OneGuyFromBarlick

Well said Tiz, appalling reporting taking the opportunity to attack low carb eating. The original article in the Lancet only spoke about fibre. We get plenty fibre from green veg, berries, nuts and seeds and even dark chocolate. I've just watched the BBC news report suggesting getting your 30gms from 2 slices of toast plus porridge and a banana for breakfast followed by pasta or rice for lunch and tea. A recipe for insulin resistance and diabetes .... absolutely appalling. I'd also like someone to explain the direct effect of fibre on heart health.

Dead right Tiz, very bad reporting. You are right about them confusing the high carbs with all carbs.... Like Wendy I get plenty of fibre even though I have knocked out most sugar and flour.
I too wonder about fibre and hearts.... Perhaps they know something we don't! Whatever, I am covered...

It's been known for a long time from many studies that dietary fibre lowers heart disease risk and there are several physiological mechanisms involved. A major one is that it lowers blood total and LDL cholesterol in two ways. Fibre binds dietary cholesterol directly in the gut and leads to it being lost via the faeces. In a simlar way it also binds and removes excess bile acid which is synthesised in the liver from cholesterol and secreted via the bile duct into the gut; that causes more cholesterol to be converted to bile acid. This again reduces blood cholesterol. Bile acid is the gut's fat emulsifier and aids digestion. Having done its job the bile acid is re-absorbed and transported back to the liver via the `enterohepatic circulation'. Fibre can syphon off bile acid from this circulation which means the liver has to find more cholesterol from the blood. (It's all really more complicated than that but the enterohepatic circulation is interesting because it can lead to toxic chemicals and drugs failing to leave the body.) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enterohepatic_circulation

Dietary fibre forms a gel in the intestine which then absorbs molecules such as cholesterol and bile acid and carries them though the gut. The gel also seems to moderate rises in blood glucose and lipids, and slow gastric emptying which maintains satiety (reduces snacking!). Another probable mechanism is the fermentation of soluble fibre to produce short-chain fatty acids which also reduce cholesterol levels.

I think we have had a comprehensive explanation Wendy! Isn't OG wonderful.....
I thought I was clever but it appears that me body has me beat by a country mile!

I suspect that dietary fibre might also - by a similar mechanism of absorbing and `sweeping out' - help to remove undesirable chemicals from the gut. For example, pollutants in our food. I haven't heard of evidence for that but it sounds feasible.

Of course, dietary fibre is very important for its bulking effect and prevention of constipation. And thereby hangs a tale! Most medical people who learn about dietary fibre hear that the surgeon Denis Burkitt FRS was the one who led the way with his early studies. But there was another, less well-known, man pioneering the study of dietary fibre in health: Surgeon Captain `Peter' Cleave and his story is particularly interesting. During WW2 he was surgeon on board the battleship HMS Duke of York where he introduced a high fibre diet and found the men were healthier for it (and probably happier too to be relieved of constipation!). He had sacks of bran delivered to the ship and gained the nickname `the Bran Man'. I've added a link below to a Wellcome Library archive about Cleave and it's worth reading. It shows he was ahead of the curve in thoughts not just on fibre but on the dangers of too much sugar, carbohydrate, fat and over-consumption in general.
Cleave

NB. The Duke of York and its escorts sank the German battle cruiser Scharnhorst and dietary fibre might have contributed to this success!

"The Duke of York and its escorts sank the German battle cruiser Scharnhorst and dietary fibre might have contributed to this success!"
Careful Tiz, you are bordering on journalist speak!
However, like anything connected with our bowels or waterworks, not enough attention is paid to being costive. Nothing quite beats a good clear out after the early morning pot of tea! As my mate David Moore once said, this is all we are 'entitled' to, everything that follows is a bonus.

It might have been journalist speak but the Duke of York probably had the healthiest crew in the Royal Navy in WW2 and you need a healthy crew to win battles.

