Become a winner !

In the US they have a great reality show called “Alone in the Wilderness!”

10 survival experts are flown into isolation in a cold and rainy area and left without food and shelter. They have a few tools and now need to build a shelter, find food and basically survive as long as possible. The last man standing wins 500.000 us dollars.

They soon get the shelter established but finding food in the North American late autumn/winter is a real bitch. So they start to lose weight, while they hunt for roots and berries and attempt to fish. Here is the trailer from YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIJZjahUegI

 

Who’s gonna win?

It’s a relatively safe bet that the person with the highest body/mass index or excess weight, – to put it plainly, – will win.

30 kg’s. of extra body fat is a really good life insurance under such extreme circumstances. 30 kg’s was what the winner had lost after 100 days in the 2016 season in Patagonia. The light (low BMI) Alaskan girl who was his last opponent,- who had superior survival skills and a great mental attitude,- in the final, only lost 10 kg and was stopped out due to her medical condition,- her BMI had dived below 17.

The winner, who had lost 30 kg’s after 100 days, was only just approaching a healthy BMI of 25.

 

His “lunch pack” kept him going:

If you keep more or less out of the cold and avoid excessive effort 30 kg’s of fat will last you a hundred days where you can continue to burn 2000 Calories per day while waiting for the helicopter to fetch you.

 

And its great fun to watch the program, it’s a real drama.

 

The lunch pack kept him safe and so it has done for our ancestors and all mammals for millions and millions of years. It’s a winning strategy to have excess body fat.

Because we are still “Ice age man” our hormones and sensory system work together to induce us to put on as much weight as possible during the short summer where food is abundant.

 

Non Ice age (agrarian) man is only 1-200 generations in the making and post-industrial man is only 1-2 generations in the making.

This means that our system still is 99% geared towards surviving extreme hardship and not really geared to dealing with living in an environment of calorie abundance.

Nature doesn’t “trust” these radical changes yet and still adheres to the well tested strategy for our species, which includes accumulating as much body fat as possible when food is abundant.

 

And hence we put on weight in this never ending summer.

Unfortunately for us in our modern environment this isn’t a winning strategy.

 

The world is turning towards 1:3 being obese, – that’s more than 2 billion individuals worldwide.

The UN has recognized obesity as the primary threat to reaching its 2030 goals of health improvements, and the US military sees obesity as a primary threat to the nation’s security.

(And they are probably both right).

 

Why is our food so dangerous?

  1. Carbohydrates in the form of sweetened food and beverages forms addiction when it is eaten regularly due to the serotonin response in the hypothalamus to sugar.
  2. Ghrelin hormone is released in response to high calorie food, and drives you into a vicious circle where more high calorie food makes you more hungry inducing you to eat more of the same ( see super-size me amongst others https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LOvrkkj_T-I )
  3. High glycaemic foods like refined sugar and starch causes rapid changes in blood sugar inducing fast variation in insulin levels and resulting hunger surges as blood sugar recedes rapidly, again inducing af vicious circle.

 

These are the most well-known mechanisms but there are many more.

So what should we do?

 

If we look at Nature there are foods that do not induce us to eat more but level out our blood sugar so we are able to operate in periods of low calorie intake.

 

These foods are, – you probably guessed it, – roots and berries, high in fibres (especially soluble fibres have this effect) and low in calories.

When fermented in the lower intestine the bacteria produce short chained fatty acids.

These SCFA’s cause our internal hormone factory in the mycotic membrane to produce appetite reducing and blood sugar levelling hormones like GLP-1 GLP-2 PYY and more.

 

On top of this the filling of the bowel and intestine a feeling of fullness is greater per calorie with these vegetarian foods. Meaning fewer calories but still not feeling too hungry.

 

So turning to the hungry season food sources berries vegetables and roots will leave us with stable blood sugar while we slowly go through our personal lunch pack (extra body fat) and lose some weight without the agony of starvation.

This is Nature’s own blue print for losing weight and it works.

 

Some of the big pharmaceuticals are using these hormones to treat type 2 diabetes and also to attain outright weight loss. GLP-1 injections is one of the fastest growing and most profitable classes of diabetes drugs at the moment, and predicted to revolutionize the treatment when the prices reach a level where these injections can be given prophylactically, – to prevent type 2 diabetes to develop.

