The benefits of resistant starch in your diet

I talked about resistant starch over on Facebook the other day and thought I would give you a bit more information about the benefits of resistant starch in your diet, what it is, why it’s good for you and how you can incorporate it into your cooking.

What is resistant starch?

It’s a bit of a technical term but essentially, resistant starch is high carbohydrate food that ‘resists’ digestion in the small intestine and passes through to the large intestine. Once in the large intestine, the fibre in the food ferments and becomes a prebiotic, feeding the good bacteria in the gut.

Why is resistant starch good for us?

Because resistant starch doesn’t break down in the small intestine, it doesn’t spike our blood sugar levels like regular carbohydrate foods.

Our gut health is improved because we are feeding the good bacteria and giving it a chance to flourish. Fermentation in the large intestine increases good bacteria and reduces the bad bacteria.

It can also help with constipation, decrease cholesterol, weight loss and may protect against colon cancer!

So, it’s definitely something to think about including in your diet.

Where do you find resistant starch?

Resistant starch is found in green bananas and plantains, potato flour, beans and legumes, cooked and cooled rice, potatoes, oats, barley and quinoa.

How can you incorporate resistant starch into your diet?

• Cook your rice, potatoes and legumes the day before you want to eat them. Cool in the fridge and then reheat to eat.
• Eat your rice, potatoes, quinoa and legumes cold in salads! I have a great potato salad recipe in Sandwich Free, Packet Free Lunchboxes. My rice salad (above) is a delicious way to eat resistant starch. Find the recipe in my book, Bone Broth Basics.
• Incorporate a handful of legumes into your meals like curry and spaghetti bolognaise. The kids won’t notice them!
• Make potato cakes or fritters and eat them cold in your lunchbox the next day. My Olive Oil Potatoes recipe is also really yummy cold.
• Cook a big pot of porridge to last a few days. Just reheat to eat.

One more tip:

This great tip is from the nutritionists at Changing Habits!

“If you cook organic white rice together with 1 tablespoon of coconut oil, the oil binds to the digestible starch in the rice (that’s the starch that converts to glucose). Once it’s bound with the oil, the digestible starch begins to crystallise and creates resistant starch. Researchers found that when rice was set to cool down after cooking, it promoted crystallisation even further, providing a 15-fold increase in resistant starch compared to normally prepared rice. This results in a lower carb rice, as the rice produces a smaller spike in blood sugar because you receive more resistant starch to take the place of digestible starch.”

I hope this information is helpful and your gut thanks you for adding in some resistant starch!!