some starches and their sugars

Mr Bean and Mr Potato Head might have a mash - up!

All starches are broken down into MONOsaccharides... sooooo

All starches are broken down to SUGARS. (link)

That is why people on low carb diets tend to avoid them!

But the diet doesn't need to be devoid of starches, either!

Not for those who can handle some of them.

The trick, as always, is to find what works for each person's body.

How to read a chart:

Take the Total Carbs. 

Minus Fiber (it is not digested, so it does not count as calories)

Minus Total Sugars. 

That will leave you with a general idea about 

how much starch is left.

Testing for Carbs is not really an accurate science anyways.

They can determine the amino acids... proteins.

They can determine the fatty acids... fats.

But the carbs... it's sometimes just what is left over! (link)

Unless you are these guys from Fantastic Voyage,

No one can get inside the body and count the carbs.

And each person is different, besides.

AND to make things much more complex,

Starch digestion even depends on how much you CHEW!

For Starches begin to digest in the mouth.

Also, the amount of acid in the diet can greatly change 

how much (or how little) starch will be broken down.

That would account for some of the variances!

Looking at the charts from Nutrition Data. (link)

In Nursing, the tilde - that wiggly line  (~)

is used to show an approximation.

Or an omission. (link)

~ about that much!

Here's some common veggies -

All in 100 gram units

Some have more starch than others.

Broccoli

So 5.4 is the total carbs.

Minus 3.0 for the fiber.

NET carbs is now 2.4

And of that, 1.5 grams is sugar....

So about 1 gram of starch.

Broccoli is a low-starch lo-carb veggie

We knew that!

It has low sugar, too.

Brussels's Sprouts sugar is 2.2

And Implied Starch is about ~ 3 grams.

Or, about 12 calories from starch.

Sucrose, Glucose, Fructose, etc 

are all part of the total Sugar count.

Cauliflower.... an ever popular LoCarb treat

Green Beans from a can

Summer Squash - yellow crookneck or zucchini

NO starch! 

But look - some Glucose, and Fructose.

750 mg is not quite a gram.

So this is a very small amount.

Tomato 

Not too starchy...

You can see why they taste so sweet!

"THEY" say to limit the Fructose to 50 grams a day.

So Tomatoes get two thumbs up!

Winter Squash - Acorn

Pumpkins, here's Pumpkins!

Sweet Potatoes!

An interesting and yummy plant.

Compare the starches in a Sweet Potato 

to the starch in an Atkins Bar (link)

Looks like about 12 of starch 

and just 1 sugar.

13 for the combined total of sugar/starch.

Kidney Beans for the "Slow Starch" crowd

Lima Beans are 20 total carb.... 7 fiber... 10 starch.... 3 sugar....

No Fructose - as they are a legume!

The Red Potato and the Russet Potato

The REDS are "waxy" and hold up better when sliced.

The RUSSET is the king for baking - so nice a fluffy starchy!

Some differences - some worth noting!

before and after

Here's me at about 11 carbs.

The little slice of green.

Round it up to be safe - to about 15 a day.

Typical Induction.

That is how it's been for me for the past week

since I quit the Truvia.  Which itself was a 

"blimp" on the radar screen.

And I'm a pretty steady LC'er...

Not alot of turbulence.

I do well over holidays and birthdays.

Oh sure, there's the occasional cinnamon roll (s).

That was like, August.

And some watermelon this July.

Even some Cool Whip.

Live and learn. But no more!

I don't usually repeat the same mistake twice.

Thank goodness I don't have Danger Food like that.

Surprises - yes! But that's cuz I don't research every little thing.

Till now! Now I chart everything.

I stay in the same basic range.

I don't count the muscle gain - that's just a bonus.

I have been on LC for well over 2.5 years.

And done well as far as weight-loss goes!

And keeping it off. Within a reasonable range.

Atkins himself said that it's not good to stay in Induction forever.

Or any phase, really.

A constant state of ketosis is probably not ideal.

[And it's proving to be no good for me.]

Maybe that's why Splenda can cause a stall for me.

Poor Liver is busy with all those ketones!

I usually stay in the 20 - 40 carbs a day zone.

That would be Atkins Phase 2 - if I did Atkins proper.

Then go back to Induction whenever I need to.

 A few times a year.

Most people have problems with LoCarb, because yes -

 It works, but then they can't stop.

The carbs sneak back in as a habit.

And they re-introduce them too rapidly.

In textbook Atkins you would go to phase 2 [or3]

with 5 - 10 grams increments. Increase carbs gradually.

With the help of those Paleo Track Charts, (link)

(FitDay, My Fitness Pal, etc) I found some weak areas 

in my Diet. So I went in and revised some things.

It's kinda a new approach. For me, at least.

Like adding the Omega 3.

And cutting way back on the Omega 6.

Fine tuning the proteins and fats.

Now, it's time to tweak the carbs.

My trainers think I need more calories.

Especially with CrossFit.

So I've added "acceptable" level of carbs....

That I have now gone up to twice a week.

And what better time than on my CrossFit days!

Especially now that my CrossFit is not just an hour of

balancing on one foot... we actually work and sweat!

Measuring for sure!

So I've been liking the starches. Sweet potatoes, squash...

 I mixed a little (15 grams) of starch (yes, starch)

 in with some beef stew. About half-cup of potato. 

And took my blood sugar... 108... Waited an hour... 88.

I forgot to take it before I ate.

I'm not (officially) diabetic, so that's not a problem.

Least it's not in the 50's or 60's like it once was!

This is a common, regular potato

To be sure, there are about 8 grams of sugar based carbs

in some of the salad dressings I once loved.

Some even contain HighFructose Corn Syrup.

Those LC Monsters - 6 carbs of Maltodextrin - aka - sugar.

Coconut and almond milk - sugar based carb - 7 or 8 per glass!

Small amounts, but still they DO add up!

And green beans or broccoli or Brussels Sprouts

all have carbs - not super starchy ones!

So 10 - 15 grams - of starch is not a far-fetched idea.

Or is it?

People who eat gluten-free almond flour products 

Have the same type thing... That's A STARCH.

And so-called Slow Starches -  many people do very well with those.

A starch. A veggie starch.

Here's the soup I made.

Still working on the tweaking.

But I think I've got a pretty good plan!

So yay for me going on the next phase!

This will add to my over-all calories...

Which my trainers say to do.

Well see!