If you’re struggling to lose weight, could refrigerating your carbs help?
By J.M. HIRSCH / Updated 8:39 AM GMT-5, February 26, 2026Online influencers claim the secret to low-calorie rice, pasta and potatoes may be as simple as chilling out.
Are they right? Not quite. But
a small yet solid body of science does suggest that chilling these carbohydrate-rich foods after cooking them still could help people slim down.
For several years, wellness and nutrition influencers have promoted a process called retrogradation, urging people to cook, chill, then reheat carbohydrate-rich foods. They say doing so can cut the calories.
Retrogradation is real, but it isn’t quite that simple.
Two kinds of starch
Most of the carbohydrates in these foods — as well as most of the calories — come from starch, of which there are two types:- hard-to-digest amylose and
- easily digested amylopectin.
The latter is processed quickly and spikes blood sugar.
The former is processed slowly and moderates blood sugar.
Most raw carbohydrates (think uncooked potatoes) are made mostly of the hard-to-digest starch (also called resistant starch), but
cooking converts it into the easily digested one. This is why diabetics need to be mindful when eating starchy foods.
Here’s where the influencers get excited.
Chilling those cooked foods triggers “retrogradation,” a process that converts easily digested starch back into resistant starch, making it harder to digest even if the food is then reheated.
Much more, including dietary / blood sugar information @ https://apnews.com/article/carbs-chilling-losing-weight-0ce52cda1e2e5882b6154427e0e2b186
J.M. Hirsch is a food and travel journalist, and the former food editor for The Associated Press.