Many people have added resistant starches to their diets due to the health benefits they may provide. Resistant starch is a type of nutrient that may help your body with digestion, weight loss, disease prevention, and other important functions. It can be part of a healthy lifestyle that includes good nutrition, exercise, sleep, and other essential habits to help you stay well.
What Is Resistant Starch?
Resistant starch is a type of carbohydrate, that because of it’s composition, doesn’t get digested in your small intestine. While most starches are digested and broken down reasonably quickly, in the small intestine, resistant starch takes longer to pass through the gut and is digested in the large intestine. This means that it ferments in your large intestine and feeds “good” gut bacteria and thereby feeding your gut biome, now where have we heard of that before?? The process is very similar to Kefir.
Carbohydrates are nutrients that give your body energy in the form of glucose, a sugar molecule, and they can be simple or complex. Simple carbohydrates have a simple chemical structure, your body doesn’t need much energy to break them down into glucose. Simple carbohydrates are usually in unhealthier foods like sweets, white bread, and white rice.
Resistant starches are a type of complex carbohydrate. Complex carbohydrates have a complex chemical structure that your body needs more energy to digest. They are generally healthier for you and more nutritious.
So what do you have to eat to get this marvellous food source, some of the foods that contain Resistant Starches: brown rice, beans, whole-grain bread and pasta, quinoa, cashews, lentils, plantains or green bananas and oats.
Unlike other types of carbohydrates, your digestive system can’t break down resistant starches into energy, instead, healthy gut bacteria in your intestines feed on them so not only providing the body with fuel but developing the gut biome as well, Double bubble!!
But the good news doesn’t stop there, resistant starches have only 2.5 calories per gram, while regular starches contain 4 calories per gram, so you can eat nearly twice as much, if you can!! As such, it may help to swap other starches for resistant starches if you’re looking to lose or maintain weight.
Resistant Starch Benefits:
Boosts gut health. Normal starches break down into glucose when digested. Resistant starches do not break down, as resistant starch ferments in your large intestine, more good bacteria are created, boosting your overall gut health. You’ll also get less constipation, lower cholesterol levels, and a lower risk of colon cancer.
Improves insulin sensitivity. Resistant starches can improve your body's ability to respond to insulin. The higher your insulin sensitivity, the better your body will be able to handle high blood sugar. This means you’ll have a lower chance of getting conditions such as type 2 diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, and heart disease.
Helps you stay full longer. Since resistant starches are harder to digest, your body will use up more energy trying to break them down. You won’t get hungry as quickly, so you may eat less, which could help if you’re trying to lose weight.
Eases constipation. Resistant starches can help loosen stool and ease constipation. Reduced constipation can help avoid issues like haemorrhoids and other nasty diseases.
One of the best ways to get your daily dose of resistance starch is to consume reheated pasta beans and rice. Cook them, let them cool off in your fridge, preferably overnight, and then reheat. This process turns ordinary starches into the super resistance starches.
So that’s it, pretty simple and very cheap. A very easy to do obtain and make a really super food that will help you manage weight, get a much better source of fuel for your body and best of all improve your gut biome. Huge health benefits, simply and cheaply.