Let’s kick off the 2020 Memos a little differently. Every health website is focusing on weight loss and fitness resolutions. Of course they are—it’s that time of year. But let’s be non-conformist and start by answering questions that may seem a little unusual, such as: is there any truth that cooking rice or pasta and then refrigerating it increases the fiber content? I’ll start with one Paula asked: what are those little gritty things in pears? You know, like the fruit has little pieces of sand in it.

My first thought was that it was some type of fiber. Wrong. It turns out that there are different types of plant cell-wall components. Some are flexible, some are not. Sclereids are cell-wall components that are rigid; clusters of them cause the grittiness in pears. The seed coats of beans, peas, and most other seeds are also made up of sclereids. They’re indigestible and just pass through the digestive system. Are they fiber? The don’t seem to be, but because they’re not digested, they’ll add bulk to the stool. That explains why peas and corn seem to seem to look the same exiting as they do entering.

I can’t let you go without a little nutrition talk: pear and cheese is one of our most frequent evening snacks. You can’t go wrong pairing any kind of pear with our favorite Costco Tillamook Extra Sharp Cheddar in the black wrapper. Or try a green salad with pear, blue cheese, dried cranberries, glazed walnuts, and balsamic dressing; add leftover chicken, and you’ve got a meal.

The idea of refrigerating pasta and rice was interesting, so I’ll be writing about resistant starch the rest of the week. If you have any questions that seem to be a little out there, send them to me and I’ll answer them next week. If you want to know, I guarantee others do as well.

What are you prepared to do today?

        Dr. Chet

Reference: Chapter 3: Cells, Tissues, And Organs: The Microscopic Components Of Plant Structure. J&P Learning.