Resistant starch keeps your blood sugar and insulin levels from spiking. The difference between starches that quickly turn to sugar in your bloodstream and resistant starches is that the resistant starches are not digested in the small intestine. Lentils and other legumes have the most resistant (fermentable) starch which helps you burn fat.
These starches break down in the colon and in the rest of the body having more healthful results. Examples of resistant starches are lentils and other legumes, beans, peas, chickpeas/garbanzo beans, black-eyed peas, broad beans, fava beans, black beans, butter beans, cannellini (white kidney) beans, lentils, lima beans, kidney beans, soy beans, split peas, navy and pinto beans. Rice, lentils, chick peas, beans and other legumes, traditionally feature on the daily menu in Mediterranean countries. Be careful about fava beans as some people are highly allergic to them. See my other Examiner.com article, "Does your child have adverse reactions to fava beans and legumes?"
Lentils and beans have lots of resistant starches. For example, eating just a half-cup of cooked beans or lentils in your diet may add between 2 to 4 grams of resistant starch. A daily intake of around 25 grams of resistant starches from different sources usually is enough. Resistant starches are marked by their RS1designation which shows that the food cannot be digested by the small intestine. What happens when you eat beans and legumes is that the food ferments in the colon, or large intestine, to provide energy, instead of quickly turning from starch to sugar in your bloodstream, according to the National Starch Food Innovation and the site, "List Of Foods Very High In Resistant Starch."
Say no to amylopectin and yes to the amylose molecule in your choice of carbs
You don't want to eat starch that contains the amylopectin molecule because this type of starch turns into sugar in your blood, and you quickly get a sugar rush or the high insulin tremors. This type of starch is found in most processed breakfast cereals, white and wheat bread, white rice, pastries, instant oatmeal, and most crackers, and chips.
After you eat the wrong type of starch you feel hungry in an hour or two. Then you snack again. On the other hand, resistant starch is called resistant because it resists digestion in the small intestine and stays longer making you feel fuller, as if it were fiber. Resistant starch protects your colon because it's made up of the amylose molecule. This molecule is found in resistant starch in foods such as brown rice and beans or quinoa and steel-cut oats rather than instant oat meal.
Also check out the site, Food Product Design - National Starch Food Innovation. Global starch consumption is projected to reach 133.5 million metric tons by the year 2018, driven primarily by the diversity and sheer number of end-users. The trick is to eat resistant starches rather than simple starches that turn to sugar so quickly that your insulin levels rise in your bloodstream or you how huge sugar spikes after eating.
Foods you may want to choose would have large proportions of resistant starch.
Your first step would be to make sure the food wasn't processed. What happens when grains are processed and turned into flour is they quickly turn to sugar in your bloodstream from simple starch. Certain grains if they're eaten whole and not processed such as ground up and heated contain moderate amounts of resistant starch. But as soon as you grind the whole grain into flour or cold cereal, most of the starch is broken down into sugars and absorbed into the blood, sometimes causing those sugar crashes or the feeling that the insulin is pouring out so fast that food hits you like a bomb and you feel nervous, or have a sensation that everything is speeding up in your body.
Check out the Glycemic Index Food Chart of products containing flour. For example, whole grain flour is starch. The sugar in the whole grain flour is higher than in the whole grain you eat soaked, cultured, or boiled as a whole grain as in whole grain quinoa. For further information, check out the restistant starch site.
Another name for resistant starch is nonglycemic starch which is a type of fermentable fiber
Be careful with processed whole wheat bread made from whole wheat flour. See, "Do 2 slices of whole wheat bread raise blood sugar levels more than a Mars Bar?" Also check out the book, The Skinny Carbs Diet: Eat Pasta, Potatoes, and More! Use the power of resistant starch to make your favorite foods fight fat and beat cravings by David Feder, Editors of Prevention and David Bonom (Sep 14, 2010).
What you may want to know about foods is that when you eat carbohydrates, make sure they are carbohydrates with resistant starch not plain starch. Resistant starch keeps your blood sugar and insulin levels from spiking.