 

GLP-1 hormone in injectable forms is also given to patients who need to lose weight acutely. It’s very effective and at the moment still so expensive that only patients with very good medical coverage can afford it.

 

But we know that a high soluble fibre intake will boost your natural production of these hormones. Thus the soluble fibre smoothie is an effective aid in this process of turning to ICE age man’s low calorie winning strategy diet.

 

Example of a high content soluble fibre smoothie

A beetroot

5 carrots

Ginger

Peppermint

Frozen Peas

Frozen Spinach

Blueberries

An apple

An orange

30 gr of potato starch (resistant starch)

5-700 ml. of water

 

Its relatively low calorie compared to a juice, and it contains an extraordinary high content of soluble fibres.

You will feel a difference if you drink 6-700 ml. per day.

 

Can we be sure that soluble fibres will induce this change in microbiome and provoke a greater natural fullness through increased GLP-1 production?

Yes we do have pretty good evidence.

Take a look at this resent article from Reuters concerning research from University of Toronto, where they looked at many studies including a total of 1400 patients.

 

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-diabetes-fiber/soluble-fiber-may-improve-diabetes-control-idUSKCN1PI30A

 

The evidence is great enough to conclude that daily intake of soluble fibres is a really smart move if you wish to lose weight and combat high blood sugar.

But, – if you want to win “Alone in the Wilderness”, make sure you have 30 kg’s of excess body fat  !

Why is the smoothie not addictive ?

Food Addiction

“Food Addiction – a serious problem with a simple solution”

The header of a serious nutrition blog june 2017. I don’t agree and I don’t think there is a simple solution (even I have to admit that my smoothie routine is not that simple to follow.)

But the smoothie due to the hormonal response that the soluble fibers in vegetables cause, inducing and promoting certain gut bacteria to proliferate and produce scfa 

SCFA = short chained fatty acids ( acetate, propionate and buturate).

SCFA  stimulate the L-cells in the mucus membrane /gut wall to produce appetite regulating hormones GLP-1 and PYY )

-will help you tremendously to conquer food addiction.

Remember 800 gr. of fruits and vegetables a day is the recommended daily intake, and where the health benefits from vegetables level out, meaning that more doesn’t do you extra good. It is a vast amount to eat daily !.

The only way I know to reach that level is to blend them and to drink them daily ; eg. at breakfast, kept in the fridge, after a workout, or perhaps brought along to work in a 0,5 l bottle to counteract unplanned snacking in the late afternoon when blood-sugar is low.

One of my friends brings it along his long commutes to work. Another friend – Danish ambassador – in Afghanistan with a large crew of security people,  has his local employed cook blend it up for him daily.

Whatever works!.

Here is the list of the 17 most addictive foods compiled by University of Michigan using the Yale Food Addiction Scale:

  1. Pizza (4.01)
  2. Chocolate (3.73)
  3. Chips (3.73)
  4. Cookies (3.71)
  5. Ice cream (3.68)
  6. French fries (3.60)
  7. Cheeseburgers (3.51)
  8. Soda (not diet) (3.29)
  9. Cake (3.26)
  10. Cheese (3.22)
  11. Bacon (3.03)
  12. Fried chicken (2.97)
  13. Rolls (plain) (2.73)
  14. Popcorn (buttered) (2.64)
  15. Breakfast cereal (2.59)
  16. Gummy candy (2.57)
  17. Steak (2.54)
  18. Muffins (2.50)

Notice that there are no smoothie ingredients !

And here are the 10 least addictive

  1. Cucumbers (1.53)
  2. Carrots (1.60)
  3. Beans (no sauce) (1.63)
  4. Apples (1.66)
  5. Brown rice (1.74)
  6. Broccoli (1.74)
  7. Bananas (1.77)
  8. Salmon (1.84)
  9. Corn (no butter or salt) (1.87)
  10. Strawberries (1.88)

Apart from Salmon and perhaps brown rice they all belong in a smoothie.

The smoothies helps you to get rid of food addiction because

  • they contain non addictive ingredients.
  • they stimulate the gut bacteria to produce scfa which in turn stimulate the gut cells to produce appetite regulating hormones

So there may be no simple cure to get rid of food addiction but I do find that the smoothie routine after it is well established is slightly addictive and will help.

