A Sense of Doubt blog post #4019 - Stairs, Climbing Everest, and Resistant Starch
These articles caught my attention as things to do for health, though the stairs I am already doing.
I plan to focus on resistant starch in my diet.
Why this nutrient is great for your gut health
Resistant starch helps protect against chronic diseases and has other health benefits. Here are foods you can eat to get more of it every day.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2026/02/03/resistant-starch-gut-microbiome/- Anahad O'Connor
Have you had your resistant starch today?
Nutrition experts say that resistant starch is one of the best
things for your gut microbiome, the community of trillions of
microbes that live in your intestine. That’s because the microbes in your
gastrointestinal tract convert resistant starch into compounds that reduce inflammation, lower your risk of
chronic diseases, strengthen your overall gut health and lower your blood sugar and cholesterol levels.
But what exactly is resistant starch?
If you’re like most people, you’ve probably eaten it without
even realizing it. Resistant starch is a cousin of dietary fiber. It’s a type of starch found
naturally in many plant foods, including beans, peas, lentils, nuts, seeds, green bananas, potatoes and some whole grains. Even better: You can create
resistant starch in rice, pasta and a handful of other carb-heavy foods simply
by cooking and then cooling them in the refrigerator (more on that later).
Most starchy foods such as white bread, bagels and breakfast cereal are quickly broken down
and absorbed in your small intestine. But resistant starch resists digestion in
the small intestine, which is how it gets its name. Instead, it travels to the
large intestine, where it’s metabolized and fermented by friendly bacteria and
other microbes.
The benefits of resistant starch
Your gut microbes have a symbiotic relationship with your body.
When you feed them the foods that they love — such as fiber and resistant
starch — they produce compounds called short-chain fatty acids. These special
fatty acids increase satiety and help protect against
inflammation, Type 2 diabetes, heart disease and obesity. They also strengthen
the lining of your digestive tract, which helps keep pathogens and toxins from
entering your bloodstream and making you sick.
Resistant starches are great for your blood sugar levels. Many
foods with refined carbohydrates can spike your blood sugar because they’re
rapidly absorbed in the small intestine. But because resistant starches act
like fiber — being mostly unabsorbed in the small intestine — they can actually
reduce your blood sugar levels. One systematic review and meta-analysis of
clinical trials published in 2023 found that regularly eating foods high in
some forms of resistant starch improved blood sugar and insulin levels in
people with Type 2 diabetes.
Nourishing your friendly gut bacteria with resistant starch
causes them to thrive, which can end up suppressing the potentially harmful gut
bacteria, said Mindy A. Patterson, a registered dietitian and an associate
professor of nutrition at Texas Woman’s University who studies resistant
starch.
Resistant starch “creates an
environment where the bad bacteria can’t thrive,” she said. “This changes the
ecosystem of the microbiome in a positive way — it shifts the balance from
potentially harmful bacteria to beneficial bacteria.”
Where to find resistant starch and
how much you should eat
Experts say that adults should aim to consume 15 grams of
resistant starch every day. But studies have found that the average American
eats far fewer — just 4 grams of resistant starch daily.
“That’s extremely low,” said Karen Corbin, an associate investigator and
the obesity program lead at AdventHealth Translational Research Institute in
Orlando.
To add more resistant starch to your diet, here’s a list of some
common foods that contain relatively high amounts. The chart shows the amount
of resistant starch in a 100-gram serving of each food.
How to increase resistant starch in your favorite foods
Perhaps the best
part about resistant starch is that you can boost the amount in some cooked
foods simply by refrigerating them. When you cook starchy foods such as rice,
potatoes and pasta, and then cool them in the refrigerator, their starch
molecules form tighter structures that become resistant to digestion. This
process, known as retrogradation, can double or even triple the amount of
resistant starch in these foods.
In one randomized
clinical trial, researchers analyzed the amount of resistant starch in three
different preparations of white rice. They found that freshly cooked white rice
had about 0.64 grams of resistant starch in a 100-gram serving. But white rice
that had been cooked and then cooled at room temperature for 10 hours had
roughly double the amount of resistant starch. And another batch of white rice
that had been cooked, then cooled in a refrigerator for 24 hours and eventually
reheated had the most resistant starch: 1.65 grams per 100-gram serving.
The researchers
found that people had a much lower rise in blood sugar after eating cooked,
refrigerated and then reheated white rice compared with freshly cooked white
rice.
Cooked durum wheat pasta, for
example, has about 1.2 grams of resistant starch per 100-gram serving. But
after being refrigerated for a few days, the amount of resistant starch it
contains nearly triples to 3.4 grams. One study found that cooked chickpea
pasta had about 1.83 grams of resistant starch per 100-gram serving. But when
it was cooked, refrigerated for 24 hours and then reheated, the amount of
resistant starch in the chickpea pasta had roughly doubled to 3.65 grams per
100-gram serving.
