The Definition of Starch
One of the Five Classes of Nutrients in Food Combining
In order to plan out a proper diet it is important to understand all of the nutrients. Starch is a vital part of a healthy diet and needs to be properly understood.
In order to plan out a proper diet it is important to understand all of the nutrients. Starch is a vital part of a healthy diet and needs to be properly understood. Starch has particular digestive requirements that must be understood in order to plan healthy meals. Properly understood it can make the difference between a balanced diet and a severely imbalanced one.
Starch or complex carbohydrates belong to the group known as polysaccharides or complex sugars. They are an extremely important part of the diet as they are essential to providing stable blood sugar levels. Digestion of starch begins in mouth during chewing. The mouth secrets the enzyme ptyalin contained in the saliva to break down starches and sugars. This is why it is essential to chew starchy foods thoroughly to ensure proper digestion at that stage. During digestion starch is broken down into disaccharides and monosaccharides or double sugars and simple sugars respectively. Polysaccharides are of no immediate use to the system. Excess sugars not used by the body are easily converted in to glycogen to store in the liver and muscles for later use.
Most starchy foods contain fiber which is another aspect of their importance. There are two types of fiber: soluble and insoluble. Soluble fiber slows down the rate that glucose is absorbed into the system. This is important in providing a sustained level of energy. Unlike with sugars one will not get a quick boost followed by a drop later. The other aspect of soluble fiber is that it binds to the cholesterol in bile and prevents most of it from reentering the system. The liver secrets bile to digest fats so soluble fiber is also of importance to the digestion fats.
Insoluble fiber or roughage helps speed the passage of foods through the digestive tract. This helps ensure that foods that did not digest properly and/or are toxin forming are there for a shorter period. Insoluble fiber also increases stool bulk helping the intestines to sweep themselves clean.
Both forms of fiber are essential to the diet because they help a person feel full. Considering today how being around so much food causes people to eat too much this is very important. It is recommended that people get at least 18g of fiber a day although some nutritionists would recommend at least 35g per day. Since people consume so much processed food today it is important to not only get adequate fiber intake but adequate water intake as well. Eating a lot of fiber and not taking in enough water can cause problems including constipation. A food is considered a good fiber food if it contains at least 2.5g of fiber per serving.
For the purposes of food combining a food can be discounted as a fiber food if it contains less than 4% starch per volume. It needs to be emphasized that complex carbohydrates are a necessary part of the human diet and should not be eliminated because of fad diets.
Data for this article was taken from "The Food Combining Bible: Your complete guide to using the Hay diet for digestive health and a balanced approach to weight loss" by Jan Dries & Inge Dries, Copyright © HarperCollinsPublishers LTD 2002, Text copyright © 2002 Jan Dries
