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Introduction to Resistant Starch

Resistant Starch doesnt seem to get a lot of press but it can be a powerful tool for weight loss and health. Simply put, resistant starch is a type of starch that is resistant to being broken down in the small intestines. This undigested starch then goes to the large intestine and feeds bacteria that in turn produce butyrate and vitamin K2, both of which have many positive effects on the body. In addition, the friendly bacteria multiply, which can benefit gut and immune health.

How can it help weight loss?


Adapted from Wikipedia: Normally, most starches are rapidly broken down and absorbed by the body as glucose. This causes a rapid rise in insulin, which eventually leads to insulin resistance. Insulin resistance and obesity are closely related. Resistant starch can help weight loss in the following ways:

Fiber. While the exact mechanisms of fiber protecting against weight gain are still under investigation, its ability to increase satiety and decrease subsequent hunger, along with altering the secretion of hormones related to food digestion, are considered likely mechanisms. Calorie reduction: Resistant starch isnt a calorie dense food. Satiety: Multiple recent studies have shown that naturally occurring resistant starch increases satiety and reduces food intake in the short term (within a few hours) and longer-term (for 2024 hours).

Lipid oxidation: Resistant starch may help burn fat and may lead to lower fat accumulation. One clinical trial showed that it increased fat oxidation after a meal. These findings suggest a possible metabolic effect of resistant starch that may affect body weight. Fat storage: Resistant starch has been shown to improve fatty acid metabolism within adipose tissue. Improves metabolism: An animal study has demonstrated that resistant starch independently altered metabolism in ways that prevented weight re-gain in a high fat diet.

In addition, resistant starch causes the release of a gut hormone called GLP-1. This hormone convinces the hypothalamus that you are satiated and slows the rate at which your food goes through your stomach. Since you are already eating a ton of fiber on this diet this slowed emptying rate creates a backlog and you are too stuffed to eat more. Once your brain and stomach are on board, its down hill from there. My personal experience validates these mechanisms. Its actually painful to eat a lot when you eat these types of starches. I had initially designed RSD for myself to treat food sensitivities and insulin resistance, but I realized that it can be a powerful tool for weight loss by all those who try it (the few, the proud, the MARINES). This is the result of over 10 years of experimentation with various diets that Ive tried for optimal physical and mental health, in addition to a lot of independent research. I actually had to take resistant starch out of my diet because I lost too much weight. As the pounds were shedding I felt great until I reached 8% body fat. At that point, because of such low body fat, I started to get extremely weak because my body started to burn muscle. Under 6% body fat is dangerous and its natural for the body to try and burn muscle before getting to that point. At 8% body fat you should see a clear resting six pack. If you arent at 8%, I wouldnt worry about these effects.

The Resistant Starches I use


There are 3 types of natural RS. As youll notice, following this diet will provide plenty of all three of these starches, in addition to other kinds of insoluble fiber, as well as soluble fiber. All fibers are not created equal and making sure to get a range of fibers is important. RS1 is found in seeds, nuts, legumes and whole grains. RS2 is found in uncooked potatoes, high-amylose corn and green bananas. RS3 Resistant starch is formed when starch-containing foods are cooked and cooled such as in legumes, potatoes and rice. The process of cooking out the starch and cooling it is called retrogradation. My main resistant starches are semi-green bananas, cold lentils and brown rice. In addition, I use cooled russet and sweet potatoes. Brown rice doesnt have as much resistant starch as the semi-green bananas, lentils or potatoes, but as a staple of my diet

it adds up. The bran on rice adds other types of insoluble fiber to the mix. For a clinical dosage you should have greater than 20 grams a day. With 3 green bananas(5 grams each), and most of your other calories from brown rice, lentils and potatoes you should be getting ~30 grams of RS in total. If you feel you arent getting ~30g of RS, you can take Bobs Red Mill unmodified potato starch. The potatoes used to create the potato starch are cooked first, so it can be eaten raw. It supposedly contains anywhere between 50-80% RS.

