[Xodus]

In this months article by Charles Poliquin:

TESTOSTERONE NATION

Question of Strength: October
by Charles Poliquin

Carbs, Hot Asians, and Oatmeal

Q: My Asian girlfriend eats all the carbs she wants and still has abs. I can eat too much healthy oatmeal and lose my abs in a heartbeat! What gives? Is this really a genetic or ethnic heritage difference?




A: Two things here. First, Asians are part of the 25% of the world population that are carbohydrate adapted. Provided they're plain carbs, they can eat them and still remain lean.

Asians can tolerate carbs more because their culture has had agriculture longer than other cultures; they're adapted. (On that same note, perhaps soy is bad for Caucasians but not so bad for Asians. Think about it.) But, most Asians can't tolerate diary. It just hasn't been around long in their diets.

Second, you're not Asian, and oatmeal is the most common food allergen. It comes from the grass family after all.


In 2001 I ran blood work on every single one of my clients using six different labs. Oatmeal always came out as the most frequent food allergen. It can raise cortisol and lead to the storage of fat in the abdominal area.

I'm anti-oatmeal, especially for Caucasians. Quinoa may be a better choice.



Anybody ever hear of that before? Any studies to back it up?



X

[Highlanda01602]

anti... OATMEAL?!?!

how dare he insult the oatmeal

[beebab]

i've never heard anything about oatmeal raising cortisol levels... sounds like a load of bull to me, unless you show me statistical evidence to the contrary

[Xodus]

Originally Posted by beebab

i've never heard anything about oatmeal raising cortisol levels... sounds like a load of bull to me, unless you show me statistical evidence to the contrary

Yeah man, that's why I posted it. To see what the great anabolic minds have to say...

Charles Poliquin seems to have some wacky ideas, but I like his style.

I did a little more googling after I posted this and there does seem to be a lot of people that are allergic to it, esp. the gluten sensitive folks, but I haven't found anything saying that it increases cortisol yet.


X

[bitterplacebo]

Yes, it's true that oatmeal can be considered an allergen for many.
I'm not entirely sure how allergic reactions work, but it seem that it logically follows that we would see a raise in cortisol levels associated with the stress of the allergen evoking a type of immune system response.

It would have been nice for him to show the results instead of just tell them.

But I think the bottom line is that frequent exposure to allergens will cause damage, so the effect of allergens on cortisol levels is a small detail.

[bassgirl]

Originally Posted by Xodus

A: Two things here. First, Asians are part of the 25% of the world population that are carbohydrate adapted. Provided they're plain carbs, they can eat them and still remain lean.


X

Just think of the bazillions of years they've had rice products in their diet, way before America was discovered.

[Xodus]

Originally Posted by bassgirl

Just think of the bazillions of years they've had rice products in their diet, way before America was discovered.

That's why I like meat.

[Hurleyboy05]

Originally Posted by Xodus

That's why I like meat.

Thats why I like Asians!

[bound]

I love some of the wacked-out crap that Poliquen comes out with. Sometimes I think that he just makes stuff up just to mess with the fitness industry. The guy could certainly get away with it, an he's said some really weird things, so I wouldn't put it past him. Maybe he just likes messing with T-nation. They tend to be an easy target for that sort of thing as a community.

The whole oatmeal thing sounds true enough, at least the allergen part has some info to back it up. I'd like to see some more about the cortisol, though.

Anyone know how you can even tell if you're allergic to oatmeal?

[asianbabe]

Originally Posted by Hurleyboy05

Thats why I like Asians!

har har!!

The packaging on my oatmeal says that it contains gluten. But I think you might be able to find some that don't?

[Rivet]

Originally Posted by Hurleyboy05

Thats why I like Asians!

Originally Posted by Xodus

That's why I like meat.

YUM

[RoidRageX10]

Im allergic to Kashi oatmeal but not the walmart brand.