Ever since I started a low carb diet I am always on the lookout for suitable products or ways to substitute carb heavy favourites of mine, such as bread, pasta, and cakes. I stumbled upon Lonjevity Foods whilst looking for different types of nut flours on Amazon.
Lonjevity Foods offer healthy and nutritious substitutes for high carb products such as flour and sugar. I saw their Fiberflour, a low carb high fiber flour, took the plunge and purchased it. Boy, am I’m glad I did. This is the best low carb flour substitute I have found. The taste and texture are similar to wholemeal flour. I was finally able to make a loaf of bread that actually tasted like bread and not almonds. The possibilities Fiberflour offers in baking and cooking are endless. The door that closed when we said goodbye to regular flour can be reopened thanks to Fiberflour.
After using up my first bag of flour, I headed over to the Lonjevity Foods website and purchased their functional foods starter kit (1kg FiberFlour linseed & oat bran, 1kg Fiberflour Ultra-Fine and 1kg FiberSugar). I was so impressed with their products that I decided to reach out to the team at Lonjevity Foods and find out more about them and their products. Dr Gerald Davies and his family are the team behind Lonjevity Foods, and kindly agreed to be interviewed.
Can you tell us a bit about what Lonjevity Foods is?
Baked and processed foods are here to stay so why not make them the solution rather than the problem. High glycemic starch and sugars are the basic ingredients of processed foods and these have the most serious metabolic responses contributing to obesity, diabetes and risk factors for age-related diseases. My goal was to find a way to replace them without sacrificing taste, texture, and enjoyment of the most popular staple foods.
What is the story behind how Lonjevity Foods started?
My interest in prevention nutrition started in 1967 the year before I went to medical school after reading John Yudkin’s article warning of the dangers of sugar. But it was not until 2007 that I stumbled on a nutritional theory that made sense and actually worked for me in a very powerful way. It was simply the link between postprandial hyperglycemia (high blood glucose levels), progressive weight gain, insulin resistance and all the disastrous consequences that ensue from high carb diets. I became fascinated with learning about the biological mechanisms behind age-related diseases and since retiring from mainstream medicine I have had the time to collect a library of thousands of original articles on these issues. I had an added incentive to keep up with my son Camron, majoring in molecular biology at Boston University and is now studying medicine at Florida International University.
I tested my blood glucose levels after eating some banana bread I made with Fiberflour and I was astounded that my blood glucose levels actually lowered! How do your products benefit individuals with insulin resistance and support blood glucose control?
There are two separate issues regarding diabetes addressed by low carb and high fibre. Remove the fuel on the fire, postprandial hyperglycemia (high blood glucose levels) and insulinemia (high insulin levels), increase the supply of antidote nutritional responses, i.e. short chain fatty acids, and gut-derived hormones (GLP1 & PYY). Remember GLP1 mimicking drugs are mainstays for obesity and diabetes treatment, and high GLP1 levels are the main reason gastric bypass surgery cures diabetes.
How does substituting Fiberflour over regular flour aid weight loss?
It prevents postprandial hyperglycemia/insulinemia (the main cause of overeating, hunger and fat storage). Fiberflour is very low energy density, it decreases hunger and voluntary food intake.
On the Lonjevity Foods website, you mention that you lost 30 lbs of fat after adopting a low carb high fiber diet. What were the key changes you made to your diet to achieve this?
Simply avoiding sugar, starch, rice, flour, potatoes, pasta but eating all sorts of other great foods such as dairy, fish, meat, olive oil, salads, veggies, etc.
Can Fiberflour be used in the same way we use regular flour?
Yes, is the short answer. I developed the recipes on our website by using Fiberflour in the same way to regular flour and made some modifications based on the results. Mostly requiring a bit more fluid, or an egg in biscuits rather than water.
Can you tell us about the other products you offer?
We are producing FiberSugar and an Ultra-fine FiberFlour. All the ingredients you need to turn junk into medicine.
You have some delicious recipes on your website. My personal favourite is the banana bread. What is your favourite recipe and why?
There are so many, and variety is the spice of life! Bread rolls and loaves, flatbread, wraps, tortillas, chapatis, pizza is the best ever, shortcrust pastry for pies, tarts, samosas, sausage rolls, etc. Biscuits, cookies, muffins, tea cakes. Snack bars with nuts and fruits like flapjacks.
What sets your products apart from competitors?
No commercial food suppliers are focussed on the low carb high fibre message. Our fibre content is a diverse spectrum of dozens of different types of fibre which is important to support a diverse microbial ecosystem and in turn plentiful supply of fermentation nutrients to maintain gut health and permeability barrier integrity.
