Complex Carbs To The Rescue
I consume way more complex carbohydrates than I ever thought I would. Now that I understand why complex carbohydrates (or dietary fiber) is an essential part of a nutritious diet, I worry a lot less about my health. If you ever check nutrition labels of foods, dietary fiber is always listed.
"Complex carbohydrates" is another name for dietary fiber" Here are some good sources of complex carbohydrates: oatmeal (no sugar added), whole wheat bread, potatoes; fruit, green leafy vegetables.
One rule of thumb, as you will find in the picture below, if a food source is processed, it is less likely that it has a favorable natural fiber content.
Healthy bacteria digest fiber in the digestive system. Approximately 70 percent of the body's immune cells are in the gut. Recent studies support the theory that beneficial bacteria help with T-cell development.
I have written in other blog posts about how I relied upon eating bean burritos to prevent terrible histamine responses to antibiotics. I should also mention another problem with allergies that I have overcome. There was a time where I roomed with someone that had a cat. At the time, I was mildly allergic to cat, and this cat was no different than others I have encountered.
Upon moving in, my roommate suggested that we could find another home for the beloved cat. There was something, though, that I thought I could do to overcome my itchy/scratchy feeling I had when the cat was around. Over the next few weeks, I made minor changes to the type of foods I ate. I also made changes to the exercises I did, how I did those exercises. It turns out that the changes to my diet and exercise regimen solved many of my allergy problems. For three years, I exercised two times per day, five days per week, counted my macronutrient ratios, ate salads every day, and never had a problem with allergies.
I remember deciding to include beans among the foods that I needed to eat to meet my daily macros. I remember thinking that beans could not possibly be good for anything in the body. I understood that protein was good for building muscle, fat was good for energy, and that too many carbohydrates could cause insulin spikes that would cause fat cells to grow. I did not quite understand fiber-rich foods.
I noticed that even if I was in a caloric deficit, I did not necessarily lose weight when I added more fiber to my diet. My metabolism did not feel like it was increasing. If anything, it may have slowed down a bit. I thought it was what it was and decided not to even look into its health benefits.
Little did I realize how beneficial complex carbohydrates are to the body, though. Since I have incorporated complex carbohydrates into my diet, I have noticed that my pollen allergies have gone away. I am not allergic to dogs or cats. More significantly--I no longer have allergic reactions to antibiotics.
From one perspective, complex carbohydrates help to contribute to healthy gut flora. Keeping bacteria localized in the digestive system seems to work wonders for preventing certain types of inflammation. It led me to deduce that by eating a bean burrito and a potato-soft-taco, I could avoid the severe histamine response I felt that was coming on after taking an antibiotic.
There are gut bacteria--healthy gut bacteria--that feed on complex carbohydrates. Some studies suggest that beneficial gut bacteria assist with T-cell development. T-cells, as you are probably deducing, are essential for ideal immune function.
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