DrAbs: What do you recommend I add to my diet to limit the amount of carb and starch intake and still feel full?
Short answer: Chickpeas, spinach, eggs, halibut, shrimp, lobster, crab, goat, deer, duck, salmon, turkey, tuna, chicken, (I'd prefer you don't eat whale, eat spirulina instead), all because of their high tryptophan content. If you are vegetarian or vegan, Try hummus and falafel. These you should find filling as you eat them more consistantly. Care not to over do it though on the chickpeas(or tryptophan supplements), a rapid increase in tryptophan can exacerbate latent infections.
Long answer: Part of feeling full is satisfaction from the meal(stomach expansion, presense of simple sugars on the taste buds) which takes around 20-40 minutes after you begin eating to kick in while the other part is energy availability which tends to show up after about an hour and a half of digestion. Carbs generally signal for satisfaction because they enhance insulin which pumps proteins in your blood into your muscles, all except the amino acid tryptophan which doesn't compete as well for uptake into the brain as other amino acids do. Tryptophan is then utilized to make serotonin and other important metabolites like melatonin, dmt, and niacin(vit b3). So i'd recommend you don't overload your system with too much protein at once so that your body can't uptake tryptophan into the brain (supposedly more than 35 grams) and especially if you havn't contracted your muscles in a way which would increase your muscle protein needs more than for baseline protein turnover :). Whoever told you to limit carb and starch intake doesn't know the science. In fact the brain utilizes around 20 grams of sugar an hour and it's dificult to provide this through metabolic processes without eating carbs or starchy vegetables in your diet. Besides that, cold/ resistant starches and soluble fibers like inulin are utilized by the gut to make butyrate which you wouldn't wish to forgo longterm as a vegan who doesn't get it from butter. Check out inulin rich foods and toss some of them into your diet at the very least if you feel the need to avoid carbs and starches,(greenish bananas, asparagus, jerusalem artichokes) though I would recommend you keep them in your diet. If you're worried because of diabetes, you can cool starchy vegetables like potatoes off in the frige before you eat them, and eat your bananas greener.
Such a great question :-)
I'm not sure I'm understanding this. You saying the eating too much protein blocks tryptophan uptake, right? But I'm not making the connection between carbs and tryptophan.
The blood brain barrier has a transporter that transports amino acids into the brain. When you eat protein your blood becomes full of amino acids. These amino acids out compete access to those brain transporters over tryptophan. Tryptophan is the only amino acid that isn't taken up by muscle cells. When you eat carbohydrates your body releases insulin. This insulin pushes both glucose and amino acids into muscle cells. If you've eaten too much protein, insulin will not be able to push all the amino acids from your blood into your muscles. Tryptophan will enter the brain after you've exercised the blood proteins away or you've eaten enough carbs to put out enough insulin. Too much carbs not enough exercise too much protein = no brain trytophan, no niacin production, too much insulin, insulin desensitization, diabetes
That sounds like SAD (Standard American Diet). Today I learned about a new link between diet and energy levels (ie niacin). Thanks.
Too many processed foods lacking in tyrosine, People do not eat enough cottage cheese, parmesan, pork chops or salmon
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