What can we expect from Lonjevity Foods in the future?
To provide finished, ready to eat more convenient foods. Our ambition is to partner with restaurants, finished goods producers, and commercial bakers. The market for ready to eat foods is so much more important than that for home bakers.
Where can people stay up to date with what you and Lonjevity Foods are doing?
You can stay up to date with us on:
- Our website – www.lonjevity-foods.com
- Facebook – @LonjevityFoods
- Twitter – @LonjevityFoods
- Instagram @lonjevity_foods
More from Dr. Gerald Davies: An introduction to a low carb, high fiber diet
How do you turn junk food into medicine? Replace the bad ingredients with good and for those who find enjoyment from cooking, entertaining and eating, what better time can be spent than improving your health and reducing risks of a host of non-communicable diseases at the same time as indulging in the wonderful recipes created over the years.
So many people are writing blogs after discovering a simple dietary solution to what has become the world’s most important public health crisis. It started when the internet made original science publications accessible to everyone. Some people have the time and curiosity to keep on asking the question “why” and are not satisfied with parroted dogma that simply does not make sense. I was struck by this realisation when reading the introduction to Gary Taubes’ book “Good Calories Bad Calories” in 2007 (published as The Diet Delusion (2008) in the UK and Australia.[1] ). Taubes explained how he spent 10 years researching over a century of original publications only possible because of the internet and its incredible search capabilities.
In 2007 I was a 57-year-old physician with a lifelong interest in diet and exercise but nevertheless putting on weight and losing my fitness. I was intrigued with Taubes’ proposition that chronic postprandial hyperglycemia from a staple diet dominated by carbohydrates was the reason why 2/3 of the population now suffer with obesity and metabolic syndrome. There was absolutely no disputing basic physiology on the fat storage effects of insulin and the overriding dominance of blood glucose control of insulin secretion. This obvious and overlooked connection made sense to me so I too did an experiment: changing my diet to eliminate blood glucose spikes after meals using a glucometer to follow my glucose responses to food. The effects were immediate and profound, dropping from 190 to 160 lb within 2 months and gaining huge increase in exercise endurance. The best part for genuine food lovers is relatively unrestricted eating without hunger but selecting the type of food and not the amount. I found it easy to stick with simply avoiding starch and sugar for the past 10 years now with my weight never varying from 160 plus or minus 2 lb.: see my 2007 and 2017 passport photos.
For those just starting a low carb lifestyle, there are 3 useful measures to track: weight, waist size, and resting heart rate. Within 1 to 2 months of switching to an unrestricted low carb high fibre diet, many people see resting heart rates go from 90’s to 60’s indicative of improvement in heart function and possibly low-grade chronic inflammation.
While science is continually evolving, today’s message will certainly not be the last word on how to improve healthspan with food choices. No doubt high glycemic starches and sugars are the worst things to put in your mouth. The food industry is financially hooked on dirt cheap commodities of sugar, flour, potatoes, rice and corn which account for more than 50% of energy consumption, but what to eat instead? There are problems associated with excessive protein consumption and there is a danger of excessive calories from too much fat, but fibre is chronically deficient in the Western Diet, it has low energy density and is converted into numerous nutrients and vitamins by microbes in our hindgut. There is a new science emerging regarding our symbiotic relationship with gut microbiota, we are learning how prebiotics and fibre impact the whole body through molecular signalling from short-chain fatty acids and hormones secreted from gut lining cells such as the miracle hormone GLP1.
The harmful consequences of a diet consisting mainly of starch and sugar are becoming well known but the wider metabolic benefits of replacing them with fibres and pre-biotics is exciting new science. With regard to health effects, certain foods are harmful, many others are neutral, and some are positively beneficial. Despite the numerous health benefits of fibre and pre-biotics, most people only manage to consume half the recommended daily amount (RDA) and the RDA of 30g itself is way too little anyway. Two studies published in March 2018 showed improvement in diabetes with fibre supplements even in the context of a “healthy” high carbohydrate diet. Combining a low carb and high fibre approach is likely to have additive benefits because they work through separate biological mechanisms.
In order to change behaviour, people need “actionable intelligence”: understanding the science is the first step and the next steps made so much easier when the alternatives are so much fun to explore and enjoy.
I would like to thank Dr.Gerald Davies for his time and expertise. Understanding the science has been pivotal in helping me make the right food choices and control my blood glucose and insulin levels. I am so grateful that a product has been created with glucose control, insulin control and our gut health in mind and enables us to take comfort in foods that would normally have a negative impact on our health. It’s not often I get so excited over a product, but this one truly excites me. I believe there should be a place in everyone’s home for Lonjevity Food products.