Resistant Starch

barriewalsh

Newbie
Messages
4
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
I've read that resistant starch such as cold potato starch can lower BG reading. Has anyone any experience of whether this is true?
 

Lamont D

Oracle
Messages
15,949
Type of diabetes
Reactive hypoglycemia
Treatment type
I do not have diabetes
It doesn't actually lower blood levels.
What it does is give a lower reading than before allowing the potato to cool and then reheat.
Some of us can cope with this, most like me still spike with starch no matter how it is served.
All you can do is test and see what it does to your blood levels.

Welcome to the forum.

Have you had the info off @daisy1 yet?
 
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daisy1

Legend
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Tablets (oral)
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Cruelty towards animals.
@barriewalsh

Hello Barrie and welcome to the forum :)

Here is the information we give to new members (whether not not newly diagnosed) and I hope you will find it useful as it contains much information on carbohydrates and carby foods and answer some of your questions. If you need to know more, ask more questions and members will be able to help.


BASIC INFORMATION FOR NEWLY DIAGNOSED DIABETICS

Diabetes is the general term to describe people who have blood that is sweeter than normal. A number of different types of diabetes exist.

A diagnosis of diabetes tends to be a big shock for most of us. It’s far from the end of the world though and on this forum you’ll find over 130,000 people who are demonstrating this.

On the forum we have found that with the number of new people being diagnosed with diabetes each day, sometimes the NHS is not being able to give all the advice it would perhaps like to deliver - particularly with regards to people with type 2 diabetes.

The role of carbohydrate

Carbohydrates are a factor in diabetes because they ultimately break down into sugar (glucose) within our blood. We then need enough insulin to either convert the blood sugar into energy for our body, or to store the blood sugar as body fat.

If the amount of carbohydrate we take in is more than our body’s own (or injected) insulin can cope with, then our blood sugar will rise.

The bad news

Research indicates that raised blood sugar levels over a period of years can lead to organ damage, commonly referred to as diabetic complications.

The good news

People on the forum here have shown that there is plenty of opportunity to keep blood sugar levels from going too high. It’s a daily task but it’s within our reach and it’s well worth the effort.

Controlling your carbs

The info below is primarily aimed at people with type 2 diabetes, however, it may also be of benefit for other types of diabetes as well.
There are two approaches to controlling your carbs:

  • Reduce your carbohydrate intake
  • Choose ‘better’ carbohydrates

Reduce your carbohydrates

A large number of people on this forum have chosen to reduce the amount of carbohydrates they eat as they have found this to be an effective way of improving (lowering) their blood sugar levels.

The carbohydrates which tend to have the most pronounced effect on blood sugar levels tend to be starchy carbohydrates such as rice, pasta, bread, potatoes and similar root vegetables, flour based products (pastry, cakes, biscuits, battered food etc) and certain fruits.

Choosing better carbohydrates

Another option is to replace ‘white carbohydrates’ (such as white bread, white rice, white flour etc) with whole grain varieties. The idea behind having whole grain varieties is that the carbohydrates get broken down slower than the white varieties –and these are said to have a lower glycaemic index.
http://www.diabetes.co.uk/food/diabetes-and-whole-grains.html

The low glycaemic index diet is often favoured by healthcare professionals but some people with diabetes find that low GI does not help their blood sugar enough and may wish to cut out these foods altogether.

Read more on carbohydrates and diabetes

Eating what works for you

Different people respond differently to different types of food. What works for one person may not work so well for another. The best way to see which foods are working for you is to test your blood sugar with a glucose meter.

To be able to see what effect a particular type of food or meal has on your blood sugar is to do a test before the meal and then test after the meal. A test 2 hours after the meal gives a good idea of how your body has reacted to the meal.

The blood sugar ranges recommended by NICE are as follows:

Blood glucose ranges for type 2 diabetes
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 8.5 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (adults)
  • Before meals: 4 to 7 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 9 mmol/l
Blood glucose ranges for type 1 diabetes (children)
  • Before meals: 4 to 8 mmol/l
  • 2 hours after meals: under 10 mmol/l
However, those that are able to, may wish to keep blood sugar levels below the NICE after meal targets.

Access to blood glucose test strips

The NICE guidelines suggest that people newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes should be offered:

  • structured education to every person and/or their carer at and around the time of diagnosis, with annual reinforcement and review
  • self-monitoring of plasma glucose to a person newly diagnosed with type 2 diabetes only as an integral part of his or her self-management education

Therefore both structured education and self-monitoring of blood glucose should be offered to people with type 2 diabetes. Read more on getting access to bloodglucose testing supplies.

You may also be interested to read questions to ask at a diabetic clinic

Note: This post has been edited from Sue/Ken's post to include up to date information.
 

Totto

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,831
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
It doesn't actually lower blood levels.
What it does is give a lower reading than before allowing the potato to cool and then reheat.
Some of us can cope with this, most like me still spike with starch no matter how it is served.
All you can do is test and see what it does to your blood levels.

Welcome to the forum.

Have you had the info off @daisy1 yet?
IT's not cold potatoes, it is the actual starch. You mix it with water and drink or sprinkle on yoghurt. Resistant starch feeds some very good bacteria in the gut and low carbing can be a problem as you eat very little starch, resistant or otherwise.
 
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Totto

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,831
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
I've read that resistant starch such as cold potato starch can lower BG reading. Has anyone any experience of whether this is true?
I have tried it and yes, I think it works. Pity I rarely remember to take it though.
I also find that some pulses in reasonably small quantities are kind to my bg but contain good quality resistant starch like butter beans.
 

Lamont D

Oracle
Messages
15,949
Type of diabetes
Reactive hypoglycemia
Treatment type
I do not have diabetes
IT's not cold potatoes, it is the actual starch. You mix it with water and drink or sprinkle on yoghurt. Resistant starch feeds some very good bacteria in the gut and low carbing can be a problem as you eat very little starch, resistant or otherwise.
Doh!

Stick wrong end of!

Apologies!
 
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barriewalsh

Newbie
Messages
4
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Thank you for your replies and there is only one way to find out if it's true and that's to try it and then take a reading, but I noticed no one came out completley against it.
 

Bluetit1802

Legend
Messages
25,216
Type of diabetes
Treatment type
Diet only
It doesn't actually lower blood levels.
What it does is give a lower reading than before allowing the potato to cool and then reheat.
Some of us can cope with this, most like me still spike with starch no matter how it is served.
All you can do is test and see what it does to your blood levels.

Welcome to the forum.

Have you had the info off @daisy1 yet?

Nosh. Have you tried boiled new potatoes left to go cold. Next day slice and fry? Just wondering as I fancy doing that
 

Brunneria

Guru
Retired Moderator
Messages
21,889
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Resistant starch is produced when starchy foods like potato and pasta are cooked and left to go cold.

So it is present in foods like that @nosher8355 , but can also be bought in powdered form.

I can remember at least one post saying that they were finding that adding resistant starch to their diet was causing BG spikes, so I can only suggest careful testing.
 
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msmi1970

Well-Known Member
Messages
382
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
i don't know if this is relevant, but my fear (perhaps, ill conceived or unjustified) is that aside from the BG issue, for me, starches in whatever form would increase cravings as they are yummy...:)
 

Totto

Well-Known Member
Messages
2,831
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
The point with resistant starch is that is is resistant so it isn't digested thus no bg rise. Provided you do it the right way. Potato starch contains something like 97% resistant starch. It can be a good idea to feed your gut bacteria if you are on a very low carb diet. I found beans to have similar effect although the amount of resistant starch is much lower.

The amount of starch that is converted to resistant starch in potatoes, rice, beans and grain of different varieties varies with how you cook them.
 

tim2000s

Expert
Retired Moderator
Messages
8,934
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Other
My experience as a T1 with the foods identified as having increased resistant starch (cold potatoes, cold pasta, etc) is that they have practically the same impact on my blood glucose levels as the just cooked hot stuff. I require the same amount of insulin to handle them.

It would be an interesting experiment to conduct a basal test, then eat 10g of resistant starch to see what the bg rise was, but I strongly suspect that it will be more than 0!
 

justism91

Member
Messages
16
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Hey, i might wanna try resistant starch. But i got some questions to ask.

1. Is it applicable to use wholemeal pasta? Or should i use normal white pasta?
2. How long do i have to chill it in the fridge before i reheat it?

Hope someone can answer my queries. Thanks alot. God bless all of you. :)