406: Why Eating Too Fast = Excess Body Fat; the Best Way to Eat Starchy Carbs; and Hangover Hydration {G/B/Y}

Speaker A: 00:00:00

Hey, welcome to the Good, the Bad, and the Yummy, where I share one thing I'm loving, one thing I'm not, and one super simple food tip or recipe. Let's go. Welcome, you're on air with Ella, where we share simple strategies and tips for living a little better every day.

If you're interested in mindset and wellness or healthy habits and relationships, or hormone health, aging well, and eating well, honestly, if you're just into living better and with more energy, then you're in the right place. We're not here for perfect. Here for a little better every day. Let's go. Hey, you're on air with Ella. It's. It's Ella.

And today is a good, bad and yummy episode. I'm going in reverse order. Normally, I share one thing I'm loving, one thing I'm not, and then a super simple recipe or a food tip or something.

We're going backwards. Today. We are starting with the yummy because I want you to know a little something about resistant starch. Hold on. I have to take my aligners out.

What was I thinking? Okay, I'm back. And maybe not with a lisp this. This time. Okay, listen, let's start with our yummy.

This is not a recipe per se, but a tip for starchy carbs and making them healthier and more functional in your body by creating resistant starch, by promoting resistant starch in your starchy carbs. Starchy carbs are not bad. I demonize them for years. Just FYI, I did not, like, touch a potato and I would only eat half a ban, which is just madness.

Okay? Starchy carbs are a part of a healthy diet, but when you can increase their resistant starch load, that's a good thing. What is resistant starch?

It's naturally occurring. It's a type of carbohydrate that resists digestion in the small intestine.

Therefore, it passes through to the large intestine where it is fermented by gut bacteria. And unlike regular starch, which is broken down into glucose for energy right away, resistant starch behaves similarly to dietary fiber.

So it has some of the similar, similar benefits to dietary fiber. It's present in raw, starchy foods like unripe bananas and raw potatoes. But it can also be formed, and this is what I wanted to share with you.

It can be formed when starchy foods are cooked and then cooled down and then reheated to eat. And the process of cooking and then cooling to increase the resistant starch is called retrograd. You don't need to know that. Who cares?

The point is this. Resistant starches help lower glycemic index. You can eat the same food. Like, let's take a slice of bread. You can eat a piece of bread, great.

If you freeze it and then defrost it, freeze it, then toast it, for example, that will have a lower glycemic index. It causes a slower and lower rise in blood sugar levels compared to fresh bread.

Now, that's not always desirable, but still, like, this is a really simple tool to have in your toolkit. So I wanted you to know about it. Why else is it helpful?

Resistant starch has been shown to enhance insulin sensitivity, which means, just in short, it helps your body use blood sugar more efficiently, but it also helps with gut health. It is a prebiotic. It feeds beneficial gut bacteria and potentially for that reason improves your digestive health.

Interestingly, it also correlates with reduced caloric absorption. Because resistant starch is not fully digested, fewer calories are absorbed from whatever it is you're eating. Good to know. Like, I had no idea.

So let me give you some examples of making starchy carbs better for you in this regard. Freezing bread, for example, is beneficial from a resistant starch standpoint because it increases the amount of resistant starch in the bread.

And that is then when it becomes much more like dietary fiber. Okay, reheating leftovers. This is a case for leftovers.

If you have potatoes one night and you let them cool all the way down and you put them in the refrigerator, you don't need to freeze them. You put them in the refrigerator, the next day that you eat them, their resistance starch count is higher. Isn't that interesting?

You can do this with several other things. Like, overnight oats are a great example of how to increase resistance starch.

So you soak your uncooked oats overnight, right, in plant milk or yogurt or something like that, and thereby you've increased the resistant starch content. So I just wanted you to know that this was an option. I am not in the business of demonizing food anymore, but I do like when I get sandwich bread.

You know, I try to get the healthiest, wheatiest kind of sandwich bread or good, good sourdough for my guys. I'm not a big sandwich eater myself, but they love one. I will put that bread in the freezer, and then they toast it to make their sandwich.

