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Resistant Starch — The Key To Extraordinary Health Benefits
Feed those Microbes and watch what Happens
I'm constantly learning new things about the benefits of bacteria but especially what feeds these tiny microbes that keep us healthy and thriving. It's been over two decades of eating fermented foods and the new discoveries have never stopped. Something I've learned throughout the years is that you're only going to find your way if you're searching and reaching for wellness. You've gotta take it higher and learn more through each decade of your life as you change and go through different stages. It's exciting to see my body keep pace with what I've learned and how grateful I am that it responds so quickly. So as I pass this on to you, my heartfelt desire is that it will help you too. My prayer is it will make your life better and you'll be healthier just from understanding and implementing key strategies that make your microbes thrive, and in turn your body soars!
Resistant Starch — Resists Digestion
Resistant starches are a type of fiber that plays a major role in digestive health, but it is also essential for achieving incredible overall health. These special fibers aren't completely broken down and absorbed in the stomach or small intestine. Instead, they pass through to the colon and are converted into short-chain fatty acids which act as prebiotics to help feed the beneficial bacteria in the gut.
- For every 100 grams of fiber your gut ferments you make 30 grams of bacteria. This fermentation process done by the microbes in your gut is necessary to achieve a powerful and robust immune system.
- Fiber also adds bulk and viscosity and this reduces the ability of carcinogens to make contact with your cells. Fiber binds cancer-causing compounds and bile acids and keeps the gut in balance.
- Fiber is needed to make Butyrate, a short-chain-fatty acid. Butyrate is also essential to a healthy gut and immune system. One of the health benefits of butyric acid is its ability to provide your colon cells with energy. Butyric acid provides your colon cells with about 70 percent of their total energy needs. Researchers are finding that increasing butyric acid is important for those with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) and Crohn’s disease. [1]
Resistant starches resist digestion. They don't feed us, they feed our bacteria and some of the most important ones, like Bifidobacterium. These resistant starches come in the form of carbohydrates like green bananas, oats, legumes, potatoes, and rice just to name a few. But the caveat is that you need to eat these special starches cold.
Extraordinary Health Benefits
Most people think that carbohydrates like oats, potatoes, and rice make their blood sugar spike and this is true, but take those same foods and cool them down and make a new dish, and these resistant starches actually work for you by actively reducing blood sugar spikes and crashes, and they also reduce your hunger, and help with weight loss, and that's not all! There are more than 200 studies [2] done on the benefits of resistant starches. These are just a few of the things they can do.
- lowers blood sugar [3]
- reduce hunger and aid with weight loss [4,5]
- lower bad cholesterol [6]
- improve digestive health [7]
- prevent constipation [8]
- help with IBS and Crohn's [9]
- decrease inflammation [10]
- boosts immunity [11]
The key is to have these foods cold
The key is to consume these foods cold—then they feed the bacteria.
When heated, the long starch chains break into simple sugars. These simple sugars feed you and raise blood sugars. Cool them down and the sugars turn to starches that can resist digestion. The higher the resistant starches content in a food, the fewer calories it will have. There are many ways to have these special starches that are quite delicious. I eat them almost every day and especially for lunch since they're easy to prepare and have on hand. We've been led to believe these starches are bad, but do it right and they will do all the things you wished they would do for you and enjoy the deliciousness and satiety factor too!
10 Foods High in Resistant Starch
- Green bananas and raw plantains (your gut loves these)
- Raw oats (kefir breakfast pudding)
- Potatoes-cooked and cooled (Potato Salad)
- Potato starch (add 1 spoonful to smoothies)
- Legumes, white, black, kidney, and chickpeas -cooked and cooled
- Frozen peas (add to salads)
- Rice cooked and cooled (sushi rice is a good example)
- Lentils- cooked and cooled ( top salads and soups)
- Green banana flour (add 1 spoonful to smoothies)
- Sourdough Pumpernickel or Rye bread (four to eight times as much resistant starch as bread made with wheat or barley.)
Recipes with resistant Starches
References:
- https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2014/08/140815192240.htm
- https://resistantstarchresearch.com/
- https://academic.oup.com/jn/article/146/11/2252/4584742
- https://www.nature.com/articles/s41387-019-0086-9
- https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/10/12/1993
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0271531717309570?via%3Dihub
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0958166919301077?via%3Dihub
- https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article-abstract/62/1/121/4651658?redirectedFrom=fulltext
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22517765/
- https://www.nutraingredients-usa.com/Article/2018/08/06/Resistant-starch-may-slash-inflammatory-marker-in-pre-diabetics-but-other-benefits-questioned
- https://academic.oup.com/jn/article/143/12/1889/4637645
Listen To My Podcast
Resistant starches are a type of fiber that plays a major role in digestive health, but it is also essential for achieving incredible overall health. These special fibers aren't completely broken down and absorbed in the stomach or small intestine. Instead, they pass through to the colon and are converted into short-chain fatty acids which act as prebiotics to help feed the beneficial bacteria in the gut. But there's a trick to consuming these foods. Listen to learn more.
References I talked about:
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