What's Your Starch? page

[VeganNightmares]

Hey everyone,

Normally I do not talk much about my (paleo) diet to people I run into. But the other day I had mentioned my diet to a vegetarian and the first thing out of their mouth was "What's your starch?". I was wondering how you all would handle this question?

All I said was that I get everything I need from meat, veggies, fruits, healthy fats, nuts and seeds. And I don't need anything more.

But what would your response be?

[Neckhammer]

Your response is fine. What I say would probably depend on my relationship with the vegetarian. If they were "cool" I may just quip back "so where do you get your protein?" If someone was teetering on the edge of converting, but fearful of cutting out too much carbs you could let them know that sweet potatos and such are still paleo. If its someone a bit more knowledgeable I suppose we could discuss energy partitioning in relation to the sort of exercise we are looking at and get into all kinds of fun discussion about the need or lack thereof for any starch at all.

[canio6]

my starches are fingerling potatoes and sweet potatoes. Very rarely (every couple of months) I might eat white rice.

That said, I am with Neckhammer with his protein comment.

[JoanieL]

Your answer is perfect. Or you could say that now that you take your shirts to the cleaner, you don't need starch.

[cori93437]

By "starch" people mean carbohydrates (silly word games)... which is found aplenty in vegetables, tubers, roots, and fruits. All perfectly Primal. No problem!

And that would be my response.

[magicmerl]

Bananas, Potatoes and Kumaras.

[paleo-bunny]

So why exactly would benefit from starch have anything to do with vegertarianism?

Just curious ...

[JEL62]

Some of the longest lived persons on the planet eat a lot of starches... for instance the Okinawans and their sweet potatoes. They're not vegetarian... but almost.

[Neckhammer]

Some of the longest lived persons on the planet eat a lot of starches... for instance the Okinawans and their sweet potatoes. They're not vegetarian... but almost.

Long as its high in pig fat too....then sure Animal Pharm: Benefits of High-Saturated Fat Diets (Part V): The Traditional Okinawans

[JEL62]

Long as its high in pig fat too....then sure

From what I've read the traditional Okinawan diet did include pig fat but it was a very small portion of their overall calories. I'd like to read more about this though, so please post working links for any studies that you have seen.