Here is what you should do; Try my once  weekly shopping list for 2 adults and 2 children (7 and 11years) and see if it makes a difference.

  • 10 apples
  • 10 oranges
  • 2 bags of frozen spinach
  • 2 kilos of carrots
  • 1 bag of frozen peas
  • 1 kilo of beetroots
  • 1 pointed cabbage
  • 2 bags of frozen strawberries
  • fresh ginger
  • fresh peppermint
  • fresh tumeric

That will get you through your week and hopefully get you addicted.

This shopping support most smoothies in my blog, but by no means limit yourself to these.

Other great ingredients include

  • green bananas
  • avocados
  • sweet potato
  • peas
  • grapes
  • potato starch (is a fantastic ingredient add 30-40 g daily- it is really cheap and consist of 70% resistant starch. It is practically cheating. Remember it has to be potato starch , -not corn starch not potato flour)

I hope your blender will be up to the job, otherwise add one 2200 Watt/3 hp blender to the list !

What else to shop; fruits and dense vegetables.

Its important to experiment to make it taste great. Remember to upload your recipes here.

Here is a seriously tasty recepy developed by my daughter :

  • 1 avocado
  • 1 green (unripe) banana. When they are green the starch is resistant. When they ripe this is converted into fructose.
  • 1 apple
  • 1 orange
  • 20 g. ginger
  • 2-3 g fresh peppermint
  • 100 g. strawberries (frozen)
  • 2 carrots (150 g)
  • 1 small beetroot (maybe 75g)
  • 100 g peas (frozen)
  • 100 g spinach (frozen)

remember about 500 ml of water.

What else to shop; fruits and dense vegetables, Basically everything that grow on a plant and is not toxic. For once the advice is go for quantity:

 

 

 

Does a large blender make a difference ?

The answer is yes it does !

Quite a few have attempted the smoothie routine and given up because they found it was simply not practicable and too time consuming.

But if you get it going rightly it’s practical and saves both money and time. Money because the ingredients are cheap and you eat less of other stuff. Time because once the routine is established you’ll find it really easy and you’ll spend less time at the bakers, the 7/11 or hunting for snacks in the cupboards late at night.

There is a planning and shopping routine, a smoothie routine and a cleaning and storage routine that all have to come together.

Here I will write a little about the blender, as it is essential for establishing the routine. Once the blending works the rest will sort itself out, – is my belief.

During our Christmas holiday I was confronted with a “normal” blender with 500 Watt, – not the 2200 W powerhouse that I’ve become accustomed to use.

The blending was  cumbersome, and it took a long time to reach a satisfying result. The blender (a Bosch) broke down after a week.

I reflected on my blender history and remembered how I used to struggle with the expensive 700 W Kitchenaid and the inexpensive 600 W Elektrolux blenders. And how they eventually broke down after many repairs.

The smoothie routine is not gentle on your blender and because it is so important for your health, you really should  save some trouble and get the right blender from the start. I give this advice even if you are not doing smoothies as an everyday routine yet, because it will help you tremendously in getting the routine thoroughly established.

I was also asked my advice before Christmas a couple of times about which blenders to get.

My own experience is that the most important issue is power. I have a 2200 W (or 3 hp) Blendtec Classic that I got on a sale a year and a half ago and it really does a great and fast job, – the smoothies are enjoyably smooth and the tastes of the ingredients really come out. My brother in law has a Sage Boss from Heston Blumenthal, also 2200 W and it is equally good (perhaps better because it makes less noise). Both have 8 year warranty. Vitamix, Bosch and others also make powerful and really good blenders and even though they are relatively expensive,- with daily use, – given the many health benefits and long warranty, the investment will be returned many times.

My mother though uses an inexpensive Wilfa blender (1700 W) and I have to give her it actually works well, – but that too is quite a powerful blender. Once you start looking for good deals on the internet you will see that there are many exiting choices. My general advise is to, go for power and long warranty. I also recommend reading customer reviews and test results.

To get a good blender will draw you to the kitchen and start you up. Once you get going you will soon acquire a lot of experience and what seemed a cumbersome and impracticable procedure will turn out to be no more so, than emptying the dishwasher or grinding coffee beans and making coffee.

