Starches have earned a bad reputation – especially starchy foods and carbohydrates, like white bread, chips and cakes.
With very little fiber, these starchy foods digest quickly and can cause a spike in your blood sugar. While this spike may provide quick energy, it can lead to a “crash” shortly afterward if you are metabolically inflexible like 90% of the population.
This will then leave you feeling tired and hungry, which can result in you eating more calories than you should and gaining unwanted pounds and inches, along with the potential for other metabolic issues.
When these spikes happen regularly – such as several times a day – your body becomes progressively more resistant to insulin (which is released in response to blood glucose spikes).
While starches provide energy in the form of glucose, it’s not the ideal fuel for your body. Quality fats are a much better source of energy as fat creates fewer damaging free radicals in your cells when burned and cause fewer spikes.
However, not all starches are bad – and act this way in your body. Starches are divided up into three different groups, depending upon how quickly and easily your body can digest them:
- Slowly digestible starch provides long-lasting energy and helps you feel full, and includes foods like grains, legumes and roots.
- Rapidly digestible starch, like what’s in white bread, pasta and cakes, digests quickly and can raise your blood sugar.
- Resistant starch resists digestion in your stomach and small intestine, and instead, ferment in your large intestine. This includes select unripe fruit and starchy foods when prepared in a specific way in addition to pre-cooked foods, like rice and potatoes.
Resistant starch has become one of the best-kept secrets for gut and immune health as well as metabolic health...
Resistant Starch Fuels Optimal Health Through Your Gut*
Unlike other starches, resistant starch acts similar to soluble fiber that your body can’t digest. The starch fibers pass partially undigested through your stomach and small intestine to your large intestine, where they slowly ferment and feed your healthy bacteria.
While fiber is important for optimal gut health, the potential for fermentation makes resistant starch especially valuable. Once resistant starch moves to the intestines, it functions similar to both a prebiotic and a fiber.
Acting as a prebiotic, resistant starch is like fertilizer for your gut probiotics, or beneficial bacteria. It promotes the growth of a wide variety of good bacteria – such as lactobacillus and bifidobacteria, supporting a positive ratio of good-to-bad bacteria.
During the fermentation process, your healthy gut bacteria creates short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), like propionate, acetate and butyrate, which help:
- Promote an already normal inflammatory response.*
- Support healthy immune function.*
- Promote healthy blood pressure levels already in the normal range.*
- Support cardiovascular health.*
- Maintain gut and bowel health.*
SCFAs also serve as building blocks for your liver to produce ketones to fuel your mitochondria and act as potent metabolic signals. Butyrate, in particular, is the preferred energy source for the epithelial cells lining your colon.* Here’s something else that makes the right type of resistant starch so valuable for health...
Because it isn’t fully digested in your stomach, resistant starch doesn’t impact your blood sugar and insulin like other types of carbs or starches.*
Resistant starch has a lower glycemic index, which also affects how it influences your blood sugar and insulin levels.
The glycemic index assigns a value to foods based on the speed in which they raise blood glucose levels. Foods high on the glycemic index (GI) scale release glucose rapidly, while low-glycemic foods – like resistant starch – have a more moderate effect on the release of glucose.
This feature makes resistant starch a useful tool for improving metabolic fitness – something that can potentially benefit vast numbers of people, as nearly nine out of 10 Americans are metabolically unhealthy.
While I believe most people need to minimize their intake of all starchy foods because of their metabolic inflexibility, selecting foods that are high in resistant starch and lower on the GI scale can be a tool to help you manage your metabolic health and glucose. Finally, resistant starch adds bulk to your bowel movements for easier, timelier disposal without making you feel bloated or gassy.
The 4 Types of Resistant Starch
The estimated daily intake of resistant starch by Americans is about 5 grams per day. Some health experts believe ingesting a minimum of 6 grams a day may be beneficial for health.
Resistant starch comes in four different types, each unique in its physical structure or how it’s resistant to digestion. The types include:
- Type 1 – This type of resistant starch sticks to the fibrous cell walls of certain foods you eat, such as legumes, seeds and grains, making both the starch and the fiber non-digestible.
