What is Resistant Starch | Foods High in Resistant Starch | How does it aid weight loss | Tips to Improve Benefits | Diets Based on Resistant Starch | Possible Side Effects

For years, dieters have been trying to cut their carbohydrates to lose weight. In spite of this, recent studies suggest that certain types of carbohydrate rich foods actually help you shed pounds!

These foods are high in a fiber called resistant starch, which is filling, burns fat, improves blood sugar and helps immunity.

Certain fruits and vegetables, grains and beans are examples of foods that are high in resistant starch. Although it is not recommended to eat all of these foods raw, it is best to let these foods cool before consumption, as the resistant starch crystals form once the foods have cooled.

After decades of humiliation for weight gain due to high calorie issues, potatoes, bread and pasta are back on the menu with an exciting new diet that promises dramatic weight loss without sacrificing the pleasure of carbohydrates.

Studies are going on to show that this compound found in common and readily available foods is a great boon for weight loss (and your overall health) as it doesn't get absorbed into the bloodstream in the small intestine like other foods.

Instead, as it passes through the system, it creates a chain reaction, shrinking fat cells; preserving muscle, stoking your metabolism and making you feel fuller for longer. And ultimately leading to weight loss!

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What Is Resistant Starch?

Resistant starch (RS) is soluble fibers which are present in plant cell walls naturally found in unripe bananas, oatmeal, potatoes and legumes. Also extracted and added to processed foods to increase fiber. Helps weight management by increasing fullness.

What foods have resistant starch?

Beans:

• Beans are the best food source of resistant starch. Although the types of beans and preparation methods cause varying amounts of resistant starch (canned beans are more glycemic), in general, the starch in beans is about evenly divided between slowly-digested starch and resistant starch.
• Navy beans, lentils, azuki beans, black beans, black-eyed peas, fava beans, butter beans, calico beans, cannellini beans, edamame (soy beans), great northern beans, Italian beans, Lima beans, mung beans, pinto beans, split peas and white beans are also good sources, with roasted chickpeas as the best source of resistant starch.
• Note: Products which increase the digestibility of beans will also decrease the amount of resistant starch. e. g. Bean-o.

Whole Grains:

• Whole, intact grains are decent sources of resistant starch. The starch in pearl barley is about 12% resistant and 43% slowly-digesting. Bulgar wheat and long grain brown rice have similar resistant starch content.
• Pasta (especially shirataki noodles, which are slowly digested); whole grain bread and oatmeal are also recommended as good sources of resistant starch.

Fruits and Vegetables

• Potatoes, yams, corn and unripe bananas are all high in resistant starch.
• High-maize corn starch is also a good source, and can be substituted for flour in many recipes, or added to smoothies.

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List of Foods High in Resistant Starch

• Sweet potatoes
• Cold white potato
• Navy beans
• Artichoke
• Lentils
• Oatmeal
• Barley
• Cold pasta
• Whole wheat bread
• Quinoa
• Banana
• Yams
• Commercially available resistant starch such as high corn starch products

Navy beans have the highest resistant starch at 9.8 grams (per 1/2 cup). Bananas are the second highest at 4.7 grams (1 medium); yams at 4.0 grams (per 1/2 cup), and potatoes at 3 grams (per 1/2 cup). Whole grain bread and oatmeal have the lowest resistant starch, 0.5 grams for bread, and 0.7 grams for oatmeal.

Here are some study results of measurements of resistant starch by enzymatic digestion in selected plant material:      

For more details Visit Megazyme: Resistant starch Assay procedure

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Now back to our Topic of discussion,

How Resistant starch Aid in Weight loss?

Weight reducing properties of resistant starch are due to various mechanisms and functions they play in the body. All these benefits mentioned below help directly or indirectly in weight control and improving your overall health...

It seems that the more it is studied, the more positive effects are being found. Many of these are common to oligosaccharides and fermentable fiber.

Here are some of the Mechanisms and benefits of resistant starch helping weight loss:

• Resistant starch is a type of dietary fiber naturally found in many carbohydrate-rich foods. ... It gets its name because it 'resists' digestion in the body, and though this is true of many types of fiber, what makes resistant starch so special is the powerful impact it has on weight loss and overall health.
• Resistant starches are not digested, though they do travel through the digestive tract--directly to the large intestine. It is their failure to digest that makes resistant starches most effective. As the fat and oil present with resistant starches are not distributed in the body, thereby being eliminated from the body much quicker. Thus resistant starch in a meal is associated with less fat storage after that meal.
• Thus resistant starches are natural fat-burners, further increasing satiety, and diminishing hunger.
• Resistant starch produces more satiety, possibly partly through the release of a different peptide (PYY).
• Resistant starch that occurs in its natural granular form, such as uncooked potato, green banana flour and high amylose corn delivers fewer calories than flour and is a valuable part of diets designed for maintaining healthy weight.The energy value has been estimated to be between 2 and 3 calories/ g (8-12 kilojoules), depending on each individual metabolism.By comparison, digestible starch like flour delivers 4 calories (16 kilojoules).
• As with other fermentable fiber, resistant starch is associated with more mineral absorption, especially calcium and magnesium.
• Perhaps most exciting for people with sugar issues, resistant starch seems to improve insulin sensitivity. In the so-called "second meal effect", fermentable fiber and resistant starch are associated with improved glucose tolerance the next day. There is evidence that this is caused by the presence of the short chain fatty acids, and by a peptide produced in the fermentation process.
• Resistant starch consumption is associated with lower cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
• Resistant starch is bulky, so it takes up space in your digestive system. And because you can't digest or absorb it, the starch never enters your bloodstream. That means it bypasses the fate of most carbohydrates, which get socked away as body fat.
• Resistant starch is especially associated with one type of Small Chain Fatty Acids (SCFA), called butyrate, which is protective of colon cells and associated with less genetic damage (which can lead to cancer). Butyrate also protects the cells in other ways. This is one of the real strengths of resistant starch over oligosaccharides and soluble fiber. Their fermentation does produce butyrate, but not at the levels of resistant starch. Butyrate, an enzyme created by resistant starch is believed to nurture the colon, thereby aiding in the prevention of colon cancer.
• Promotes 'good' intestinal bacteria, and suppresses 'bad' bacteria and their toxic products.
• As resistant starches work similar to dietary fiber with respect to indigestibility thus promoting bowel regularity.
• It also causes pH balance in the intestines, which boosts the immune system, further demolishing free radicals.