Also, your hunger hormone called ghrelin won't spike either. And your appetite-suppressing hormone called leptin rises when you eat resistant starch in complex carbohydrates, if you're going to eat carbohytdrates with each meal. Lentils and legumes, for example would be examples of carbs with resistant starch. Check out the slideshow Nutrition journalism books.
and some scientists and physicians say two slices of whole wheat bread probably will raise your blood sugar levels as high as if you were eating some popular candy bars. There's a 'controversy' about the effects of whole grains. Some people can't eat any grains at all due to sensitivities, allergies, and Celiac disease -(celiac sprue).
Others say whole grains help to rot some children's teeth. Still others ferment their whole grains, and some kids endure dental cavities just from eating whole grain cereals and sandwiches. What does the research note?
Physicians are writing articles in major consumer health publications saying that it's primarily whole wheat that creates havoc with blood glucose levels, perhaps being one more stressor behind the obesity and type 2 diabetes epidemics in all ages.
Let's take a look at what some physicians and scientists report on the 'dangers' of whole wheat. For example, two slices of whole wheat bread increase your blood sugar to a high level than sucrose--table sugar, according to the article, "Wheat, the unhealthy whole grain," in the Oct. 2011 issue of Life Extension Magazine, page 82. Too much bread or cake can raise your risk of cataracts, diabetes, and rapid aging inside and out, say some scientists and physicians.
In the Sacramento and Davis regional areas, researchers at the University of California, Davis study phytosterols in whole grains. For example, see the article, [PDF] Phytosterols lower cholesterol levels in a dose-dependent manner - UC Davis CHNR. Phytosterols are plant compounds that form the membranes of cells, a role similar to that of cholesterol in animals. Scientists research how and why plant phytosterols may help reduce cholesterol in humans and/or animals.
Why does it take the mainstream media so long after a new study to report health benefits? The answer to that question is that the media is looking for other scientists to speak up and say whether or not any given study is flawed.
Check the Glycemic Index Before You Shop for Favorite Foods
Just check out how high whole wheat bread is in 'sugar' or on the Glycemic Index. See "The International table of glycemic index and glycemic load values: 2002." American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. 2002;76(1):5-56. See the sites, Full Text - American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and Dietary glycemic index and load and risk of type 2 diabetes in older adults.
It's truly shocking. According to the Life Extension article, eating two slices of whole wheat bread is worse than drinking a can of sugar-sweetened soda or eating a sugary candy bar. The original 1981 study at the University of Toronto found that the Glycemic Index of white bread was 69 and whole-grain bread was 72. Wheat cereal was 67, but table sugar (sucrose) was only 52. That means the Glycemic Index of whole grain bread is higher than that of table sugar, which is also known as sucrose.
In fact the Glycemic Index of a Mars Bar nougat, chocolate, is just 68. The Glycemic index of a Snickers bar is just 41. All those values are less than whole grain bread, especially whole wheat bread. But what you do get with the whole grain bread besides the sugar spike is some fiber that you don't get with the candy bar or the sugary soda beverage.
On another Glycemic Index chart, a Mars Bar, medium is listed at 64. It's listed under the category, "Snack Food and Sweets." But on that web site which also is about the South Beach diet, whole grain bread is listed as low on the Glycemic Index at 50, and white bread is listed high on the Glycemic Index at 71, with whole rye flour bread listed as medium at 64.
Rice cakes are listed as high on the Glycemic Index at 77, and Whole Meal Bread (not whole grain bread) is listed as medium at 69 on the Glycemic Index. But you have to remember that that Index is on the South Beach Diet Plan website. And you'd have to check out other Glycemic Index listings to see whether any match. The Glycemic Index listings seem to be different at various websites, but why, are various brands being tested or listed?
Or are various candy brands different, but the Glycemic Index, itself, remains steady. It's just that one manufacturer may make different types of candy bars under the same brand name. For example, Glycemic Index of a Mars Bar nougat, chocolate, is listed as just 68 in the Life Extension Magazine article, Oct. 2011.
Is Whole Wheat the Culprit, According to Studies In Wheat's Ability to Cause Your Body to Make More Insulin?
So, wheat seems to be the worse, according to the studies, in assaulting your body in its ability to keep making insulin. Could this be part of the cause of the diabetes and obesity epidemic in the USA and in other countries, and especially among young people? And do you fight carbs with other carbs? Or is any food high on the Glycemic Index also causing your body to secrete more insulin, aging your organs and arteries faster as your body seeks to lower the glucose levels to what's supposed to be 'normal'?