I watched the Panorama programme about the disruptive tactics and sharp practices of Just Eat and Deliveroo last night. The situation with take-aways is far worse than I thought!

Here's a happy coincidence! A few days ago I wrote on this topic about confusion over `carbs' and how dietary fibre too is carbohydrate. Now the BBC has put up an information web page titled `10 things you may not know about carbs'. It goes a step further than I did and explains about `resistant starch'. I didn't mention this because I was keeping my post simple and short. Basically, when cooked starchy foods cool down part of the starch alters its structure and becomes resistant to our body's digestive enzymes. Re-heating and freezing also change some of the starch into the resistant form. The resistant starch passes through our stomach intact but is utilised by gut bacteria in th the same way as dietary fibre.
10 things you may not know about carbs

That's good news for me Tiz because I cook in industrial quantities and many of my meals are reheated! Thanks for that.....

The chances of this happening are probably best described as `pie in the sky'!
`The diet to save lives, the planet and feed us all?' LINK

A look at who is behind this report.

https://www.efanews.eu/item/6053-the-ea ... aunch.html

Tizer wrote: ↑16 Jan 2019, 09:52 Re-heating and freezing also change some of the starch into the resistant form.

. My fish and chips + peas, are looking like a good diet. Although the article doesn't mention potatoes as carbohydrates it would seem that oven chips (pre-cooked) taken out of the freezer and then warmed up to a nice crispy texture cannot be anything but good for you. How about that then?

Wendy, a good article, thanks. "What we should avoid is losing ourselves in slogans, nutritional scientism, and distorted worldviews." was a key phrase that grabbed me. I totally agree. Global education and access to birth control would do more good.

P. Fish chips and peas have always been good grub. I occasionally allow myself chips even though they are officially streng verboten.

I heard a debate on Farming Today yesterday between the leader of the main organisation promoting Veganism and a very forthright farmer who held her own but she was up against what I see as the 'Evangelist Syndrome'. The man refused to accept any criticism of their tactics or aims and demonstrated not only a complete ignorance about farming and the relationship between animals and soil fertility but a complete anthropomorphic attitude, he gave all the animals human attributes. I'm sorry but human beings have evolved to be omnivores and I shall not be bucking evolution!
Later..... I'm listening to On Your Farm. A farmer in Shetland is being interviewed and all Vegans should be encouraged to listen to his good sense. Well worth seeking out and listening to if you enjoy hearing about animals and food.

Just heard a food journalist called Joanna Blythman (?) on Farming Today attacking the Welcome Report that advocated slashing meat eating. She made some very telling points about the inception of the report, its funding and high profile people advocating it. Her basic point was that it is totally unreasonable to expect people, especially poor people, to be able to adhere to this diet without suffering malnutrition. Her final verdict was that it would be better if people were advised to exercise moderation, buy natural whole food, whether vegetable or meat and cook it at home. Above all, avoid all processed food. I agree with her completely!

Just to reinforce the above, I am fuelling my system with a good beef and veggie stew while my immune system is working overtime. I doubt if a Vegan diet would do the job as well!

Just baking a new batch of scones with a different recipe to what I normally use, this one uses strong flour instead of self raising, the dough was certainly different, we shall see.

I think they turned out OK

They look alright. Butter, jam, clotted cream an a pot o' tea and you're sorted

We think alike Kev, just had a scone with butter and homemade hedgerow jelly for afters with a brew.

PanBiker wrote: ↑24 Jan 2019, 18:33 We think alike Kev, just had a scone with butter and homemade hedgerow jelly for afters with a brew.

They look good. I could eat the lot!

Thanks folks, I'm making a crusty cob today. It will go nicely with the bacon and vegetable stew for my tea.

An interesting study now in the news Skinny Genes Something we have all known about. Some people are born to be skinny while others pile on the weight just by looking at food. The problem being that not only do they look at it they eat it. Tough but that's how it is.