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Best gut related health I ever had was living in France and eating stinky raw cheeses and different fermented foods. Like clockwork.
by the_sleaze_ 2y ago
Best gut related health I ever had was living in France and eating stinky raw cheeses and different fermented foods. Like clockwork.
- m3kw9 2y agoGotta hit up the cheese fests now
- darth_avocado 2y agoThere’s two different effects hidden in that statement > living in France I have had similar experience where my gut health was immediately, noticeably better in Europe. I was eating the same foods and somehow it was better. > Eating stinky raw cheeses and different fermented foods Raw and fermented foods in cultures across the world are linked to better gut health. However, industrial fermentation and packaging won’t help you as much because the diversity of microbes drops and packaging often kills most of them. We need to bring back the culture of home fermentation.
- waihtis 2y ago> my gut health was immediately, noticeably better in Europe Its because a lot of the weird artificial junk that are allowed to be put into your food is illegal in Europe. Even things like popular sweeteners have been shown to have a negative effect on your gut health.
- hedora 2y agoMost sweeteners also have been shown to cause more weight gain than sugar (they screw up your metabolism). Unless you’re diabetic, there’s literally no reason to consume them.
- cenamus 2y agoI'd like to see a source on that, because (excessive) sugar literally causes diabetes. And of course high sweetener consumption is must be strongly linked with in general high calorie input and overweight people trying to reduce calorie consumption.
- Spivak 2y agoYour first point probably isn't actually true. The research that first connected the two showed that across a population sugar consumption up -> diabetes rates up. But it turns out that when you control for weight the effect of sugar specifically is much much smaller. To the point where if you're a healthy weight your sweet tooth isn't moving the needle.
- Spivak 2y agoOh that's not true at all. First I think they taste better, they're sweet without being syrup-y. Second it allows me to drink a lot of soda, 5+ cans a day adds up when it has calories. I have no expectation that it helps me lose weight, it's just tastier water. It's funny that folks will look down on diet soda but then be fine with tea and coffee and sports drinks like the bubbles make it meaningfully different.
- riffraff 2y ago5+ cans of soda a day seems unhealthy even if it's not caloric, the gas and acid will mess up your stomach. It is not just tastier water.
- Spivak 2y agoGiven that in France "water" means carbonated water and you have to specifically ask for "still water" I can't imagine the gas being that bad for you. Acid I can get behind but soda is by far the least acidic thing I consume on the daily.
- Spooky23 2y agoThe carbonation creates carbonic acid in your teeth. It’s a huge driver of calories. Of the of the issues with diet soda in particular is your tastes favor sweets. I used to drink 4-8 cans of Diet Dr Pepper daily. When I stopped, after a couple of weeks I found my taste preferences to be very different. I’d favor savory more attractive and sweet stuff would seem too sweet.
- loeg 2y agoNo, they have not. The evidence points the opposite way (people lose more weight on non-nutritive sweeteners than sugar).
- SoftTalker 2y agoAlso non-flouridated, non-chlorinated water.
- manoweb 2y agoI lived most of my life in an alpine European village; water was chlorinated and flourinated, more than in my current US location. There was a huge difference in mineral content, US water being almost distilled (1 to 3 French degrees hardness) VS something like 15-20 in Europe
- azinman2 2y agoWater hardness varies by location worldwide, including the US.
- pfdietz 2y agoNon-flouridated is gluten-free, right?
- verisimi 2y agoArtisanal
- sroussey 2y agoThe preservatives in flour / bread / etc are illegal in Europe. My sister is allergic and can’t have any bread in the USA. But can in France and Italy.
- waihtis 2y agoYeah, things like titanium dioxide are considered a carcinogen by the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) yet FDA says its safe for use in food. But i guess trust the science and authorities
- pas 2y agoIARC usually says that something has carcinogenic potential, which is almost completely useless information for something that we already ingest in absurd quantities without a cancer epidemic.
- raydev 2y agoPlease share the names of these preservatives.
- 10xalphadev 2y agoDurex and Trustex.
- ara_ohanian 2y ago[dead]
- azinman2 2y agoEurope puts plenty of E numbers in their food (the US just spells it out versus hiding it under a number). There are things illegal in the US that are used in food in Europe. A lot of the time, at least for things like pesticides, the different is country of origin of manufacturer.
- jenny91 2y agoE numbers have very little to do with this. They are just a way to categorize food additives.
- azinman2 2y agoWhat else would you characterize “ weird artificial junk” as?
- literalAardvark 2y agoE numbers cover everything that can be added to food. Some examples would be E164 Saffron, E290 carbon dioxide, E428 gelatin. None of these are anywhere near the "weird chemicals category". You'll find that all euro foods have Es in them, but it doesn't mean they have half-tested industrial food additives in them.
- azinman2 2y agoThose are very selective things you picked. E100–E199: Food coloring, such as turmeric (E100) and paprika (E160c) E200–E299: Preservatives, such as sulfur dioxide (E220) E300–E399: Antioxidants and acidity regulators, such as ascorbic acid (E300) E400–E499: Thickeners, stabilizers, emulsifiers, and gelling agents E500–E599: Acidity regulators and anti-caking agents This is pretty much the spectrum. Red 40, aka Allura Red AC aka E129 is illegal in the US, legal in the EU, and carries a warning in the EU. Let’s not pretend that the wonderful world of chemicals and industrialization doesn’t exist in Europe.
