Add resistant starch through cooked-and-cooled foods

Cook starchy foods (potatoes, rice, pasta) and then cool them in the refrigerator before eating. Reheating is fine — the resistant starch structure persists.

Why It Works

When starchy foods cool, their starch molecules recrystallize into a form (RS3 — retrograded starch) that resists digestion in the small intestine. This resistant starch reaches the colon intact, where bacteria ferment it into butyrate and other beneficial short-chain fatty acids. It also improves blood sugar responses compared to freshly cooked starch.

Tips

• Potato salad and cold rice dishes are practical everyday sources
• Green (unripe) bananas are another excellent source of resistant starch (RS2)
• About 5g/day of resistant starch has shown GI symptom improvement in clinical studies
• Legumes naturally contain resistant starch even without the cooking-cooling cycle