Alot of you talk about avoiding or limiting heavy starches. My question is: what do you consider heavy starches & what do you consider light starches.

Thanks.

Heavy to me is 100 calorie snacks, lite whole bagels or english muffins, and potatoes. I still eat all of these things, I just don't do it every day, every meal.

Heavy starches are those in the consume infrequently column and the ones that Katie listed above. I personally, also include rice and pasta in the heavy starches category.
Light starches are light breads(40-60 cal per slice), high fiber cereals.
I consider everything else as medium starches.

I plan my starches so that I have them used up before dinner. That is just my plan and I can do that because I don't have as many starches as some people do.

Lynn
Stabilization (finished on Plan 2 with lites)
Used red and gold plans
Original goal of 50 lbs lost - accomplished
Revised goal of 65 lbs lost - accomplished

When I had a COD they encouraged eating RF wheat thins, wasa crackers, high fiber cereals and any extremely high fiber starches as "light"

they discouraged bagels, rice, english muffins, bread, pasta (even the whole wheat) and potatoes.

As long as you mix it up and try to make most of your starches on the lighter side, it should help!

Heavy= high calorie, low nutrition. Crackers, pasta, breads, think processed white flour.
Light starches= moderate calories, high fiber, and nutrient dense. Nutrient dense means containing more nutrients per ounce then calories. Think whole grains. Not cracker whole grains but real recognizable whole grains. I like bulgar, brown rice, barley, kasha, and the like for most of my starches.
They tend to be more filling and last longer. For me processed starches trigger my eating reflex. If I eat pasta I have trouble stopping. Same with bread and such. I do not have this problem with whole grain starch options.

I'd think Wasa, barley, quinoa (which is also high in protein, bonus!), Kashi cereals are light starches.

I am personally very torn over potatoes... I love potatoes........

Tuesday - where do you find bulgar? I looked all over the grocery store last week and couldn't find it anywhere. I'm sure I just don't know where to look. Thanks!!

It's actually "bulgur" and you can get it in organic/health food stores.

Crackers are tough for me. I have a hard time only having 4 or 6 or what ever.

My downfall is pasta as well. I try to avoid it at all costs but DBF's favorite meal is spagetti w/meat sauce. I do the WW spagetti but still end up eating more than I should!! Whenever we have this I just count it as both my starches.

Thanks Apple. I'll look for it when I go to the store this weekend. Someone posted a recipe using bulgur with vegetables and some chicken broth and it sounded so good I thought I'd try it.

Thanks again.

When I want to go very light on starches, I bring out the rice cakes.
Actually eating the LAWL provided stuff is going pretty heavy on your starches. Funny I think they will allow you more calories per starch with their treats than with other stuff that is virtually the same.

I do OK with potatos or pasta, if I put it in a soup or stir fry and only put the small amount allowed in (or double and then split it with my DH). If I cook a lot of pasta thinking I will have leftovers. Oh my gosh, I can't seem to eat only the on plan portion if I do that. I think the only reason it works with the soup or stir fry is that I would have to cook again to get more.

In my market (a very small town market) the bulgur is in the same isle as rice and such. It is usually on the top shelf next to the couscous and rice mixes. Or some times in the "Old Red Mill" section (stoned ground type stuff) by baking goods. Health food stores always have it. Use it like rice but it takes very little time to cook. Great with meat as it soaks up the juices.

Thanks for the info here. Starches are always hard for me. I love pasta!!

I remember when I first started the plan...2001...back when the starch options had soo many rules and restrictions... I was told to drop the weight fast stick with lt breads and melba toast. UGH! But melba toast I used under eggs, sunny side up, broke up to use as croutons in my salad and did an ALLeLUIAH when they added the carb cravers menu and I could have my sandwiches again. I loved the breastfeeding program because I was allowed so many starches a day it was ridiculous! I love starches...I just don't love what they do to my middle section!