Posted by Larry Hoover on March 29, 2003, at 8:43:03
In reply to food as medicine--for Larry Hoover and others, posted by beardedlady on March 28, 2003, at 6:55:19
> On Tuesday, I started the Zone diet at the advice of my physician. I have gobs of energy! It's really weird!
>
> I have a question about metabolism, and I was hoping that smarty pants, Larry Hoover, could answer it! Larry?
>
> (It's also about poop. Sorry.)Poop is normal. Everybody poops.
>
> I used to go potty just once every morning and considered myself irregular. Now I go three times a day. My hubby, who has a great metabolism, says he goes about four. My daughter goes about two or three.
>
> So was one abnormal?Frequency of bowel movements varies immensely from person to person. The normal range is from four per day to twice per week. What is important is the normal frequency for an individual, based on past experience. Sudden changes in frequency without changes in diet may be indicative of some sort of pathology. Here, you have changed your diet, so a change in frequency would be anticipated.
>Does three mean metabolism has increased?
I don't know what you're getting at here. You've changed the supply of food for the various bacteria in your gut, and it will take a few weeks for the critters to adapt to the change. Some will do better, some worse, on the new food supply. 80% of the fecal bulk is bacterial debris.
> That's what I REALLY want to know. Has this diet boosted my metabolism already, and that's how I see the evidence of it--in poop and in energy?
Poop changes are likely to be coincidence....literally the observation of two things occurring at the same time. The change in energy is likely to be due to the reduction in complex carbs (which also tends to coincidentally reduce the amount of grain products, something you may unwittingly be sensitive to).
Lar
poster:Larry Hoover
thread:213697
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/20030329/msgs/214030.html