Their are 30 million diabetic diagnosed as such. Many are not diagnosed and now one of the growing diseases..
- All the posts thus far on RS (90 posts and thousands of comments as of Mar, 2014).
- Lots of research here & here.
- My latest Resistant Starch-Based Dietary Guidelines (a must read to get an overall sense).
- Lots of comments from readers reporting the benefits they've seen.
- Isolated RS—Like Bob's Red Mill
Potato Starch (NOT to be confused with FLOUR)—has zero carbs if taken raw, because you don't digest it, your gut bugs do and if they don't, it passes right through. On average, humans can process about 60g per day. If cooked, it's about 10g carbs per TBS (per the label) of rapid digesting starch. Don't cook it unless you intend to, like for thickening a sauce (see here).
- Another supplemental source is Plantain Flour
.
- There is also green Banana Flour
, now.
- Here's a long list of foods that contain RS. Some of the highest sources in food is cooked and cooled rice (parboiled is the highest, also lowest GI by far), cooked and cooled beans (prepare by traditional 24hr+ soaking), and cooked and cooled white potatoes. Sweet potatoes have almost no RS. Cooking and cooling forms RS3, a retrograde RS that remains intact when the food is reheated. Fried rice from out of the fridge is ideal for an RS food source.
- Per number 2, your BG won't rise no matter how much isolated RS you consume (such as the potato starch). Moreover, it will significantly blunt spikes from other foods, a "second meal effect" that persists for hours, even into the next day. Regular consumption lowers both fasting BG and blunts spikes from other foods eaten anytime, so dose timing is unimportant if taken regularly. This blunting is most profound on a normal carb intake. In ketosis, there is little blunting (see here).
- The benefits most commonly touted are: lowered fasting BG, BG blunting, better sleep, increased energy, well being and calm, mental clarity, vivid dreams, curing of chronic constipation and infrequency, soft stools, satiation with gentle hunger, and increased body temperature (I think I got them all...let me know if I missed any).
- The problems most commonly reported are: flatulence and headache. Most have reported having flatulence, but for most it diminishes over time. It seems most prominent when taken with food and least when taken in water on an empty stomach. Taken with beans can be a hilarious experience if you're up for it. For some, going periods of 2-3 days now & then without supplementing seems to help get beyond it. Headaches have only been reported by a handful of people. One or two reported intestinal distress, but I chalk that up to oversensitivity to flatulence.
- Most of the studies use 30g of potato starch, which is 4 tablespoons. Above 60g will probably pass on through. Many have begun with 1TBS per day, and increased up to 4 each week. However, dose, frequency, how it's administered (with food, kefir, yogurt—cool or warm—or just water by itself) is something each person has to experiment and figure out for themselves.
- In general, even targeting RS foods will probably at best yield 10g of RS daily. Thus, supplementation is a good idea to get into the 20-30g range which, as stated, is what so many studies have used to document many of the benefits we've been touting. Paleoman had a far wider variety of high RS foods that just isn't in our diets commonly (cattail and tree pollen, anyone?).
