Good Starches

There are three types of nutritional starches: those we digest quickly, those we digest slowly, and the one that are resistant to digestion. These last, so-called “resistant” starches, are the “good” ones, and function not unlike soluble fiber in our digestive system. In that regard, it feeds the friendly bacteria in your GI system and boosts the production of short-chain fatty acids like butyrate.

At least one study recommends that adults consume at least 45 grams of resistant starch daily, but that's not as easy as it sounds. Not only do relatively few foods contain it, but resistant starch is often destroyed during the cooking process.

Here's a few places to look for your daily allotment of resistant starches.

Start your day with some oats. Just 100 grams of cooked oatmeal yield around 3.5 grams of resistant starch. Pro-Tip: Let your cooked oats cool overnight to increase the resistant starches even more.

Beans and legumes are good sources of both fiber and resistant starch. Depending upon the exact type, they're good for about 1 to 4 grams of resistant starch per 100 grams, once they have been cooked. Note that both should be soaked and fully heated in order to remove anti-nutrients and lectins.

Serve some rice with those beans. Brown rice has higher fiber content, more magnesium and more manganese than white, but whichever you prefer, make a big batch of it for the week. The longer the rice is left to cool, the more the resistant starch content accrues.

Many grains get a bad rap because of their carbs, but natural whole grains are a superb source of fiber, resistant starch and numerous other minerals and nutrients.

Here's one you probably haven't had in a while, or perhaps ever: raw potato starch is one of the most concentrated sources of resistant starch you can find anywhere. In fact, 72 percent of the starches in it are classified as resistant. If you are a raw potato starch N00b, it's a white flour with a consistency similar to regular flour, and it is often used as a thickener in shakes or smoothies. You can add some to your yogurt or cereal, and because it is so concentrated, a little goes a very long way.

Or you can eat your potatoes the old-fashioned way and still score high with resistant starch. To maximize on the good starch, cook them in bulk and allow them to cool several hours before eating.

If you have never had much use for green bananas, now you do: they are an excellent source of resistant starch. As bananas ripen, their resistant starch gets converted into sugar, so if you are looking to bananas for your starch fix, eat them before they yellow and end up atop your breakfast cereal instead!