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Too many starchy vegetables?


gray

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Hey y'all,

Day 23 here and feeling great. Just one question: like many others, I've discovered a love for sweet potatoes. I'm wondering, is there any limit or guideline on how much of your daily or weekly vegetable intake should/shouldn't be comprised of these starchy veggies? I'm trying to add more greens into my meals but I want to make sure I'm not overdoing it. I go through about 4-5 sweet potatoes a week in various forms (shredded through the food processor and cooked in coconut oil in the skillet is probably one of my favorite things to eat nowadays). So far I haven't really felt any negative side effects, but I just want to make sure I won't derail my progress and results with too much starch. Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

-Gray

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The more active you are, the more you need starchy veggies like sweet potatoes. Four to five per week is probably good for many people. You could eat more if you were running or workout out a lot. You could eat less if you don't exercise much.

The thing to watch is to make sure sweet potatoes do not crowd other veggies off your plate, especially greens. I try to eat no more than one sweet potato per day, but I occasionally eat two. At the same time, I try to eat fresh, wilted greens at least once per day (and sometimes at every meal).

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The more active you are, the more you need starchy veggies like sweet potatoes. Four to five per week is probably good for many people. You could eat more if you were running or workout out a lot. You could eat less if you don't exercise much.

The thing to watch is to make sure sweet potatoes do not crowd other veggies off your plate, especially greens. I try to eat no more than one sweet potato per day, but I occasionally eat two. At the same time, I try to eat fresh, wilted greens at least once per day (and sometimes at every meal).

Thanks so much, Todd, that's really helpful. Activity-wise, I'm easing back into the gym after a way-too-long hiatus.. strength training 3x a week and maybe a yoga class or two somewhere in between. So, glad to hear I can still play around with the taters (and yuca, which I'll be feasting on tonight).

I'd imagine that once a day is probably a good guideline, and if it gets to be more than that, I can just add a second veggie (the greens) to my meal. The more, the merrier?

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I think in addition to your activity level it depends on how the starchy vegetables make you feel, affect your digestion, etc. Currently I'm not terribly active currently (mostly walking, hiking, yoga) and I sit at a desk all day (though I have done up to half marathon training on W30). But I can tell you that if I don't get a dose of starch and/or fruit every or nearly every day my energy level absolutely tanks. It's not an immediate thing, but I can tell it makes a big difference. Also my digestion stops up (fun, right?) In my case I am hypothyroid so it may make more of a difference for me than it would for others, I'm not quite sure why.

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PS Tom, I see you're in Alpharetta -- if you want to seriously mix it up with veggies (or pretty much any other kind of food), I highly recommend a field trip to the Buford Highway Farmers Market!

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  • 3 years later...

So glad this was posted! I am enjoying sweet potatoes with dinner but wonder if adding them to my breakfast instead would increase energy levels? Hmmm........

A lot of people report that eating fruit or starchy veg with meal one impacts their blood sugar and results in hunger earlier in the day than if they weren't included. If your blood sugar is impacted it is likely that your energy levels would be too.

Lots of people also report that keeping their starchy veg for meal three helps improve sleep.

 

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