And it takes, you know what, one minute longer, and it's a lot better for them. And it acts like dietary fiber, which Is just better for you. Okay, so that's your yummy. Today we're going in reverse order. Let's talk about the bad.

Today I want to talk about why it is not good for you to eat fast. And I don't know about you. Do you with a man? You might not.

If you do, then maybe figure out a way to play this episode when he's in within your earshot. Okay? Because I have noticed just in my.

My sample size of a few decades, I have noticed that men, like, it's like, is it manly to wolf down your food and only chew it three times? Is this like, is this what our ancestors did? I do not know, but we have some fast eaters in my household. Like, it makes me absolutely crazy.

I'm going to figure out a clever way to accidentally play this on the living room speakers, okay? But here's what you need to know. So now. Now is the safe time to play this. Okay? Ready? Go. Hey.

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You can grab all the details@masteryouragame.com I'll see you there. Eating rate significantly impacts food absorption and health. And I'll tell you why.

Primarily, eating too fast may reduce nutrient absorption efficiency, which makes perfect sense. Because when food is not chewed thoroughly, like thoroughly, it enters. I'm really sorry, I'm about to use the word chunks.

I just want you to know that it enters the stomach in large chunks, making it hard for the digestive system to break down the food properly. Like, that just makes sense, right? You're not getting all of the nutrients available to you in that food if you're not chewing it, right?

That's pretty intuitive. You could probably wrap your brain around that. I'm not sure it's compelling enough to change behavior. So let me share a little bit more.

Very obviously, it can create poor digestion. Fast eaters tend to take larger bites and chew less.

That makes sense that that would strain the digestive system, but that can then cause digestive Issues that you may not be associating with the lack of chewing and the really rapid eating rate. Rapid eating can most definitely cause indigestion.

It can cause heartburn, it can cause bloating, it can cause gas because you're swallowing more air and producing excess stomach acid. Producing excess stomach ac to break down what we formerly called chunks. But here is the real kicker. What you might not know is this.

Fast eating is linked to an increased risk of metabolic syndrome, including high blood pressure, high blood sugar, excess abdominal fat and abnormal cholesterol levels. Like what?

There was one Japanese study following participants over five years and it found that fast eaters had an an almost 12% chance of developing metabolic syndrome compared to six and a half for normal eaters and only 2.3% for slow eaters. Those are huge differences.

Okay, so they were studying eating rate and I'm going to repeat that fast eaters had double the amount of likelihood of developing metabolic syndrome compared to normal eaters. And slow eaters only had a 2.3% chance of developing metabolic syndrome compared to that 12. If you're a fast eater. Okay, you with me?

Here's the USA Today version. Fast eating is associated with higher excess body weight. It takes about 20 minutes for your brain to register satiety.

For your brain to be like, I am full, it takes about 20 minutes. So eating quickly can lead to over consumption before you feel satiated. But to know that it also increases visceral and subcutaneous fat.

Rapid eating is associated with larger visceral and subcutaneous fat areas as well as higher body fat, general and larger waist circumference, which is arguably a better measurement of health than bmi. Anyway, eating more slowly. Let's talk about the positive.

Eating more slowly can increase your soci Satiety society probably, but also your satiety, reduce your overall energy consumption, your caloric consumption, because you're. You simply aren't eating as much according to these studies and potentially aid in helping you regulate your weight easier.

But also it's so much better for your digestive system and your gut health. Okay, so hopefully I've given you something that you can use. Okay, it's time to do the good. We're doing the good last. This is great.

I got a listener question about hydration and hydration supplements in the States. There are some really popular hydration supplements right now. LMNT is one, liquid IV is one.

There are dozens of others that are in the sports market, that sort of thing.

But hydration supplements in general, they contain electrolytes which obviously can be useful if you've been sweaty, you know, intense, prolonged exercise, or if you're sick, you know, if you're getting dehydrated because you're experiencing illness, and frankly, if you are at all hungover. Okay, so hydration with electrolytes can be extremely useful for any. Anywhere you fall, anywhere on that spectrum. And.

