I'm fascinated (and very sympathetic) when I read these dialogues, because in stark contrast to those troubled with sensitivities to particular foods, I've never encountered any appreciable difference in health, appetite, energy, work capacity, or peculiar weight response to any food group in particular (when not indulged to excess). With me, it's always been pretty much a case of calories in, calories out. I guess I tend to eat broadly in line with what's called the "food pyramid" - simply because I was brought up eating that way - but I like to try different cuisines and even when I've eaten quite exotic foods, I've rarely noticed any unusual reaction. The ability of humans to flourish on a very wide variety of diets - geographically and historically - testifies to our selection for adaptability, and I suspect that serious intolerances to particular ingredients tend consequently to be relatively uncommon, though of course of great annoyance to those who are affected.
David
Anything with wheat sends my entire body for a tailspin, so yeah, I notice it. The people in the "gluten intolerance" group take it for granted that after getting some gluten, their appetite will go way up the next few days. I'm not sure why this happens, but wheat gluten, in particular, reacts with the lining of your intestine in interesting ways that are just now really being studied. It does this in other mammals too. The lining of your gut is where a lot of the "appestat" work happens. So when it gets messed up, it affects your appetite.
I've long suspected that the reason people *can* eat huge quantities of pizza is the gluten and the casein. Both are "sticky" proteins that coat the villi in the small intestine. Guess what? Those villi are the ones responsible for "sampling" your food and helping you decide when it's time to stop eating. So eating bread before a meal is basically like cutting the lines to the brakes. Mix that with enough wine or beer so your cognitive centers are clouded, and you can eat HUGE meals.However, when we switched from gluten-flours to rice-flours, my husband stopped eating his usual half a pizza, and got full on one slice. At the time, they were still full of cheese, so I don't think the cheese was the issue in his case. He eats way, way less than he used to, but is not on a diet of any kind.Corn, however, does a similar thing to me as wheat. With tortilla chips, I can eat a whole bag. Ditto for popcorn. Corn doesn't make me ill, but my joints tend to hurt the next day.
Yet "Asian" style rice (no fortification, and it's stickier) has no effect at all. It tends to be quite satiating and offsets the fish, vegies, eggs, that I put over it.Given that the rice- and yam-eaters of the world tend to be skinnier than the corn- and wheat-eaters of the world, I think there is something about corn and wheat that is unique to them. (Barley and rye I put in with wheat, they have similar proteins). The Sumo wrestlers in Japan are fed wheat noodles rather than rice (and beef rather than fish, but that is another topic).Probably has to do with the lectin (protein, gluten) content of the grain, not the starchy part. But it could also have to do with the "fortification" that is added to these grains in the US.
On Mon, May 10, 2010 at 5:37 AM, RickS <rstewart@iaff.org> wrote:
I've been suspecting that grains of any sort increase my hunger to epic proportions. So I don't eat grains. I got on FitDay.com and checked my nutritional profile and even with no grains, I'm getting the full spectrum of micronutrients. The one exception to my no grains rule has been for the last two weeks I've had one non-alcoholic beer with my meal. Beer is made from barley or wheat malt. Well guess what? As soon as I added the NA beer to my menu, my food cravings went through the roof!! So I've stopped drinking that now and my appetite is almost totally gone. Amazing.
This was really driven home to me this weekend at an Italian restaurant we visited for mother's day. I noticed that as soon as people sit down, they bring out the big baskets of bread. I mean I had noticed it before and quite enjoyed it, but now it dawns on me that it's GOT to be an intentional thing to make people hungrier so they'll order more food!! If I go to a restaurant and don't eat the chips (crisps) or bread at the beginning of the meal, I can get out of there without eating very much at all. If I have chips or bread or beer before I order, it's like I have no control over myself and end up ordering an appetizer and the biggest thing on the menu regardless of the price, plus desert and more bread and chips and beer.
Anyone else notice this?
-Rick Stewart
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