INULIN, (not Insulin) Is Good for Digestion and Modern Research Supports the Maintaining of a Healthy Gut.

We have modern conditions of the Digestive Tract that do affect many people. They are serious enough to cause great discomfort and near disability, and can be life long. A look at and use of "inulin substances" could be something helpful; and indeed everybody should have in their daily diet?

Take yourself way way back. Cromagnons were going north, crossing vast stretches of barren country. Food you hunted with your little clan, and you picked roots out of the ground. Berries, nuts and green shoots of unnamed ilk were yours. As you crossed the unfriendly flat brown ground, you would pull up onion-like, leek-like and garlic-like tubors. You and your family chewed on them and swallowed them. You were hungry, but you kept on going. You seemed to have energy even though you had low blood sugar. Even though you thought you would drop, you didn't. You and your family kept putting feet in front of feet, until you snagged a rabbit and ripped it apart, wetting your lips and cheeks with little strands of red rabbit muscle and gut. Then you kept going. Somehow these tubors gave you strength. You didn't know why, of course you didn't know why. We know why now, but back then, you just chewed what seemed to keep you alive.

The Unusual Energy

The name is INULIN. Not insulin. It is a molecule naturally present in many fruits and vegetables consumed in the traditional human diet for centuries. The sugars that it produces come from the factory in the colon. The liver and pancreas are not employed to bring this sugar (Fructan) into availability. Thus, if you have low blood sugar, or don't want higher blood sugar, your energy levels can stabilize.

Just What is Inulin?

Wikipedia lends a hand. "Inulin is a natural, storage carbohydrate present in more than 36,000 species of plants: including

Discovered in 1804

Inulin was discovered in 1804 by German scientist Valentin Rose. He found “a peculiar substance” from Inula helenium roots by boiling-water extraction. The substance was named inulin because of I. helenium, but it is also called helenin, alatin, and meniantin. Indigestible polysaccharides were of great scientific concern in the beginning of the 20th century. Today, inulin is used as an active ingredient in functional foods.

So, our ancestors "knew" that garlic was good for you, but did not know exactly why. It was everywhere in the primitive diet (which is why we need to consider some of the virtues of the primitive diet).

For example, it is possible to find inulin in onion, leek, garlic and even banana. However, one of the highest concentrations of inulin can be found in chicory. Chicory is a local agricultural resource grown in Belgium, the north part of France and the Netherlands. Chicory coffee is consumed in Louisiana by those special people called Creoles and Cajuns.

Follow It Down Your Gut - It Inhabits In Your Colon

Follow this "fructooligosaccharide" called INULIN, down the intestinal path. It's first quality is observed. Your regular digestive juices don't digest it. Its tough and fibrous. It is not impressed with your juices, so it keeps on going. It makes its way through your small intestine and into your large intestine. Then it parks in your colon. In the mid-1990's it go studied hard. Fructooligosaccharides (FOS) is a product that truly benefits your body. Most all food is digested thoroughly at this point. In this particular spot it becomes necessary food. The good bacteria - the ones that help us, prevent disease and balance our systems, as opposed to the bad bacteria - the ones that create biochemical environments that encourage the growth of disease states, need food.

Since the good bacteria need food they jump on the fibrous stuff that is sitting undigested in your colon. The good bacteria feast on the inulin and grow. That is why it is called a prebiotic. It's a prebiotic because without it, the good bacteria would not thrive and out populate the bad bacteria. Sources of inulin incude: elecampane, dandelion, wild yam, Jerusalem artichoke, chicory, jicama, burdock, onion, garlic, agave and camas.

Purported Benefits of this Fibrous Complex Carbohydrate

It is said that it helps build and make available calcium and magnesium. It is thought to reduce the potential for bowel cancer, as it helps build bones (calcium absorption) and strengthen the nervous system (magnesium absorption). The prevalence of hypercholesteremia in the U.S. remains a serious public health concern despite significant progress in education. Why? People don't consume enough fiber, or more importantly the right KIND of fiber. Inulin is a "soluble fiber" and thus occupies an important role. It is said to help lower cholesterol naturally, by absorbing and removing excess cholesterol from the system.

Herbal Coffees

Herbal coffees that contain inulin have not only a caffeine neutral effect. They have an absolutely positive effect. While increasing mineral absorption, it improves digestion, promotes regularity and boosts the immune system. It restores alkaline balance, builds heart-healthy potassium and gives energy from nutrients, not stimulants.

Because We Don't Walk Across The Serengeti Anymore

Because our diets have changed, and we don't pull tubors out of the ground as we commute on the freeway and sip breakfast, we have to find products that put inulin in the product. More and more yogurts are inserting inulin into their product. Look for it and try it.

Of course, you should try to embrace some ancient foods. its just that we probably need daily, easily consumable inulin, along with our roasted garlic, chicory coffee and onion soup.

Try to get back to the way our bodies used to be. Formerly, we had this stuff in our bodies just by the way we ate. Now we don't. Figure out a way to bless your body. If you suffer too much from flatulence, that might be a sign that you really really need it.

When The Children of Israel Were Sitting East of The Pharoah

They immediately knew they were suffering from not having their leeks and garlic. They complained vociferously. As one looks back on that time of the Exodus, it is easy to think that they were yelling because they didn't have their spices which made their food delectable. Perhaps they knew their health would suffer and was being impacted immediately. This makes sense considering these people had no McDonalds or Wendy's near by. They probably knew what they were missing,or felt they did.

Modern therapies and new research and drugs (like Humira) help the modern patient; but a return to basic beneficial foods could provide a healthy environment for the modern well informed patient.