Saponins are antinutrients that belong to a class of defense chemicals found in abundance in certain plants. They are also known as ‘amphipathic glycosides’ from the soap-like foam they produce when shaken in watery solutions – and the fact that they are used as a model for detergents. The latter is very disturbing, and we’ll get to it in a moment. Saponins have a water-soluble carbohydrate bonded to a fat-soluble triterpene or steroid structure. […]
Plants, unlike animals, cannot run away from predators. To defend themselves from herbivores, insects, fungi and other threats, they produce toxic defense chemicals. One of them is known as lectins. Lectins are a plant defense mechanism that mainly protect the seeds, but can be found in other parts of the plant as well. As with anything living, the highest priority of the entity is reproduction. Therefore, seeds tend to have a higher concentration of
After a chemical analysis and on paper, most vegetables, nuts, seeds and fruits look like they contain some vitamins, minerals and even protein. Unfortunately for us, we do not have the complex digestion and fermentation chambers of herbivores. While vitamins and minerals are in chemical form, which cannot be absorbed by humans and need to be converted, other problems also arise, such as antinutrients, fiber, and poisonous plant defense chemicals. The bioavailability and bioconversion
Food labels are complete nonsense, what matters is what you actually absorb. Read the Full Article »
The Vegetarian/Vegan Protein Problem: The Dangers of Soy Products such as Tofu Written by Joachim Bartoll, September 2016Classic Muscle Newsletter, October 2016 (issue #25) In my Ketogenic article series, I touched on the “protein problem” with vegetarian or vegan versions of the ketogenic diet. The main culprit is the low protein quality of vegetable protein sources – mainly due to lacking amino acids and containing antinutrients and fiber that block absorption. On average, only
Low Protein Days Fight protein habituation, improve cell health and performance Written by Joachim Bartoll, April 17, 2016Classic Muscle Newsletter #19, 2016 In my second book, ‘The Maximum Muscle Guide,’ published in mid-2009, I wrote a chapter on protein cycling. The main reason for including “low protein days” (less than 50 g protein during 24 hours), was to avoid protein habituation. At the time of writing the book, I had used the concept of
RED MEAT, SALT, EGGS, AND OTHER GOODNESS Destroying the dogma from the clueless age of Big Pharma Written by Joachim Bartoll, November 2014 – previously published for online publicationRe-published in Classic Muscle Newsletter, January 2016 (issue #16) When I got into nutrition in the mid- and late 80’s, the low-fat craze had just begun and it skyrocketed during the 90’s. Fat intake should be kept low, preferable around 10 % of total calories or
Red Meat, Salt, Eggs, and Other Goodness! Read the Full Article »