Starchy Carbohydrates

 

Recently, about four months ago, I began to add more carbohydrates into my diet.  Up to that point I'd been Keto for nearly four years.  Loved it. Loved how I felt and how it addressed some of my health issues, in particular my migraines, tinnitus and menopause.  The medication I am currently taking for my heart issues has seriously messed with my metabolism and one of the side effects, there are many, is weigh gain.

 

Slowly over the year I'd been taking the medication I've also been gaining weight.  I'd also been having trouble with leg cramps and my hair had become very thin.  I decided to change things up a bit and slowly began to introduce some carbohydrates back into my daily diet.  My starches of choice being potatoes, I'm an Idahoan afterall, so of course I have to have spuds, rice, some bread and on rare occasion pasta.

 

I will occasionally eat oatmeal

My daily meal routine is still primarily meat and vegetables.  I eat potatoes the most as my starch since that, to me, is a vegetable and a simple one at that.  It's a potato.  Next is rice because again, to me, it is a simple one in that it is just rice.

 

My starch portion is kept rather small compared to the rest of my meal

Bread gets more complicated because it includes more ingredients so to handle that right now I am making all of my own bread products from scratch.  That is pretty easy too, since I don't consume bread on a daily basis I can get by with baking bread about once a month or so.

 

A homemade dinner roll with a sausage stuffed portabello mushroom & broccoli

Pasta is the last one on my list and one I rarely consume, mainly because I don't make my own pasta and the back of the box shows a lengthy ingredients list.  I choose to eat pasta the least and when I do I try to eat mung bean or rice noodles as they often only have a few ingredients, however rice noodles are not my favorite and I really do prefer the regular white flour durham wheat pasta.  Who doesn't ?  All things in moderation, right?

Pasta like this ranks lowest on my list and I keep the portions relatively small

So what has happened in the last four months since I made this change?  No increase in migraines, which was my greatest concern, my hair is getting thicker, the tinnitus is worse, but I can manage it and my weight has not changed.  It is not going down, but it isn't going up anymore either.  I've apparently hit that plateau and I just have to get used to it.  My doctor told me I need to accept it as part of the deal.  At least I can take solace in the fact that the medication is doing what it is supposed to do.  And then buy bigger pants.

 

I just try to make the healthiest choices I can

I still try to keep my meals as healthy and nutritious as possible, limit sugars and sugar substitutes like what is in soda and junk food, consume mostly whole foods and stay as far away from weird ingredients and preservatives as possible.  I'm curious, what is your starch of choice?