The Crucial Role Resistant Starch Plays in Weight Loss
Hey Angels and Alphas,
If you’re looking to lose weight, you’ve probably heard it would be useful to consume more oats, beans, peas, lentils, seeds, bananas, and other filling carb sources. But do you know what all these foods have in common? They’re all high in resistant starch, a type of prebiotic fiber that has been shown to reduce abdominal fat, aid weight loss, and slow digestion.
Resistant starch is one starch type that does not get completely digested while in your digestive tract, hence the name “resistant” starch, as in resistant to digestion. Starch that’s resistant ferments in the large intestine and feeds the healthy bacteria in our colon.
Resistant starch plays a very important role in weight loss as it can be a powerful tool to promote reductions in abdominal fat, as well as the ability of starch-rich foods to keep you fuller for a long period of time.
In case you were looking for more reasons to add resistant starch-rich foods to your diet, we’ve broken down the four most important science-backed ways resistant starch helps us lose weight.
#1 IMPROVES YOUR INSULIN SENSITIVITY
The more well-optimized your insulin sensitivity, the more efficiently your body is going to use insulin, and this will lower your blood sugar after meals. Weight loss will boost your insulin sensitivity and research shows resistant starch helps with that.
Overweight or obese people who consume up to 15 grams of resistant starch per day experienced lower fasting insulin, fasting glucose, and better insulin sensitivity, according to a 2019 research published in the journal Nature.
#2 BOOSTS YOUR SATIETY
When foods are high in resistant starch, they linger a little bit longer in your system. Resistant starch will not only help fill you up, so you consume less at every meal, but research has also shown that consuming up to 30 grams of resistant starch every day (which is about 1 cup of oats, brown rice, or one green banana) for up to six weeks helped reduce the hunger hormones of overweight adults, reduced mindless snacking, and helped them lose more weight.
#3 IT’S A FAT BURNER
Replacing a part of the carbs in your diet with resistant starch will actually increase fat burning by up to 30 percent. That’s why University of Colorado researchers found out in their 2004 study. In a few animal studies, consuming more resistant starch was associated with a reduction of abdominal fat and an increase in the oxidation of fat.
#4 PROMOTES HEALTHY GUT BACTERIA
Resistant starch functions as a powerful prebiotic fiber that provides energy to the good bacteria in our colon, improving our metabolism and digestive health.
Research has even shown that consuming up to 100 grams of resistant starch every day will have a massive positive impact on our gut microbiome, as well as improve our glucose metabolism and help us cut down abdominal fat.
THE BOTTOM LINE IS…
Despite all the known benefits of a diet high in resistant starch, the average American still consumes fewer than 20 grams of starch every day.
If you are looking for dietary tweaks you can make that are going to make a significant difference in the amount of fat you lose around your belly, the amount of energy you have throughout the day, and the number of pounds you shed overall, one tweak you can make is to just tailor your diet around foods high in resistant starch. This will allow you to stay fuller for longer periods of time and avoid sugar cravings by keeping blood sugar levels balanced.
You can skyrocket your intake by adding more whole foods such as rice, potatoes, oats, bananas, konjac noodles, green banana flour, and more. Just remember to slowly and gradually bump up your intake of resistant starch to give your body time to adjust to the new resources you’re providing it with. Eating too much at once may cause some bloating and GI discomfort, so make sure to consume plenty of water when you start increasing your intake of resistant starch.
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