Over the past few days, I've been reading a few books by Dr Steven Gundry MD
about how our modern diets aren't good for our bodies (the books are '
The gut-brain paradox' and '
The energy paradox'). His
wiki
page is very critical of the claims that Gundry makes, although the wiki is
limited to Gundry's lectin-free diet and doesn't mention very much else. The
books are very American-centric; not all of us eat the same diet as the
average American, and so some of the advice/ranting is irrelevant. That
said, there are some small valuable pieces scattered here and there
throughout the books.
I don't suffer from brain fog (except when I'm ill and there's an
explanation for that) nor do I need to 'improve my mood'; I'm not gregarious
and never will be, so there's no need to fight this. I eat many 'good' foods
and I walk between 7-10 km a day, so there's plenty of exercise.
The one thing that I don't like about my body is that I am overweight. No
doubt part of this is due to the fact that I have been working from home for
four years, and the distance from my desk to the fridge is very short. I
have the habit - that I have to break - of eating something, normally a
biscuit, whenever I drink. And as I am advised to drink a lot, I also eat
too many biscuits each day. What does Dr Gundry have to say about
obesity?
Gundry writes a great deal about the microbiome (i.e. the bacteria and
fungi living within us in a symbiotic relationship) and how we should
nourish it as we will reap the benefits from doing so. Eating more fibre is
always recommended as we never eat enough these days with processed foods,
but the fibre isn't for us but rather for the microbiome. For several months
now I've been taking a probiotic pill each day - Bio 25 - that contains 11
different species of bacteria that are touted to alleviate various digestive
disorders. It's difficult to be scientific about this when I'm the sole
subject, but I think that this has helped me.
There was a hint in 'The gut-brain paradox' that the microbiome can help
one lose weight, so I googled this topic and found that there is a bacterium
called Lactobacillus Gasseri that is indeed touted to help
weight loss. But being a (failed) doctoral student, I have to look for
scientific research that shows this is so. I admit that I didn't look very
far but found an interesting
paper
on the topic. To quote its conclusion,
It seems that the use of a high dose of L. gasseri BNR17 in clinical
trials is associated with more pleasant [sic] results on weight loss.
This bacterium is not one of the eleven species that are contained within
the probiotic that I currently take, so I approached the probiotic's
manufacturers via a WhatsApp conversation, asking which of their products
contains this bacterium. The answer came back: Bio Female. Yes, this species
is included in a product aimed for women only! Looking at the five bacterial
species contained within this probiotic, I can see that one is the one I'm
looking for, and two are contained in my current probiotic. Maybe in the
future I'll take the new one and stop taking the old.
Another hint that I found was 'drink vinegar dissolved in water'. I became
aware of his hint, or hack if you prefer, two years ago in 'The Glucose Revolution'1. At the time, I found a paper that said that citric acid (as found in
lemon juice) is more effective at retarding amylase (the enzyme that breaks
down starch) in the mouth than is acetic acid (vinegar). But Gundry takes
this a step further: the acetic acid both slows the breakdown of starch in
the stomach that aids the mitochondria (the part of the cell that produces
energy) in working more efficiently, but also provides acetic acid as is
that is used to create
short chain fatty acids, that in Gundry's opinion are lacking.
Of course, I have to find peer reviewed approval of this idea and so found
this
paper
that shows that The addition of 5 mL, 10 mL or 15 mL of ACV [Apple cider vinegar] to the
diet resulted in significant decreases in body weight and BMI at weeks 4,
8 and 12 of ACV intake, when compared with baseline (week 0) (p<0.05).
The decrease in body weight and BMI seemed to be dose-dependent, with the
group receiving 15 mL of ACV showing the most important
reduction. I saw that the group that added 15 ml vinegar daily to their diets reduced
their weight by 10% after twelve weeks! They were drinking the vinegar on an
empty stomach, whereas I'm drinking it through the day.
A final hack is to reduce one's eating hours. I eat breakfast at 6:30 am,
lunch at 1 pm and a small supper at around 6 pm; the hack would be to eat
'supper' - normally a slice of bread with cheese and cucumber - at around 4
pm. This means that my body will be without food - or in a fasting state -
for fourteen and a half hours. There is a saying that I thought originated in
the Israeli army but is also quoted by Gundry (in English):
what doesn't kill you strengthens you*. Put another way (in my words),
a little suffering helps the body.
Gundry writes: Another study involving human volunteers, carried out by circadian
researcher Dr. Satchin Panda at the Salk Institute, showed that reducing
your “feeding” time (whether you’re a mouse or a human being) to ten
hours—leaving fourteen hours of non-eating—conferred huge benefits over
eating and digesting for fifteen hours and fasting for nine or fewer
hours. Dr. Panda found that even when slightly overweight people reduced
their eating window to ten hours, they reset their cellular clocks and
lost weight, were much more energetic, slept better, had improved moods
and sharper thinking—all over the course of just a few months.
I drink a glass of water before I start my morning walk and eat on my return; Gundry writes using your muscles in a fasted state promotes greater mitogenesis and hence greater energy production. I need to add some vinegar to that water to really help.
So here we are. I'll start on these hacks right away (I've been drinking
vinegar for the past few days) and hopefully I will see some decrease in my
weight.
* Apparently this came from Friedrich Nietzsche: “What doesn’t kill me makes me stronger.”.
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