How to
eat more resistant starch
Aim to eat about 15 grams of
resistant starch every day. But if you fall short of that goal, don’t beat
yourself up. If you’re able to eat about 10 grams of resistant starch daily,
for example, that’s approaching the goal, and it’s still more than double what
the average American eats.
Keep in mind that eating plenty of
resistant starch can be surprisingly easy if you know what to do. Here are some
steps you can take:
Eat two to three
servings of beans, peas or lentils daily
One serving of beans, peas or lentils
is about a half cup. “I would say beans and other legumes give you the most
bang for your buck,” Patterson said. “I eat at least two servings every day.”
Corbin said, “I hate using the term
superfood because it implies that other foods are less good. But beans are a
great source of plant-based protein and resistant starch.”
If you’re not a big fan, then try
mixing a half cup of beans, peas or
lentils into a salad or bowl of pasta with
tomato sauce. You’ll get plenty of resistant starch, and you won’t notice the
taste.
Eat baked
potatoes
But after baking your
potatoes, refrigerate them for at least 24 hours. This increases
their resistant starch. You can cut them up and add them to salads, make a potato salad or
eat them alongside omelets, grilled salmon or
your favorite protein. “I like to chill potatoes, especially Yukon gold or red
potatoes,” Patterson said. “I’ll bake them and chill them, and then I’ll put
them in a salad cold as another way to get resistant starch.”
Eat chickpea
pasta
It contains plenty of fiber, protein
and resistant starch. And if you refrigerate the pasta for 24 hours after you
cook it, you can potentially double its resistant starch.
Eat overnight
oats
Oats contain plenty of fiber and
resistant starch — and just like pasta and potatoes, refrigerating oats after
you cook them substantially boosts their resistant starch.
Eat your grains
Whole grains like barley, millet, brown rice and quinoa are
a good source of resistant starch. Try combining them with beans for an extra
boost of resistant starch. If you prefer white rice, that’s fine. But try
refrigerating your white rice for at least 24 hours after you cook it to
increase its resistant starch.
Eat nuts and
seeds
Both contain a lot of resistant
starch. Corbin recommends adding things like chia seeds, sunflower seeds and sliced almonds to
yogurt, smoothies and salads. “You can dump flaxseeds and chia seeds in your
yogurt or in your smoothie and you won’t even notice it — but you’re getting
resistant starch,” she said.
What science says we’ve been getting wrong about exercise
Doctors and physiologists point to studies that show tiny, regular bursts of effort — like climbing a few stairs — can capture many of the benefits of the gym.
By Michael Coren
Every year, I climb to the top of Everest. It’s no big deal. I
take it one step at a time, 80,000 steps per year.
By the time Dec. 31 arrives, I calculated,
I have ascended at least seven vertical miles, carrying loads roughly equal to
the weight of three pickup trucks, mostly composed of laundry, groceries and
small children.
You see, I live on the top floor of a
duplex.
Public health messaging has convinced us that the only way to work out is “exercising.” Yet, for most of human history, of course, living was exercise. Humans got most — if not all — of the physical activity needed to stay healthy through natural movement in their daily lives.
After a half-century asking us to
exercise more, doctors and physiologists say we have been thinking about it
wrong. U.S. and World Health
Organization guidelines no longer specify a minimum duration of
moderate or vigorous aerobic activity.
Movement-tracking studies
show even tiny, regular bursts of effort — as short as 30
seconds — can capture many of the health benefits of the gym. Climbing two to
three flights of stairs a few times per day could change your life. Experts
call it VILPA, or
vigorous intermittent lifestyle physical activity.
“The message now is that all activity
counts,” said Martin Gibala, a professor and former chair of the kinesiology
department at McMaster University in Canada. And perhaps nothing’s better than
stairs.
Here’s how to take your first step
toward living to 100.
Staircase
athletes
In the world’s “Blue Zones” —
Sardinia, Italy; Okinawa, Japan; Nicoya Peninsula, Costa Rica; Ikaria, Greece;
Loma Linda, California — a disproportionate number of people live to be 100 and
beyond. Scientists aren’t certain why, but they’ve proposed several reasons,
including diet, genetics, social connection, purpose and daily physical
activity, especially on hills and stairs.
The villagers of Sardinia, a rugged
part of Italy, stand out. A typical octogenarian engages in daily physical activity equivalent to
climbing many flights of stairs. When researchers looked at what was behind Sardinians’ extraordinary longevity, three
factors — terrain slope, distance to workplace and working as a shepherd (who
often climb more than 1,000 feet per day) — were most strongly correlated with
longer lives. In some regions, the global pattern of men dying earlier than
women was virtually absent.
Since we can’t all move to Sardinia,
as beautiful as it is, we can just stop avoiding gravity instead.
From a topological perspective, modern life has leveled what’s
healthy about Blue Zones, replacing them with a “frictionless” landscape of elevators,
cars, instant delivery and sedentary jobs. Just about a quarter of U.S.
adults meet the modest targets for aerobic activity.
