Hacker News Reader

Hacker News

Comment by flossly | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

flossly

I did quite some experimenting with this.

Fruit moves fastest and green leaves. Meat, cheese, oil and fats slowest.

But we often eat combinations: and the slowest component of your food determines the speed of the whole.

Also: it's a one lane road and "over taking" is not possible.

So, eating a fast moving meal after a slow moving meal results in the fast mover getting stuck behind the slow mover.

Hence I start my day without and slow food (only fruit, herbs, green leaves, spices, ginger => usually a smoothy); and end the day with slow food (oily food, nuts, seeds, beans; usually combined with green leaves as we need a lot green leaves).

YMMV

View on HN

There have been alternative (often mad) health proponents who have insisted upon only eating fruit in the morning for years - similar(ish) reasons. I think there is probably something to it.

Whole fruit also has a lower glycemic index due to the fiber. This slow release of sugar helps reduce insulin resistance and balance out hormone response in general.

Hormonal imbalance is severely underrated as a root cause of common mental health issues like anxiety, depression, etc.

Having fruit in the morning is a little boost without the guilt. Adding in some light exercise, like walking, also helps prime the day. It even gets easier to wake up early for all this the more regularly it's done. It's one big reinforcement cycle for healthy habits.

I remember this being a thing in some Tony Robbins book!

I mean the most obvious reason is fibers

For me the most obvious reason is that we are primates and most primates have a fruit heavy diet. So I believe that's a reason for our human bodies to be very well adapted to fruit.

And that's the fibers, vitamins, minerals and sugars... The whole package.

Yeah, but during what part of the day do they eat it?! ^_^

Isn't slow food going through your body during sleep something that'll impact your sleep quality?

When you wake up you are basically fasting so your body is ready to take a hit. Slow food will go through your body faster when you eat it in the first half of your day.

I found the same food goes about as fast (on a rather empty GI tract) no matter when eaten.

Slow food takes about 24h for me (so even when eaten early).

I don't think the last 12h impacts sleep quality that heavily though

Interesting.

A great opportunity to add "YMMV"

Your Movements May Vary?

YBMMV

Did it!

Just to be clear I thought the typical advice has been fiber -> protein -> carbs, for blood sugar reasons, you're saying to frontload fiber/carbs & backload proteins for easier digestion? That is interesting, I wonder what studies there are on this.

My reason is I dont want the fast moving food to get stuck behind the slow moving food.

Another reason I do it like this: I get no after diner dip from fast moving food. Slow moving food makes me crash a little, and I prefer to experience that in the evenings.

I did also experiments with fruit (and leaves) only diets. No crashes at all. Nice! But I did crave savory, chewy food a lot.

> Also: it's a one lane road and "over taking" is not possible.

I've eaten some hamburgers at Krystal's that definitely overtook whatever else was in front. Some folks have had the same or similar effect from White Castle, although I never have. Chipotle on occasion moves things along rather briskly too. No fruit or green leaves in any of them.

It may be that it's not a digestion thing, but some other factor they have that accelerates the process.

Not a doctor but I know that some foods, in some guts, at some times can trigger a 'quick-release valve' of sorts. You're not digesting properly when that happens.

This. Eject != digest

I don't disagree with your findings, but here's the model I use:

- Fiber: ^

- Dairy: v

- Coffee: ^^

- NSAIDs: vv

- Ice cream splurges: vvv

My breakfast routine for ~40 years has been coffee, muesli, coffee, yoghurt, coffee, fresh fruit all served with plenty coffee.

I end up eating a similar breakfast when I visit Swiss/Austrian/Dutch friends in their natural habitat.

yeah my mileage is i eat fruit and i get cramps and the squirts for the next two days.

as I've gotten older my ability to consume fruit, onions, garlic and most dairy (and coffee :-( ) has been taken away from me. its really a miserable experience for someone that enjoys eating new and interesting things all the time.

IANAD, but sounds like IBS or similar, not necessarily age-related, and potentially treatable.

Look into the low FODMAP diet.

What do you mean, the human stomach is absolutely not a "one line road", your comments lacks the basic biological understanding. What you're describing is a good generic diet and maybe that's why it feels good but please learn a bit more about the stuff you are expetimenting on.

I did not mention stomach. I meant the GI-tract as a whole.

I've used food coloring and indigestibles (like corn kernels) to do experiments on whether meals can "overtake" or "merge" or "join" with other meals into poops.

I'd love to read more about your experiments, please don't refrain from writing about it someday.

that's the most insane thing i read today. kudos to your curiosity

Then you'll love https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/jpc.14309

"Six paediatric health-care professionals were recruited to swallow a Lego head."

omg this article is wild lol

> To standardise bowel habit between participants, we developed a Stool Hardness and Transit (SHAT) score to look at stool consistency over time. The SHAT score is the sum of the Bristol Stool Chart scores over a specific time period divided by that time period in days.

> Post-ingestion, stools were monitored and examined in search of the excreted item. The search was conducted on an individual basis, and search technique was decided by the participant. The primary outcome was the Found and Retrieved Time (FART) score.

Adding debug prints to your diet.

Food coloring is a liquid dye. It will mix with whatever chyme it encounters in the stomach and small intestine, dyeing a large portion of the stool. It does not prove that food stayed in a single-file line.

Also, again the GI-tract as a whole is also not a "one-lane road".

Please educate yourself and do not do "experiments" on yourself. A good place to start learning more would be: https://accessmedicine.mhmedical.com/book.aspx?bookid=691 if you're intrested.

You are very judgey and controlling. Maybe some prune juice would help?

Eating bitter greens can cause the body to secrete more bile and that speeds up fat digestion.

I use TUDCA for that though it can make me gassy if I take too much.

I will add an anecdote that from observation, two people on the same diet over long periods can have significantly different poop frequencies, and differing regularity.

YMMV. It's not just determined by the food intakes, there are individual factors.

At a guess, these individual factors start with 1) genetic component to reactions to substances such as lactose and to caffeine. 2) Gut microbiome.

In other words, saying "change diet and you can change the poop schedule" is true, but "with this diet you will definitely get this schedule" is not.

For me i drink close to a gallon of water a day and that truly cleans me out daily.

> It's a one lane road and "over taking" is not possible.

Best poop-related comment I've seen.

n=1

But interesting nonetheless, thanks for sharing your findings.

I have a small following of people how also saw improvements doing this.

Then, I did not come up with this myself, but found a lot of anecdotals in this direction.

And... I comment on a real science piece that seems to be making similar claims.

Have you found that coffee speed things up?

I have, but I think any stimulant would do similar. I no longer smoke, but that did it too.

I cannot stand the taste coffee. So no data from my side.

Or just don't eat meat and cheese at all

I've not for the last 12 years. But fake meats/dairies have a very similar macro profile, so I expect them to digest similarly.

I'll not try though, as I'm vegan for ethical reasons.

Better for the environment too.

The best thing for the environment is dying. You stop wasting resources and start fertilizing the soil.

Only a Sith deals in absolutes.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com