A colleague who had been struggling to lose weight finally got around to buying a Blendtec Classic in December (I found it on sale for 2.600 DKK/ 400 US$ on the internet) and he is now providing himself and the family of 4, with fresh smoothie every day. There is an added benefit; both teenage boys are awoken abruptly when the 3 Hp blender with frozen ingredients is fired up at 6.05 every morning.

To counteract the noise from these machines (and they are noisy) I put a bath towel over mine while running the smoothie program. It has the added benefit that should the lid come off (which has been known to happen,- especially when overloaded) I do not have to repaint the kitchen but only wash the towel.

Yesterday I made a  smoothie with 11 ingredients. My smoothies tend to become more and more complicated the more I experiment. With the intense smoothie action the blender provide, the complex tastes and blends intensify and really manifest. Somehow strawberries and beetroot, carrots apples ginger and citrus amplify each other to really enjoyable taste experiences.

11 ingredient smoothie :

  1. A beet root
  2. An apple
  3. An orange
  4. 3 carrots
  5. 100 g pointed cabbage
  6. 5-10 leaves of peppermint (fresh)
  7. 5 g of turmeric (fresh)
  8. 15 g. of Ginger (fresh)
  9. 5-10 strawberries.
  10. 100 g. green peas (frozen)
  11. 1/3 lemon.

I hope you will be inspired and will take up the challenge and come up with even more exiting taste compositions as your own routine is established.

Healthy greetings

Ole

Christmas smoothie.

A recent study from Copenhagen university published in Nature showed how people with- and without prevotella bacteria in their intestinal microbiome react to an altered diet with increased vegetables and fibers. All the 60 participants were overweight and all changed from traditional Danish food to “New Nordic Diet” with increased vegetables and wholegrain but no calorie restriction. After 6 months those with prevotella bacteria had lost on average 3,5 kg’s. Those with less than 1% prevotella had lost significantly less if anything. Only 3 persons or 10% of the non prevotella group had changed microbiome profile towards having more prevotella bacteria during the experiment.

The conclusion was that people without prevotella should not use a diet with increased fibers and vegetables for losing weight and also they should not expect to gain prevotella bacteria from changing diet.

 

This left me in a bit of a predicament, since I in this blog advise people to increase vegetable intake with the smoothie routine in order to change microbiome and loose weight. There is still plenty of evidence to support the claim of increased vegetable intake will support your health, but now it was strongly suggested that only those who have already prevotella would benefit through the mechanisms of the microbiome.

Could this really be that simple and what about those who had already reaped the results and lost significant weight, as well as type 2 diabetics who use the routine with great success to reduce their pre-prandial bloodsugar level.

It turned out I was not the only one who felt that the articles conclusions went too far.

Quite a few influential scientists in the field went out to criticize the conclusion and the way the experiment was set up.

However in general we were left with a picture of the complexity of  microbial mechanism which, I have to admit, have been promulgated by the more influential scientific writers all along.

Relating to this recent study, what is undeniable, – is the clear demonstration that people with prevotella do lose significant weight when put on a diet,- without restriction of calories,- but rich in vegetables and fibers.

That only 10% of the non prevotella group would change profile towards more prevotella is surprising and its particular this part of the finding which is being questioned.

It is certain that the microbiome in most people is relatively stable from 2-3 years and on wards, – so that for instance a complete fecal transplant will not change the microbiome profile permanently. The general view is that it is possible to influence the microbiome profile through a long time change in diet and that it may take several years to obtain a meaningful change.

 

What happens then in the short term when we increase our vegetable intake from below 200 gr per day to 7-900 grams and increase soluble fibre intake from below 5 gr to 20 gr per day.

The existing microbiome containing primarily bacteroides certainly reacts and short chain fatty acids are produced and  stimulate the intestinal wall to produce hunger reducing hormones like GLP-1 and PYY, – but maybe not to the same effect than if we had had a microbiome from the onstart consisting of 50% prevotella like the African children.

But over a longer period the microbiome will adapt itself to an increased fibre intake and as a consequence will contain increasingly more prevotella.

In the study 10% of the participants who had 0 or less than 1% prevotella developed an above 5% content over 6 months. In the smoothie routine we increase the soluble fiber intake to the double of those in the study and given time eg. 2 years years in stead of 6 months, most will obtain significant effect and will have changed the microbiome in a meaningful fashion.

After 2 years I myself suddenly without other factors changed, lost an additional 2 Kg’s within a month.

