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Keto diet or the low carb diet did create a rage among people with the kind of results it brought along for weight loss. It goes without saying that if you have been meaning to lose weight and failed miserably with it, the resistant starch diet plan could be a savior.
It is futile to force some people to stop eating carbohydrates when that is the one thing they have relied on. All that being said, the resistant starch is that one form of carbs that often mimics the characteristics of fibers and are good for you. Wondering how, read on.
By the end of this article, you will have a fair share of knowledge regarding the resistant starch foods and the benefits and side effects it brings along.
What is Resistant Starch?
Resistant starch, just as the name suggests, is a type of starch which isn’t digested the traditional way in the small intestine. It travels down the digestive tract unchanged and does function similar to that of the soluble fibers.
It is later fermented in the large intestine.
One important thing about the resistant starch is the fact that it helps in maintaining the waistline that you worked for and doesn’t solely and technically contribute to slimming down the waist or your weight, in general.
This is where the trick with the resistant starch diet plan lies.
Type of Resistant Starch
| Type – 1 | Type – 2 | Type – 3 | Type – 4 |
| Is resistant because of the fact that it is bound to some of the fibrous cell walls | Predominantly found in some of the starchy foods | Formed when starchy foods are cooked and then completely cooled down. The cooling process promotes retrogradation which end up causing resistant starch | Manmade starches made with chemical processes |
| · Grains | · Raw Potatoes | · Cooked rice | |
| · Seeds | · Green Bananas | · Cooked Potatoes | |
| · Legumes | · Plantains |
How Does Resistant Starch Work?
While the concept of resistant starch isn’t technically new, the growth in its studies and such has experienced a very rampant growth over the years. This is what has been found to have beneficial impacts in handling the condition of weight loss and a healthy life all throughout.
Given the fact that the resistant starch isn’t digested like normal carbs and travels down the digestive tract without changes, it performs a lot like soluble fibers. What this does is help ensure that you don’t exhibit any kind of behaviour that could promote weight gain or an unhealthy lifestyle.
Additionally, the resistant starch tends to pass down to the large intestine where it is fermented further. This process of fermentation has also been found to have impacts in releasing compounds which tend to promote better functioning of the body.
The consumption of resistant starch has been found to help keep you satiated, thus reducing the hunger pangs and preventing the unnecessary cravings (R) and even helps in promoting the burning of the fats in the body. Not just that, the same has also been found to switch the liver into a fat burning state.
So, if you are opting for the resistant starch for weight loss, it helps in achieving the same with the prior modes that we highlighted.
Check Out These Benefits Of Resistant Starch.
Health Benefits Of Resistant Starch
Discussing about the benefits of resistant starch can be quite confusing because on one side we are telling that carbs are bad for you but on the other end, we are also telling, it’s not.
This is where the problem arises from. If you have been trying to lose weight or even to maintain a healthy lifestyle for yourself, the resistant starch diet plan is actually a very important and good mode.
There are a number of benefits of consuming resistant starch and we are going to share the best ones in the lot.
1. Regulates Blood Glucose Levels Post Meals
In order to prevent that, resistant starch foods have been found to help regulate the blood glucose levels in the body post meals.
If you are wondering how it does so, the main reasons behind the same include:
- Slows down the process of carbohydrate digestion as well as absorption (R)
- Promotes glycogenesis (R) to help promote the storage of the carbs in the liver and muscles
- Reduces the prospect and chances of insulin resistance (R) in the body
The consumption of resistant starch helps in maintaining glucose balance in the body which is what regulates the levels after a meal.
2. Treat Type-2 Diabetes
The mention of resistant starch for diabetics is quite prevalent and all for the right reasons. While there need to be more studies conducted with this, it is still believed that the consumption of resistant starch foods could very well help in treating Type-2 Diabetes (R).
Given the fact that resistant starch has been found to be quite helpful in preventing insulin resistance, it is quite effective in helping prevent that condition altogether.
