Broken Brain Dr. Mark Hyman's Documentary

[apod]

Hey bealre, Welcome to the forum!

I found this video particularly enlightening on the "Dietary Management of the Apo E4" from Dr. Steven Gundry @ AHS16:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NR7fqjNGwXg

You can try different approaches and see how your metabolic biomarkers react to the changes, and more importantly, how you feel after making some dietary tweaks. One of our members, Stavia is currently in the process of documenting her experience with different macronutrient ratios. You'll often find different approaches for reaching similar goals, but a common thread seems to be through fresh, whole foods, wrapped in a bit of eustress.

[TheBrain]

Alysson, I’ve been watching the Christianson series too as I think highly of him, however, was VERY distressed when he talked about APOE4 carriers eating low fat NOT high fat. Huh? This is not what I’ve been hearing from Bredesen and Hyman. I’m new here on this site and trying to straighten out my diet. I’d appreciate your thoughts on this.

Welcome, bealre! I'm glad you found us here. Please feel free to introduce yourself more fully under the Our Stories part of the forum. You'll also want to check out the Primer, written by our doctor member Stavia. Strategy 5 discusses diet. The link is viewtopic.php?f=33&t=1418. Feel free to ask any questions as they arise.

Not everyone here follows a high-fat diet. A lot of it depends on how our biomarkers respond to diet changes and, of course, how we feel. However, many of us here do follow a mildly ketogenic diet.

Personally, I disagree with Dr. Christianson's advice for APOE4 carriers, although I agree with virtually everything else he says (or at least what he says sounds reasonable to me). I have found that I've never come across anyone whom I agree with completely. He is one of them, along with everyone else.

That said, I am having trouble with my gut flora, and I must find a way to increase my resistant starch (which actually doesn't increase my carb load much, as I understand it, because it's fiber and thus food for our gut flora). But I don't want to start eating a lot of beans, for example. My body doesn't respond well to lots of carbs. Going on a ketogenic diet resolved my reactive hypoglycemia, and I'm no longer insulin resistant. It's hard to argue with that.

As Stavia says in the Primer, optimizing our glycemic markers is key when it comes to diet, and it's a high priority. But we don't all respond the same way to carbs.

Again, welcome!

[CarrieS]

[quote="alysson"]

For resistant starch, I also eat sweet potatoes (steamed, then cooled) and tigernuts. I'll have to try glucomannan again. It's one of the grossest foods I've ever put in my mouth, but 1/2 tsp provides 2 grams of fiber.

Dr. Christianson recently posted an article titled 30 Amazing Resistant Starch Foods for Better Digestion.

I've been purchasing totally green plantains, cutting them in to 1/4" thick slices, dehydrating them and then pulverizing into a powder. I put a heaping tablespoon into a breakfast product (smoothie, nut/seed "cereal", etc) every day. My body seems to like this but I haven't had my bifido levels checked yet. My eliminations are right on track though. From what I understand, variety is a good thing as far as feeding our colon bacteria with resistant starch so along with the green plantain, I make sure that I'm adding other options as well.

[jgilberAZ]

For resistant starch, I use banana flour.

I tried potato starch, but it made me feel "achy" all over.

I actually do both Metamucil unsweetened orange (1tsp) plus 1tsp of banana flour probably 4-5 days a week.

[TheBrain]

Carrie and jgilber, thank you for the suggestions! I like them all. I do think that variety is a good idea.

Carrie, how do you dehydrate the green plantains?

jgilber, I checked out the banana flour you linked to. The label says 25 grams of carbs, with 2 grams of fiber, for a 1/4 cup serving (though I see you use 1 tsp at a time). Still, I'm wondering if the label means there is only 2 grams of resistant starch in a 1/4 cup serving. In other words, is the fiber amount equivalent to the amount of resistant starch in a serving? Or is the actual amount of resistant starch not represented on the label?

[CarrieS]

Carrie, how do you dehydrate the green plantains?

I have an Excalibur dehydrator that I use to dry the rounds with (be sure to take off the peels before dehydrating). I dry them overnight between 115 and 125°. I pulverize the dried rounds in a mini food processor (magic bullet type) and then screen out the larger chunks if I need a smoother flour.

Amazon also sells organic green plantain flour. I just found it less expensive to make my own.

I've found a few recipes online using the green plantain flour (like pancakes, tortillas, etc) if you want ideas on ways to use the flour.

[TheBrain]

Thanks, Carrie. I appreciate this information. I don’t have a dehydrator, but I will look into getting one.

[jgilberAZ]

This shows the following:

Why Banana Flour?

Daily Nutrition of Zuvii Banana Flour
Resistant Starch RS2 – 20 g
Potassium – 330 mg
Dietary Fiber – 2 g
Protein – 1 g
Calcium – 4 mg
Sugar – 1 g
Total Carbohydrates – 25 g

[TheBrain]

Thanks, jgilber. This green banana flour is an excellent source of resistant starch.

[Lulu]

Sorry to pop in and out of these forums so infrequently, but I can get so busy and just do not have the time that I would like to read and study all of this information! But I saw an article recently that I think you may be interested in, for this particular topic. I remembered that bifidobacteria was being talked about, and the concern about low levels. The following may be a way to help increase those levels:

Research from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, has found that the cell walls of cranberries contain xyloglucan, a complex sugar that feeds the beneficial bifidobacteria, which enhances the bodies microbiome. So perhaps a cranberry extract supp would be helpful to pop along with your probiotic?

So there you go, nothing too earth shattering, but just wanted to share!