Starch and how to combine properly

The indigestion, head and stomach aches, diseases and even bad mood may be due to something as simple as poor assimilation of food, which has everything to do with the way how we combine foods. Some will say: "My family has eaten like this for generations and nothing happens”. Many times we are so accustomed to the pains, aches, diseases, fatigue and even angry that we consider as part of normal life, we have become accustomed to living up to depression and don’t realize the wonderful difference in our day if we would have the proper digestion and assimilation of nutrients, which, as has been said, has everything to do with the way in which we combine food.

Food Rating

Foods are classified according to their chemical composition: proteins (meats, fish, milk, eggs, cheese, soy, etc.) carbohydrates, fats, vitamins and minerals. For their reaction in the body, we can classify foods into: acidifying and alkalizing.

Starches are found in the group of carbohydrates or sugars.

What is starch?

Starch is a polysaccharide that predominates in the plant world, a carbohydrate food in the usual diet of human beings which provides 70-80% of the calories consumed by people worldwide, excluding starch used in the flour for making bread and pasta.

In starch, plants store their food or energy reserves, which is useful not only to them but to humans as it is an excellent source of energy.

Commercial starch is mainly produced from the seeds of cereals, especially maize, rice and wheat seed, as well as some roots or tubers such as potatoes, cassava, yams, etc.

Starch is unlike other carbohydrates, since occurs in nature in the form of granules or complex discrete particles. Its peculiarity is that these granules are relatively dense, insoluble and poorly hydrated in cold water.

Starchy foods

• Wheat, rye, rice and barley are foods that contain starch. Cereal starches contain small amounts of fat.
• Vegetables such as beans, peas, potatoes, starches also possess it.
• Bread, pasta, cereals, peas, fruit.
• The starches are also found in milk, yogurt, pastries and cookies, candies, soft drinks and other sweets.

How to combine starches properly?

All food that you eat turns to sugar in the body. Foods containing carbohydrates alter blood sugar levels more than any other food. Furthermore, when we eat carbohydrates (starches), the stomach secretes gastric juices to digest alkaline, and when we eat protein, the body secretes acidic gastric juices. An alkaline gastric juice blocks the action of acid gastric juice. Hence, one of the major reasons for combining good food.

Here are some tips to combine well starches:

• Non-starchy vegetables are one of the foods that are good enough to combine very favorably with most food. Including them in the regular diet is a good way to avoid thinking about incompatibilities. Their vitamins, minerals and water favor the assimilation of proteins and starches.
• It is preferable not to mix starchy vegetables like potatoes, peas or beans and other starchy foods. It is best to combine these foods with fat and non-starchy vegetables.
• Avoid starches fats combined with proteins. You have to eat proteins and starches fats in different foods for digestion and food utilization. This may be one of the most difficult to meet since we are used to combine these two groups very often.
• People with diabetes should avoid combining starch with starch as this represents an excess of sugar.

General Tips for proper assimilation of food:

• Eat without anxiety or tension, as these emotional states impede the efficient use of food.
• Chew slowly food thoroughly. This greatly helps the food to be prepared to enter the stomach.
• If you are going to drink water, try to do a little earlier or take small sips of water during the meal.
• Try to avoid the fruit mixture in the food and sugar that ferments your blood and the food bolus and generates the production of alcohol.

Other applications of starch in food processing:

The starches are useful in food processing, serve as glazing, texturing, anti-aging bread, moisturizer, etc.

About the author