Why does starch make me see the world differently?

[Grouptose]

Today I tried quitting starch, I had meat and mangos for breakfast with salted tangerine juice. I felt this sensation that I was being elevated and I was finally becoming free, it was like a freedom from a prison that I didn't know I was even locked up in. It's hard to pinpoint what exactly I was free from, but as soon as I ate starch again for lunch (sweet potatoes) I felt like I was back in this prison. Starch sort of creates this barrier and prevents me from seeing another side of the world, honestly though it did feel a little overwhelming and eating the starch sort of brought me back to "normal". But I really want to try this again, I really liked that side of the world.

The way I saw the world with no starch was like I could think and come up with new ideas, I felt like I was living rather than letting my life just move on as I doze off and scroll through my phone. There's just something about starch that puts me into that mode. When I went keto a while back I thought that "carbs" were the problem and I felt better because I cut "carbs" but it really was just the starch. Because even with fruit and other sugars, I feel that same feeling. It's this weird bliss, like nothing is holding me back. Anyone else experience this?

 

[Summer]

No. Going without starch for one or two days has never had any such effect on me. Are you saying today (and for one meal at that) was enough to have such a drastic change on you? Seems kind of odd and likely more psychological than anything. Do you get the same sensation from fasting?

 

[InChristAlone]

Sounds like you get sleepy from the insulin response, which says more about how you process carbs and less about the starch.

 

[Grouptose]

No. Going without starch for one or two days has never had any such effect on me. Are you saying today (and for one meal at that) was enough to have such a drastic change on you? Seems kind of odd and likely more psychological than anything. Do you get the same sensation from fasting?

The drastic change happened not because I did something new but because I didn't do something, so technically something can change that quick since there was the absence of something I was eating before, in this case it was starch. I ate what I usually eat in the morning, but instead of a starchy carb I picked a fruit. And this is how I ended up feeling. I got a similar feeling long time ago a couple of times when I cut all carbs apart from fruit, the reason I keep adding starch back is because my family members think I'm weird or getting into an eating disorder, so I have to add starches to look like I'm eating "normally"

 

[Grouptose]

No. Going without starch for one or two days has never had any such effect on me. Are you saying today (and for one meal at that) was enough to have such a drastic change on you? Seems kind of odd and likely more psychological than anything. Do you get the same sensation from fasting?

And yea I get a similar feeling from fasting since you don't eat starch when you fast (it's needless to say)

 

[Summer]

I bring up fasting because you’d think you feel just as euphoric the moment you get out of bed. If it makes you feel good not eating starch, don’t eat it. Pretty simple really. Regardless of what others think or experience.

 

[Hugh Johnson]

Something about digestion. Does it matter? You can just not eat starch.

 

[MetabolicTrash]

Wow, not even one full page on and the starch addicts/defenders are raging and raving/getting pissy & salty ... Totally not biased at all! No axes to grind here!

No way can be starch be not as good as this! It's all individual! Starch makes my PP bigger & makes my T levels go to 1,000,000! It's you, bro, but don't blame starch ever!

Just don't eat it, bro! Fine, shuddap! Don't you dare try and knock my beloved starch down!

It's you, not starch! How dare you crap on starch. Y'all are losers who ain't cool cuz you ain't eating starch! Everybody's doing it, you loser! Starch is for us cool kids!

 

[aniciete]

Wow, not even one full page on and the starch addicts/defenders are raging and raving/getting pissy & salty ... Totally not biased at all! No axes to grind here!

No way can be starch be not as good as this! It's all individual! Starch makes my PP bigger & makes my T levels go to 1,000,000! It's you, bro, but don't blame starch ever!

Just don't eat it, bro! Fine, shuddap! Don't you dare try and knock my beloved starch down!

It's you, not starch! How dare you crap on starch. Y'all are losers who ain't cool cuz you ain't eating starch! Everybody's doing it, you loser! Starch is for us cool kids!

It looks like you’re the one raging lol

 

[Summer]

It looks like you’re the one raging lol

Yeah big yikes on that one

 

[FredSonoma]

I also feel very different psychologically without starch. There are some similarities to taking cypro, so I'm guessing it's related to serotonin

 

[PointOutside]

I feel much better without starch, so I just stopped eating it. After a while I started to genuinely dislike it. I also understand what you mean, I get a very similar feeling when I stop starch almost like I'm much more lucid. However, when I eat bread outside of the US I don't get any negative side effects.