- 2y ago
- raydev 2y ago> a lot of the weird artificial junk that are allowed to be put into your food is illegal in Europe What are some examples? A list would be helpful.
- Spooky23 2y agoI don’t follow this too closely, but having been in Europe for a few weeks, the food tastes noticeably better and is often cheaper than the US. One of the things you notice is shorter ingredient lists on prepared food. The ingredients in Italy for McDonald’s French fries are: potato, salt, oil. In the US there’s 7-8 including hydrogenated soybean oil and flavor/color agents. Oreos were similarly different, and arguably better tasting. I believe they regulate flavors and coloring additives differently, and many people feel both of these type of items can be problematic.
- jonnycomputer 2y agoI agree about diversity. We use a very limited range of cultures in mass manufactured foods.
- Brian_K_White 2y agoBut of course can never happen because it only takes a minority to cry about a few factual bad stories and present the fallacious "is it worth it" argument. "Is your epicurian enjoyment worth even one dead baby?" And a majority who have no reason to think much about it go along with it because no one will say "yes it's worth it" and few are able to articulate how the question was invalid in the first place. The opposite minority argument, that variety, depth, richness, are important, not luxuries, don't have their own dead babies to present. They do exist, but they aren't visible except in aggregate. You can measure a change in average health over the course of entire generations, and from that you can extrapolate the change in number or frequency of deaths, and then you could compare numbers of dead babies. But you can't obviously show any particular cause & effect because there are so many other variables, and even if you could, it took entire generations whole lives lived and died before they could benefit anyway.
- tyre 2y agookay wow deep breath, you can just ferment things at home, it’s fine, I did it twice last week
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- Brian_K_White 2y agoThat doesn't actually solve anything.
- daneel_w 2y agoHow do you know until you've fermented something at home and risked life, limb, dead babies etc. by consuming it? I think more people die from food poisoning in restaurants each year than people do from doing something stupid while making sourdough bread, natto, tempeh, kombucha, beer, wine etc. at home.
- elcritch 2y ago
- murukesh_s 2y ago>I have had similar experience where my gut health was immediately, noticeably better in Europe. I was eating the same foods and somehow it was better. Could be due to you being in a better mental state. Gut-brain axis is very evident for me personally. If I am tense gut is the first to get affected.
- 4gotunameagain 2y agoThe refusal to over-industrialise food in Europe (compare to the US) leads to higher quality, more "natural" food.
- FredPret 2y agoAnother possibility: dishwashers are more rare in Europe - the soap residue some of them leaves on irritates some stomachs.
- looperhacks 2y agoThat sounds counter-intuitive? I doubt most people take the time to rinse everything off with clear water. Dishwashers on the other hand always have a rinsing step
- pfdietz 2y agoMaybe the problem is rinse aids in dishwashers? These prevent spotting on glass by adding detergent. I just put water in the rinse aid dispenser of my dishwasher.
- bluGill 2y agoredacted, see correct info in replies
- pfdietz 2y agoI don't believe that's true. To quote wikipedia: "Rinse aid (sometimes called rinse agent) contains surfactants and uses Marangoni stress to prevent droplet formation, so that water drains from the surfaces in thin sheets, rather than forming droplets." Looking at the back of a bottle of Finish Jet Dry (which I have refilled with water), the original stuff's first ingredient (after water) is "C 12-15 Alcohols Ethoxylated Propoxylated". These are nonionic surfactants, and are not what one normally means by "alcohol" (ethanol). I can understand where the idea came from. Drinks like wine will exhibit sheeting on the sides of glasses too. The concentration of alcohol needed for that to happen is probably too high in a dishwasher, I'd imagine.
- selcuka 2y ago> I just put water in the rinse aid dispenser of my dishwasher. Curious... Rinse cycle already uses plain water, so you are adding water to... water?
- jajko 2y agoMy wife recently got Kombucha mushroom from a friend, and got into fermenting it herself. Its trivial to do, you need to really screw up something for it to go wrong, tons of good bacteria inside. She takes some basic precautions like avoiding metal parts (since the drink becomes acidic), otherwise its on autopilot, good bacteria outcompete everything else for resources. She mixes it with some cut fruits to get some sugars for fermentation, the result is very mild alcohol content (maybe 0.5%) and it tastes like cider. I mix it maybe 1:3 with water and its semi-eternal homemade drink. Can't really complain. That and of course french cheese, we live maybe 5km from French border and for cheese its much better place than even Switzerland (sorry guys gruyere is great but french variety is huuuuge in comparison and they even usually have specialties like old dutch gouda which is taste heaven for me and various truffle-infused ones).
- Y_Y 2y agoFyi kombucha isn't made from a "mushroom". It's a combination of bacteria and yeast and can be found in the liquid itself or the pellicle (blob of organic tissue) that forms during fermentation. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCOBY https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/SCOBY
- murkt 2y agoWow, hearing about “tea mushroom” (that’s how it’s called in Ukraine) for my whole life, and it’s not a mushroom! Fascinating.
- zdragnar 2y agoWell, it is a partly a yeast, which is a fungus, as are mushrooms. The main thing is that it is a symbiotic combination of particular yeast and bacteria strains, unlike what is used for brewing alcoholic drinks (just yeast) or fermenting dairy into yogurt (just bacteria). Kefir is another combination of yeast and bacteria, though different strains.
- dyauspitr 2y agoIt’s called a scoby
- maxerickson 2y agoAre you lactose intolerant? A small amount of lactose can have a sort of laxative effect without causing discomfort.