Mediterranean Pasta Salad: A Delicious, Healthy, Resistant Starch

Loving starches shouldn’t be a dietary crime

You’re probably pretty familiar with starches, labeling them ‘carbs,’ and trying to avoid them. They tend to be yummy pastas, breads, and rice dishes that popular diets like Keto, teach us to limit. But recipes like this one, fall into the category of “resistant starches,” which can be a game-changer in terms of nutrition.

How does ‘starch’ get digested and why does it matter

We tend to think of starches as waistline-killers, foods that get us on a cycle of feeling hungry all the time, and leading to belly fat. But not all starches are the same.

The key difference between a simple and a resistant starch is how they’re broken down in our bodies. Simple starches are broken down in the small intestine. They can spike blood sugar and leave us feeling hungrier than ever.

Resistant starches, on the other hand, act as a prebiotic, and are digested in our large intestine in much the same fiber-rich foods are. This means they not only keep us feeling full, longer – they actually act as a prebiotic in our gut.

Here’s a deeper dive into the various health benefits of this process.

How do I add resistant starches to my diet

In some cases, all it takes to turn a simple starch into a resistant starch is to tweak your cooking methods:

• Cook, then cool starchy foods. Foods like pasta, rice, potatoes and even oats all contain resistant starch when they are cooked, then cooled. Think overnight oats, pasta salads and even potato salads. For potatoes, simply boil, let them cool, then refrigerate overnight before turning into a potato salad or adding to Salad Nicoise. Brown rice is especially full of resistant starch when cooked, cooled, and refrigerated overnight. Oats, too, when soaked overnight, have increased resistant starch content.
  
• Unripe bananas. Green bananas are high in resistant starch and as they ripen, it falls away. You may not like biting into a green banana, but try adding one to your morning smoothie.
  
• Legumes and beans. Lentils, chickpeas, and black beans are naturally high in resistant starch. No adapting necessary.
  
• Whole Grains. Foods like barley, quinoa, and whole wheat are all good sources of resistant starch. Whole wheat pasta, especially, has increased resistant starch content when it’s cooked, then cooled before adding to a pasta salad.
  
• High-Fiber Foods. Fruits, vegetables, and legumes, although not necessarily resistant starches, can support gut health alongside resistant starch.
  
• Sweet Potatoes. Cooked, cooled sweet potatoes also contain resistant starch, but they are not as high in it as regular potatoes.
  
• Add a healthy fat and/or protein. When you combine resistant starches with a health fat and protein, blood sugar and satiety are both improved.

The Mediterranean diet and vegetables

I’ll offer two ways to make this already-healthy salad even healthier. First off, I’m extremely liberal with the vegetables. I always err on the side of too many vs. too few. My goal? To double the volume of the dish once the veggies are added.

The second thing I do to ensure huge amounts of the pasta aren’t consumed (and to help ensure leftovers!), is I lay a bed of lettuce below the salad, so each bite also has added greens. This can be anything from mixed greens to arugula to Romaine, really any mix of lettuce.

Even non-green-salad-eaters tend to overlook the lettuce beneath what is a feast of flavors!