The long term perspective emphasizes that the smoothie routine need to be pleasant and easy to follow.

Luckily for me it is exactly that, – and this brings me to my Christmas smoothie which consists of :

5 carrot’s

1 beetroot

1 orange

2 apples

5 gr of fresh turmeric

15 gr of fresh ginger

150 gr of green peas

500 ml. of water

This smoothie should get you safely through the cold season.

Soluble fiber cracker

This post starts with a beetroot smoothie recipe, because 300 ml. is needed for the crackers.

I’m increasingly fond of beetroot as ingredient in smoothies. A range of health benefits are attributed to the beetroot including, stimulating production of anti inflammatory enzymes, increasing white blood cell count, detoxification of the liver, maintenance of the intestinal tract and more..

Read about beetroots at : https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/ingredient-focus-beetroot

My beetroot smoothie is designed to be healthy and tasty :

1 orange with the bitter white pectin holding “peel stuff”. ( if you peel it with a potato peeler it leaves a lot of the withe).

 With the fresh mint leaves this mellows the characteristic taste of beetroot..

4 small apples.

100 g frozen peas.

1 small beetroot, (with skin but scrubbed thoroughly)

10 g of Ginger

5 g of fresh turmeric (be careful – its taste is very strong).

4-6 leaves of fresh mint.

1 medium size carrots

100 g. frozen spinach

100 g frozen strawberries

500 ml or water.

(if your blender isn’t large enough you may leave out the carrot and the spinach).

A few weeks ago I made my first experiment with a snack alternative to the smoothie and in order not to make it too difficult I took a proven cracker recipe and modified it to contain a high content of soluble fibers.

The cracker came out nicely looking but because soluble fibers absorb water to a very high degree it wasn’t crisp but rather soggy. I put them back in the oven and dried them out at low heat for an extra hour, and now they were crisp and rather cracker like.

So far so good.

The taste is very nice, and the intended effect, to make you feel full without eating too many calories worked well too. My two daughters, their friends and my wife also liked them and soon I had to make a new batch. They go well with the smoothie, and they do make you feel very full, especially after half an hour or so. It’s a little deceptive because 3 hours later the body reacts with strong hunger, when the cracker/smoothie snack has been fully digested.

And if you take it in the evening you may wake up feeling very thirsty. The crackers with their high content of soluble fibers do absorb quite a bit of water from the stomach.

Here is the recipe, that I hope you will try out and perhaps develop further.

It’s thought as an alternative to a granola bar or snack, that will reduce your hunger between meals, without too many calories.

In a large bowl mix:

4 dl (1 dl. equals 100 ml or approximately half a cup) Oats. Oats have a low glycemic index and a relatively high content of soluble fibres ( 3,5 g/ 100g). 

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/how-make-porridge-best-breakfast-ever

2 dl Rye flower

https://draxe.com/rye-flour/

1 dl sesame seeds

https://draxe.com/sesame-seeds/

1 dl flax seeds (omega 3fatty acids)

https://draxe.com/10-flax-seed-benefits-nutrition-facts/

1 dl sunflower seeds (lowers cholesterol)

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=57

1 dl rapeseed oil (lowers cholesterol, omega 3 fatty acid)

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/glossary/rapeseed-oil

½ dl sugar (optional) taste and nothing else.

Salt to taste

3 dl. Beetroot smoothie (any smoothie will do)

https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/howto/guide/ingredient-focus-beetroot

1 dl chia seeds ( 70 % soluble fibers) a range of health benefits.

https://draxe.com/chia-seeds-benefits-side-effects/

1 dl potato starch (70 % resistant starch)

http://drhyman.com/blog/2016/03/24/the-starch-that-makes-you-lean-and-healthy/

1 dl psyllium husk (70% soluble fibre)

https://draxe.com/psyllium-husk/

 

Mix for a few minutes, but not too long. The dough should be a firm cohesive relatively wet dough.

Roll the dough thinly between 2 pieces of baking paper 2-3 mm thickness.

Sprinkle with sesame seeds and roll again to make the seeds stick to the surface, then remove the upper sheet of paper.

Cut (gently) into cracker pieces without cutting the paper.

Bake at 200 C for 20-25 min. until lightly brown.

Rearrange on a baking grill and bake for one full additional hour at only 50 C

This re-baking is to dry out the cracker.

