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Nutritional Yeast and Miso Paste – Food Questions
Hi B Better ♥️ Family
1) Is Nutritional Yeast ok for someone who is gluten free and dairy free? do you recommend any good brands in uae or online ?
Any side effects?
2) what is a good miso paste to use that is not processed? Do you recommend using it while cooking?
3) Do you recommend rice wraps or are they under the “UnJUNK” foods?
4) What’s your opinion on Hearts of Palm products like “hearts of palm rice or hearts of palm pasta?”
Are these too processed?
5) What is a good health “grain free cereal” other than steel cut oats. What would not cause inflammation and is 0 sugar? What cereal is “UNJUNK” approved ♥️I follow a gluten free
Paleo diet
No wheat
No MSG etc
No sugarThank you ♥️
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3 Replies
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Hey @Sara,
Great questions! Let’s dive into them!
1. Is Nutritional Yeast okay for someone who is gluten-free and dairy-free?
The short answer is: yes and yes! Nutritional yeast is a species of yeast known as Saccharomyces cerevisiae. It’s the same type of yeast that’s used to bake bread and brew beer, but it is an inactivated version. It wouldn’t work well if you would try to bake bread of it. It might be used for baking bread, but it doesn’t contain gluten and it is made dairy-free.
I wouldn’t know any brands in the UAE. On iHerb (here in The Netherlands) they sell organic nutritional yeast from the brand Simply Organic. I like it because it’s packed in a glass container (and not in plastic).
2) what is a good miso paste to use that is not processed?
Miso is a fermented soy product. Miso paste contains probiotics. It is however a soy product and could therefore be Genetically Modified. If you like your products GMO-free, choose an organic version or at least a product that has the label GMO-free on it. Do I recommend it? It depends on your personal health. Soy is a common food allergen and some people are sensitive to soy. For those people, I recommend avoiding soy products.
Women who are low in estrogen because of menopause can benefit greatly by adding estrogenic foods like organic soy and flaxseed.
Some people have trouble with digesting soy, for a variety of reasons. Soybeans contain phytates that can bind to minerals (like iron, zinc and calcium) in foods, which prevents those minerals from absorption. The benefit of Miso is that it is fermented, and contains much fewer phytates than soybeans.
3) Do you recommend rice wraps or are they under the “UnJUNK” foods?
I didn’t write UnJUNK and might not be the best person to answer this question. @Bernadette Abraham might want to add her vision, but this is mine. The answer is: it depends:
The less processed the wraps are, the better. The ingredient list can guide you. As a rule of thumb: again, the fewer ingredients, the better. It is also a good sign when the ingredient list contains the names of foods. For example, rice is a food name. Rice extract is not a food name.
If your diet contains a lot of processed foods, minimally processed rice wraps might be a step in the right direction. If your diet is mainly made of homemade fresh vegetables and meats, minimally processed rice wraps might not be a concern, but it moves your food choices in the direction of ‘more processed’.
If you are trying to work on your blood sugar balance, you might want to avoid a certain amount of carbs for the time being. Rice wraps might not be the best product for you.
In short: the answer depends on what is written on the label of your rice wrap product, it depends on where your current diet is at and it depends on your current health. Although I didn’t give you a direct answer to your question, I hope I have provided you with some guidelines.
4) What’s your opinion on Hearts of Palm products like “hearts of palm rice or hearts of palm pasta?”
Again, like the previous question, I will answer with some guidelines. I don’t believe Hearts of Palms products are all bad or all good, but it depends on what is written on the label and your personal health.
As a rule of thumb: again, the fewer ingredients, the better. It is also a good sign when the ingredient list contains the names of foods (see above)
Heart of Palms is also high in fiber. For people who are avoiding grain, this can be a good source of fiber. If you are choosing Heart of Palm products because of their high fiber content, be aware that products like Heart of Palm rice and pasta may contain less fiber, especially if the Heart of Palm was made into a paste first.
It is also considered a product that is low in FODMAP (This is short for fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols). and is therefore suited (in moderate amounts) for people with a Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (or SIBO for short).
