Tuesday, August 5, 2014

I Eat Meat Green Plantains RS part 6

Last of the 6 part series... I love green plantain chips, but I make mine a bit differently.  I cut them in long, thick slabs. -Tim

Green Plantains Resistant Starch Food


green plantains are a great resistant starch food
Green plantains are a cheap resistant starch food and dehydrating them as chips is really easy. I’m sure many people in the paleo and low carb communities have been hearing about resistant starch. It has been causing a lot of rumbling in the blogs and colons of many folks.



I always love trying new foods to see if they will improve my health. I’ve been eating a paleo plus diary diet for over four years. I’ve had tremendous improvement in my health and well being – but there is still room for improvement. I’d love to shave off another 20 pounds and increase my energy levels.
I am just barley a month into adding resistant starch in my diet. It looks promising. So far I’ve mainly been using Bob’s Red Mill Potato Starch and Plantain Flour mixed in water or yogurt. Taken twice a day. It took a couple of weeks for my colon to acclimate to the resistant starch(RS). This is actually my second attempt at adding RS to my diet – the first time I quit after about a week because of all the gas.
Now, I’m beginning to add whole food sources of RS to my diet. Green plantain are pretty easy to find and make a nice snack or addition to a meal.
Dehydrated Green Plantain Chips
Pickup the greenest plantains you can find at the grocery store. As the plantains ripen, tmaking dehydrated plantain chips high in resistant starch2he amount of resistant starch is decreased. If you don’t plan on using the plantains immediately when you get home, be sure to keep them in a cool place and not in a bag – to prevent ripening.
Cut off the ends of the plantain, and then cut a skin deep slit lengthwise. Remove the skin. Cut into small uniform slices. I use an Adjust-A-Slice Mandoline on the “2” setting. Then arrange the slices on your dehydrator trays, I use the Nesco 500-Watt Food Dehydrator. Lightly salt the chips and turn on the dehydrator.
You could probably use an oven instead of the dehydrator, if it can be set to about 130 degrees. The chips are ready once they start to curl. It takes about 1 hour in the Nesco.
My kids really enjoy this chips. They add great texture to yogurt and many other foods you eat cold. One plantain can contain up to 100gms of resistant starch.
Is Resistant Starch Paleo?
Wrong question, in my mind. Ask yourself instead – Will adding resistant starch to my diet improve my health and wellbeing? Do I have room for improvement and is trying RS worth a try?
Resistant starch is food for your flora. It is well known gut health is critical to overall health – in fact some estimate up to 80% of our immune function is related to gut health. RS feeds the bacteria responsible for protecting you.
You will have to endure a couple of weeks of pretty major farting. My kids thought is was hilarious, my wife didn’t. Right now, I’m feeling like it was worth it. My digestion is the best it has every been, my mood noticeably improved. Sleep, which was good, seems to be better. And, my mind seems to be clearer.
Read More
Free the Animal has been spreading the word about RS. Check out the following links
RS Content of Foods
RS blog entries

My favorite modern “philosopher” is Byron Katie. She says “defense is the first act of war.” We are quick to defend our current beliefs (in this instance dietary beliefs) even if they may not be serving us. So if you are having resistant feelings to RS – what would happen if you’d just shut up and try it. Give it the old college try. Commit to 4 weeks of daily RS and then if it does not do anything you can proceed to tell the world how stupid it is to add RS to the human diet.