Starch

The topic that we will discuss below is considered one of the most important when planning your meals. We are talking about starch, which although it is present in most of the diets consumed by human beings, in many occasions we tend to ignore the characteristics and functions that this important element fulfills within our nutritional plan.

Although it has its detractors, for many experts, starch is one of the main catalysts for the development of mankind itself, since it has allowed human beings to improve their sources of energy, as a result of advances in agriculture and human work.

To learn more about this topic, we suggest the following guide, where we will review the basic aspects and characteristics that distinguish starch from other nutrients.

What is starch?

The first thing to start with is to emphasize that starch is a natural product, it is present in plants, so in its pure state it is not subjected to any type of artificial process. It is a complex molecule made up of a group of glucose molecules.

It functions as an energy reserve for plants, since it allows them to reserve the excess glucose obtained through photosynthesis. We understand then that when we consume starch, we are making use of these powerful reserves of glucose and energy contained in plants, it is like going to the central core of the nutrients of these.

Eating starchy foods

Natural foods, i.e. of plant origin that contain starch, are characterized by being powerful carbohydrates that increase the energy intake of our meals. They are generally very rich foods for the human diet, very adaptable to almost all types of meals, since they provide different textures and rich flavors for the human palate and are endowed with large amounts of vitamins and fiber.

The latter is also of significant importance, since vitamins are essential micronutrients for the proper functioning of our body, without which we would suffer from various diseases and serious health problems. While fiber favors the digestive process and helps to satiate hunger, due to its large volume and zero caloric intake.

Processed starchy foods

Previously we talked about the benefits of including natural foods rich in starch in our daily meals, but when we allude to processed foods that have starch, we refer to those that normally use starch to make products such as bread, cookies, among others.

This level of processing means that starch is no longer a valuable element to include, since the artificial compounds that must be added to achieve the textures and flavors that are sought with such foods, tend to move them away from what we consider as healthy, because they can cause excessive weight gain, among other health complications.

Recommendations

As we said at the beginning, starch is composed of glucose, which tends to quickly raise our blood sugar levels, so if it is eaten in excess and we maintain little physical activity during the day, it could cause an increase in our body weight, because the interaction of excess glucose with insulin causes an increase in the levels of fat stored in our body.

As always the most advisable is to maintain a balanced diet, in addition to trying to avoid processed starch-based products, these are not healthy and have various additives that are very harmful to our health, besides generating addiction and being little nutritious; try to consume them as natural as possible.