suggestions for a low-starch, vegetarian diet?

28Mar2008 Filed under: Fashion Author: admin

billy_mays_is_loud asked:

hi all. i’ve been vegetarian for about six years now, but recently i’ve been trying to come up with ways to lower my starch intake as much as possible. i eat quite a bit of bread and similar foods in place of meat, and i’d like to try to get around this if possible. obviously eating more fruits and vegetables will help, but i’m interested in what i can do for main courses. i thought about eating more of the vegetarian products (brand names like boca, quorn, morningstar, etc.), but i don’t know if soy is considered to be a starch product. also, i know that the quorn brand (www.quorn.us//cmpage.aspx?section=whatisquorn) is soy-free and uses mycoproteins, but again, i don’t know if this is considered a starch by-product. so i guess my questions would be (1) are soy and/or mycoproteins considered starches, and (2) what other foods can i add to my diet to lower starch intake (i thought foods like vegetarian burgers in a lettuce wrap in place of a bun might work). any suggestions?

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

4 Responses to “suggestions for a low-starch, vegetarian diet?”

bluepotato2
March 29th, 2008 at 10:59 pm

Ok…One thing that would be important for you is to choose complex carbohydrates. All foods fall into the categories fats, proteins and carbohydrates. “Starches” are carbohydrates. Carbohydrate foods include everything from leafy vegetables to fruit, grains and potatoes. What you should concentrate on getting are complex carbohydrates rather than simple starches and sugars. When you do have breads, make them whole grain. Have brown rice, not white. Use potatoes sparingly. All pulses (beans, peas and lentils) have some carbohydrate content and varying degrees of protein. Soy products are among those highest in proteins. Mycoporteins are derived from fungi grown on carbohydrate. Tempeh includes mycoproteins. I don’t think you’d go wrong with Morningstar Farms products or similar brands for entrees. Here’s a link that provides good info about different soy-based products:
sandstorms_brother
April 1st, 2008 at 8:34 pm

No. Soy and mycoproteins are not starches.

Other legumes (except soy) have both starch and protein but not as much starch as grains. If you are completely avoiding grains and sugars, you should include non-soy legumes in your diet since it is bad to live on a totally carbohydrate-free diet. It’s not good for the kidneys, in the long run.

Whole grains are good too. They do contain starch but it is digested relatively slowly.
Scocasso !
April 2nd, 2008 at 7:15 pm

Well, look to potatoes (yes, they have starch, but they are not processed as flour is), taro, and there are lots of interesting grains out there. Try millet — it’s really tasty and nutritious. It’s what they used to eat in Japan and China before they started on that non-nutritious rice crap. Rice, especially white rice, has been the biggest detriment to Asia.

> mycoproteins?
Never heard of them.
Wonderment
April 5th, 2008 at 2:02 pm

No, they are not considered starches for your first question. The second question…WHOLE grains. WHOLE wheat nothing refined, where they strip an orginally healthy food to make it appear white, they do this purely for the look and it takes all the nutrional value away, so good idea to eliminate this junk from your diet.

Where you would normally order things like paste (i.e.) switch it out for the whole wheat pasta, you stay fuller longer and dump the starches which is ultimately what you wanna do smarty!!! Hope this helps.