Kickas.org Forums Treatments, Drugs and Alternatives NSD and diet-related; How To Make Meals Filling Without Bread/Potatoes?

So, I have to reduce my reliance on starch, and eventually ban it from my diet. The problem is that after 45 years of using bread, pasta, chips,potatoes cereals, grains, etc, etc to add a lowish-fat and low cholesterol filler to meals, I am stuck for an alternative.
The low starch diet seems to rely on lots of meat, fruit and vegetables. As someone who enjoys his food, fruit and veg are a part of my diet, but will not satisfy an appetite for long. Meat, poultry, etc, whilst being more satisfying, will be expensive and unhealthy in large quantities.
So, has anyone found a non-starch food, that fills the void left by starchy foods? Something that's reasonably healthy to eat, and satisfies like bread or a bowl of pasta does.
Any ideas appreciated.

Hi Woodbine.

Kudos for making an effort to explore dietary means as a way of managing your disease.

Regarding meat and poultry being more expensive and unhealthy in large quantities. Honestly, I don't eat more meat now than I did prior to transitioning to significant dietary starch reduction. I just ate more food, period, prior to transitioning to low starch. Portion sizes of meat have remained virtually unchanged. It explains a lot of why I never put the weight back on from an illness that took a good 25 pounds or so from me.

Agreed that meat is not cheap, but I'd be buying it in the same quantities whether or not I was significantly starch restricted. Meat can be unhealthy in large quantities, but so can breads, pastas, chips, etc. Heck, even water can be unhealthy in too large of amounts; it can downright deadly (water poisoning resulting in hyponatremia). I don't know if they use the same terminology in the UK, but did you ever see a man with a "spare tire"? Ever see a man look like he was pregnant? This is oft the result of consuming to many carbs, especially those derived from foods containing wheat. It is stored by the body as fat. Talk about unhealthy! I encourage you to stop by the heart scan blog ( Heart Scan Blog) and search within the site for the term "wheat belly".

Baking items with coconut flour is a very filing way to get some of things you might think you are missing. You can make muffins, cookies, pancakes, bread, waffles and probably more. Chicken or fish can be breaded with it too. It is very high in fiber and most satisfying. Want noodles? there are members on here who have made stir fry meals and possibly pasta fixes with shirataki noodles. You can also bake with almond flour (blanched if you are pursing no starch (NSD)) to make cookies, pancakes, muffins, etc. I also eat quite a bit of cauliflower. It can be "riced" or mashed (like potatoes). I avoid the frozen here in the States cause I find that they pick it too early and it is unripe and hella starchy. However, I've had excellent luck with the fresh variety. A meal of some meat, some mashed cauliflower, some broccoli or green beans is enough of a meal for me. Throw in some coconut flour muffins/cupcakes or similar about an hour and half after and I'm good to go. I try to eat my biggest meal at breakfast (eggs are great here and not real expensive) so that a smaller or lighter dinner is not that big of a deal. Used to be that I consumed a lot of wheat based foods or starches that sat heavily on my stomach for a couple hours after my evening meal but this is no longer the case.

Good luck to you. Don't be afraid to ask questions. Also don't hesitate to use the search functionality as there is a plethora of information available on many of these topics.

it will once your body will start adjusting to this new diet. it make take some time though and you will probably eat more on one meal or more than the usual numbers of meal you've had before.

good luck

Adding a low carb/low starch "filler" item like olive oil or olive oil based imitation "butter" to vegetables, along with sprinklings of low carb/low starch nuts like almonds, works for me. A relatively small portion of vegetables will suddenly become very filling. P.S To me it's SO worth it, given the pain levels that have gone down (and significant improvement in some related lung issues). The daily gratification of that makes it easier to give up the breads and pastas.

A low carb/low starch "chocolate milkshake" made of soy powder products is also amazingly filling for hours. I have my personal favorites, but don't know what is available in your area. You might look online at flavored soy powder products designed for weight lifters, and also soy powder drinks in health food stores. It's a way I still get to enjoy having something that seems like a chocolate milkshake, plus is a good way to ensure getting enough daily protein.

One of the biggest things learned since being forced to take diet seriously (argh! never wanted that, "dieting" is for fussy teen-age girls or diabetics...) is that while you can learn general principles from other people, you need to do careful experiments on yourself to see whether a specific food is really good for YOU personally. So keep that in mind as you read all the responses to your question (including mine) -- it will be really hard to distinguish which foods are best for you if you try them all at once. It can save months of frustration if you try an elimination diet approach: aim first for a very limited starch-free baseline diet that "works", and then introduce other recommended low-starch/non-starch foods one at a time, eating the new food for multiple days in a row to gauge its effect.

I was once heavily into starches myself, with most of my favorite foods including pasta and/or potatoes. So I definitely know the pain of trying to cope with that big hole that eliminating starch leaves.

* very large salads with the meat -- I use literally a half-head of romaine lettuce with oil-and-vinegar
* cook up meat into big pots of soup to make it go farther -- but don't stew vegetables in with the meat, the longer they cook the starchier they tend to get (talking about vegetables that are not super starchy to begin with; need to avoid most root vegetables altogether)
* homemade yogurt made out of half-and-half -- a couple cups of more-than-whole-milk yogurt is fairly filling (it may sound tedious to have to make it yourself, but buy the right gadgets and it isn't)

i find soup to be very filling, endless variety as well

I do eat about a third more protein than I used to, but then I used to eat only very small quantities of meat or fish, so I am probably up to about a usual adult serve now. I don't miss potatoes with my main meal - just have an extra serve of veges and it fills the plate and me. I do have a good breakfast - either cooked (egg, bacon, tomato, etc) or a big serve of yoghurt with at least two serves of fruit. I also have a reasonable amount of protein with lunch (cold meat, tuna, egg, cheese with salad stuff). I am much more inclined to graze and snack throughout the day than I used to, and that is things like fresh or dried fruit, cheese, nuts.

Prior to LSD I used to swear that I needed a lot of carbo early in the day - toast or cereal for breakfast, bread with lunch, etc. I was quite surprised to find that I actually didn't, and felt a lot better without it. I do only do low starch though - no-starch just seems too hard at the moment, and low starch gives me enough benefit to want to stick with that.

Totally agree with SJLC. Whether it be food, medicine, or homeopathy, it's wise to introduce only one new variable at a time (whenever feasible). That way it's easier to pinpoint cause-and-effect of the good or bad consequences. I am also in agreement that what may work well for one individual may or may not work the same for another.

Having said that, I am going to try the soup tip someone posted. :-)

For me the diet was definitely difficult in the beginning. I felt hungry all the time and lost a lot of weight until my body learned to use fat as fuel instead of carbs. I didn't eat much meat before, pretty much lived on grains. I am allergic to eggs and dairy so if you can eat those things, I think the transition will be easier.

It does get easier as you figure out what you can eat and after your body adjusts to the diet. So absolutely worth it though. I went from barely being able to walk to the kitchen to playing tennis and hiking. I haven't even taken a celebrex in 6 months.

Good luck
Annette