I have had the normal sleepy feeling. In the past few weeks I have been going to bed around 1am to 2am and getting to sleep quite quickly. Still a bit late, but moving in the right direction.

I have been waking up (no alarm) between 7:30am and 9am. Still feel like I got hit by a truck when I wake up, but at least the timing is improving. I'm hoping that if my sleep is following the normal circadian rhythm again, then other things will also get back "on time".

 

[Christopher]

I am continuing to take 1/4tsp Swanson's FiberAid (LAG) daily. Had to stop everything a few days ago because of headaches. Restarted the LAG a couple days ago and everything was ok. Tried the Prescript-Assist today and started to get a headache so took an AlkaSeltzer Gold to try to ward it off. So far, so good.

I am finding that my sleep schedule is changing. Before starting on the pre/probiotics, I was having a difficult time sleeping. I would typically be up until 4-5am and sleep until 10am or so.

Since I've been on them (started April) I have actually been getting sleepy! The normal heavy eyes, yawning, wanting to lay down. It has been years since I have had the normal sleepy feeling. In the past few weeks I have been going to bed around 1am to 2am and getting to sleep quite quickly. Still a bit late, but moving in the right direction.

I have been waking up (no alarm) between 7:30am and 9am. Still feel like I got hit by a truck when I wake up, but at least the timing is improving. I'm hoping that if my sleep is following the normal circadian rhythm again, then other things will also get back "on time".

How many mg is 1/4 tsp?

 

[Aileen]

The jar of powder comes with a scoop. It is approx. 1tsp. According to the label a scoop is 1.5g
So 1/4 of that would be .375g No idea what that is in mg. The jar contains 250g of powder and 3 scoops per day is the suggested dosage on the label.

You can get the same product in 750mg capsules. According to Swanson's website, the amount per "serving" is 1.5g (same as the powder) and serving size = 2 capsules.

I thought it would be easier to control the amount by using the powder. I put it into empty capsules and take it that way. You can just mix it in water though.

 

[Vegas]

So you're not taking a full pill, just a portion of it? The capsules come in 750mg servings.

That is correct, about 50 to 75 mg at a time two to three times a day. no more LAG at the moment. It was just making me too tired.

The last two weeks have been some of the most productive in memory. It seems that this is a very good routine for me.

 

[Vegas]

I am continuing to take 1/4tsp Swanson's FiberAid (LAG) daily. Had to stop everything a few days ago because of headaches. Restarted the LAG a couple days ago and everything was ok. Tried the Prescript-Assist today and started to get a headache so took an AlkaSeltzer Gold to try to ward it off. So far, so good.

I am finding that my sleep schedule is changing. Before starting on the pre/probiotics, I was having a difficult time sleeping. I would typically be up until 4-5am and sleep until 10am or so.

Since I've been on them (started April) I have actually been getting sleepy! The normal heavy eyes, yawning, wanting to lay down. It has been years since I have had the normal sleepy feeling. In the past few weeks I have been going to bed around 1am to 2am and getting to sleep quite quickly. Still a bit late, but moving in the right direction.

I have been waking up (no alarm) between 7:30am and 9am. Still feel like I got hit by a truck when I wake up, but at least the timing is improving. I'm hoping that if my sleep is following the normal circadian rhythm again, then other things will also get back "on time".

It seems as if there are two distinct kinds of tiredness. The good kind where one can become more somnolent and the bad kind where one is just exhausted. It seems that many of the positive steps I've taken have been met with an initial period of a couple of weeks or so of somnolence or just a heavy. sleepy feeling. I think this is a good thing. It sounds like you are on the right track

 

[Aileen]

Has anyone taken either pre or probiotics with digestive enzymes? I have a lot of food sensitivities and currently only have a handful of foods to eat. I could eat more food if I could cook but I also have extreme sensitivities to odours, therefore cannot cook anything or even heat something up.

I'm thinking that the food sensitivities is likely from leaky gut. To fix leaky gut, I need to get the right gut bugs to heal the lining of the colon. But, I can't eat the right foods to do that. I'm hoping if I can sort out the gut problems, the other sensitivities will go too. Vicious circle!!

So, I'm wondering if by taking digestive enzymes in addition to the pre & probiotics I could speed things up. I don't want any Betaine HCl because of CBS issues and I also seem to need alkaline help, not extra acid. But would digestive enzymes without the HCl help?

 

[Ripley]

Before starting on the pre/probiotics, I was having a difficult time sleeping. I would typically be up until 4-5am and sleep until 10am or so.

Since I've been on them (started April) I have actually been getting sleepy! The normal heavy eyes, yawning, wanting to lay down. It has been years since I have had the normal sleepy feeling. In the past few weeks I have been going to bed around 1am to 2am and getting to sleep quite quickly. Still a bit late, but moving in the right direction.

I have been waking up (no alarm) between 7:30am and 9am. Still feel like I got hit by a truck when I wake up, but at least the timing is improving. I'm hoping that if my sleep is following the normal circadian rhythm again, then other things will also get back "on time".

I can relate to this.

