Think this title might be a lie? It is not, it is backed up by real science! Not advertising BS.

First get rid of all assumptions, misconceptions and lies you have in your head right now from bad sources of information! For many people that is almost everything you think you know about nutrition and the body. Okay, good. Let’s get started.

STARCH is NOT your enemy! It can be your greatest ally in relieving you of your constant hunger pangs while you successfully loss weight. From the little known book Gut Instinct: Diets Missing Link the author Mark Anthony Ph.D reveals his search for the missing link in America’s torn and fragile nutritional understanding.

QUESTION ONE: Why is it that America is the fattest nation in the world? Even though other nations eat high fat and high carb diets, we are the fattest. Is it our genetics, our mentality, or our perception of food? After studying the major differences between all the major nations, Dr. Anthony revealed something that is so obvious it’s actually funny. Even though most other nations eat a large amount of starch, some with diets that are up to 90% starches, they are not obese. Wondering why? Well, so did Dr. Anthony. 

QUESTION TWO: If starches are so bad for you, why are these other cultures who consume large amounts of it, not as obese as us? Dr. Anthony found it is how we, as a national culture, prepare and cook starches. We are one of the only countries that fry and bake almost everything including our beloved starches. Ever notice that all other cultures boil and steam the starches? Here are some examples: Asia, steamed rice; Italy, pasta; Ireland, boiled potatoes; Africa, boiled grains (teff, millet); Middle East, boiled beans and legumes… you get the picture. When was the last time you went to an American restaurant and found many steamed or boiled starch options? Maybe one if you are lucky. Don’t even try to find them at fast food establishments.

To put this to use, we need to understand the science behind starches. Starch in its natural form is a long chain carbohydrate or polysaccharide containing many thousands of simple sugar or glucose units. These sugars are bonded together by what is called alpha-linkages. For your body to use anything for energy, including starch, it needs to convert whatever was ingested into glucose (blood sugar). Starch in this natural state (before cooking) is a challenge for your body to digest or break down these long chain carbohydrates for use. For your body to access all the simple sugars, it will use amylase, an enzyme that can only work on the two ends of the starch molecule and work its way in. Since all of these thousands of sugars are bonded up in the long chains, it takes a lot of time to digest and release the glucose into your bloodstream for use (compared to simple sugars where everything is free and not bonded up requiring significantly less work).. [This is extremely beneficial not only in losing weight, but staying satisfied throughout the day. The longer it takes for a carbohydrate to be digested, the better it is for you and longer sustained energy levels will be provided. The exact opposite is true for most simple sugars like table sugar, soda, sweets, tropical fruits and anything refined or processed.] - For a more in depth discussion of why this is, click here.

Since starch is not very pleasing to eat in its natural state, you will probably want to cook it. Now here is the tricky part. If you boil or steam starch, you can have it retain the long chain polysaccharide benefits explained above. If you fry or bake starch (consisting of temperatures between 300 to 400+ degrees Fahrenheit), you end up changing its molecular structure. These bonds that hold the “chain” together are sensitive to heat higher than about 100 degrees Celsius or 210 degrees Fahrenheit which happens to be the temperature of boiling water. This high heat changes the starch to dextrose molecules. Dextrose is a much shorter chain carbohydrate and is shown to digest at the same rapid rate as glucose. So in essence, you have taken a food that has many health benefits and converted into something no better than cake.

QUESTION THREE: Does this mean I can eat all the mashed potatoes I want? No, unfortunately it does not. The secret is in its moderate usage. Like anything else it can be over eaten and weight can be gained. I will cover how to apply this newly learned information into a great, healthful and tasty nutritional plan in PART TWO of this article.

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