diet

Diverse fiber diet

The number of cells in the human microbiome is known to exceed the number of cells in the human body. The microbiome has been known to influence a person’s physical and mental health.

It hence makes sense to pay close attention to the microbiome.

People with stomach issues try to increase the amount of microbiota by literally ingesting them. This is known as probiotics, usually found in fermented food such as yogurt, sauerkraut, or nattō.

However multiple studies have shown that eating probiotics alone doesn’t seem to significantly change the biome.

Instead, studies point to an alternative mechanism to change the microbiome. These are Prebiotics, or dietary fibers. Certain types of microbiota consume certain types of prebiotics. By changing your diet to eat different dietary fibers, you can influence which microbiota survive in your gut.

Although a few forms of dietary fibers have been classified and found to affect the gut microbiome, researchers are still scratching the surface of which fibers can affect microbiota, and how that affects overall human health.

Generally, it is considered to be good to have a diverse microbiome. It is considered bad for one bacteria to take over and have a monopoly over your gut. This kind of thing happens when you take antibiotics. Bacteria resistant to the antibiotic can take over your gut.

I want to increase the diversity of my microbiome. Because of the lacking science of dietary fibers, here is my experimental diet.

Design

Assume that the more diverse a plant is, the more diverse its fibers will likely be. Hence, to increase gut diversity, I need to eat a wide variety of high fiber foods. The more varied, the better.

In order to find “variety”, I divide food based on its plant Order. Here is a detailed table I have compiled.

Here are my priorities when searching for food to eat for this diet:

  1. Try to maximize the variety by eating foods from as many plant Orders as possible.
  2. When choosing which food to eat within an Order, pick the one that has the highest amount of dietary fiber per calorie.
  3. When choosing fatty foods, minimize foods with high omega 6 fat (Peanut, Sunflower, Sesame), maximize foods with high monounsaturated fat. (Macadamias, Olives, Avocados)
  4. Minimize eating foods that have anti-nutrient properties.

Dishes

Based on my plant diversity analysis, here are a list of receipes I have compiled over time:

Vegetable Salad
Combine shredded lettuce, shredded carrots, shredded cabbage, and minced garlic mixed together with salt, black pepper, and olive oil. Maybe add seaweed to this mixture?
Snack
Macademias, Kumquats, Raspberries, Blueberries, Guava, Snowpeas, sweet peppers
Avocado toast
Spread Avocado on a rye crisp.
Fries / Chips
Jicama cut into fries, boiled, spiced, and microwaved.
Sliced Lotus root fried until crispy.
Zuccini noodles
You can buy zuccini that is already precut into noodles. Sprinkle with garlic power and salt, and put into the oven. 350 degrees for 15 minutes.
Kasha
Oat bran mixed with water in the microwave.