My Heal Your Gut Smoothie (with Resistant Starch)
My Heal Your Gut Smoothie (with Resistant Starch)
This resistant starch protein smoothie is part of my ingenious master plan to heal my gut to heal my GERD to get rid of the chronic cough. The goal is to heal my throat and voice so I can sing with the darn radio again!!! I discovered the idea of using RS to build healthy gut flora back in 2014 while surfing the web. It took me hours and hours to read, re-read and digest this fascinating information, stretching out over a few weeks... many, many blog posts. I was obsessed because I saw concrete evidence for a way to explode my good gut bacteria and hasten the cure. Below, I drill the RS protocol down to essential ideas so you'll know why the smoothie has all that stuff in it. If you want to follow in my educational footsteps, Dr. Grace wrote an update on RS with good links. Grace is an actual doctor and entertaining speaker. Her blog is occasionally too scientific for me, but I read it anyway. Who knows? Maybe something will stick...
First, the Heal Your Gut Smoothie, then Why Each Ingredient
The 5 Essentials Ingredients
2 scoops Protein Shake Mix* -- this is also a meal replacement shake, my fast food!
One scoop Fiber Boost* - this is inulin fiber, an RS and prebiotic all on its own, plus it has all the benefits of fiber
1 scoop Greens Balance*
1/3 GREEN banana -- a green banana is a prebiotic fiber! Bananas are a low glycemic fruit but also high in carbs. And 1/3 is plenty!
Probiotics: I add Digestion +* which is 3 high-quality products in one: prebiotic, probiotic and digestive enzymes. You can take this alone first or add to the smoothie.
Filtered water to taste -- I like 32 ounces liquid total! I use half water and half coconut milk. We filter our well water, then add minerals. Or you can use juice, kefir -- whatever liquid floats your boat!
*All Arbonne products are are certified Non-GMO, vegan, cruelty-free, gluten-free, kosher, low glycemic, no artificial sweeteners or colors, safe for all ages. This is why I use them! If you want to know how to buy for 20-50% off, text me -- my phone is at the top of every page!
OPTIONAL for Health (I add all this)
Non-GMO Vit C powder - 2.5 grams of C -- 1/2 tsp (You may have to work up to this, Vit C has a laxative effect till you get used to it. Same with the Magnesium below)
Mag Water - scroll down to see how to make this, easy and cheap! Add 1/4 C to your smoothie.
Food Grade Diatomaceous Earth - 1 Tbsp for silica, minerals, kills parasites. I feed it to my animals, dust their bedding/coop with it and use to kill fleas in my house when that's a problem, so I buy it in the handy 50lb bag (scroll all the way to the bottom).
Great Lakes Gelatin: Hydrosylate Unflavored Gelatin Collagen (basically gelatin that doesn't get thick) - 1 Tbsp for joints, skin, nails, hair, digestion. I buy the four pack but there is a selection for buying one, two or three.
OPTIONAL for Flavor or Preference
If using Vanilla Protein Shake*, I sometimes add berries, fresh or frozen. Berries keep the smoothie low glycemic.
A raw egg for extra protein (I'll add one if I'm feeling super hungry)
Ice (so it's nice and cold!)
HOW TO
Blend /=;-) I use this one, love it!
FARTING This smoothie MAY cause flatulence at first. Farting is a sign that your prebiotic is doing something good. RS works because it's resistant to digestion, but that also makes you fart.
Why Each Ingredient
Inulin Fiber (a Resistant Starch) Resistant starch is a starch that is resistant to digestion. So resistant, in fact, that it moves right through your small intestine down to your large intestine where it sits (because it is indigestible, otherwise it would move right through with your other food) and ferments until it becomes digestible and can be eliminated. The magic happens while it's fermenting because then it's feeding and multiplying your colon's good bacteria. "Prebiotics are, quite simply, indigestible food ingredients that stimulate the growth and maintenance of beneficial gut microbiota." -- Mark Sisson There has been talk by tatertot and Dr. Grace that RS actually grabs some of your SIBOs as it moves through the small intestine and takes them to the large where they are overwhelmed by the army of good bacteria and evacuated. Greens Balance: it's the polyphenols!
...to further increase the BIONIC RS to stellar levels, add in a good dose of anti-oxidant rich foods full of polyphenols. ... Polyphenols are just coming to light in their contributions to gut health. This study looked into the contributions of plant polyphenols of gut microbiota health and concluded: "Polyphenols are extensively metabolized by gut bacteria into a complex series of end-products that support a significant effect on the functional ecology of symbiotic partners that can affect the host physiology." -- Tim Steele
Probiotics: When the RS idea first got going, taking probiotics was not part of the picture because feeding and multiplying the probiotics already in your gut was WHY you would drink RS. This is when Dr. Grace really jumped into the fray with her "empty cages" theory. She astutely pointed out that, while it was awesome to have RS fermenting in the gut, if there were no good bacteria around, all that prebiotic fermenting wasn't feeding nothing... because the cage was empty. You have to install good bacteria (via PRObiotics) then feed them (via PREbiotics). This made immediate sense to me and I added D+ to the mix. Fill the cage, then feed the beasties. There you have it: the heal your gut smoothie. Let me know how you like it! If you pin, click here to pin this post ♥