Has anyone had experience with inulin rich foods? chicory root, dandelion root? jerusalem artichokes? where do you buy them?
Yes, primarily with Sun Chokes (Jerusalem artichokes). I have also seen it in some high-quality gluten-free products.
But back to the Sun Chokes. You should be able to buy them pretty much anywhere that sells quality produce. Especially if they have a good organic section. Right now is the peak of the season for them. Even though they are high in carbs the inulin counters that quite well. I have never had them caused me any issue with my blood sugar. Even when I having what I thought was quite a lot. We usually do them up as we would potatoes. We like them as O’Brien with onions and peppers and we also make them into “potato chips” usually using peanut oil. You want to start off with small helpings at first since the high amount of fiber can make you rather gassy. They taste great and are easy to work with. In fact, we grow our own in containers.
They are very simple to grow. All you need is a piece of one raw Sun Chokes and some dirt. I highly recommend that you use a container and not plant them in your garden as they will take over before you know it. Since all it takes is a sliver to start a plant they multiply very easily. I also recommend using a very large and heavy pot. This year we had three plants, each in their own 4 gallon container. Each of them maxed out the container. Last year one of them ruptured a slightly smaller container due to the amount of Chokes. There is a lot of information online about how to grow them. But it is almost too simple.
Thanks!
How much does impact do the jerusalem artichokes have on your BG? I am a bit concerned about that. I am not strictly LCHF. Although I am trying to minimize my carbs. [quote=“Randy5, post:2, topic:57513”]
Even though they are high in carbs the inulin counters that quite well
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I’ll check to see if they sell Jerusalem artichokes at Whole Foods or Trader Joe’s. The local organic health food store is very small and limited in what they sell. I’ll check there too.
I was hoping to make “coffee substitute” using chicory root. I came across that somewhere.
They actually don’t have much impact at all, and I don’t think it would matter if your not totally low-carb. You probably will not find them at Trader Joe’s but Whole Foods has them here. You want to make sure they are firm and not soft at all. Around here all of the grocery stores have some organic produce. You don’t actually need to go to a special shop.
At first we bought some to try them out. We really liked them and decided that it would just be too expensive to buy them all the time. They are just so easy to grow it’s not even funny. We cut the plant off at the base when it dies back (usually in October) and move the pots under cover for the winter. We leave the chokes in the dirt and take out what we want. If we had some type of root cellar we would have them year-round.
I wish I can grow them…sadly,I don’t think I will be able to grow them because I live in a small apartment. My apartment is the size of some people’s living room+dining room.
We got these at our local farmers market and loved them. I had no idea they were easy to grow though. Thanks for the tips. I’ll try that out come next spring!
I’m careful of inulin (almost always from chicory) as an additive in “low net carb” foods, because it does raise my BG in almost exactly the same way that a starch would. I use Kirkland brand protein bars, which have 19g of carbs (not including Erythritol, which is completely neutral in terms of BG for me and has virtually no calories). 15g of those carbs are from inulin (chicory root source, I believe).
It took me a while to realize that the “4 net carbs” were not affecting me like 4g of carbs. The bars were affecting me like 19g of carbs would. So I still eat them (high in protein, and I often need a bit of BG raising carbs immediately after I workout), but I now treat them as 19g of carbs.
So, inulin hasn’t been some sort of magical fiber that regulates my BG. The only one of those I know of from personal experience is unmodified potato starch (which actually functions as insoluble fiber).
@David49 you and I have talked about the benefits of resistant starch on the guts and helping you regulate your BG extensively. Thank you for the feedback on inulin. I am curious as to whether inulin may help the guts. Walgreen used to sell inulin powder. They stopped carrying it. I recall reading the label and was concerned about the high carb content.
Happy Thanksgiving to All!