Not just that, it also promotes insulin sensitivity (R) simultaneously, thus further helping in reducing the risks of type-2 diabetes altogether. It also helps in reducing the blood fat levels (R) in the body.
In a conducted study (R) with two groups consisting 28 women each found that the group which was given 10g/day of RS2 showed reduced levels of MDA by 34.10%, insulin by 29.36%, glycosylated hemoglobin by 9.40% and an increased levels of the TAC and glutathione peroxidase in comparison to the group who were given a placebo for 8 weeks.
3. Reduce Blood Triglycerides and Cholesterol levels
The uncontrolled levels of triglycerides and cholesterol do have the potential to increase the risks of heart diseases and a number of other problems that could be averted with easy management.
In a pre-clinical study (R), it was found that the resistant starch was effective in inhibiting the dietary fat absorption in the body which further helps maintain the levels of triglycerides in the body.
Not just that, the addition of resistant starch foods in the diet has been found to reduce the levels of cholesterol in the body. The same was found from a conducted pre-clinical study (R) on rats.
It has been found that the resistant starch diet plan helped in decreasing the levels of the low density lipoprotein (R) in the body. It also reduced the high density lipoprotein in the humans.
4. Prevents the risks of heart disease
This itself should be an alarming eye-opener as to why it is important to opt for ways that will help prevent such risks altogether.
The benefits of resistant starch extend on to the prevention of heart diseases as well.
The main way by which it does so is by reducing the levels of the cholesterol in the body. Not just that, in one such conducted study (R) with 86 participants over the age of 18 years, it was found that the inclusion of resistant starch in the diet helps in wiping out the unnecessary levels of unwanted fats from the body.
5. Slows Down the Progression of Kidney Disease
Kidney disease, especially the chronic kidney diseases have been found to have quite an impact on one’s overall health, even risking one’s life expectancy too.
One of the best factors about the resistant starch diet plan is the fact that it helps in slowing down the process progression of the chronic kidney disease to help in getting rid of the problems and handling the condition even better.
In a conducted study (R) with rats, it was found that supplementing their diet with high amylose resistant starch helped in warding off the inflammation, oxidative stress which further helped prevent the risks associated with the chronic kidney disease.
On kidney dialysis, the resistant starch diet helps in reduction of the metabolites like indoxyl sulfate and p-cresol sulfate (R) in 56 patients suffering from chronic kidney disease.
6. Reduces the appetite and unnecessary hunger cravings
The best way to fight through that is with resistant starch because the addition of it to the diet has been found to be quite helpful in reducing one’s appetite.
The primary way by which the same is achieved is by helping in boosting the levels of appetite reducing hormones in the body named the hormone peptide YY which helps attain satiety and prevents unnecessary hunger pangs.
Even a conducted study (R) with 20 healthy participants, it was found that when they were fed with resistant starch for a stretch of 24 hours, the same was found to lower the consumption of the food throughout the day.
7. Promotes Better Gut Health
Not many people know and realize this but resistant starch for gut health is quite effective.
Prebiotics are the ones responsible for promoting better gut health and the types of resistant starch have been found to have beneficial impacts in helping promote the gut bacteria in the body.
This has been found to have several health benefits, the promotion of better digestion and better immune function is two of the primary ones. Not just that, it also does help in preventing and reducing the risks associated with cancer.
More studies in this specific prospect need to be done to further find better results in this.
8. Relieves the Condition of Leaky Gut Syndrome
Leaky gut syndrome is one of those autoimmune diseases which imposes quite a lot of negative impacts on the body.
The damage caused to the intestinal barrier has negative impacts on one’s immune system and does increase the risks associated with some of the other diseases like inflammatory bowel disease or even the celiac diseases, causing inflammation along the GI tract in the body.
The gut bacteria has been proven beneficial in breaking down the short chain fatty acids (R) which further prevents the issues associated with the disruption of the tight junctions lining the colon.
