The Food Additive You Do Want

Today’s almonds have been activated by:

⏰ IN A RUSH?

Today’s 30-Second Summary

If you don’t have time to read the whole email today, here are some key takeaways:

• Resistant starch is starch that we can’t digest, but our gut microbiota can ferment. Some foods are rich in this, and despite being a starch, it gets treated like a fiber.

  • This is great for the health, including for weight loss, improved triglycerides, and putatively, reducing inflammation and delaying multiple sclerosis symptoms

  • Guar gum is a top-tier pseudo-fiber offering these benefits. It’s often used as a bulking agent, thickener, and/or stabilizer. Not all food additives are unhealthy after all!

• Doesn’t it feel a bit brutal sometimes when the dentist is scraping off plaque?

  • Today’s sponsor, LIVFRESH, have developed a gel that safely dissolves plaque without harming the teeth or gums (this is such an impressive breakthrough that we included a link to the actual science in the sponsor section; check it out!)

Read on to learn more about these things, or click here to visit our archive

🤫 A WORD TO THE WISE

👀 WATCH AND LEARN

Fixing A Very Common Squatting Issue

This is important for your lower back:

YOU MAY HAVE MISSED…

• Is Dairy Scary?

• The Problem With Sweeteners

• Breakfasting For Health?

🍽️ MAIN FEATURE

Q: When Is A Fiber Not A Fiber?

A: when it’s a resistant starch. What’s it resistant to? Digestion. So, it functions as though a fiber, and by some systems, may get classified as such.

It’s a little like how sucralose is technically a sugar, but the body processes it like a fiber (but beware, because the sweetness of this disaccharide alone can trigger an insulin response anyway—dose dependent)

There may be other problems too:

• The Problem With Sweeteners

• The Sucralose News: Scaremongering Or Serious?

But today’s not about sucralose, it’s about…

Guar gum’s surprising dietary role

You may have noticed “guar gum” on the list of ingredients of all kinds of things from baked goods to dairy products to condiments to confectionary and more.

It’s also used in cosmetics and explosives, but let’s not focus on that.

It’s used in food products as…

• a bulking agent

• a thickener

• a stabilizer

Our attention was caught by a new study, that found:

Resistant starch intake facilitates weight loss in humans by reshaping the gut microbiota

Often people think of “fiber helps weight loss” as “well yes, if you are bulking out your food with sawdust, you will eat less”, but it’s not that.

There’s an actual physiological process going on here!

We can’t digest it, but our gut microbiota can and will ferment it. See also:

Fiber against pounds: Resistant starch found to support weight loss

Beyond weight loss

Not everyone wants to lose weight, and even where weight loss is a goal, it’s usually not the only goal. As it turns out, adding guar gum into our diet does more things too:

Resistant starch supplement found to reduce liver triglycerides in people with fatty liver disease

(specifically, this was about NAFLD, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease)

Digging a little, it seems the benefits don’t stop there either:

Diet high in guar gum fiber limits inflammation and delays multiple sclerosis symptoms

(this one was a rodent study, but still, it’s promising and it’s consistent with what one would expect based on what else we know about its function in diet)

Should we just eat foods with guar gum in as an additive?

That depends on what they are, but watch out for the other additives if you do!

You can just buy guar gum by itself, by the way (here’s an example product on Amazon).

It’s doubtlessly no fun to take as a supplement (we haven’t tried this one), but it can be baked into bread, if baking’s your thing, or just used as a thickener in recipes where ordinarily you might use cornstarch or something else.

Can I get similar benefits from other foods?

The relevant quality is also present in resistant starches in general, so you might want to check out these foods, for example:

9 Foods That Are High in Resistant Starch

You can also check out ways to increase your fiber intake in general:

Level-Up Your Fiber Intake! (Without Difficulty Or Discomfort)

Enjoy!

YOU MAY HAVE MISSED…

• Citicoline: Better Than Dietary Choline?

• Hypertension: Factors Far More Relevant Than Salt

• Self-Care (That’s Not Just Self-Indulgence)

❤️ OUR SPONSORS MAKE THIS PUBLICATION POSSIBLE

Dissolve plaque, without harming teeth/gums

LIVFRESH make some bold claims:

• ❝We have made the first breakthrough in the dental industry since 1914.❞

• ❝LIVFRESH performs 250% better at removing plaque than a market leader❞

The first claim is about using molecular nanotechnology instead of abrasion, to remove plaque. The claim is worded a little strongly, but it genuinely is a major breakthrough.

The second claim... We love randomized clinical trials! So we looked it up, and found it:

Effects of a Dental Gel Over 6 Months on Periodontal Health in Subjects with Stage II and III (Mild and Moderate) Periodontitis

Now, the sample size was small (33), but the results were overwhelmingly positive. And the test group had a worse gingival index than control, before starting—and much better afterwards:

In other words, the competition was stacked against the product, and it still won clear. With this in mind, we're very happy to recommend LIVFRESH's edathamil*-based dental gel!

*That's their patented formula that breaks down plaque on a molecular level, without damaging teeth.

It comes in multiple flavors, so you get two links today:

Peppermint Dental Gel | Wintergreen Dental Gel

If you're unsure which to go for, we recommend the peppermint, as it has fewer ingredients, and is a true gel rather than a foaming gel.

PS: 10almonds subscribers can use code DENTAL20 for 20% off at checkout 😎

Please do visit our sponsors—they help keep 10almonds free

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📖 ONE-MINUTE BOOK REVIEW

Zero Sugar / One Month: Reduce Cravings, Reset Metabolism, Lose Weight, & Lower Blood Sugar – by Becky Gillaspy

We’ve reviewed books about the evils of sugar before, so what makes this one different?

This one has a focus on helping the reader quit it. It assumes we already know the evils of sugar (though it does cover that too).

It looks at the mechanisms of sugar addiction (habits-based and physiological), and how to safely and painlessly cut through those to come out the other side, free from sugar.

The author gives a day-by-day plan, for not only eliminating sugar, but also adding and including things to fill the gap it leaves, keeping us sated, energized, and happy along the way.

In the category of subjective criticism, it does also assume we want to lose weight, which may not be the case for many readers. But that’s a by-the-by and doesn’t detract from the useful guide to quitting sugar, whatever one’s reasons.

Bottom line: if you would like to quit sugar but find it hard, this book thinks of everything and walks you by the hand, making it easy.

Click here to check out Zero Sugar / One Month, and reap the health benefits!

Wishing you a wonderfully restorative weekend,

The 10almonds Team