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Starchy Vegetable


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I am only on my day9, but want to ask here about the starchy vegetable, why they are allowed in whole30? don't they have too much carbs? I guess you could argue that they are good carbs...or it is an easier way for people to adapt to this kind of life style rather than the complete low carb? I guess the goal for everybody is different too, to fight the sugar demon, it's probably ok to resort to the starchy vegis, but for weight loss, starchy vegetable, dried fruits should probably be banned too.

what did you guys do? did you still loose weight while ate the starchies during your whole30?

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The whole 30 isn't a weight loss plan, or a low carb lifestyle. Vegetables are healthy and nutrient rich, unlike refined carbohydrates that are nutritionally void and don't provide health benefits.

Personally I've never had an issue losing weight eating carbs...the healthier ones...and I need them for performance and growth. Everyone is different though - carbs aren't the enemy!

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It's not a punishment diet either. Foods are restricted because they make you less healthy. As amber says, vege carbs make you healthier, grain based carbs make you less healthy as they increase inflammation and prevent vitamin absorption for example.

Some people just function better with carbs, others manage ok without.... But very few active people seem to get by without them

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Your body needs carbohydrates to function well. Some people do fine with very low dietary carbs, but lots of people do pretty poorly without enough carbs in their diet. I know, because I watch all kinds of people on this board limiting carbs on the whole30 (either accidentally or on purpose) and complaining of low energy, mood issues, hormone issues, etc. the problem is not carbs or a subtle sweet taste in food or even taking pleasure in eating. The problem is feeding our bodies foods that don't contain enough nutrition and instead have other stuff. Basically, to me, I think of winter squash and sweet potatoes and the like as nourishment, but bread and pasta are more like a poor quality filler. nourishment is what we are after.

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I absolutely agree with everybody above.  But, I will say that if I eat too much sweet potato my weight loss stalls.  Since losing the last 10lbs of pudge on me is a little bit of a personal goal, I try to increase other vegetables (broccoli, cabbage, mushrooms,etc) over sweet potato.  I still eat sweet potato, but I don't fill me plate with mashed sweet potato.  Nothing wrong with that and when my body feels properly balanced I'll recalibrate my diet.

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I agree with everyone as well! Also FWIW, even the starchiest veggies like sweet potato have a much lower amount of carbs per serving than things like bread and pasta. Sweet potato has about 20g carbs per 100g, bread has about 50-60g per 100g. Other so called starchy veg like beets, turnips etc have much less than that. So even if you ate starchy veg at every meal you would still be eating relatively low carbs. Certainly nothing to worry about!

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Reading this, I agree and disagree. The whole30 is not a weight-loss diet, nor is it strictly a "low carb" diet. Healthy, nutrient-rich starchy veggies that don't come with various side effects are allowed and encouraged on the whole30 in balance with other veggies.

 

That said, your body doesn't need carbs to function well, and in fact there are entire groups of people in the world that exist eating 0 carbs almost year round (the Inuit of Alaska for example) and have survived for thousands of years this way, generation after generation. Our body is capable of using fat for fuel and making it's OWN carbohydrates to fuel our brain. This is called Ketosis (as opposed to Ketoacidosis which is a very dangerous condition and can only happen in people who do not produce any insulin at all - aka type 1 diabetics).

 

There is a diet that is sweeping sweden and the netherlands called the Low Carb High Fat Diet that encourages people to keep their carbohydrate intake to less than 50 grams a day, and fill up on fat and moderate amounts of protein. Once your body has adapted to burning fat for fuel instead of quick easy carbs, you can function just fine on very few carbs unless you are doing strenuous activity (like marathons or crossfit) because your body is using up all the glycogen stores in your muscles and in a state of ketosis, can't refresh the glycogen stores very quickly. Personally, I feel best when I eat less than 100 grams carbs per day. Even carbs from sweet potatoes and squash make me feel kind of bloated if I eat them too often. 

 

Ultimately, it's up to you. Try it out, see what makes you feel healthy. If eating sweet potato every day makes you feel less healthy, then don't do it. This is your own personal experiment, so try different things and see what works for you. Everyone's body is different and everyone's activity level is different, so each person needs different amounts of nutrients to make them feel their best.

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I was low carb before Whole30, but I found being completely grain free to have a drastic change in my inflammation levels.

 

I didn't consume many grains before (or many starches) but the improvements I've had exist both with and without starchy veggies.

Oddly carrots are the vegetable I have the most problem with (blood sugar spikes - more than berries), not sweet potato.

I don't have much fruit, mostly berries and almost never any dried fruit.

 

Everyone is different, not everyone is trying to lose weight (some are trying to gain) and some have health conditions that require extra management, beyond the scope of Whole30. See what works for you, some people run much better with more carbs, some don't.

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