Yet our stairs remain. And if you’re
looking to maximize the benefits of short bouts of exercise, “stair climbing is
the clear winner,” said Emmanuel Stamatakis, a professor of physical activity
and population health at the University of Sydney.
That’s because of what stairs, and
hill climbing generally, force your body to do. With each step, you must
momentarily balance your entire body weight on one leg. As you ascend — an
exquisite feat of neurological coordination — you’re constantly lifting at
least 100 pounds into the air, boosting your heart rate and cardiovascular
fitness. On the way down, bracing against the pull of gravity, you build bone
density and muscle strength, especially in
your quadriceps, hamstrings, glutes, calves, adductors and core muscles.
Over the past decade, studies have
shown the potency of going up and down stairs each day to boost your health. It
doesn’t take much. Just taking the stairs
daily is associated with lower body weight and cutting the risk
of stroke and heart disease — the leading (and
largely preventable) cause of death globally. While it may not
burn many calories (most exercise doesn’t), it does appear to
extend your health span. Leg power — a measure of explosive muscle strength — was
a stronger predictor of brain aging than any lifestyle factors measured in a
2015 study in the
journal Gerontology.
Subsequent studies put
a finer point on it: Just nine to 10 brief bouts of vigorous activity per day —
averaging 30 to 45 seconds each — lowered the risk of dying by about 40 percent
in non-exercisers, according to a 2022 study in
Britain. Benefits increased as people exercised longer, but most of
the risk reduction occurred during the first few minutes of daily activity.
Anyone who has ever prepared for a
race will be familiar with the question: What are you training for? At some
point, I realized what I’m really training for — whether I acknowledge it or
not — is the life I want to lead when I’m older.
If the goal is live independently and get out of a chair
unassisted, something has to change for many Americans.
The belief that your daily routine
isn’t exercise is a good place to start. The truth is that we don’t have
“exercise” guidelines, Gibala said. We have physical activity
guidelines. That doesn’t distinguish between the gym, dancing or
using your home stairs.
“Exercise doesn’t need to be this
special thing you do in this special place after you change into special
clothes,” Gibala said. “It can be part of everyday life.”
How little activity can you do?
Four minutes daily. Essentially, a
few flights of stairs at a vigorous pace. That’s the effort Stamatakis found
delivered significant health benefits in that 2022 study of British
non-exercisers.
“We saw benefits from the first
minute,” Stamatakis said.
For Americans, the effect is even
more dramatic: a 44 percent drop in deaths, according to a peer-reviewed paper
recently accepted for publication.
“We showed for the first time that
vigorous intensity, even if it’s done as part of the day-to-day routine, not in
a planned and structured manner, works miracles,” Stamatakis said. “The key
principle here is start with one, two minutes a day. The focus should be on
making sure that it’s something that you can incorporate into your daily
routine. Then you can start thinking about increasing the dose.”
Intensity is the most important
factor. You won’t break a sweat in a brief burst, but you do need to feel it. A
highly conditioned athlete might need to sprint to reach vigorous territory.
But many people need only to take the stairs. Use your breathing as a guide,
Stamatakis said: If you can sing, it’s light intensity. If you can speak but
not sing, you’re entering moderate exertion. If you can’t hold a conversation,
it’s vigorous.
The
biggest benefits come from moderate to vigorous movement. One minute of
incidental vigorous activity prevents premature
deaths, heart attacks or strokes as well as about three minutes of
moderate activity or 35 to 49 minutes of light activity. Other
studies show an even wider gap for
reducing the risk of developing Type 2 diabetes: One
minute of vigorous activity is roughly as effective as about 1½ hours of light
activity.
If
you rarely climb stairs, or it’s not safe to climb unassisted, then check with
your doctor before starting any activity regimen.
How to do it
Home.
Office. Subway. A step platform in
your living room. All stairs work at every fitness level.
But
they work best with someone else. That’s a lesson from Blue Zones: Social
connection is probably essential to our health. You can’t “stair-climb” out of
a solitary, stressful, junk-food-filled lifestyle on your own. Try a few
sessions with a coach, friend or social fitness app to stick to your routine.
If you want to know where your fitness level stands (or lies sprawled on the couch), the best gauge of cardiorespiratory fitness is VO2 max, a measure of how much oxygen your body can consume during intense exercise. You can test this in a lab, use a stopwatch or health app, or estimate it with an online calculator.
The
most important thing? Start moving, said Gibala, who recommends beginning with
at least 30 seconds of continuous climbing or one minute of ascending and
descending. “It doesn’t matter what you are starting from, you’re still going
to see benefits,” he said.
After
that, it’s just one step at a time. I made a calculator through which you can estimate your annual ascents — and decide
how many Everests you want to climb.
Upward.
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- Days ago: MOM = 3883 days ago & DAD = 537 days ago
- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.
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