You want to watch out for advanced glycation end products called AGEs, which stiffens arteries and may lead to cataracts, clouded lenses of the eyes. See the sites, Glycemic Index Food Chart and Glycemic index and glycemic load for 100+ foods - Harvard Health.
Check out the study, "Glycemic Index of Foods: a physiological basis for carbohydrate exchange," American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1981 Mar; 34 (3):362-6. Also see, Glycemic index of foods: a physiological basis for carbohydrate exchange. Or read the article in the Oct 2011 issue of Life Extension magazine, "Wheat, the unhealthy whole grain," in the Oct. 2011 issue of Life Extension Magazine, page 82. Usually, it's online the following month it came out in print.
Do Whole Grains Improve Blood Pressure? Studies on whole grains and the health benefits of phytosterols
Read the published scientific study, Pins JJ, et al. "Do Whole Grain oat cereals reduce the need for antihypertensive medications and improve blood pressure control? Journal of Family Practice 51: 353-359, 2002. For example, it took three months after a new July 2009 study on the health benefits of whole grains, especially bran in whole grains, and how whole grains help to lower hypertension, had been published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition before the mainstream media (Reuters) reported it October 7, 2009.
The Whole Grain Stamp now appears on over 3000 products in 14 countries, according to the body that issues the Stamp, the Whole Grains Council. Also see the October 10, 2009 Windsor Star article, "Whole grains may help keep blood pressure in check."
The most recent USA nutrition guidelines recommend that people get at least 3 ounces, or 85 grams, of whole grains daily, and that they consume at least half of their grains as whole grains, according to the recent Reuters article of October 7, 2009, "Whole Grains May Keep Blood Pressure in Check."
"There's evidence, the investigators note, that women who eat more whole grains are less likely to develop high blood pressure, also called hypertension, but there is less information on how whole grains might affect men's heart health," according to the Reuters article, based on a recent study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
Eating lots of whole grains could ward off high blood pressure, according to that study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. You can read the abstract of the actual study in the July 1, 2009 issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Volume 90: 493-498, 2009. The title of the research is, "Whole grains and incident hypertension in men." Although the study had been performed with only men, women can benefit also, provided that you don't have sensitivities to whole grains such as celiac disease. It doesn't matter which whole grains you eat so much. You could substitute quinoa or amaranth, oats, brown rice, or rye for wheat because wheat in some people causes a rise in insulin. But what did the study actually find?
According to the study, men with the highest whole-grain consumption were 19 percent less likely to develop high blood pressure than men who ate the least amount of whole grains. But you need to know something about how to prepare whole grains so that you don't get the phytates in grain. Whole grains contain phytic acid in the bran of the grain. Phytic acid combines with key minerals, especially calcium, magnesium, copper, iron, and zinc and prevents their absorption in the intestinal tract, according to the article, "The Two Stage Process: A Preparation Method Maximizing the Nutritional Value of Whole Grains."
Soaking, fermenting, or sprouting the grain before cooking or baking will neutralize the phytic acid
According to Introduction to Whole Foods, page two, "Soaking, fermenting, or sprouting the grain before cooking or baking will neutralize the phytic acid, releasing nutrients for absorption. This process allows enzymes, lactobacilli and other helpful organisms to not only neutralize the phytic acid, but also to break down complex starches, irritating tannins and difficult-to-digest proteins including gluten. For many, this may lessen their sensitivity or allergic reactions to particular grains." You want a little phytic acid in your diet for your immunity, but not excess. Certain plants have toxins to prevent bugs from eating them. So you want a healthier way to prepare grains.
The healthier way to prepare whole grains, according to the article, " is to soak the whole grains or whole grain flour in an acid medium such as buttermilk, yogurt, or other cultured milk, or in water with whey, lemon juice or vinegar added. As little as 7 hours soaking will neutralize a large portion of the phytic acid in grains. Twelve to 24 hours is even better with 24 hours yielding the best results."
Basically, you can soak grains overnight in a covered jar of filtered water in your refrigerator. The grains will become soft. I soak my grains two days. The whole buckwheat becomes soft enough to eat for breakfast without cooking with heat. Just put some cherries and blueberries or dried fruit such as raisins on top of it, add a handful of chopped nuts or hulled sunflower seeds and sesame seeds, and you have a great breakfast cereal, as long as you're not sensitive to the nuts and seeds or the particular grains. Buckwheat isn't the same grain as regular whole wheat.
