What's In YOUR Poop?

This "pectin" I've been using as a preshave is really just the heat-extracted juice of underripe crabapples. Some sources say you can use ripe Granny Smith, but I seriously doubt it would compare to this particular sample. There is usually another step to simmer down the juice, to concentrate it, but it was ridiculously thick this year, due to the quality of the fruit. I got a serious workout squeezing the bag, and probably should have just used more water in the first place. The apples were harvested after the usual time of ripeness, and had black blossom ends, but never wanted to ripen, suspended in development as little green knots.

Why document this? Shouldn't I be making a product and selling it to you? Well, I wouldn't rule it out, and I'd be glad to stimulate an artisan's mind in that direction. I don't want to pretend I know all the stuff that's in cooked apple juice, either. I am primarily concerned with the progress of shaving culture, though relying on jelly making tradition when I tell you that pectin, a kind of dietary fiber, is improving my thin, oily skin. If I had a heart attack tomorrow, and didn't write it down, this tenuous line of transmission, across four generations, could be lost.

Though that is unlikely, with all the fiber I've been eating. My guts are in as good a shape as my skin, judging by the smell of them. Oh, yeah, you get some quality flatulence, when you eat a banana with the peel on! That's mostly what I heard about fiber, growing up. Shredded wheat -- tried it, didn't like it. Then they figured out that it lowers cholesterol; but still, ads push it as awful things like Cheerios, whole grains, oatmeal. As if those are even valid choices, when Cap'n Crunch is available!

http://www.cybercolloids.net/information/technical-articles/pectin-basics-nutritional-aspects-pectins

Once again, shaving has served as the gateway to health for me. What organ of the body, other than the skin, can you directly manipulate and play with experimentally? (Don't answer that.) I feel the water soluble fiber bulking up the oils in my skin, preventing them from exiting the corneocytes, making the stratum corneum more thick and spongy and capable of holding shaving media. But thanks to the malic acid in this particular gel, no flakes, either.

So I theorize. It's the direct experience that's important, that makes a Gen X-er believe. I may actually eat some oatmeal with my apples tomorrow -- with a healthy squirt of maple syrup.

Modern cereal bowl, left. Mid-century cereal bowl, right.

UPDATE. Hello, calcium, my old friend... see Figure 2 in this pdf for the science tip.