They really are not very interesting if they contain water,- the husk, chia and potato starch, do not easily give up their water content so extra drying is necessary.

Once they are really dry they should become completely crisp, and very tasty.

I hope you will experiment with the recipe

I call it a beetroot sesame cracker.

Enjoy.

Healthy Greetings Ole

The smoothie practice, a gentle intervention.

In my last post I wrote about some of the perils connected to dieting and excessive training, where radical changes may provoke the metabolism to react in a counter productive and sometimes even harmful way. My own practice is one of gentle intervention.

I don’t diet but have added the smoothie routine to my daily diet. I still eat a normal breakfast, but I drink the 300 ml. smoothie before or at breakfast. It makes me feel full and as a consequence I eat less. In the afternoon in stead of snacks I drink another 300 ml.  I also eat a normal lunch and dinner, only I eat slightly less than I used to.

One month after starting the routine I had gained 1 kg of weight, 3 months on I had lost 3 kg’s and now 18 months into the routine my weight is remarkably stable and I do not consider weight or appetite an issue any more.

This intervention in my diet has  boosted my fruit and vegetable intake to the recommended 800 g per day  and my intake of soluble fibers to 20 g / day.

I don’t stick to one smoothie recipe but experiment a little every week adjusting my purchases to what I think could be  interesting.

Here is a new recipe that my wife came up with, – it has incredible color and great taste :

  • 150 g.  Beetroot, – great color, relative neutral taste, a field of health benefits including cholesterol lowering effect high content of soluble fibers. (2g/100g)
  • 10 g Fresh turmeric, – taste, great color, high content of soluble fibers and a field of health benefits including being anti inflammatory and antidepressant
  • 2 nectarines, – Taste and high content of soluble fibers (1,0g/100g)
  • 350 g. Carrots, – Relatively high content of soluble fibers. (2g/100g)
  • 20 g Ginger, – Taste and high content of soluble fibers. (2,5g/100g)
  • 1 Grape fruit -, Taste and high content of soluble fibers. (2g/100g)
  • 2 Apples, -Taste and high content of soluble fibers. (2g/100g)
  • 1 Orange -, Taste and high content of soluble fibers. (2g/100g)
  • 5-600 ml of water, to blend

Those not familiar with producing smoothies may benefit from watching my quick demo of the basic smoothie :

Stay healthy / Ole

The close link between eating and the psyche.

My own reflection and experience with the boost of vegetable intake and subsequent change of the profile of gut bacteria, have made me aware that the diminishing appetite is also accompanied with a change in my general psychic state, towards less anxiety.

Reflecting on this effect I found that for me personally hunger and unconscious fear are intimately connected. I think that it is not so strange that the organism may generate fear as a response to hunger, since for millions of years hunger has been the greatest threat to existence.

If one can accept this, then one can perhaps also accept that the absence of hunger may have a profound effect on the level of anxiety,- that one carries around.

There is a lot of evidence that the psyche and eating is closely linked and often is a great individual challenge. There are today 30 million Americans with eating disorders  and it is asserted that approximately 10% of westerners will be affected by an eating disorder at one point of their life.

I’ve never myself been diagnosed with an eating disorder but I did  physically feel terribly inadequate as a teenager. I responded by engaging in sports to the extend that for certain periods in my life one might  consider it a mild case of training disorder.  I lost weight and accompanied with this felt much better. When for periods I stopped training due to injuries etc. I quickly regained the lost weight, – and felt terrible.

We talk about eating to feel happy and  as a reaction to diminish stressful emotions, anxiety and sorrow. Some  abstain from food to regain a feeling of control of their life or to gain strength in circumstances that seems threatening. We can probably all relate to at feeling of guilt when we overeat and perhaps even depression with our physical appearance or condition. Finally we see how obese people including children, are traumatized by the surroundings reaction to their condition.

Bottom line for me is that one of the greatest benefits of obtaining relief from excessive appetite e.g. through using the healthy smoothie routine, is the tranquility and absence of anxiety which one may experience.

My own experience was that I was able to sleep better, and my general state was improved with diminished anxiety and stress.