What you can expect from the diet


Ive carefully planned this diet so that it can accomplish the following: -Optimum physical and cognitive health, which is also supportive of weight loss. Any diet that didnt allow me to perform at peak cognitive performance wasnt acceptable. In addition, feeling weak during the day was a no-go. My body is very sensitive and all of the diets that I tried I had problems with. It took 10 years of selfexperimentation, reading the research directly and taking the best parts of all the diets until I finally came to this diet. -Optimal blood results. I check many more blood parameters than a run-of-the-mill blood test and if any of the results werent optimal it meant I needed to change some aspect of my diet. -Low cost. People want to be healthy but complain its too expensive. Thats actually not the case. This diet should cost less than 200 dollars a month. -Quick and easy preparation. Lets face it, who has the time to buy and prepare food? Preparing food used to consume whole weeks of mine before I developed RSD. People have lives and cant spend their precious free time or energy on making food. -Minimum level of palatability. Im not saying this is going to taste amazing, but if you do it right it will taste surprisingly good. The key is the spices you put on. Do not neglect this aspect. The condiments that make it taste good are tomato powder, nutritional yeast, italian seasoning, cumin, coriander and adequate salt. Instead of salt, I use braggs amino acid soy sauce or olive juice or pickle/sauer kraut juice. The reason I use these is because they are in a liquid form and allow an even spread of the salty taste. In addition, they add moisture to the spices, which otherwise are too dry and annoying to consume.

-Easily accessible ingredients. You can get these at any grocery store/local supermarket.

Diets I have tried in the past in no particular order:

Vegan, Raw Vegan, Whole food diet, Whole food plant based diet, Vegetarian, Dairy free, Gluten free, Grain free, Low carb, Paleo/Primal, Low fat, High Saturated fat, Mediterranean diet, High protein, Low glycemic index diet, Bulletproof diet, Atkins diet, Harvard school of public health recommendations, Intermittent fasting and caloric restriction. In addition, I have tried these in their pure form and variations of each of these diets and they all still gave me health problems. Id say the Harvard School of Public Health and physician researcher Dr Gabe Mirkin had the best and most scientific recommendations, but they still didnt suffice. I encourage people to get their health information from these sources. I find it interesting that when you look at the health blogosphere, the people who are writing these diets and giving advice have not tried many other diets. Also, most, if not all, of these people are still not skinny and dont have good bodies. Even Tim Ferriss, writer of the 4 hour body, has anything but a spectacular body. I would expect more from such a guy devoting so much time to his body.

What you will need/core ingredients:


The diet is planned so that there isnt a deficiency in any of the major macro or micro nutrient categories. Theres adequate carbs, protein and fats. It also fulfills requirements for vitamins, minerals and amino acids. Animal Proteins -Eggs, fish or lean chicken. Any will do. You can cycle or eat the same food every day. 23 eggs is a reasonable serving, as is ~4 ounces of fish or chicken. Optional: pastured eggs, wild caught fish, pastured chickens. These are more important for long term health rather than shorter term cognitive and physical health and weight loss.

Organic medium eggs go for 3 dollars a dozen. I buy frozen wild Alaskan salmon, which goes for 4 bucks for 4 ounces(the perfect serving size). Not cheap. I buy it frozen because fish rots easily and I dont have time to go to the store often. I also buy smoked wild Alaskan salmon sometimes since its also convenient. Also expensive. Im not a big fan of chicken but I do include it once in a while. The healthiest method of preparation is as follows: soft boiled eggs, steamed fish and boiled chicken. Fats -Seeds. Flax seeds and sesame seeds are a must. They are very cheap and have multiple positive impacts on the body. Other seeds are also healthy but flax and sesame stand out as particularly beneficial. Flax is a good source of soluble fiber and is a demulcent or soother for the stomach. It contains ALA, the omega-3 fat which is important for optimal health. They both contain healthful lignans. -Nuts. Not as important as flax and sesame, but they can be convenient to snack on during the day. I eat almonds, cashews, walnuts, pistachios and macadamia nuts. Other nuts are good, too. I measure out an ounce of nuts with a half an ounce of raisins/cranberries once every 2 weeks and place them in ziplock bags as quick snacks. If you are not eating oils, it will be hard to overdo nuts. I would just say just to listen to your body and if its telling you its full then stop. Nuts usually contain omega-6 PUFAs, which are healthy(and necessary) in moderation. When people consume oils like canola, they can overdo the omega-6s and ruin the balance between omega-3 and omega-6 PUFAs, which can lead to ill health. Eating whole foods will prevent people from going overboard. -Olives(glass bottle) or avocados. Olives are relatively cheap for the calories youre getting, are delicious and fulfill unique health goals. Since olives and avocados have similar fat profiles (mostly MUFAs) they can be cycled with each other. MUFAs are a pillar of the Mediterranean Diet. Their main health benefit is improving a persons cholesterol profile [Ref]. Also, when it replaces saturated fat, MUFAs can increase insulin sensitivity, increase energy expenditure and lead to less anger and irritability [Ref]. Chocolate is optional, but if you decide to include it it must be 85% cocoa or more and portion controlled. I include lindt 90% cocoa and eat one or two squares. Chocolate is convenient because its a compact source of calories that can be easily transported. Cocoa also has unique health properties.