- Type 2 – This type of resistant starch has a unique structure that makes it difficult to digest. Often found in raw foods, an example of this type of resistant starch is an unripe banana (as opposed to a digestible, fully ripe banana).
- Type 3 – This type of resistant starch forms when a starchy food is heated and then cooled. For example, cooking rice or potatoes, and then allowing them to cool turns some of their starches into highly resistant starch.
- Type 4 – This type of resistant starch is chemically modified to make it resistant to digestion. This form is primarily used in specialty food products.
Ideally, you want to look for the first three types of resistant starch – types 1, 2 and 3 – when choosing foods or supplements with resistant starch, as they are natural sources. Let’s take a closer look at one of the best types of type 1 resistant starch... an ancient superfood tuber that our ancestors relied on for energy and survival.
This Superfood Tuber Fueled 80% of Our Ancestors’ Diet
Tigernuts are not a nut at all... they’re a small root vegetable. Also known as chufa, earth nut, groundnut or earth almonds, tigernuts resemble a chickpea in size and have a wrinkly appearance.
Originating from Africa, they were one of the first plants cultivated in Egypt – this superfood made up 80% of the diet of our Paleo ancestors. Today, tigernuts come from many parts of the world.
Tigernuts are often roasted and ground into flour. With its slightly sweet, mild, nutty flavor, tigernut flour has become a popular ingredient in paleo, low-carb and gluten-free diets.
While tigernuts contain a wide array of nutrients, including antioxidants, what really sets them apart is their prebiotic fiber content.
Containing both insoluble fiber and resistant starch, tigernuts pass partially undigested through your gut. Their insoluble fiber adds bulk to your stools and helps the food you eat move through your gastrointestinal tract.*
Tigernuts also contain enzymes, like lipases, amylases and catalase, to support digestion and promote regularity.* An excellent source of resistant starch, tigernuts help feed the beneficial bacteria in your gut, promoting both digestive and immune health.*
One of the more recent discoveries about tigernuts is their effect on blood sugar. Animal studies suggest tigernuts may help maintain healthy blood sugar levels already in the normal range, possibly through their effects on the absorption of sugar in the gut after a high-carb meal.*
Tigernuts are also a rich source of arginine. This important amino acid helps your body make nitric oxide which helps support normal blood flow, thus promoting a heart health.* Unripe tropical fruits such as banana, papaya and mango – all type 2 resistant starches – contain indigestible low-viscous fibers that slowly ferment in your large intestine.
Let’s take a look at one of the best type 2 resistant starches... green bananas.
The Stabilizing, Satisfying Effects of Green Bananas
Plants produce carbohydrates to help their fruits grow in size. Bananas are unique in that they store most of their carbohydrates as type 2 resistant starch when green.
Bananas contain resistant starch only when unripe. As bananas ripen, the resistant starch becomes normal starch, and eventually turns into sugar. That’s what makes ripe bananas soft and sweet.
Peeled mature but unripe green bananas can be made into flour that is high in resistant starch. About half of the starch in green banana flour is digestive-resistant.
Because a good portion of its starch is resistant, green banana produces less sugar as it passes through your digestive system.
And because it has a low glycemic index, green banana has a positive effect on healthy blood sugar levels. In fact, its effects are so significant, researchers have discovered what’s known as a “second-meal effect.”*
The second-meal effect is when the effect of resistant starch on glucose extends to carbohydrates eaten at the following meal.*
In one study, groups of lean and obese individuals consumed banana starch twice a day for four days. Both groups showed lower spikes of glucose and insulin production after meals.*
Another study showed green banana helps you feel full and satisfied after a meal. Healthy volunteers consumed green banana flour three times a week for six weeks. Subjects reported significantly reduced hunger and increased satiety, leading to consuming 14% less food in the following two meals.*
In addition to all of its potential benefits for health, green banana flour also provides calcium and potassium to support the healthy function of your nervous system.*
Because nerve impulses control muscle function, including your heartbeat, green banana flour supports heart health as well.*
How Cooling Cooked Starches Can Help Make Them Resistant to Digestion
While some starchy foods are naturally resistant to digestion, others become more digestive resistant through cooking and cooling — a process known as starch retrogradation.