Usually, there's an alternative whole grain you can tolerate, with some exceptions for persons with various sensitivities or those with celiac disease who must eat gluten-free foods. Then choose the gluten-free substitutes.
Brown rice, buckwheat and millet contain lower amounts of phytates than other grains
Brown rice, buckwheat and millet are more easily digested because they contain lower amounts of phytates than other grains, so they may be soaked for the shorter times. According to Introduction to Whole Foods, other grains, particularly oats, "the highest in phytates of the whole grains, is best soaked up to 24 hours."
The article reports that there are two other advantages of the two-stage process. "Several hours of soaking serves to soften the grain, resulting in baked goods lighter in texture, closer to the texture of white flour. The longer the soaking, the less necessary is the baking powder. Baking soda, alone, will give enough rise. Secondly, this is a great step in convenience, dividing the task into two shorter time periods, cutting the time needed to prepare the recipe right before cooking and baking when you feel rushed to get food on the table."
The difference between whole grains and refined grains is that refining takes off the grain's outer coating. But whole grains are left with the rich nutrients, bran and germ. If you want to make soaking grains simple and basic, just soak what you want to eat overnight in a covered jar of water in your refrigerator. The grains will do a little fermenting, and that's the result you want.
Science research teams often look at the The Health Professionals Follow-Up Study on various topics. The Follow-Up Study explores men's health issues, relating nutritional factors to the incidence of serious illnesses, such as cancer, heart disease, and other vascular diseases. This all-male study is designed to complement the all-female Nurses' Health Study, which examines similar hypotheses.
Eating whole grain cereals and health study results
For further information, see the Harvard Science article, "Eating whole grain cereals may help men lower heart failure risk." In the recent American Journal of Clinical Nutrition study, the research team first looked at data from the Health Professionals Follow-up Study, which has followed 51,529 men since 1986, when the study participants were 40 to 75 years old.
Researchers viewed a subset of 31,684 men free of hypertension, cancer, stroke or heart disease at the study's outset. During 18 years of follow-up, 9,227 of them developed hypertension. Men in the top fifth of whole grain consumption, that averaged about 52 grams of whole grains daily, were 19 percent less likely than the men in the bottom fifth, who ate an average of about 3 grams of whole grains daily, to develop hypertension during follow-up.
What Did the Separate Components of Whole Grains Reveal?
When the researchers looked at separate components of whole grains, only bran showed an independent relationship with hypertension risk, with men who consumed the most at 15 percent lower risk of hypertension than men who ate the least. However, the researchers note, the amount of bran in the men's diet was relatively small compared to their total intake of whole grain and cereal fiber. See the article, "Bran, whole grains may fight high blood pressure in men."
According to the HealthDay News article, "Whole grains as a part of a prudent, balanced diet may help promote cardiovascular health," the lead researcher and project director at Harvard School of Public Health of the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study, Dr. Alan J. Flint explained to the media. The latest analysis followed up previous studies that's why it's called a Follow-Up study. "Higher intake of whole grains was associated with a lower risk of hypertension in our cohort of over 31,000 men," Flint told the press.
The relationship between whole grain intake and hypertension risk remained even after accounting for the male participants' fruit and vegetable intake, use of vitamins, amount of physical activity, and whether or not they were screened for high blood pressure.
This suggests that the association was independent of these markers of a healthy lifestyle behavior pattern. It's possible, the researchers say, that the men that ate more whole grains gained less weight over time. The current findings, Flint and colleagues explained, "have implications for future dietary guidelines and for the prevention of hypertension."
This is not a new idea. The most recent scientific studies help to lend credibility and validity to the claims and to studies using fewer people. For years, books have touted the health benefits of whole grains. In the 2008 book, The Cholesterol Hoax, Dr. Sherry A Rogers notes on page 181, "Whole grains are actually much higher in antioxidants than fruits and vegetables."
The section, "They Forgot the Whole Grains," explains the research regarding whole grains and the effect of whole grains on reducing heart disease risk, "Folks who have diets containing daily whole grains have 26% less heart disease, 36% fewer strokes, and a 43% lower cancer rate. In another study of 88 folks with high blood pressure, 73% of those who had two meals of whole grains a day dropped their blood pressure medications in half in addition to dropping their cholesterol and blood sugars (Pins, Jones)." Read the published scientific study, Pins JJ, et al. "Do Whole Grain oat cereals reduce the need for anti-hypertensive medications and improve blood pressure control? Journal of Family Practice 51: 353-359, 2002. So how do resistant starches fit into your healthier eating plan?