Starches -Brown rice, russet potatoes, sweet potatoes (preferably Japanese), buckwheat or corn on the cob. Brown rice and white potatoes are the cheapest foods. A 5 pound bag of brown rice goes for 6 dollars and 5 pounds of potatoes go for 2 dollars. With the rice you are getting about 1300 calories for a dollar. I eat about 1900 calories a day. This means if I only ate rice my food bill would be about 40 dollars a month. I try to buy organic potatoes, which are a bit more. (Quinoa and amaranth are also fine, though I havent done much research on their level of RS. Im partial against quinoa because it damages my stomach. Im also partial against wheat, barley, rye and oats because Im sensitive to gluten and avenin, the protein in oats. Oats do contain RS, so if youre not sensitive then Id recommend steel cut oats). I also have on hand Goraw buckwheat groats in case I dont have time to cook. Legumes -Lentils or Tempeh. You can substitute with other legumes but I find lentils the easiest to prepare since they dont have to be soaked and have a short cook time thats similar to rice and therefore can be cooked together. They also have lots of resistant starch. Try not to buy canned. I buy Tempeh when I can and cook it with the rice and lentils. A package of lentils can be bought for less than 2 dollars and should last a bit more than a week. Fruits Semi green bananas and Oranges. These are real cheap and ubiquitous. A pound of bananas can be as cheap as 60 cents and oranges (small-medium) go for 2-6 for a dollar. Wild frozen blueberries are optional but recommended if you can afford them. I treat them as a snack and eat them in moderation. No need for these fruits to be organic. Optional: other kinds of berries. Berries are annoying because of their cost and quick spoilage, but they are healthy. Dried fruit isnt an ideal food for weight loss, but its better than junk foods. Vegetables -Carrots. Cheap, doesnt spoil, and provides the necessary beta carotene and nutrients that you wouldnt get otherwise. I try to buy organic. A 5 pound bag should cost 6-7 dollars.

Bubbies fermented pickles and sauer kraut are ideal but expensive. I buy them when they go on sale. I instead drink lots of kombucha to fill the role of a probiotic. Most other brands not found in regular groceries have potassium sorbate, which I assume will mess with your gut flora in not-so-great ways. OPTIONAL BUT HIGHLY RECOMMENDED: leafy greens, celery, cucumbers, tomatoes squash, beets, etc Optional because they are expensive and annoying to wash, clean, cook and store. I am very lazy when it comes to these things. Dont get me wrong. The more leafy greens, celery, cucumbers and tomatoes you include in your diet the better for your health and weight loss. When its easily obtainable I eat them, but when it isnt I dont make a special effort to get them. Cost, preparation and rapidity of spoilage play a large role in limiting their use. If these arent issues for you then by all means eat as much as possible. Condiments Seasonings will give your food taste and complete the nutritional profile of this diet. Nutritional yeast is loaded with nutrients that may be missing otherwise and tomato powder has lycopene. -Tomato powder, nutritional yeast and italian seasoning. -Some kind of seaweed for Iodine. I use wakame powder or nori. Kelp is great, too. -Braggs amino acid soy sauce substitute for salty flavor. -Any and all other spices that you enjoy. I also use fennel, ginger, turmeric, cumin, curry, coriander, etc.. I also use raw garlic because of its many beneficial attributes.

How it would look in an overall diet plan


Preparation You only need to cook and prepare once a week. Total cooking and preparation time should take about an hour a week. Youd need to visit the store maybe once a month since most of the food isnt very perishable. Thats assuming you dont eat many veggies. Bubbies fermented pickles and sauer kraut are ideal because they last a long time.

Seeds need to be ground with a coffee grinder. I place them in a container and store in the fridge. I do this about once a week. You could also sprout them to make them healthier but its not important enough nutritionally for me to bother with it. Brown rice and lentils can be cooked together and can also last for the whole week. I like to cook them in chicken broth, as its extremely beneficial for the gut and brain. I leave it in the pot that I cooked it in and snack out of it throughout the week. I try to practice some kind of portion control by stopping to eat when I am satiated but before Im overly stuffed. I cook it with fenugreek and ginger. These 2 herbs are important for weight loss and overall health. They slow the stomachs emptying rate and increase satiety. They are also extremely cheap. Carrots can be cooked at the same time as the rice and lentils in the same pot. If cooked separately, I broil them enough so that they are semi-soft. I put all of the condiments in one container and generously spread it out over the pot of food; like this, I dont have to open 20 spice bottles every day to add to my food. I then sprinkle on some Braggs amino soy sauce and eat it cold. The condiments and salt are really what makes this food palatable and enjoyable. Tomato powder is delicious. Combined with the other spices the food becomes pretty tasty.