For me, I have Delayed sleep-phase disorder (DSPD). It's something that runs in my family. We like to stay up late (and sleep late). It's just the way we are wired, but artificial light exacerbates it. It's basically just a fancy way of saying you're a "night owl".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delayed_sleep_phase_disorder

It's not really a big deal, but if you want to not walk around like a zombie, it helps to do something about it. If you read through the wiki page, you see that the best/natural approach is light therapy. Get lots of natural light first thing in the morning and avoid blue light after 9:30pm.

Sitting in a lit room and staring into a TV or computer screen is like staring at the sun in terms of wavelengths and lux. f.lux is a popular light tuner for your computer (I use it to), but the software is inadequate on its own since your LED screen will always emit white/blue wavelengths no matter what color you tune it to. So, an easy solution is blu-blocker glasses. You feel like an idiot wearing them, but they make you quite sleepy and makes it easier to fall asleep at a normal time.

The science and tips are all explained in this article:

Chris Kresser: How artificial light is wrecking your sleep, and what to do about it

I don't want to derail the conversation, so, if you want to discuss, you can chat about it on this thread.

 

[adreno]

I've found a few times I need extra B2. Is there some mechanism by which taking prebiotics could deplete B2? I'm not taking RS currently, but am taking LAG.

 

[Asklipia]

So anyway, back to the subject of the thread, is anyone still experimenting with these prebiotics?

Yes. We are now taking every day 5 g inulin + 5 g arabinogalactan (Larix) + 5 g PS + 25 g dried plantain, in a Tsp of yogurt + 1 Tbs kefir. My husband is bigger and takes double that.
For the last 2 days we have added 10 g roasted chickpeas.
This is on top of normal food where there is as much RS and fiber as possible (asparagus or artichokes or boiled chicory, beans salad, cold pancakes, potato salad etc...).
Still having lymphatic burns here and there, much less now, especially since we have added every day some mushrooms:
10 g of auricularia (dried weight, then reconstituted) wherever I can fit it
a cup of reishi tea.
a handful of shitake in our scrambled eggs for breakfast
a pinch of Hericium erinaceus as a snack.
It seems either we have gone over the worst of the "detox" or the mushrooms are really helping. I suspect the latter.

At the same time we are also doing 20 mns oil pulling with sesame oil before breakfast.

A lot seems to be happening in our heads, around the eyes and ears, along the neck. My helmet for biking is suddenly too big!
My husband says that when he bends down and puts his head on his knees, it feels as though his eyes were so free they are going to pop out!
Good luck to all!
Asklipia

 

[Gemma]

Yes. We are now taking every day 5 g inulin + 5 g arabinogalactan (Larix) + 5 g PS + 25 g dried plantain, in a Tsp of yogurt + 1 Tbs kefir. My husband is bigger and takes double that.
For the last 2 days we have added 10 g roasted chickpeas.
This is on top of normal food where there is as much RS and fiber as possible (asparagus or artichokes or boiled chicory, beans salad, cold pancakes, potato salad etc...).
Still having lymphatic burns here and there, much less now, especially since we have added every day some mushrooms:
10 g of auricularia (dried weight, then reconstituted) wherever I can fit it
a cup of reishi tea.
a handful of shitake in our scrambled eggs for breakfast
a pinch of Hericium erinaceus as a snack.
It seems either we have gone over the worst of the "detox" or the mushrooms are really helping. I suspect the latter.

At the same time we are also doing 20 mns oil pulling with sesame oil before breakfast.

A lot seems to be happening in our heads, around the eyes and ears, along the neck. My helmet for biking is suddenly too big!
My husband says that when he bends down and puts his head on his knees, it feels as though his eyes were so free they are going to pop out!
Good luck to all!
Asklipia

Asklipia, your complex approach deserves some attention.

Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.
All diseases begin in the gut.
The natural healing force within each of us is the greatest force in getting well.

So, you are feeding your body with a big combo of very complex polysaccharides (resistant starches, glycans, inulin, .. the list is long), which feeds you and supports the growth of your beneficial gut flora.

You are using medicinal mushrooms, which help fighting fungal pathogens, which consequently promotes the beneficial gut flora again, and diminishes inflammation.

You are carefully stimulating your immune system with leguminous foods.

You are a big fan of oil pulling with sesame oil, which removes pathogens from your GI tract, influences gut -brain axis via vagus nerve stimulation, which again positively influences your gut flora.

You are vaping turmeric, an important agent in fighting all diseases that begin in the gut.

You have other complex techniques that help decrease inflammation and removal of endotoxins - lymph flow stimulation via Bains Dérivatifs, swimming and exercising yoga.

You are swimming in a rather dirty water, which could be helping to improve your skin microbiome, which in turn helps improving the gut flora. (They are cousins, and they are communicating and helping to feed each other).

 

[Asklipia]

Thank you @Gemma for researching what I did! I spent so much time documenting in detail what happened that I lost the general picture!

- We eat everything made from scratch, because there are so many preservatives in anything (including fresh vegetables) you can buy, we drink no bottled water because now I know the bottles are full of preservatives too.
To give a chance to our gut bacteria.


Enjoy and be well!