4 scientific testimonies of the gut bacteria’s and GLP-1 hormone’s, effect on the parasympathetic system and the psyche:

  1. A very recent article in The Lancet describes how treatment with GLP-1 has astonishing effect on Parkinson; In 2014 and 2015, 60 patients with Parkinson received GLP-1 or placebo injections. At the end of the study the 31 patients that received GLP-1 had not worsened, but their Parkinson had decreased. The 29 patients receiving placebo had worsened. We are likely to hear a lot about this in the near future, as it is a significant medical breakthrough.
  2. Rodent studies have shown that GLP-1 can stimulate rats to improve memory.
  3. A study in the UK has shown that GLP-1 has a positive effect in stopping the further development of  Alzheimer. Very large studies involving thousands of Alzheimer patients have begun to further study and document these effects.
  4. That the gut bacteria has an effect on the psyche has been shown with rodents, where nervous mice had their gut bacteria wiped out with antibiotics. Then gut bacteria from normal,- not nervous,- mice was transplanted, and it was observed that the mice then became “not nervous”.

Smoothie results and how to sustain them.

People who have taken up the smoothie have used it to great effect. I wish to showcase a couple of stories here. And also mention something about the danger of regaining weight after weight loss.

Lars and Rasmus have both agreed to be interviewed and I plan to make a small video with some more details shortly.

Lars 54 :

My neighbor I discovered a few years ago has type 2 diabetes. What I didn’t know was that he had serious problems controlling his blood sugar  in spite of receiving  some of the best treatment in the world, from “Steno Diabetes Center” and “Rigshospitalet”.

For the past 10+ years he has been unable to get his pre prandial (before meals) blood sugar levels into the recommended range and it’s been steadily rising.

6 months ago he started to make smoothie every morning and after 2 months he saw that his blood sugar had fallen for the first time in 10 years from 12 to 10 mmol/l. Last month when he was at his regular quarterly checkup, his before meal blood sugar had reached the target below the recommended 7 mmol/l.  It’s a truly spectacular result given the history of his illness. According to Lars it is also achieved by increasing his daily exercise routines. He is of cause continuing his regular medical treatment, but now supplemented with the smoothie routine.

Rasmus 44 :

My brother in law is a large man, a great cook and lover of food. For the past 10 years hes been gaining weight to the point where he was almost reaching 100 kilos and a BMI close to 30. I started him up on the smoothie at Christmas this year. Shortly after he felt that he was able to control appetite with the smoothie and this gave him the courage to take a hit at a diet. He’s always been very physically active but has in general not been successful with diets. Not so this time! He went on a 1.900 calorie diet, including 1,5 l of smoothie daily, + a lot of exercise.  These days (after 8 months) he’s approaching the end of his diet and has lost 17 Kg’s. He is continuing the smoothie after the diet in order not to re- gain weight.

Keeping the weight gain may be difficult.

It’s very important to continue the smoothie routine also after the weight loss target has been reached. A recent study from Copenhagen university published in Journal of Indocrinology found that up to 1 year after loosing weight the body keeps releasing hunger stimulating hormones. This explain the yo-yo weight phenomenon that obese people often discover; that shortly after loosing a lot of weight they are unable to keep it and quickly regain the lost weight.

 

Keeping up the smoothie always may be difficult and it may be necessary to reach out to ready made solutions. Look out for soluble fiber products like; Psyllium-Husk , Chia seeds, raw Potato starch, Hi Maize, Inulin, Pectin and more all contain 50-90% soluble fibre (or resistant starch). A couple of table spoons  at breakfast added to Muesli or even drunk in a glass of water will keep the gut bacteria happy.

This will boost your soluble fiber intake also when the smoothie isn’t available.

 

Why is keeping normal weight so difficult ?

If you are an athlete and train 10-15 hours per week your daily energy consumption may be as high as 5-6.000 calories and you will still not gain weight.

The rest of us have a energy expenditure of 2-3000 calories depending on our activities, our body weight, and the average temperature in our direct environment.

It’s no big surprise that the athlete feels hungry and eats a lot. When he stops his career he is bound to feel less hungry – and he does. At the same time most ex-athletes have problems not gaining weight. This fact should give us a hint that energy consumption is not fully dependent on our energy expenditure.

We see the same phenomenon in obese people, they feel appetite which isn’t related to their energy expenditure.

