Benefits of Resistant Starch For People with IBS

If you have struggled with SIBO or IBS then you may have come across this term…. resistant starch. Should you eat be eating resistant starches if you have SIBO or IBS? Should you avoid them? What are the benefits of resistant starch? Are they really that good for me? How do I know when to add resistant starches back to my diet.

These are all the questions I am often asked and I’m going to answer these questions and many others question you may have about resistant starches in today’s video.

I’m Dr Hagmeyer and I’m the clinic director of DrHagmeyer.com where we helps patients from around the world find answers and solutions to chronic health problems, using the principle of Functional Medicine and personalized lifestyle nutrition.

What Are Resistant Starches?

If you have never heard of resistant starch, as a reminder, resistant starches are things like green bananas, rolled oats, Lentils, Beans, chickpeas, Rice, and most grains. Like the name implies, resistant starches don’t get broken down completely in the small intestine, so what happens is that most of the starch passes through to the large intestine, where it becomes food for the bacteria living in your microbiome. While this is normally a good thing, for people who have been diagnosed with IBS or SIBO or have a faulty Ileocecal valve resistant starches can be very problematic.

 

Of these foods I just mentioned, some foods are higher in starch than others and this is important to know.

If You Want Long Term Good Gut Health…Keep Reading….

If you want good gut health, long term good gut you need foods high in FODMAPS and foods that are rich in Fiber and starch. Now that might seem contradictory for those with IBS and SIBO, but that’s why I said, “Long term gut health depends on eating resistant starches.” So you don’t want to eliminate FODMAPS and resistant starches from your diet long term.

I see many patients who have eliminated FODMAPS and resistant starches for 8,9,10 11,12 months and sometimes longer.

You might not be there yet…… in your journey, but eventually you will need to start adding resistant starches back into your diet.

Here Are 7 Benefits and Reasons To Eat More Resistant Starches

1. Helps maintain and normalize gut motility. This is incredibly important for People with SIBO,  because SIBO first and foremost is a gut motility disorder. Resistant starches increase the levels of short chain fatty acids when bacteria ferment carbohydrates (FODMAPS) and starches. People with SIBO and IBS often have low levels of Butyrate and other Short Chain Fatty Acids. You can learn more about the importance of Short Chain Fatty Acids here
2. Helps reestablish gut microbial balance. In other words, it increases “friendly” (good) gut bacteria and protects against the growth of bad bacteria and pathogens.
3. Help bind toxins and eliminates toxins from the body. Most people who have SIBO have a toxic bowel from gut dysbiosis.
4. Helps stabilize blood glucose levels and increases insulin sensitivity. This is super important for people who have insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome and Diabetes.
5. Helps improve cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
6. Aids in satiety, which can aid weight loss and weight management,
7. Plays a role in B vitamin production such biotin which is important for hair, skin and nails, folate which Is needed for maintaining health homocysteine levels, and methylation pathways and vitamin K which plays roles in bone health and blood clotting.

A Word of Caution When It Comes to Resistant Starches

Will all of these benefits of resistant starches that I just listed, you might be inclined to rush out and start incorporating these into your diet. Let me give you a word of caution. Before you do this, let me first say that there is a time and place for resistant starches. If you are just starting out with SIBO or IBS or a low FODMAP diet, then I recommend that you avoid, as best you can the majority of foods that are high in resistant starches and that’s because (for the majority of people) resistant starches, may exacerbate symptoms of bacterial overgrowth….. so the key here is….Go slow!

WHEN To Re-Introduce Resistant Starches Back Into Your Diet.

If you have gotten your SIBO and IBS symptoms under control and when I say under control, I mean that you have testing that shows SIBO is gone and you also notice an 70-80% improvement with symptoms of Diarrhea, Constipation, Gas, Bloating and you have SIBO breath testing that shows a substantial improvement in your hydrogen and methane levels, the next step is to start implementing these resistant starches back into your diet- BUT…. you don’t want to start introducing all kinds of resistant starches right out of the gate.

HOW to Re-Introduce Resistant Starches Back into Your diet.

Start with Foods that have the lowest amount of grams per serving size.

 

Foods that Contain Low Amount of  Resistant Starches include;

• Cooked rolled oats
• White rice
• Brown rice

If this goes well for a few weeks, then try adding in some of the starches that are little bit higher in concentration

Foods that Contain Moderate amount of Resistant Starches Include;

• Yam
• Buckwheat in addition to eating
• Cooked rolled oats
• White rice
• Brown rice

And if that goes well for a month or two- now try adding back things that are much higher in resistant starches- things like

Foods that Contain Highest Amount of Resistant Starches include;

• Chickpeas
• Lentils
• Uncooked rolled oats
• Green banana
• Raw potato starch.

The goal again is to slowly increase your resistant starches while listening to your body. If you notice that you are experiencing more bloating, more gas, more IBS symptoms, you may have to back down for a few weeks and explore some of the other reasons behind the bloating, SIBO and IBS.

One of the mistakes I see a lot of people that start with the higher resistant starches first and then wonder why their IBS symptoms got worse.

Be Careful With Resistant Starches When you Have SIBO

Excessive amounts of resistant starch (or any other indigestible carbohydrate) may backfire. Excess fermentable carbohydrates may foster potential harmful properties of gut microbes which may include:

• Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth (SIBO) – described below
• Infection by disease-causing organisms – less competition for nutrients
• Excess toxin production
• Excess gas formation
• Increase in microbe – mediated formation of carcinogenic compounds.

Just remember start with resistant starches that are lower on the list and and slowly work up while listening to your body!.

So there you go! I hope you enjoyed todays video on resistant starches, the many benefits of resistant starches and which resistant starches you want to first start introducing back into your diet.