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Kava Nutrition

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HeadHodge

HeadHodge

Bula To Eternity
shakas said:
Kava is absolutely an appetite suppressant, some strains more than others.
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Could you elaborate what you mean by the effects you have with "various" strains?

shakas said:
I suppose if you ate incredibly ridiculously for breakfast and lunch you could still pack on pounds with kava...but it seems to me like it would really take some effort.
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That's the problem with not being scientific. I didn't change my habits drastically when I started adding Kava root powder, but I did (for a little bit) blend bananas with my grog (and then stopped). I also added more flax seed (which has fat) to my diet for extra fiber. Any of these changes (plus other unidentified ones) could possibly account for my gain. So I don't so much want to blame Kava for it but want to try and understand Kava enough to rule it out or at least take it's dietary effects into account for my diet.

Regards
 
sɥɐʞɐs

sɥɐʞɐs

Avg. Dosage: 8 Tbsp. (58g)
Review Maestro
HeadHodge said:
Could you elaborate what you mean by the effects you have with "various" strains?
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Yeah, some varieties of kava are higher in the kavalactones like DHM & DHK and are typically more troublesome on your stomach, more likely to cause nausea and more likely to heavily suppress your appetite. Other kavas, like many Hawaiian and Tongan ones are higher in Kavain or are made from more of the stump rather than the lateral roots....those ones usually taste better and are easier on your stomach. Those ones don't suppress your appetite as much, and also have a different effect overall. This can also depend on dosage, if you only drink small amounts or you make really weak kava...it won't suppress your appetite as much.

the only weight kava can put on me, is when i have 3 shells sloshing around in my belly and I havent pee'd yet...the weight of the beverage itself, soon to be eliminated. if you think kava might be responsible for you gaining a 1/2 inch in the waist, the only possibilities i can think of are either; simple bloating or kava induced lethargy gradually allowing you to lose muscle and gain fat.
 
yepimonfire

yepimonfire

Kava Enthusiast
I'm dieting down right now and kava makes no difference. It does make me hungry as hell though and I end up eating entire cucumbers to stave it off lol.


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HeadHodge

HeadHodge

Bula To Eternity
violet said:
.......Are you straining the kava before you drink it? When I first started drinking kava (Boroguru) I got lots of gastric effects in the beginning, but they stopped happening after a little bit.
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I've just started double straining using @endwatcher's technique. That helped my nausea/gas problem tremendously. From reading other posts, I think it may also help prevent the derma thingy too.

violet said:
ETA: also have you tried drinking your kava unsweetened? I started with sweetening mine the first few times, but discovered that sweetening also made it taste more foul. I add some heavy whipping cream or half and half to my brew, it mellows and mutes the worst of it, makes it go down much smoother.
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Took your suggestion and tried without any sweeteners (or other stuff). After drinking a few batches that way, it's really not that bad. So I'll just keep drinking that way. May try the whip cream, but don't know if I need to now.
 
violet

violet

Do all things with love
HeadHodge said:
Took your suggestion and tried without any sweeteners (or other stuff). After drinking a few batches that way, it's really not that bad. So I'll just keep drinking that way. May try the whip cream, but don't know if I need to now.
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I think the heavy cream works well to mute piney flavors, if that is ever an issue for you. And I've found nothing takes the place of a sip and gargle with a nice carbonated beverage after the kava goes down :D
 
HeadHodge

HeadHodge

Bula To Eternity
violet said:
I think the heavy cream works well to mute piney flavors, if that is ever an issue for you. And I've found nothing takes the place of a sip and gargle with a nice carbonated beverage after the kava goes down :D
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Yeah, I've been enjoying a root beer chaser with my shells. Don't know about the gargling though. Maybe I'll try swirl and spit, the way wine tasters do. :eek:
 
Jerome

Jerome

Kava Lover
HeadHodge said:
A quote from your link: "Resistant Starches May Help You Lose Weight by Improving Satiety"

I've read in several other places that using Kava is an appetite suppressant. Don't know if that's true, but if it is, RS may provide a possible explanation for it. Which would provide further evidence that the Kava contains some RS type starch.

I'm really interested in trying the boiling method for preparing Kava, but now wonder how cooking it would affect the starch. For example cooking a potato or letting a banana get ripe changes the properties of the starch from RS to some other type. That would kinda of rain on my parade, if that's true for cooking Kava.

(Moved per request) - Kapm
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I hadn't seen this thread before but I have been wondering about the resistant starch content of kava as well. Being a root, and being that it is consumed raw, I imagine it is fairly high. As far as gas goes, apparently what helps with a high resistant starch diet is supplementing with quality, soil-based, probiotics. There is a lot of "buzz" about the health benefits of resistant starches right now, if Kava has it in droves, its just another perk of the root!
 
VictoryRider

VictoryRider

Kava Enthusiast
sɥɐʞɐs said:
Kava is absolutely an appetite suppressant, some strains more than others. It also has so few calories, that you would not gain weight from drinking it like you would with drinking alcohol regularly. The combination of the daily ritual; not eating after lunch and only being capable of eating a very small dinner after kava -- along with cessation of alcohol consumption and low calories in kava, naturally takes weight off you. '.
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Dunno about the rest of you, but for me, when I drink alcohol, I lose *ALL* willpower against over-eating, and also, alcohol
makes me VERY hungry. Bad combination... So, alcohol is always detrimental to healthy/reasonable eating habits.

Kava makes it very easy to eat "correctly".
 
Jerome

Jerome

Kava Lover
VictoryRider said:
Dunno about the rest of you, but for me, when I drink alcohol, I lose *ALL* willpower against over-eating, and also, alcohol
makes me VERY hungry. Bad combination... So, alcohol is always detrimental to healthy/reasonable eating habits.

Kava makes it very easy to eat "correctly".
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Me too! The problem with alcohol is it makes me exponentially thirsty... Its a vicious cycle! I have one and instantly think, you know what would be good with this one, healthy when consumed in moderation, glass of wine?

The rest of the bottle... a six pack, half pint of vodka and two pizzas!

Kava seems to be self limiting. I get nauseated before I can drink too much. And the only thing that sounds good to eat after drinking kava is coconuts and raw fish... strange.
 
Edward

Edward

Aluballin' in the UK
Kava Vendor
I wouldn't say alcohol makes me thirsty as such but I do notice that when I've got a buzz going and I'm drinking I find it almost impossible to remember to drink water to try and counteract the water loss. I sometimes think to myself that I should drink some water but just never get round to it, as if my mind or body doesn't want it. I'm usually not too bad at chugging water when I've stopped drinking which must help a bit but probably not as good as drinking water throughout the session. I prefer kava anyway.
 
VictoryRider

VictoryRider

Kava Enthusiast
Same here... but it's amazing how much of a difference the next morning it makes when you drink water, either during, or after,
a night of alcohol.
 
Kava_Lavar

Kava_Lavar

Kava Curious
Ok, so skimming through this thread I gather we don't know how many carbs would be in a tablespoon of medium grind?

On myfitnesspal dot com it shows 6 carbs for tablespoons. Who came up with that?
 
kavadude

kavadude

❦ॐ tanuki tamer
Kava_Lavar said:
Ok, so skimming through this thread I gather we don't know how many carbs would be in a tablespoon of medium grind?

On myfitnesspal dot com it shows 6 carbs for tablespoons. Who came up with that?
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It most likely comes from Lebot and Cabalon 1986's analysis of kava root.

http://kavaforums.com/forum/threads/kava-carbohydrates-calories.2932/

Unless you are consuming unstrained root, it is likely entirely negligible. Kava does have some starch and a miniscule amount of sugar and protein.
 
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