9. Reduces Oxidative Stress
One of the primary reasons why the rates of cancer have skyrocketed in the past year or so is mainly because of the fact that our body is filled with more free radicals than normal. This is where the problem arises from.
The combination of inflammation, free radical damage, as well as autoimmunity, has been found to be the common reasons associated with the induction of oxidative stress in the body.
In a conducted study (R) with rats who were fed with a diet rich in resistant starch, it was found that the same was able to handle and reverse the impacts of oxidative stress by promoting the action of the antioxidant genes like Nrf2 as well as SOD and glutathione peroxidase.
As we did mention the importance of resistance starch for diabetics, a study has found that the consumption of the same helps in preventing the damage caused to the blood vessels that is often caused because of the high blood glucose levels.
10. Treats Vitamin D deficiency
Vitamin D is not technically the type of vitamin that you can take for granted. It is way more than that. Unable to get the optimal levels of Vitamin D in the body has been found to have negative impacts. Vitamin D deficiency does have an array of side effects that can easily be treated and the resistant starch is the answer to that.
In a conducted study (R) in rats suffering from type-1 diabetes, it was found that the resistant starch supplementation was quite effective in promoting the process of Megalin-mediated endocytosis which is a process that promotes the re-absorption of the minerals and vitamins from the dietary sources.
Additionally, the resistant starch diet plan helps in regulating the balance of Vitamin D in the body by preventing the urinary excretion of the same.
11. Balances out the Side Effects of Meat-Rich Diets
The consumption of these sources can end up disrupting the DNA structure in the colon, thus causing negative impacts on the body, causing cell death and such.
Not just that, the consumption of high protein diets can be good but the same also promotes the heightened expression of the IGF-1 protein (R) which has been associated with high tumor progression.
The resistant starch diet plan has been found to be quite beneficial in helping ward off the problems associated with the effects the meat-rich diet leaves behind on the body. The same was found to be effective because of the heightened production of butyrate as well as the Lactobacilli bacteria.
12. Promotes Better Brain Function
The benefits of resistant starch isn’t technically confined to the metabolism, weight loss and the associated health benefits, it digs deeper than that.
Research has found that resistant starch is quite beneficial for brain function as well. In a pre-clinical study (R), it was found that the supplementation with the resistant starch was quite impactful in helping the brain become more responsive to the glucose as well as boost the overall motor coordination in the body.
Not just that, the mice fed with an HA-7 resistant starch (R) was found to have reduced levels of cortisol in the blood in comparison to the mice which were fed with the normal cornstarch.
How to Add Resistant Starch?
If you are wondering how one can add these foods into their diets, there is a number of food sources that can get that sorted out for you.
Some of the naturally occurring foods which are rich in resistant starch include:
- Grains
- Legumes
- Seeds
- Potatoes (boiled and cooled and raw)
- Raw bananas
- Plantains
There is manmade resistant starch as well but it is always best to opt for the natural means first and keep the artificial ones as the last resort.
That being said, it is always best to be cautious of some of the important factors that can help keep everything in place. Don’t go overboard with the resistant starch diet plan and plan everything ahead of time and consult a doctor before you base your life on this.
Side Effects Of Eating Resistant Starch
Anything in excess is not good for one’s health and the same goes out for this as well.
Some of the common side effects of eating resistant starch include:
- Bloating
- Flatulence
- Abdominal pain
- Indigestion
- Heartburn
- Worsen conditions of irritable bowel syndrome
It is always thus best to consume everything in moderation and even indulge in having a healthy and active lifestyle because that is what makes the difference at the end of the day.
The resistant starch diet plan is gradually gaining a lot of momentum and helping in getting rid of the health issues that many often tend to struggle with. If you have been having issues with weight loss, diabetes or even your gut health, opting for these forms of carbs can be quite beneficial and won’t end up affecting your health for the worse.