Sample day:
Breakfast: -Brown Rice or Potatoes cold (Cooked w/ Fenugreek+Ginger) -Lentils -Eggs/Fish/Chicken -Carrots. -Sprinkle with ground seeds -Spice mix*+Raw garlic Lunch: Snacking throughout the day -Same foods as breakfast if Im home. -Berries+Citrus+Green Bananas -Nuts- (Walnuts, Almonds, Pistachio, Macademian, Cashew) -1 or 2 squares of chocolate Supper:

-Same foods as breakfast if Im home(minus the animal protein) or Buckwheat Granola cereal if Im not. Liquids: Green Tea(2 tea bags) and Kombucha (2X 16oz bottles) Kombucha or apple cider vinegar are highly recommended to be taken with meals. These help with weight loss, blood sugar control and promote optimal health. Kombucha is more beneficial. Frequency of meals More frequent and smaller meals are better than fewer and larger meals. If you have some type of glucose metabolism disorder I cant emphasize this enough. Try to eat within an hour of waking up and ignore all of the intermittent fasting advice in the blogosphere. This is only the case if you eat these types of food and have a basic awareness of portion sizes. An ounce of nuts is much less than you think. If you eat a SAD diet or hight fat diet then its better to have fewer meals or else you will exceed your caloric needs and gain weight.

What not to eat


Stay away from all sugars, oils, refined and processed foods. I dont care if its extra virgin olive or coconut oil. You get all the fats you need and more from nuts, seeds, animal foods, avocados and olives. Oils are extremely calorie dense and easy to overdo. If you want the benefits of olive oil you can get it by eating whole olives. I dont advocate breads or products made with flours, even if they are from whole grains. This because these kinds of carbs are very easily digested by your system and cause too rapid of a rise in blood sugar, even if its whole grain bread. These kinds of foods can stimulate cravings and overeating. If you are thin and healthy then go ahead. If you want to lose weight or are suffering from insulin resistance or diabetes than I say its better to stay away. Once you are healthy and at an optimal weight then they can be reintroduced. Choose instead WHOLE grains(whole wheat bread is referred to as a whole grain, but not according to this usage) and WHOLE starches. Brown rice, sweet and white potatoes, corn on the cob and buckwheat are whole starches. These foods, even if eaten warm, are harder and take longer to digest and therefore dont cause the same spike in insulin. Steel-cut oats can also be a whole grain but Im not a fan of

eating oats because its usually eaten with milk and sugar or honey, rather than spices or vegetables. I dont include fake milks in my diet because almost all have carrageenan and most have added sugars. Carrageenan causes insulin resistance and gut permeability. No thank you.

Basic supplements to go with diet

1) Fish oil, vitamin D and Iodine. Fish oil isnt necessary if you eat fish 4 times a week. Vit D isnt necessary if you get lots of full-body sun daily. Iodine isnt necessary if you eat seaweeds. 2) Zinc glycinate 15 mg- especially for men. This diet is high in foods with phytic acid, which binds to zinc, in addition to the high copper content, which competes with zinc. Through my research, zinc is the only mineral that can be a potential problem. No need for a multi-vitamin. 3) Calcium citrate 250mg 1-2X per a day. If you arent eating dairy or bones/bone broths you absolutely need to take 250-500mg of calcium. 4) Glycine 1g/day. This isnt necessary if you consume lots of chicken broth. 5) Creatine 1g/day. Creatine is in muscle meat and the body produces some on its own. This is a fantastic substance to supplement with at low dosages such as a gram a day.

Who this diet is suited for

People who eat to live, rather than live to eat. If you live to eat then dont even attempt this diet. People who value optimum health and fitness over optimum taste in food. People who want to save money. I used to spend $1300 on food a month. I brought that down to $200 and Im healthier than ever.

Advanced supplements to go with it

A good supplement for weight loss is berberine (by Thorne Research). In the linked study, subjects lost 5 pounds over 12 weeks, which isnt bad for the addition of one

supplement. Berberine is an incredible compound and can also be beneficial for diabetes, heart disease, cancer, infections and intestinal, liver and mental health.

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