The Gut Friendly Food: Resistant Starches
Resistant starches are carbohydrates such as potatoes, cornstarch, green bananas, etc that resist digestion in the small intestine and reach the large intestine intact, bringing with them many health benefits!
Why is this important, you may ask?
When carbohydrates are consumed “naked” meaning they’re not being eaten with another food group or aren’t prepared into a resistant starch, they can spike blood sugar pretty rapidly. When this happens, your blood sugar will come down just as fast as it went up - no different than that “drop tower” ride at a carnival.
The best way to know if this is happening to you is to assess whether or not you’re tired after a meal - usually lunch. If so, it might be time to work with a practitioner to help stabilize. This is the pre-pre-diabetes step that we’re not told about.
When foods like potatoes, pastas, or rice are cooked and then cooled, the resistant starch that is created in this process allows for a slower absorption time of the blood sugar which creates more of a stable blood sugar.
As for your gut…
Because resistant starches are considered to be fiber, they are an exact food source that is favored amidst beneficial bacteria inside of our gut. Some of these bacteria include: faecalibacterium and bifidobacterium, important bugs that help to protect the mucous layer of your intestines.
While some foodstuffs can be purchased as a resistant starch, think cornstarch, green bananas, and legumes, others are common foods we likely have in our pantry or on our counter top, that we have to prepare in a certain way to make them resistant starches
Foods like potatoes or rice can be simply cooked and then placed in the fridge to cool to be either served later cold or re-heated.
Resistant starches, and other probiotics, should be cautioned in those individuals with histamine issues. If you don’t know what this is or are curious to know more and if this is impacting you, give the office a call and schedule a consultation.
Gut Friendly Potato Salad
Ingredients
1 pound fingerling potatoes
2 cups string beans, prepared
1/2 red onion
2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 Tbsp mayonnaise
2 Tbsp fresh parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
Rinse potatoes - no need to peel, but do so, if you please
Put in pot and cover with filtered water; bring to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer for about 10 minutes. They're ready when you stick a fork in them without effort
Run potatoes under cool water and then place them into bowl and put them in the fridge.
While potatoes are cooling, cut up the onion, string beans, and the fresh parsley
Remove potatoes from the fridge once cooled, dicing them up.
Mix potatoes, onion, string beans, and parsley with the mustard, mayo, salt and pepper. Add mustard and mayo until desired consistency is achieved.
Can be left in fridge up to 3 days.