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Here are some practical tips to improve resistant starch benefits:

• Since foods can develop more resistant starch when cold, try using some of these foods in cold dishes such as salads.
• Make an antipasto with vinegar, olive oil, artichokes and whole wheat pasta. Add some navy beans for protein, and you'll have a delicious dish that is high in resistant starch.
• Prepare a bowl of oatmeal and top it with sliced banana.
• Serve lentils with brown rice or whole grain pasta.
• Try adding cubed sweet potatoes to bean and lentil dishes to up the amount of resistant starch in your meal.
• Keep in mind that foods have varying amounts of resistant starch. A cup of navy beans provides almost 20 grams, while a cup of oatmeal provides approximately one gram.
• Public health authorities and governments have not yet set recommended levels for resistant starch consumption.
• The entire daily-recommended intake of dietary fiber (>25 grams according to the World Health Organization) could be consumed from natural resistant starch without digestive side effects.
• Clinical studies have shown that high levels of RS2 resistant starch from high amylose corn (even those exceeding the recommended intake of dietary fiber) can be consumed with modest or no digestive side effects.
• Take the overall number of grams of food that you are consuming into account as well, it will help you avoid consuming too many calories.
• As with all meals, eat in moderation. Use the 80/20 rule -- eat until you're 80 percent full. With a diet rich in foods that have resistant starch, exercise and moderate portions, you should start to see excess pounds begin to come off.

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Let's have a look at some diets based upon using resistant starch as a tool for weight loss -

Morning Banana Diet:
Resistant starch gain popularity Ever since former opera singer Kumiko Mori announced she had lost 15 pounds on the 'Morning Banana' diet. Stated as the fastest and easiest weight loss diet, the Morning Banana diet has taken Japan by storm.

The Morning Banana Diet is a simple diet plan. For breakfast, you have only bananas and room-temperature water. Then, you can eat whatever you like for lunch, dinner, and snacks, as long as you don't eat after 8 p.m. The only restrictions: No ice cream, dairy products, alcohol, or dessert after dinner, and the only beverage you may have with meals is room-temperature water. One sweet snack is allowed mid afternoon.

Resistant starch is found in bananas (a green banana has 12.5g of resistant starch but a ripe one 4.7g), oats, beans, lentils, potatoes, pasta and rye bread. The most effective way to harness its power is to consume at least 1g with every meal and to eat ten to 15g a day.

Carb Lovers Diet:
The Carb Lovers Diet is a novel approach to eating healthfully that promises to help you shed up to 8 pounds in 30 days using normal, healthy foods along with Carb stars rich in ingredient-resistant starch.

Ellen Kunes and Frances Largeman-Roth, who devised the diet, found that people who stuck to it lost weight (6 lbs over three weeks, on average), without feeling deprived and, significantly, could adapt the principles to make this a delicious and effective diet plan for life.

This diet plan includes at least 10 g of resistant starch in daily diet. Ensuring resistant starch fills a quarter of your plate and the remaining three quarters should be lean meat and low-fat dairy products, fruit and vegetables.

Unlike Morning banana diet this diet reinforces the importance of regular physical activity along with the diet plan.

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Possible Side effects of Resistant starch

According to Nutrition and Metabolism, 'little is known about the impact of RS on fat metabolism. Yet, in recent studies performed by BioMed Central, LTD, as per Nutrition and Metabolism, replacement of 5.4 percent of total dietary carbohydrate with RS significantly increased post-prandial lipid oxidation and therefore could decrease fat accumulation in the long term.

To date, there are no specific disadvantages of a RS diet. Overall, incorporating resistant starches in one's diet can minimize the accumulation of fat.

To summarize,
This new nutritional discovery about resistant starch is in some ways similar to the good fats i.e. MUFA's (For monounsaturated fatty acids, present in vegetable oils, olives and nuts). The good news is that yet again, you get to eat more of the stuff you like but thought was too fattening.

Apart from aiding weight loss; resistant starches also help to fight heart disease, cancer, and diabetes. Plus they'll boost your immune system, remember good bacteria?

Researchers at the LSU Ag Center explain how resistant starches work better; Unlike refined grains and sugars, resistant starches aren't broken down into sugar in the small intestine. They "resist" this digestion and pass on into the large intestine, where they act more like dietary fiber. Not only that, resistant starches are fermented in the large intestine, a process which in itself consumes energy. You must be thinking that Why didn't anyone notice the awesome benefits to these good starches until recently? Is it just a coincidence that we're just starting to see commercial products featuring these resistant starches?

The slimming effect is way more powerful if you eat the starches cold. Cold is fine for potato salad and bananas. But what about cold corn on the cob or cold Burritos? Still sounds more appealing than baked broccoli isn't it?

We all know people who eat a lot of these starches are anything but slim. We already knew whole grains and legumes are really good for you and well worth the calories. It again proves the benefit of eating plant based food; lots and lots of fruits and vegetables including Potatoes!

So are you thinking of chilled potato salad or cold pasta for dinner tonight?
Be healthy!

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