When you give them some resistant starch, you're basically feeding them what they need to grow and make helpful compounds. These compounds can strengthen your gut lining and lower inflammation in your body. You can get benefits plus better digestion: your blood sugar levels get better, your immune system works way better, and you might even find it easier to manage your weight.
You don't need to buy any expensive supplements to add resistant starch to your meals. Also, there are some easy ways to make your food that work just as well!
When you look at the science behind resistant starch, you can see why people in the past had healthier guts than we do now. Their old-fashioned cooking methods naturally included more of this helpful starch, even without realizing it.
Do you want to know about this ingredient for your gut? Resistant starch is pretty easy to add to your cooking, and it can make a real difference in how you feel! Let's talk about it.
What Is Resistant Starch?
Resistant starch is a kind of carbohydrate that doesn't break down in your small intestine.
It actually moves to your large intestine, where the healthy gut bacteria love to feed on it. You can think of it as a type of food that travels through most of your digestive system without being touched at all. Your normal digestive enzymes just can't break it down the way they manage the other foods you eat.
When the resistant starch makes its way to your colon, the helpful bacteria there start to ferment it - this process can give you a few helpful substances called short-chain fatty acids. Butyrate, which is one of these fatty acids, helps your gut lining stay healthy and cuts back on inflammation in your digestive system. Your gut cells even use these fatty acids as their main source of energy.
You'll find some resistant starch in the foods you probably already eat. Those slightly unripe bananas? They actually have lots of it. When you cook and then cool your potatoes, rice, or pasta, they'll develop resistant starch, too. The cooling process changes how the starch molecules are arranged in these foods. Beans, lentils, and other legumes naturally come with amounts of resistant starch as well.
Different types of resistant starch are out there because your body can't digest them for different reasons. Some of them hide behind seed coatings or cell walls for their protection. Others have a structure that makes them too tough to break down. The main kind in our diets shows up when we cook the starchy foods and then let them cool down completely - this process has a fancy name, retrogradation. But it basically means that the starch changes its structure.
It's actually pretty easy to add more resistant starch to what you eat every day. You can try to make a potato salad with cooled potatoes instead of warm ones. Indeed, you can make some overnight oats and let them sit in your fridge until the morning comes. Even if you choose to eat slightly green bananas, it'll give your body some resistant starch. If you make these small adjustments to your meals, your gut bacteria will like the extra food that you're giving them.
What Are The Combined Health Benefits?
Resistant starches have become very popular because they improve your gut. When you eat them, they feed the healthy bacteria in your digestive system and can give you a better balance of microorganisms in your body. These starches usually don't break down in your small intestine at all.
Your gut bacteria change resistant starches into helpful compounds called short-chain fatty acids. Butyrate is one of these compounds that helps your colon cells stay healthy and often cuts back on inflammation throughout your body. You might actually experience less bloating and standard bowel movements after adding these foods to your meals.
Also blood sugar control is another serious benefit you get from resistant starches. They improve how your body responds to insulin, so your blood sugar levels don't jump as much after eating. People with prediabetes or diabetes find that resistant starches make handling their condition a bit easier.
You might also find that resistant starches are helpful for weight management. They can make you feel full longer after eating, which can stop those between-meal snack cravings. Some studies even recommend that they may give you a slight improvement in your metabolism.
If you eat more resistant starch foods, you can improve your cholesterol numbers, too. Studies have shown that they may lower your total cholesterol and your unhealthy LDL cholesterol because these starches change fat metabolism in your liver.
The immune system benefits deserve more attention. Did you know that 70% of your immune system is located in your gut? People find that they catch fewer colds after improving their gut flora.
Cancer prevention is another promising area for resistant starches. Early research suggests that they might help cut back your risk of colon cancer by nourishing your colon cells and lowering inflammation. Why not add more of these foods to your meals and see how they make you feel?
Which Foods Provide Resistant Starch?
You'll actually find resistant starches hiding in foods that make it pretty easy for you to add them to your meals. Green bananas are one of the richest sources you can get. They pack more resistant starch than the yellow ripe ones do. The taste of green bananas on their own isn't everyone's favorite. But you can try mixing them into some smoothies where other flavors can help to mask that starchy taste.
Beans and lentils should be regulars in your resistant starch plan. They come loaded with the helpful starches that your gut bacteria love to feed on. Just try roasting some chickpeas for a crunchy snack or turning them into creamy hummus. You can also toss some kidney beans into your next salad or soup for an easy way to increase your starch intake.
