Have you heard about the potato hack? Most people think white rice and potatoes are bad for you because they spike your blood sugar, but not when you cool and then reheat them. Recently I have been researching about Resistant starch as there seems to be a lot of talk about it and the benefits of introducing it into your diet. Resistant starch can help with weight loss by regulating insulin, and helping you feel fuller for longer. It can also help to heal a leaky gut. I was advised early this year by an integrative dietitian to go on a high protein low carbohydrate diet. I discovered that I could introduce some resistant starch foods into my diet, such as white rice and potatoes which is a great way to bulk up my meals and make them more substantial and filling. Resistant starch improves your metabolism and your blood sugar and acts more like a prebiotic than a starch which is why it's good for gut health.
Legumes, green bananas, cruciferous vegetables also have resistant starch. It is also a type of starch found in certain forms of carbohydrates, like whole grains, beans, green bananas, and raw potatoes. The idea is that It passes through your body without entering into your bloodstream and breaking down into glucose like other foods, which is why this starch makes you feel fuller.
Resistant starch is a type of starch that is “resistant” to digestion as your body can’t break it down. Resistant starch moves through the stomach and small intestine undigested, and arrives in the colon intact. Once the resistant starch arrives in the colon, your good bacteria feeds on the starch. When white rice and potatoes are cooked and then cooled and then reheated, this is better for your microbiome and reduces the absorption of calories.
If you cook and cool down starchy foods, your body will treat it much more like fibre and helps feed the good bacteria that live in your gut.
So if you want to include rice and potatoes into your diet to bulk up your meal and make you feel fuller, try cooking, cooling and reheating them, or just eat them cold by adding them to salads. You can actually keep reheating them after they have been cooled completely.
For more information check out the Potato Diet (The potato hack) with Chriss Kresser and Joe Rogan.