The CarbLovers Diet: Eat What You Love, Get Slim for Life!

Interviews & Essays

Resistant Starch: The Ultimate Fat-Burning Carb

Q. What is resistant starch (RS)?

A. Bread, potatoes, grains, and other carbohydrate foods contain two types of starch. One type is the dreaded glycemic starch. Like sugar, it is absorbed into the bloodstream quickly, raising blood sugar. Another is called resistant starch, so named because it resists digestion.

Q. How does RS promote weight loss?

A. Resistant starch does not get absorbed into the bloodstream. Therefore, it does not raise blood sugar because it doesn't get broken down into glucose. It travels through your digestive system nearly intact. Once there, it produces fatty acids that travel into the bloodstream, where it promotes weight loss through four key mechanisms.

1. RS turns on enzymes in fat cells that trigger fat burning, especially in the abdominal area.

2. RS encourages the liver to switch to a fat-burning state, which stokes your overall metabolism.

3. RS increases levels of satiety hormones that tell the brain to flip a switch that turns down hunger and turns up metabolism.

4. RS fills you up on fewer calories and can make you burn more calories after a meal and keep you feeling satisfied longer. Research conducted at the University of Colorado shows that consuming just a few grams of RS for breakfast can speed fat burning by up to 25 percent all day long. Research conducted at the University of Surrey, in the United Kingdom, found that adding RS to one meal caused study participants to automatically consume 10 percent fewer calories (roughly 150 to 200 calories for the average woman) during the next day—because they said they felt less hungry.

Q. OK. RS sounds like a great diet aid. But is it really a healthy carb?

A. It's pretty much the healthiest food you can consume.

1. RS lowers cholesterol and triglyceride levels by up to 30 percent—more than some cholesterol-lowering medications, also called statins.

2. RS promotes regularity and GI health by nourishing the good bacteria in your colon and starving off the bad guys.

3. RS prevents colon cancer by nourishing and protecting the cells in the colon.

4. RS makes your cells more insulin-sensitive and may be especially helpful for people with diabetes. In one study done at the Beltsville Human Nutrition Center at the USDA, participants who consumed a diet rich in RS were able to lower their post-meal blood sugar and insulin response by up to 38 percent.

Q. How much RS should people eat?

A. Most people consume only about 4.8 grams of resistant starch a day, but researchers believe we need double or triple that amount for optimal health and weight. That's why the CarbLovers menus include 10 to 15 daily grams of this important fat-burning nutrient, served up in delicious recipes like Pasta Primavera, French Toast, and Steak and Potatoes.

Q. How many studies have been conducted on RS?

A. More than 160 studies have been conducted on RS. Most of them are large, multi-center studies published in peer-reviewed medical journals like the Archives of Internal Medicine.

Q. What foods are rich in RS?

A. Resistant starch is found only in carbohydrate foods. The top sources are:

1. Bananas (just ripe or green): Bananas count as your richest source of resistant starch, with ripe ones offering 4.7 grams of the stuff and slightly unripe (slightly green) bananas containing a whopping 12.5 grams. Bananas are also rich in appetite-suppressing fiber (with 3 grams per one medium banana), and they contain the amino acid tryptophan, which is converted into the calming brain chemical serotonin to relax and improve your mood, helping to prevent emotional eating.

2. Barley: With 1.9 grams of resistant starch per half cup, barley is your next richest source. In addition to resistant starch, barley is also rich in soluble and insoluble fiber, which reduces appetite and keeps you regular. (Read more on the weight-loss benefits of fiber on page 00.) In one University of Minnesota study, participants reported significantly less hunger before lunch after they consumed a barley snack, compared to participants who consumed a snack made of refined rice.

3. Beans (black, garbanzo, kidney, pinto): Nearly half of the starch in beans comes from resistant starch, making them a powerful weight-loss ally. They are also an incredibly rich source of fiber, providing roughly 15 grams per cup. It's no wonder that a Canadian study of 1,475 men and women found that people who consumed beans regularly tended to weigh less and have a smaller waist circumference than people who did not eat them. They were also 23 percent less likely to become overweight over time.

4. Bread (Italian, rye, pumpernickel): Bread made from these types of flour is both rich in resistant starch and in fiber. One Swedish study found that rye bread decreased hunger more than refined white bread.

5. Brown rice: Brown rice may cook more slowly than its refined white cousins, but it digests more slowly too. One study found that blood-sugar levels were 23.7 percent lower in people who consumed brown rice than it was in participants who ate milled rice instead. Another study found that compared to white rice, eating a black/brown rice mix resulted in a greater reduction in weight, body mass index, and body fat. On the CarbLovers plan, you'll learn to cook this weight-loss staple in batches, making it a convenient lifelong weight-loss companion.

6. Breakfast cereal (Corn Flakes, Puffed Wheat). In the recipes, you'll see that we creatively use these cereals to bread chicken, fish, and other foods, adding some crunch and texture as well as some fat-flushing goodness.

7. Corn tortillas: If you're like me, then you never did get the hang of wrapping taco meat and other foods inside romaine lettuce leaves. Didn't you just hate how the meat always made the lettuce soggy? And eating food wrapped in lettuce was an outfit waiting to go to the dry cleaners, as far as I'm concerned. On CarbLovers? You'll never wrap another hot food in lettuce again. We're bringing back the corn tortilla, which is made from corn, which is high in resistant starch.

8. Lentils: Like beans, lentils are rich in both resistant starch and fiber, helping you to burn fat and feel satisfied too.

9. Oatmeal: Yes, you can have this for breakfast again. Doing so might help you eat less all day long. In a series of experiments, researchers in Italy replaced the flour in bread and pasta with oats. They found that even when these foods had identical calorie counts, the oat products left people feeling fuller and they ended up eating fewer calories over the course of the day.

10. Peas: Yes, peas and carrots are back as a side dish. And bring on Shepherd's Pie (page 00) and so many other foods that feature these high resistant starch, high-fiber vegetables.

11. Plantains: Depending on their level of ripeness, these South American staples can taste similar to a potato (when they are not so ripe) or a sweet-cooked banana (when they are riper).

12. Polenta: This soft, creamy food is made from cornmeal, which is naturally high in resistant starch.

13. Potato chips: I'm guessing that if I said you could never have a snack chip again for the rest of your life, you wouldn't be able to stick to the diet for very long. That's why we included potato chips in this plan. They satisfy your need for crunch while at the same time providing you with some fiber and resistant starch. If you're going to have a snack chip, then potato chips are the ones you should have.

14. Potatoes: People love meat and potatoes for a reason. So when low-carb diets dropped the potato from that equation? Something was seriously missing, especially during winter months. In addition to fiber and resistant starch, potatoes are a natural source of a proteinase inhibitor, which has been shown to increase levels of satiety hormones and reduce appetite.

15. Whole-grain bread, pasta, and crackers: Compared to their refined cousins, whole grains are rich in resistant starch, fiber, and many other nutrients. Research shows that people who consume more whole grains tend to weigh less and have less body fat than people who consume less of them.

16. Yams: In addition to resistant starch, yams are a rich source of manganese, a trace mineral that helps with calorie burning.