Pasta, rice and potatoes: the trick to make them healthier and lighter

The phrase “cold potatoes are less fattening than hot ones” It sounds like the typical nonsense myth, like many others that swarm through the network and in popular culture.

However, this time appearances are deceiving, and that phrase, which may sound far-fetched, has some truth. Although not a truth as simple as the one he postulates.

Let’s talk about “resistant starch”.

When cooling, some foods change

Foods rich in starch, such as cereals or potatoes, become more digestible when heated by cooking, but if once cooked we cool them (for example, leaving them in the fridge for a few hours), that starch undergoes a new change due to the effect of low temperature and the molecules that form it are repositioned, creating a carbohydrate we cannot digest, or not at all. That is why we call it “resistant starch”, because it resists digestion.

To that resistant starch, it happens like fiberwhich by not being digested reaches the large intestine and is expelled with the feces.

And what benefits does that have?

The main benefit is that it has a prebiotic effect in the colon, since it serves as food for the bacteria of the large intestine, and favors the maintenance of a healthy microbiota, which protects us from inflammation, colon cancer and other intestinal diseases.

As this starch is fermented by colon bacteria protective substances are formed such as butyrate or propionate, which have a preventive effect on said pathologies.

On top of that, foods rich in resistant starch are more satiatingyes, and being less digestible, again replicate the effect of fiber which causes the rise in blood glucose to be less and slower.

And as if that were not enough, also improves the absorption of some minerals.

Now, but does it gain less weight or not?

You may wonder what all this has to do with the sentence with which we opened the article: well, you see, if we compare the same amount of rice, pasta or cooked potato, with rice, pasta or cooked potato and then cooled, in the second case, the creation of resistant starch, which as we have said is less digestible, lowers its caloric value. Also, the more times we heat and cool it, the more resistant starch is created.

But let no one believe that if you are obese or overweight, eating cold pasta is going to be the solution to your problem. Nothing is that simple. It’s just a curiosity.

It may be a good idea to include in our weekly menu a potato saladsome sushi or a pasta salad (always better integral) to benefit from the prebiotic effect they have, which is what is truly interesting.

We will only have to worry about cooking the cereals or potatoes the day before, and let them spend the night in the fridge.

AND if we don’t feel like a cold dishnothing happens if we reheat it later or add it to a hot meal, such as a dish of lentils, to which we put a couple of tablespoons of our cooled rice.

It can also be helpful for diabetic people. A plate of reheated rice will have less impact on your blood glucose than a plate of freshly made paella, thanks to the effect caused by the resistant starch that decreases glucose uptake.

If you put any of these tips into practice, don’t forget the usual: most of the plate must be vegetables!