Retrogradation occurs when certain starches are cooked in water at a very high temperature and then cooled.
During the heating process, the starch granules actually ‘melt’ and gelatinize, making the starch more easily digested. When cooled, these unstable starch gels re-form crystals that are resistant to digestion.
Because amylose is involved in the crystallization process that occurs during retrogradation, foods high in amylose work best for this type of resistant starch. Starches rich in amylose, such as potatoes and rice, are naturally more resistant to digestion and more receptive to retrogradation.
In one study, cooking and then cooling potatoes overnight increased levels of resistant starch by 280%.
Organically-grown potatoes that have been cooked and then cooled are one of my favorite forms of type 3 resistant starch. I like to add purple potatoes that have been properly cooked and chilled to my daily salad to increase my intake of resistant starch.
One Simple Way to Boost Your Intake of Resistant Starch
You could carefully prepare the excellent sources of resistant starch I just highlighted, or if you didn’t want to prepare them yourself, you can get them in supplemental form.
We’ve created Organic Resistant Starch Complex, so you don’t have to do the searching and preparation of all three types of resistant starch. This unique formula contains:
- Type 1 Organic Tigernut (Cyperus esculentus) Tuber Flour
- Type 2 Organic Green Banana (Musa paradisiaca) Flour
- Type 3 Organic Pregelatinized Potato (Solanum tuberosum) Starch
In addition to this combo of resistant starches, we’ve included patented ResistAid® Arabinogalactan from organic Minnesota larch trees for additional support for your beneficial gut bacteria and immune health.*
Organic Resistant Starch Complex supplies 7.5 grams per serving of resistant starch from Organic Tigernut Flour, Organic Green Banana Flour and Organic Pregelatinized Potato Starch plus 1.5 grams of Organic ResistAid® Arabinogalactan.
Unflavored and easy to add to your favorite smoothie recipe, yogurt or beverage, each one-scoop serving has only 30 calories, 7 grams of total carbohydrates and 2 grams of fiber.
Arabinogalactans: A New Way to Help You Stay Well
I believe in being proactive and giving your immune system the support it needs to help you stay well. And, now, arabinogalactans – an immune-enhancing, plant-based carbohydrate extracted from larch trees – may help you do just that.
Arabinogalactans are a special type of digestible or soluble fiber. Like resistant starch, they act as prebiotics and provide food for the beneficial bacteria in your gut. Not only do arabinogalactans count towards your daily fiber intake, but they also provide antioxidant activity about equal to that of pomegranates.
This special type of fiber is found in many different vegetables and plants, but Native Americans have relied on larch bark as a source for hundreds of years.
Researchers also prefer to use arabinogalactan from Western larch trees for their studies for a couple of important reasons: Arabinogalactan from Western larch trees is far more concentrated than food or herb-based sources, and it’s a natural extract.
In fact, you’d have to eat a full pound of arabinogalactan-containing foods, such as carrots, corn and pears (something I don’t recommend because of their sugar content) to receive the same amount of arabinogalactan from larch trees used in studies.
The quantity of arabinogalactan in larch tree extract is even higher than shiitake mushrooms, another rich source.
So what can arabinogalactans potentially do for you?