Lentils and other legumes have the most resistant starch which helps you burn fat
What happens is that your body ferments the resistant starch and produces butyrate, which is known to have possible anti-cancer properties. For further information on butyrate, check out my other Examiner.com article, "Can the fatty organic acid, butyrate and high fiber diet shrink colon polyps and lower cancer risk? "
Consumers would like to know whether the fatty acid, Butyrate along with a high vegetable fiber diet and a specific amount of vitamin D3 possibly may be able to turn your colon polyps into a state where they could shrink and disappear by the process of redifferentiation? Could butyrate lower your risk of getting colon cancer?
You can read a lot more about this topic what type of starches, carbs, and proteins to eat in the excellent book, which I highly recommend, one of the New York Times best-sellers, Chef MD's Big Book of Culinary Medicine by John La Puma, M.D. and Rebecca Powell Marx. Check out the sections on why you should eat which foods. Nutrition also is about the physiology of what happens in your body when you eat certain foods.
Butyrate in raw vegetables and fruits: An organic acid with health benefits
When you eat a lot of raw vegetables and fruits day after day for a few weeks, your stools will contain a lot of the chemical called butyrate, which is an organic acid. Don't get butyrate mixed up with a food supplement called Butyrex™ .
See the study titled "Dietary Fiber and colorectal adenoma in a colorectal cancer early detection program." Peters, U, et al, Lancet, 361: 1491-95, 2003. The findings reported, "High intakes of dietary fiber were associated with a lower risk of colorectal adenoma, after adjustment for potential dietary and non-dietary risk factors."
According to The Analyst, "Butyrate, a fatty acid, comes from two dietary sources. First, it is one of the metabolic end products of unabsorbed dietary carbohydrate that has been bacterially fermented in the gut. Butyrate is the single biggest metabolite of fiber. Second, the only direct source in the diet is from butter, which contains 3% butyrate. Adequate amounts of butyrate are necessary for the health of the large intestine cells."
What redifferentiation means: Turning your cells back to a normal state is the goal of numerous studies
Researchers look for any signs of redifferentiation when doing a study on reactions to foods used for healing. Of course the FDA says only a drug can cure or heal. But researchers report that when the butyrate is present at a higher level than usual in your intestines and colon, according to the May 2009 issue of Total Wellness newsletter, it causes a reaction that scientists call redifferentiation. The word, redifferentiation in biology might also imply that if your polyps were just beginning to turn cancerous, redifferentiation could help the cells, in some cases, to go back to their normal state.
The term redifferentiation also means to return to a specialized condition in order to perform a specific function after a period of having been doing a non-specific activity. Butyrate is a fatty acid. It comes from unabsorbed dietary fiber that has been bacterially fermented in the gut, and is also found in cow’s milk or butter.
Butyrate metabolizes fiber in your colon
How butyrate works is by metabolizing fiber in the colon. It helps produce the energy necessary for the health of the large intestine. See The Analyst site to learn more details about what butyrate does.
When it comes to health, in the Sacramento and Davis area, the UC Davis studies resistant starches and whole grains, including rice. And scientists around the nation are researching whether whole grains can keep your blood pressure in check. Sacramento and Davis scientists may sometimes jokingly tell people to eat like a horse, meaning eat your whole grain oats. Also see the U.C. Davis research, "Fructose, weight gain, and the insulin resistance syndrome." Also, check out the news article, Fructose May Increase Blood Pressure - HealthPop - CBS News.
In addition, the conclusions of a local U.C. Davis study showed that the intake of dietary fructose has increased markedly as a result of the steady increase in added sugars in the American diet. In the past, fructose was considered to be beneficial in the dietary management of diabetes mellitus and insulin resistance because fructose ingestion results in smaller postprandial (after eating a meal) glycemic and insulin excursions (spikes) than do glucose and complex carbohydrates. But research has shown results you may wish to read about in further detail. Check out the additional studies, "Sugar and sugars: myths and realities." Journal of the American Dietetics Association, 2002. CrossRefMedline and "The public health significance of dietary fructose," American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 1993. Medline.
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