Craving starch

jb4566

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I know peat is not that big of a fan of starch, but I have been craving it like crazy lately! Does anyone have any idea why this is? I already eat a ton of carbs so I don't think that is the issue. Any ideas? Thanks
 

Mittir

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I have the same problem. Even though i feel better without starch.
I eat some starch for lunch. It is not easy to stop eating starch once i start.
It sure increases appetite.
My guess is either it is due to life long habit or starch
eating bacteria causing this craving.
Starch do feed some specific bacterias.
Melon can be full of starch if it is not fully ripe.
 

Dutchie

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Mittir said:
I have the same problem. Even though i feel better without starch.
I eat some starch for lunch. It is not easy to stop eating starch once i start.
It sure increases appetite.
My guess is either it is due to life long habit or starch
eating bacteria causing this craving.
Starch do feed some specific bacterias.
Melon can be full of starch if it is not fully ripe.

How can you tell from the outside if (Water)Melon is ripe? A problem which I have with some other fruits too.
 

jaguar43

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jb4566 said:
Fruit (cherries, melon), OJ, and Milk.

This is not a ton of carbs, but a very limited carb selection. He does advocate Potatoes white rice at times and other tubers.
 

Gabriel

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Maybe you crave them because the carbs you eat are not filling enough. Try well-cooked peeled potatoes and white rice. Most tolerate those very well.
 

Mittir

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In an interview someone asked Ray Peat why he felt good after eating starch compared to sugar.
RP explained that starch causes intense increase of insulin and this causes surge in cortisol.
Cortisol increases body temperature and has an anti inflammatory affect.
Cortisol is a stress hormone and there are many adverse health affects of
high cortisol. Starch also increases weight gain compared to sugar.
 

Gabriel

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Does anybody know why starch increases insulin so much compared to simple sugar? I always thought the starch first needs to be broken down to increase glucose levels and insulin secretion. Would love to learn more about that.
 

Jenn

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Simple table sugar has fructose which suppresses insulin response. Starch is just glucose. A white potato is an exception however as it contains fructose too as well as starch and an abundance of potassium which the body can use instead of insulin to get the glucose into the cell.
 
OP
J

jb4566

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This is not a ton of carbs, but a very limited carb selection. He does advocate Potatoes white rice at times and other tubers.

Are there any other (non starchy) carb sources that you would recommend? I have looked at the thread on safe fruits, but I felt like it wasn't conclusive and a lot of those fruits are too exotic for me to find. Maybe any fruit that is local and fresh is good (with no seeds)?
 

Stilgar

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How about sweetening masa harina with sugar or eating it plain with fruit/OJ - e.g. corn cakes, arepas etc? I find it digests great, and I feel relaxed and warm. Fried in coconut oil. I too have a desire for starch, but all things considered, I like the balance and variety that comes from a few starch based meals.
 

Jenn

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You can fry a tortilla in coconut oil and sprinkle with Cinnamon sugar...oh yeah, yum!

YES, any RIPE, local fruit is good, just spit the seeds out. ;) There is no perfect food really, eat the best of what you have available and pay attention to how you respond to it. For me, the benefit of ripe strawberries with seeds is greater than the benefit of under ripe, blah watermelon without seeds. A good watermelon is pretty spectacular, but hard to find in my area.
 

Swandattur

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I just wanted to chime in, although belatedly that, like Mittir, I think starch must feed bacteria in that cause hunger for some of us. At least that is the way it seems.
 

Dutchie

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Swandattur said:
I just wanted to chime in, although belatedly that, like Mittir, I think starch must feed bacteria in that cause hunger for some of us. At least that is the way it seems.
Isnt that why paul jaminet advocates eating resistant starches?bc it feeds healthy gut bacteria? I guess it feeds both....

But another random thougth,couldnt the getting hungry from starch mean that you're lacking a certain nutrient? Or that you migth not be consuming enough,despite eating to appetite?
 

4peatssake

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Dutchie said:
Swandattur said:
I just wanted to chime in, although belatedly that, like Mittir, I think starch must feed bacteria in that cause hunger for some of us. At least that is the way it seems.
Isnt that why paul jaminet advocates eating resistant starches?bc it feeds healthy gut bacteria? I guess it feeds both....

But another random thougth,couldnt the getting hungry from starch mean that you're lacking a certain nutrient? Or that you migth not be consuming enough,despite eating to appetite?

Ray Peat said:
Starch and glucose efficiently stimulate insulin secretion, and that accelerates the disposition of glucose, activating its conversion to glycogen and fat, as well as its oxidation. Fructose inhibits the stimulation of insulin by glucose, so this means that eating ordinary sugar, sucrose (a disaccharide, consisting of glucose and fructose), in place of starch, will reduce the tendency to store fat. Eating “complex carbohydrates,” rather than sugars, is a reasonable way to promote obesity. Eating starch, by increasing insulin and lowering the blood sugar, stimulates the appetite, causing a person to eat more, so the effect on fat production becomes much larger than when equal amounts of sugar and starch are eaten. The obesity itself then becomes an additional physiological factor; the fat cells create something analogous to an inflammatory state. There isn't anything wrong with a high carbohydrate diet, and even a high starch diet isn't necessarily incompatible with good health, but when better foods are available they should be used instead of starches. For example, fruits have many advantages over grains, besides the difference between sugar and starch. Bread and pasta consumption are strongly associated with the occurrence of diabetes, fruit consumption has a strong inverse association.
 

Swandattur

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I used to eat too much because I was hungry almost all the time, and it got worse over the years. I gained quite a bit of weight. Not eating starch seems to be the answer, because my appetite has settled down by eating only no-starch carbs. Starch carbs, (maybe I mentioned this earlier) seem to cause higher post meal blood sugar readings even a few days after eating it, which makes me wonder if starch feeds some hungry bacteria in my digestive tract that cause this somehow. Or maybe it's some hormonal thing that gets out of whack.
 

4peatssake

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lazz said:
are canned papayas allowed???
Yes, it is OK, if you tolerate it.
It is best to introduce something new, on its own, and then you can see how well you tolerate it.
Fresh fruit is best of course but canned it OK if you cannot get fresh fruit that is ripe.
Never eat fruit that is not ripe.
 

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