5) What is a good health “grain-free cereal” other than steel-cut oats? What would not cause inflammation and is 0 sugar?
Many cereal variations can be made at home. Ingredients you can use for example coconut flakes, sliced and chopped nuts like almonds, walnuts and pecans, chia seeds, flaxseeds, pumpkin and sunflower seeds. I personally never buy cereals from a shop since I’m never happy with the content. I prepare a big batch myself once in a while.
Although all these ingredients are healthy, people who are sensitive to one of those ingredients (or have allergic reactions to one of these ingredients), these foods will cause inflammation. it is therefore good to try these foods and see how your body responds.
Are you choosing grain-free for a certain reason? For example, are you working on your blood sugar balance?
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Thank you so much Daniel. Happy New Year to you and your Family.
1) I order these hearts of palm – https://www.amazon.ae/Palmini-Carb-Friendly-Gluten-Pouch/dp/B08TBY9VTR/ref=sr_1_21_sspa?crid=15A835NFD11NN&keywords=hearts+of+palm+pasta&qid=1703921287&sprefix=hearts+of+palm+pasta+%2Caps%2C236&sr=8-21-spons&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9tdGY&psc=1. and and I use these rice wrappers – I hope they are not too processed – https://www.amazon.ae/Blue-Dragon-Spring-Roll-Wrappers/dp/B00B5W0L8S/ref=sr_1_4?crid=2GKTLOOH662TD&keywords=rice+wrap&qid=1703921342&sprefix=rice+wrap+%2Caps%2C269&sr=8-4
2) On Grain Free Diet – I am working on blood sugar balance and healing a leaky gut as well.
I LOVE B BETTER! TO 2024 Full of B Better Mantras
Thank you
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Hey @Sara,
Thank you so much! Happy New Year to you too! And thank you for sharing the love! The love goes both ways 🙂 We are very happy with this place where like-minded people can find each other! And thank you for all of your questions this year. It creates educational value for everyone
Back to your questions:
1. Heart of Palm Rice: The ingredient list looks pretty simple. Sliced heart of palms, water, sea salt and citric acid. This product fits in a low-carb no-grain diet.
Blue Dragon Spring rolls: Here the ingredient list looks simple as well. Rice Flour, Tapioca Flour, Water, Salt. Depending on where you are in the healing process of rebalancing your blood sugars, you might want to avoid it or eat it only occasionally. The spring rolls are a source of carbs that are also relatively fast digestible. White rice is a fast digestible source of carbs and can raise blood sugar quickly. Tapioca, which is a root, is even more quickly digested then potatoes. Because we aren’t talking about whole foods, but about very fine powdered flour, as a rule of thumb, the body doesn’t need to break down the whole foods and it is even easier for the body to absorb.
Do you have certain lab values that could indicate how well you are balancing your blood sugars? For example, do you know your fasting glucose? Did you measure your HbA1c? Or even better: did you measure your fasting insulin? Just to give us a feeling of how well your body is balancing blood sugars?
When you are trying to heal from leaky gut, avoiding grains can be part of the solution. Some healthcare professionals will ask you to avoid gluten containing grains like wheat, barley and rye. Some will ask you for certain reasons to avoid all grains for a while. Rice is a gluten-free grain, but it is still a grain. I’m just mentioning this since I don’t know what recommendations you had. Just be aware.
Since you mentioned you eat oats: although oats are from themselves gluten-free, often oat products are contaminated with gluten. When you eat oats, always make sure you choose gluten-free oat products.
Have you seen this video about gut healing strategies? You might find it interesting. Supplements like Zinc l-carnosine, quercetine, L-glutamine and Deglycyrrhizinated licorice root have been shown to help heal leaky gut.
Another tip is to make sure your serum vitamin D levels are in the ideal range (50-60 ng/ml). Vitamin D is necessary to keep the ‘tight junctions’(reed ‘doors’) between the cells of the gut lining closed.
Have a beautiful last day of the year and best wishes for you in 2024!
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