 

[InChristAlone]

It looks like you’re the one raging lol

That was embarrassing on his part lol

 

[Gânico]

Hahah, if you feel bad after eating them, just stop it, i doubt things that must be processed to be edible are good at all. No reason to eat starches when you can afford good fruit and/or milk.

 

[Grouptose]

Hahah, if you feel bad after eating them, just stop it, i doubt things that must be processed to be edible are good at all. No reason to eat starches when you can afford good fruit and/or milk.

The only solid fruit I eat is mangos, rest is orange/tangerine juice. Any other fruits that you think are safe? I haven't got good milk.

 

[Gânico]

@Grouptose
Ray's words:

"Bananas and jack-fruit are strong allergens, possibly because of their cultivation methods. Mangos, apples, and pears are allergenic to some people. Poorly ripened fruits of all sorts should be avoided."

"[Safe fruits] Corossol, lychee, longan, guava, papaya, pawpaw, sapota, guanabana. Some frozen and canned fruits are good; applesauce, corossol, guanabana, longans, and lychees for example."

Source:Ray Peat Email Exchanges - Ray Peat Forum Wiki

 

[InChristAlone]

Since this entire forum basically is one big orthorexic mental disorder (sorry to those who are actually healthy) thought I'd mention that it's quite common to feel crappy after eating 'bad' foods for people in eating disorder recovery, whether it's dairy, sugar, wheat, potatoes, a burger, whatever the 'bad' food is that its being restricted. Most people in active mental disorders feel better when they only eat their safe foods.

 

[SaltiestSardine]

I suffer from a laundry list of mental illness's and even i find some of these observations people make from something as trivial as a food group equal parts hilarious and sad

Don't have much to add other than try soaking and if that doesn't do the trick, then just simply avoid starch if you believe it to be this detrimental to your well being. I still eat starch as it doesn't cause me as many problems as people have claimed it has caused them here, but i have never ate it non-soaked or sprouted for over a decade, but i do remember it giving me all kinds of ***t in my teens (mostly pasta though from my childhood featuring mostly Mediterranean food)but nothing as drastic as completely shifting my view of the world around me(lol)

Simple reason i still eat starch is its easier to bulk on as i can eat double the calories i eat in starch in fructose and not gain a single lb when i am on a bulk. From my position anyways i think its downright impossible to gain weight if you need to eating just fructose as your main carb source

 

[Grouptose]

I suffer from a laundry list of mental illness's and even i find some of these observations people make from something as trivial as a food group equal parts hilarious and sad

Don't have much to add other than try soaking and if that doesn't do the trick, then just simply avoid starch if you believe it to be this detrimental to your well being. I still eat starch as it doesn't cause me as many problems as people have claimed it has caused them here, but i have never ate it non-soaked or sprouted for over a decade, but i do remember it giving me all kinds of ***t in my teens (mostly pasta though from my childhood featuring mostly Mediterranean food)but nothing as drastic as completely shifting my view of the world around me(lol)

Simple reason i still eat starch is its easier to bulk on as i can eat double the calories i eat in starch in fructose and not gain a single lb when i am on a bulk. From my position anyways i think its downright impossible to gain weight if you need to eating just fructose as your main carb source

It's so weird to me now. At this point I don't know if I even want to try gain weight. At what cost? My digestion? My happiness? I might just eat what I digest, and only eat when I'm hungry, if I become skinny, I might just go with the flow and stay skinny. At the end of the day, sleep is more important than diet for physical appearance. I have been gaining weight recently and I've been eating less starch, because I've been sleeping well I gained weight and my shoulders look broader than before when I was eating tons of rice everyday but getting bad sleep. So idk, if I do decide to eat starch it's gonna be from root vegetables, never grains and legumes though

 

[Jennifer]

Anyone else experience this?

I experience something similar. My mental clarity, mood and sleep are excellent with simple carbs and lousy with complex ones. I’ve also noticed an improvement in my mental clarity and mood with black tea and coffee.