Once this prebiotic fiber enters your gut, it begins to ferment. This valuable fermentation process produces short-chain fatty acids, such as butyrate, that help:
- Protect your intestinal lining.*
- Support colon health.*
- Promote an already healthy normal inflammatory response.*
- Promote healthy cell growth.*
- Fuel the growth of beneficial probiotic bacteria.*
- Support the proper activation of important immune cells, such as macrophages and natural killer (NK) cells.*
Larch arabinogalactans, and the short-chain fatty acids they produce, can play important roles in helping to protect the mucosal cells in your intestinal lining – and help to balance the immune response throughout your body.*
Clinically Proven Organic ResistAid® Promotes Immunity*
The Organic ResistAid® Arabinogalactan from organic Minnesota larch trees is a patented immune-supporting polysaccharide that provides science-backed, triple-action support for year-round health.*
Clinical trials show ResistAid® supports healthy immune function in multiple ways, in the amount used (1.5 grams) in our Organic Resistant Starch Complex formula:
- Enhances immune cell production*
- Provides seasonal immune protection*
- Supports your body’s immune cell function*
- Stimulates your body’s natural resistance*
- Maintains a healthy immune response*
- Strengthens your immune system*
- Promotes year-round healthy immune function*
Your body's natural defenses are made up of different components that work together to help you stay healthy. One key component is the adaptive immune response, which the body builds to defend against specific immune challenges it encounters.*
Studies show ResistAid® benefits both your innate immune system and your adaptive immune response.*
It does this by its direct and indirect actions on your gut, including increasing the production of SCFAs and boosting beneficial bacteria, such as lactobacillus and bifidobacteria in your gut.*
Unlike some other immune system-supporting compounds, ResistAid® promotes an appropriate immune response. That is, when your body is faced with a challenge, your immune system is encouraged to respond only as needed and not overreact.*
The Total Package for a Healthy Gut
Organic Resistant Starch Complex is an outstanding tool for supporting a healthy gut microbiome, as well as your immune and metabolic health.*
If you want to take additional steps to support your gut health, along with digestive, immune and metabolic health, I recommend combining Organic Resistant Starch Complex with one or more of our other outstanding products:
- Complete Spore Restore contains four soil-based spores and a prebiotic organic blend of three highly valued mushroom mycelia to help protect and recondition your gut flora, improve your gut integrity and prepare it for reseeding with Complete Probiotics.*
- Complete Probiotics provides 70 billion “gut-friendly” bacteria from 10 different strains, including the acid- and bile-resistant strain Lactobacillus acidophilus DDS-1, proven in studies to colonize well in the human gut.*
- Complete Afterbiotics provides a “trifecta” approach to improve your gut health by combining the power of Soil-Based Organisms (SBOs), non-spore-forming probiotics and probiotic yeast (Saccharomyces boulardii).*
So how do you decide which product is best to take along with Organic Resistant Starch Complex? Complete Afterbiotics can be taken along with Organic Resistant Starch Complex to help with microbiome maintenance.
You may also combine Organic Resistant Starch Complex with Complete Spore Restore to create the optimal environment for probiotic use or Complete Probiotics for optimal maintenance of overall gut health.*
Finally, I recommend adding one of our Organic Collagen formulas to your regimen, such as our Organic Bone Broth Collagen or another of our high-quality vegetarian or pescatarian sources of collagen, such as Marine Collagen.
Individuals with digestive challenges often find bone broth comforting, especially if their collagen levels are low. The amino acids in collagen help build the tissue lining the colon and entire GI tract.*
The naturally occurring glycosaminoglycans (GAGs) in bone broth also support digestive and gut health by helping to maintain your intestinal lining.*
Achieve Optimal Gut, Immune and Metabolic Health With Organic Resistant Starch Complex*
Are you ready to give your body the year-round support it needs for immune and metabolic health? Now you can put the good starches to work for you – the types that don’t leave your health and well-being in peril.
Organic Resistant Starch Complex with all three types of resistant starch and science-backed, patented ResistAid® Arabinogalactan, from organic Minnesota larch trees, can help you optimize your health and:
- Promote an already normal inflammatory response.*
- Support healthy immune function.*
- Promote healthy blood pressure levels already in the normal range.*
- Support cardiovascular health.*
- Maintain gut and bowel health.*
Available in unflavored powder, Organic Resistant Starch Complex makes it easy to get the extra resistant starch you need by simply adding a scoop to your favorite smoothie recipe, yogurt or beverage.
Discover the secrets of resistant starch for your gut, immune and metabolic health, and Take Control of Your Health® with Organic Resistant Starch Complex.* Order your supply today.