Are these STARCHES??
 

I need help. I am determined that myself and dh eat all the food we have in the house before I buy more. We stockpile bits and pieces of meals and just keep adding more each week. What I'm doing is making a list of all the stuff in my cabinets, fridge, and freezer and trying to categorize it into lists (protein, starch, other carb) so that I can mix and match this stuff into meals.

I'm having trouble with some of my canned stuff. This is what I have:

Could you fabulous folks help me figure out what to pair with these items to make a SP meal? If you tell me these are poor choices I MAY not buy them anymore BUT they are some of dh's faves.

Amy's Organic Lentil Vegetable Soup:
1 cup =150 calories, 23 carbs, 9 fiber, 8 protein

(Ingredients: water, onions, lentils, carrots, celery, potatoes, tomatoes, spinach, green beans, olive oil, sea salt, garlic, balsamic vinegar, spices)

Health Valley Mild Vegetarian Chili:
1 cup = 180 calories, 30 carbs, 11 fiber, 14 protein

(Ingredients: water, tomatoes, pinto beans, onions, soy protein, tomato paste, carrots, green bell peppers, chili powder, honey, sea salt, unsulfured molasses, garlic, cumin, potato flakes, paprika, bay leaves, sage, basil, oregano)


Health Valley Turkey Chli with Beans, Medium (probably for me, not DH)
1 cup = 220 calories, 34 carbs, 8 fiber, 16 protein)

(Ingredients: water, boneless skinless turkey, pinto beans, tomatoes, onions, tomato paste, kidney beans, potato flakes, concentrate chicken broth, honey, chili pepper, potato starch, dehydrated garlic, paprika, cumin, dehydrated bell peppers, sea salt, unsulfured molasses, cayenne pepper, oregano, bay leaves.)

Aye, aye, aye!
Jinx

You know what, they all look to be pretty well a whole SPII meal as is - I think that just adding a green salad, with dressing(for fat) and maybe a little cheese to up the protein count(in the salad or grated and sprinkled on the soup or chilli) , maybe a devilled egg for a starter if you wanted still more protein. For the lentil soup if you want to up the carb count of the meal a few homemade croutons on the soup or salad would do it.

Edit - just now saw the title of your thread Are these Starches? yes, I would count them as starchy carbs but also as protein and veggie as they contain all three and most likely some fat too.

Oh my dear Koko! So glad you're online this morning!

I really changed the title to be more eye catching. I hate it when I put some long drawn out title and no one answers.

ANYWAY - yeah, the problems with these items (for dh, anyway) is that one serving is half a can and that's normally all he takes for lunch. So, for me to share a can with him, we need to add stuff.

So, to recap, I should probably just add non-starchy veggies, maybe some more protein. How 'bout berries? Would it be alright to add some green veggies AND berries, considering the carb counts?

Also, do you eat natural pnut butter? I have some from bulk with no counts. How do you count a tablespoon? A starchy carb? fat? protein?

Muchas gracias!
j.

Hi Jinxy:

Personally, I wouldn't restock my cupboard with the Health Valley products. Because they are FF products, they add sugars to add taste. Molasses isn't an approved SP sugar. Probably Amy's is OK even though it's processed.

Good luck with your cupboard-cleaning! ;)

WB

Hi Jinx -

Mmmmm peanut butter, that always gives me a problem categorizing. What I do is count it as my fat, and a bit of the carb count. There's only a little protein in 1 tbsp so I never really count it in - of course I'm not very exacting in keeping my stats for protein grams.



Lets see (visualize pondering smilie here)- Are you aiming for 30 starchy carbs per meal? If so then adding some berries to the meal of lentil soup, and salad would be fine (skip the suggested crouton addtition though) and yes, adding green veggies to any of those meals would be fine (remember you don't count the green veggie carbs). Since I make a lot of combo type dishes I'm used to looking at all the ingredients and splitting them into SP categories. Just remember that it's the total of the starchy carb count that matters - no one said it can't be composed of several different types of starchy carb. A lot of the legume type starchy carbs also contain protein - same thing, if you add another type of protein to the meal it's the total. Since I'm still having a problem willingly ingesting fat - I tend to count anything that contains fat as my fat portion of the meal - ie - peanut butter, cheese, meat.

I missed your post above. PB is a protein food. There's about 8 grams of protein in 2 tablespoons.

You only count the carbs in it if you are IR or have severely burned out adrenals. Personally, I count the carbs b/c I have a nut addiction that can get out of control if I think of it as a freebie.

WB

--edit--
OK, I'm NOT posting anymore. I keep hitting the Enter button after Koko posts. She's quick! :lol:

I eat so little PB, and you know I count it as a fat :lol: thanks for reminding me about only counting the carbs in it if severely burnt out - though I am (I think -my adrenals are not much more than a heap of ashes) I'm still re-reading my book in a non organized manner, just pick it up and read a few pages of where ever I open it too. I must say though that helping SarahBeiner is really helping me as I don't want to steer her wrong I double check - I just realized I really should be eating more carbs per meal, don't know how I got that 15 figure stuck in my head :doah:

My lists look pretty cool so far! DH was being an ass (as in Jack, not hiney, moderator!) about what protein sources he would eat. One day he wanted ham, then a few days later I served it in a salad and he refused to eat it. He is now decomposing in a shallow grave out back. That'll show him!

Just kidding. But he has been warned. :nono:

I remember, back in high school, eating at a friend's house and it being hamburger and Rice a Roni night. That just blew my mind. Monday was ALWAYS hamburger and Rice a Roni night...I thought that was heaven, knowing what was for supper ahead of time. ANYWAY

Hey Wands (good day!),
Yeah I noticed that about the Health Valley, the molasses I mean. I didn't notice how low they are in fat (1-3gr). The grocery store is filled with land mines! Especially the HF store, since I tend to not be on such high alert there. Most of this stuff I buy for dh, since I can live on just about anything. