The Potato Magic Trick

I want to get you excited about food. I don’t mean the rampant love for french fries, anything cheese, and sweets like cake, ice cream, and all the “good stuff”. I mean the REAL good stuff. The food that’s nutrient-packed, delicious, and that will do amazingly beneficial things for your body. 

I love “healthy food”. I love the way it tastes, the way it makes me feel physically and mentally, and I even love the colors. You may not be at this level when it comes to your relationship with healthy food. You may feel like if calories didn’t matter, you would always choose cake over a bowl of blueberries. But if that’s how you feel, there’s a good chance you’re not paying attention to how food makes you feel (physically and mentally) after it hits your taste-buds. 

When you stop categorizing food as “healthy” and something you “should” eat and you start seeing it as a delicious way to give your body super powers, things get a whole lot more fun. Think spinach and Popeye style. 

That’s why I’m starting this “Food is Fun” series! I want you to start having fun and to start seeing nourishing food in a different and enjoyable way. Stop focusing on calories. Start focusing on where those calories are coming from and how they can benefit your body and mind!

Let’s Talk Potatoes

We’re going to start with the one vegetable just about every American consumes: potatoes. I can feel your excitement already. ;-)

Potatoes are cool, because they magically transform into extra nourishing fuel for your body when prepared in a specific way. Here’s all you have to do: heat it, and then let it cool. That simple process of heating and cooling a potato transforms some of its starch into resistant starch. 

Here’s why you should care about resistant starch…

Resistant starch does some pretty amazing things for your body, specifically your belly and blood sugar. Recognize those 2 B’s? Resistant starch is a type of starch that is resistant to digestion. That means it passes through your digestive tract unaltered until it makes it to your large intestine. 

Resistant Starch And Your Belly 

While you can’t digest resistant starch, your good gut microbes can! Since your gut health influences everything from your digestion, metabolism, immune system, hormones, and even mood, it’s really important to be supporting and feeding the good guys that you want!

Resistant Starch and SCFA’s

Why does this matter? When good gut microbes ferment fiber and resistant starches in the colon, they produce a super awesome nutrient called short chain fatty acids (SCFA). We don’t need to go into the details here, but what you should know is that they help to prevent dysbiosis in your gut (overgrowth of the bad guys) and help to heal “leaky gut” (a condition that can cause trouble throughout your body). 

Resistant Starch and Your Blood Sugar

Remember how I also said resistant starch was good for your blood sugar? Since it’s not digested like a simple carbohydrate, it helps to prevent a spike in your blood sugar! Interestingly, having resistant starch in the morning can even help to prevent blood sugar spikes from your meals later in the day. It also can help you to feel more satisfied so that you’re less likely to overeat. 

Curious how much of an impact this little trick can really have? Do your own experiment using a continuous glucose monitor! All of our bodies are individual, and knowledge is power when it comes to learning about your body to get the results you want. Continuous glucose monitors are a fun way to get instant feedback to see how the food you’re eating is impacting your body. Combine that with a food journal paying attention to your cravings, satiety, and emotions and you have a recipe for success!

Ready to go make some potatoes?!

This isn’t a one and done magic trick! Amazingly, every time you heat and cool a potato it creates more resistant starch. Makes you look at potato salad in a whole new light, huh? As a side, I have an epic gut-friendly potato salad recipe in the works!

Did you know about this potato magic trick?