Can eating cold noodles and leftovers help you lose weight? Transform into resistant starch without gaining weight!

Many "starch addicts" find it hard to resist starchy foods, but they have found a new way out! There is a popular saying that "eating cold noodles and leftovers can help you lose weight", and it is even said that reheating overnight frozen pasta, bread, pizza, fried rice, etc. will have a more obvious effect. Is this true? Weight loss doctors say that the key is for "resistant starch" to work, but it is important to keep calories under control.

Why do we worry about becoming obese when we eat common starchy foods such as rice, noodles, and bread? In fact, it is because starch is converted into sugar, which causes blood sugar to rise rapidly and also causes insulin to be secreted rapidly to play its role in lowering blood sugar. However, when blood sugar levels rise and fall rapidly, the body's sensitivity to insulin will weaken, which can easily lead to insulin not being able to play its role in controlling blood sugar normally, making people feel hungry, so they eat more food and cause obesity.

Study: Eating cold starchy foods or reheated foods slows blood sugar rise

How can we eat starch wisely without worrying about getting fat? Liu Boen, executive director of the Taiwan Obesity Prevention and Health Education Association and a weight loss specialist, said that the popular saying "eating cold noodles and leftover rice can help you lose weight" refers to letting the pasta and rice cool down first and then eating them after they are cold, so that blood sugar is not likely to soar. Some people even take out overnight frozen pasta, bread, pizza, fried rice, etc. and reheat them before eating. This way, the starch calories will be reduced and more fiber will be added, which can promote intestinal peristalsis and help control weight.

In the British BBC program "Trust Me, I'm a Doctor", in order to understand whether eating cold starchy foods or even reheating overnight noodles can really control blood sugar, Dr. Christoffer van Tulleken, an infectious disease specialist at University College London, was invited to conduct an actual experiment. The results showed that eating cold starchy foods or starchy foods that had been frozen and then heated up caused blood sugar to rise more slowly and insulin secretion to be more stable.

When noodles and rice are cooled and then heated up again, they form "resistant starch" which has the characteristics of dietary fiber.

There is another key point, that is, reheating pasta after it has cooled will create more "resistant starch". Simply put, "resistant starch" is starch that resists decomposition. Since resistant starch is less likely to be hydrolyzed in the human small intestine and will be fermented in the colon, it has the characteristics of dietary fiber. More fiber helps promote bowel movements and is beneficial for weight control.

Because resistant starch stays in the intestines for a long time, you will feel full and less likely to feel hungry. It is also digested more slowly, so it will not cause blood sugar to spike too quickly or cause you to accumulate fat.

Eat resistant starch foods wisely but still pay attention to controlling calories

In everyday foods, resistant starch includes: brown rice, buckwheat, potatoes, green bananas, overnight rice, frozen sweet potatoes, etc. Dr. Liu Bowen reminds that when taking resistant starch, you still need to pay attention to controlling calories, especially when adding other artificial additives in the cooking method. For example, when eating pasta, do not add too much sauce, and use baked cooking methods to avoid excessive calories, which is still not conducive to weight loss.

Finally, a reminder: do not use a single type of food to lose weight, as this often leads to weight regain. Eating resistant starch foods is not the ultimate secret to losing weight. If you want to lose weight successfully and not gain it back, the best way is to maintain a balanced diet, regular exercise, and develop normal living habits.