And let's talk about why we're not just talking about water. This is important. Hydration is not just about water intake. So it includes minerals.

And they play a really crucial maintaining proper fluid balance in your body because electrolytes allow for hydration of the cells. And when we're talking about electrolytes, by the way, those minerals that we're talking about are primarily sodium and chloride. That means salt.

And that, because that's lost. That's like the electrolyte that you lose the most through sweat. And then potassium. I'm sure you've heard of that. If you're cramping, eat a banana.

Potassium, magnesium, and calcium. So it's the. That combo that is really what we're talking about when we're talking about replenishing our electrolytes. What do they.

They help actually direct water to the appropriate locations within your body. I did not know that. I love these questions that you guys asked me because I learned so much. Like, I knew that hydration does not just equal water.

When I do a longer triathlon, you know, everyone's like, hydrate, hydrate, hydrate. You don't hydrate that morning. You hydrate two weeks before, a week before. Like, it's really about getting your body fluid levels up.

And if you just do water, it's actually terrible for you. And you can bonk, which is hitting the wall, which is cramping. Like, full system shutdown.

Water alone is not enough when you are doing endurance exercise or again, when you've depleted your electrolytes through illness or, I don't know, a night out. Okay, A hangover is largely the depletion of these minerals, just FYI and dehydration.

But let's talk about this in a way that does not involve supplements or buying powders to put in your water first. There are loads of natural sources of electrolytes, like, loads.

Again, you've heard of bananas being great for you to replace potassium or to boost potassium levels. There are other things, like oranges and citrus fruits, which are often served after races. You might have been to a marathon or something before.

And there's oranges everywhere. Leafy greens, spinach, kale. They contain magnesium, calcium and potassium. So those are great.

But let me share some foods with you that you might not be aware of that are high in mineral content. Bananas. We've mentioned potatoes, mushrooms, coconut, like coconut meat and coconut water and avocados.

All of those are really rich in minerals like potassium and can be a great way to boost your hydration. So if you're making an, if you're making a meal after a rough night out, maybe you make a big fat omelet, right?

And it's got some mushrooms and some potatoes on the side and you've got some avocado on top. And you're going to be, you're going to be feeling great in no time. Okay?

So then if you want to drink your electrolytes, coconut water, I've mentioned tomato juice, fresh lemon water because of the citrus, which I've mentioned has potassium, calcium and magnesium. This list, I'll put this list in the show notes so you can just have it and take a screenshot of it. But tart cherry.

Cherry juice contains electrolytes including potassium, magnesium, calcium, which is fantastic. So a lot of athletes know about tart cherry juice and I'm talking the real 100% cherry juice.

It's very easy to buy added sugar cherry juice, but I'm talking about really good tart cherry juice. What I do is I take, I buy real 100% cherry juice. It's not sugar free because it's made of cherries, it's terribly expensive.

And I will just pour like 2 ounces of that into bubbly water like into a Pellegrino or, and that's, that can be really, really hydrating. But here are two surprises, two things that surprise me if you want to make your own supplement.

Chia seeds are extremely good for hydration because they absorb so much water. When they then form that sort of gel like consistency and that helps retain fluids in the body.

So throw some chia seeds into rotation if you're exercising heavily. Peppermint oil. Now I'm, I'm not going to do this, okay? I don't want to, I don't want to drink my peppermint.

But adding a few drops, drops to your water can improve power and time to exhaustion during exercise. So supposedly peppermint oil can help improve power.

Not just your power like your wattage expended, but also extend your time to exhaustion during exercise. So I thought that was interesting for those of you who are, who are a fan. And then finally, here's the cheapest supplement that exists.

Get a really Good salt, like kosher salt or Celtic salt, Sea salt of some kind or the pink stuff and. And put a pinch in your water. It doesn't taste amazing, but it's incredibly hydrating and it's a really cheap trick.