The common explanation is that the ex athlete or obese person has a psychological dependency on the pleasure from eating high calorie food. It’s  a common assumption that an overweight person may be helped to change his life style towards less energy consumption and a higher energy expenditure through diet and increased exercise. Health authorities certainly have been promoting this life style change for 40 years now. The same authorities also see that in general this strategy has failed spectacularly and we humans are collectively becoming alarmingly overweight in the West and in the emerging economies.

Does it mean that we all have a psychological dependency on the pleasure derived from eating high calorie foods ?

No, – in reality  athletes are strong willed and overweight people do not have weaker wills than the rest of us. Both athletes and obese have a bacteria profile that work to make them gain weight. If we all had the same profile we would also feel increased hunger!.This insight have been provided in very resent studies into the mechanism’s that regulate appetite.

In one study, rodents given a high calorie food containing sugar and fat did not become less hungry, but due to a hormonal response ( increased ghrelin production), they became more hungry (and obese).

When the obese mice had their gut bacteria exchanged with gut bacteria from lean mice their appetite was reduced and they began to loose weight.

The same phenomenon is found in humans; The interaction between the bacteria and the metabolism causes us to gain or loose weight.

Now if we see that the food we eat causes us to have a specific profile of gut bacteria and these bacteria in turn cause us to release either appetite increasing hormones like grehlin (and insulin), or appetite reducing hormones like GLP-1 and PYY, then it becomes clear, that lifestyle changes may not be a matter of a strong will or a well planned diet and exercise program.

This insight offers a rather satisfying answer to why the health authorities advise to change lifestyle has had so little effect: The advice hasn’t taken the appetite regulating hormones into account, but relied on the simplistic assumption, that a human will feel full when he has eaten sufficient food to cover his energy expenditure.

We may use the insight to develop an alternative approach or method to dieting and staying slim.

We must eat to change the microbiata in the gut, in order to avoid releasing appetite increasing hormones and instead produce appetite reducing hormones. If we can achieve this then the recommended lifestyle changes  will actually be achievable, because we are helped by the hormones.

It’s not good trying to work against hormones,- they tend to win in the end. Fortunately for most people it’s relatively simple to change the profile of the gut bacteria,  by increasing soluble fiber intake e.g. by increasing daily intake of vegetables to the recommended 800 g.  The change will happen in approximately 48 hours.

My latest smoothie aim at providing this change and it has a high content of soluble fibers.

If you produce smoothies or similar you may yourself experiment with recipes; I use this webside to look for soluble fiber content in new ingredients:

Fiber Content of Foods

My latest smoothie is easy to make it’s tasty and high on soluble fibers:

150 g sweet potato

150 g spinach

1 peach

1 green banana

150 g strawberries

1 grapefruit

20 g of ginger

150 g peas

150 g pointed cabbage

500 ml. water.

I sometimes drink smoothie at lunch instead of water. I do it because I actually like it and not because I’m trying to change my lifestyle. I find changing lifestyle works best if it’s easy, tasty and effective. The smoothie works for me and has done so increasingly for the past 18 months.

Healthy greetings Ole

Kaisa’s recipe

Kaisa  (10) is not convinced that smoothies need to taste of spinach. So she has modified my recipe slightly , – its very very nice :

  • 100 g. Spinach, – Neutral taste and high content of soluble fibers. (3,5g/100g)
  • No pointed cabbage !.
  • 300 g Strawberries, – Taste and high content of soluble fibers(2g/100g)
  • 150 g. Carrots, – Relatively high content of soluble fibers.(2g/100g)
  • 30 g Ginger, – Taste and no content of soluble fibers.(0 g/100g)
  • No peas !.
  • 1 Apple, -Taste and high content of soluble fibers.(2g/100g)
  • 1 Orange -, Taste and high content of soluble fibers.(2g/100g)
  • 300 ml of water, to blend.

A total of approximately 20 g. of soluble fibers,- not bad.

Please see video instruction here :

She has also invited me to try another of her smoothies the taste here is more like a milkshake.:

  • 2 Nectarines, taste and relatively high content of soluble fibers (1/100g)
  • 250 g Strawberries, – Taste and high content of soluble fibers(2g/100g)
  • 150 g. Carrots, – Relatively high content of soluble fibers.(2g/100g)
  • 20 g Ginger, – Taste and high content of soluble fibers.(2,5g/100g)
  • Juice from 1 lime (no fibers)
  • 400 ml of skimmed milk. (no fibers but high grade protein 3,5 g/ 100)