More Good News About Chickpeas Posted on May 30, 2017 | by Functional Developer | Leave a Comment on More Good News About Chickpeas Last month’s investigation into the metabolic effects of chickpea fiber showed that the nutritional powerhouse offers even greater benefits to the intestinal flora that we all want more of: Bifidobacterium. One of the key attributes to chickpeas is a unique type of fermentable fiber known as alpha-galactooligosccharide or alpha GOS. This fermentable fiber demonstrated consistent increases in butyrate production and had a number of favorable effects on a variety of biomarkers such as triglyceride, serum glucose, insulin, and glycated proteins that reflect processes such as insulin sensitivity and inflammation. While most fermentable fibers offer at least some benefit, more research is supporting the importance of fiber synergy as to offer food sources to multiple families of critical bacteria. This has led to a greater level of appreciation for the fiber found in whole plants as opposed to the types that are often added to fortified foods. None of the fiber found in Functional Formularies formulas is added; it is all naturally occurring in our organic, whole food ingredients. Continue reading →
Canola or Rapeseed Oil: A wolf in sheep’s clothing Posted on May 23, 2017 | by Functional Developer | Leave a Comment on Canola or Rapeseed Oil: A wolf in sheep’s clothing If canola oil is so safe, why do food scientists spend so much time trying to make it more stable? Much of the world’s perception around fats and oils is based upon how the particular oil influences a population’s cholesterol level. While that model in itself is highly flawed, there are, of course, even more important parameters when it comes to choosing daily cooking oils or ingredients in recipes. Canola, formerly rapeseed, oil is cheap, industrially-produced oil that is very high in its polyunsaturated fat content. This characteristic makes it less stable – not solely in cooking or food processing applications, but more importantly, in the human body, where it is incorporated into our mitochondrial and cell membranes. Continue reading →
I SHOULD BE DEAD – BUT HERE’S WHY I’M NOT Posted on May 18, 2017 | by Functional Developer | Leave a Comment on I SHOULD BE DEAD – BUT HERE’S WHY I’M NOT I should have died in 2009! And I probably would have if I’d listened to the neurologist at St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Boston. If we had taken his words to heart, taken them as fact rather than an educated guess, I’d be dead! If I had let his words, “I’d say you have 18 – 24 months to live,” soak into my brain like a toxic chemical spill on pristine marshland, I’d be dead! But, in the parking lot outside the hospital on that cold December day, my wife, Linda, and I made a pact that we wouldn’t let the words of any man, regardless of his scholarly pedigree, dictate the rest of our lives. Continue reading →