So that is definitely an option for you. But I will touch on supplements. I actually buy a supplement at Costco. I think it's the liquid iv. No, I'm certain it is. It's liquid iv.

If you have these hydration supplements in your cabinet, do not take them on a day you're not exercising. Don't do that.

If you didn't sit in the sauna or you didn't sweat or you are not dehydrated because of illness, or maybe you're not hungover, which is outstanding way to adult. Don't drink that regularly.

It is specifically designed to replenish electrolytes and you don't need to be dropping sodium bombs into your system if you do not need them. Okay. So in my house, we just do not love plain water.

So we are constantly putting, like greens powder in our water or mixing tart cherry juice with our Pellegrino. Like, we're always, like, flavoring up our water.

And I had to tell my hubs, I was like, do not just be drinking these hydration powders on a day that you did not earn it. Basically, the ones that I get. Look for a zero sugar content. This is not Gatorade. They often have zero to very, very, very minimal sugar.

You don't need added sugar in your hydration supplement. Okay. Sodium content. This is really crucial for replacing what's lost through sweat or sickness.

However, they contain these products contain a lot of sodium, and that's not suitable for everyone, especially if you have condition and not suitable for just like, daily use for no reason. Right. What you really are looking for oftentimes is you're looking for vitamin B and niacin.

Niacin is actually vitamin B3, but it will be listed separately. Typically vitamin B and niacin, they are really, really replenishing when you drink.

For example, if you drink alcohol, they aid in alcohol metabolism and they support the nervous system and they help combat fatigue and brain fog associated with hangovers. Take a shot. Every time I say hangover. I have not had a hangover in, like, years.

But even if you have, you know, after 35, like two glasses of wine hits different. So I'm using the term hangover very, very loosely here. Vitamin B is a wonderful way to replenish after you have had alcohol.

Like I said, it doesn't just help with the metabolism of that alcohol, it has other benefits. Okay. There are people that should stay away from these supplements and, or research whether they should be taking these or not.

Let me just tell you who should be really, really cautious. Any, any kind of kidney problem, okay? Especially if you're prone to kidney stones.

In that case, you need to be careful because you're going to have trouble eliminating excess electrolytes. So you need to be aware of that.

Pregnant women, I have no idea if this is that standard warning where they're like, we've never studied you so shy away from this. I have absolutely no idea. And then anyone with a heart condition, if you overdo electrolytes, that can lead to heart rhythm issues.

I don't know much more about that. I'd never heard about that.

But if you're prone to heart conditions, then frankly, you really need to be aware of your high hydration levels and what you can do to boost them. If I were in your camp, I would stick to these natural supplements. Again, in general, here's my message. I'm not a doctor. Okay, here's my message.

As an athlete, as someone who does endurance exercise from time to time, I reserve my hydration drinks for when I have earned them. Do not be throwing this stuff down casually. Also, I drink them with zero concern, no fear, because I don't overdo them.

So I'm not worried about any of the other stuff. That's just me. And I just wanted to share that with you. Okay, so today we talked about resistant starch.

We talked about a few things that you can do to increase the benefits of your starchy carbs. That's fun.

We talked about how eating too fast is not only like really not friendly to your gut at all, but it actually can result in more body unwanted body fat. Like the kind that's not good for you, the kind that is subcutaneous and visceral and it's covering your organs like no nobod needs that.

Nobody needs that.

So that is really useful to know that just by slowing your roll at the dinner table, you can actually experience a number of benefits and then finally hydration. Like, who knew? Who knew? Don't forget those mushrooms. Don't forget those avocados. Don't forget those bananas.

And if you really want to combine your resistant starch and electrolytes, eat an unripe banana. Doesn't that sound delicious? Okay, enjoy your chia seeds and peppermint oil. I'm out.

Send me any more questions and maybe I will cover it in the next Good, Bad and Yummy. See ya. Okay, if you enjoyed today's show, please share it with someone you care about.

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