Whole grains like oats, barley, and brown rice give you a good amount of resistant starch, too. Here's a helpful trick with these grains - you can cook them first and then let them cool down. When you cool them, the standard starch changes into resistant starch through a process that scientists call retrogradation - the same result happens when you refrigerate pasta and potatoes after cooking them.
A cold potato salad can give you a little more resistant starch than hot mashed potatoes would - this doesn't mean that you need to eat cold food all of the time. You can reheat these foods after they've cooled and still hang on to most of the resistant starch benefits.
You'll get smaller amounts of resistant starch from nuts and seeds, too. Tigernuts might surprise you - they're not nuts but small tubers that have resistant starch. They taste slightly sweet, which makes them work well in homemade plant milks. For another easy option, you can try adding some corn tortillas to your meals.
This cooling trick works with lots of starchy foods that you already like eating. Why not cook some extra rice for dinner and save the leftovers for tomorrow's lunch? When it sits overnight in your fridge, its resistant starch content goes up. The same thing happens with your previous dishes and potato meals, too - you can cook once and yield twice the benefits!
How To Incorporate Resistant Starch?
You can actually add more resistant starch to your meals without completely changing what you eat. Green bananas don't usually taste good on their own. But they work wonderfully in smoothies. You can also try mixing them with some berries and milk for a quick breakfast. People don't know that these unripe bananas have more resistant starch than the yellow ones you're used to eating.
Another easy trick is to cook rice or potatoes ahead of time and then cool them in your fridge. After they cool down, some of the normal starch turns into resistant starch. You might want to make a big batch of rice on Sunday and then use it for cold rice salads throughout the week - this same process works with pasta, too, which means that your leftover pasta salad is better for your gut than when you first ate it hot.
Raw potato starch might sound a bit unusual. But it's one of the simplest resistant starch supplements you'll find. You can just combine a tablespoon of it with water or stir it into your morning yogurt. Since the taste is pretty mild, you probably won't even see it's there. Be careful. Have just a small amount so your stomach has time to get used to it.
Beans and lentils are some gut-friendly powerhouses that you probably already like. When you add half a cup of beans to your lunch salad or dinner, you get a big amount of resistant starch, even if you're short on time. Canned beans work well. Just make sure that you rinse them before you use them to wash away the extra salt.
Overnight oats have become popular for busy mornings, and they come with resistant starch, too. When uncooked oats sit in milk overnight, they increase their resistant starch content. You'll then have a ready-made breakfast.
Why You Should Introduce It Slowly
Resistant starches can do wonders for your gut health. But you need to ease into them slowly. When you start eating lots of resistant starch, you'll end up with some uncomfortable bloating and gas. Your gut bacteria need some time to adjust to this new food source. When you have small amounts, it works way better for your long-term success.
People learn this lesson the hard way. Take Susan, who added a full tablespoon of raw potato starch to her morning smoothie on her first day. She felt like a balloon for the next 24 hours! Now, she mixes just a teaspoon into her yogurt or oatmeal instead. Your body will like it a bit better when you take it slow.
Also, give your digestive system a few weeks to adapt by slowly increasing your intake. You might want to have a small portion of cooled rice or pasta with your dinner. Then, work your way up to bigger servings as you get more comfortable. Follow your body's lead during this adjustment time.
Green bananas give you lots of resistant starch. But they can upset your stomach when you're just starting out. Add a few small slices to your smoothie. You can work up to half or even a whole green banana as you develop more tolerance. With each small addition, your gut bacteria will multiply and become more varied.
It helps to drink enough water to reduce discomfort while your body adjusts. Water helps move the resistant starch through your system and supports the positive changes happening in your gut microbiome. Make sure to have a water bottle with you when you increase your resistant starch intake, though.
If you still have some digestive problems even though you're taking it slow, you should think about talking to a dietitian. They can make a personal plan that fits your needs. Your gut makeup might need attention that's different from what others need. A professional helps you through any standard challenges that you might run into.
Keep It All Natural
Resistant starch can change your gut health, which is pretty cool for something easy. Just to give you an example, you can add some foods like cooled rice, green bananas, or beans to your meals. A few small adjustments here and there help the healthy bacteria in your gut grow stronger.
Naturally, your body needs some time to adjust when you start adding new foods to your diet. The same goes for foods that feed your gut bacteria. Try to have small amounts and gradually increase them. What works for someone else might not work the same way for you, so get started by finding how your body responds and make adjustments. Think about which of the changes would be easiest for you to try first in your own kitchen.
We now have lots of credible research showing the benefits of resistant starch. But you'll find the real evidence when you see some positive changes in how you feel day to day. When you make small adjustments to your meals over time, you can see some improvements. Wouldn't you like to experience these positive changes yourself?
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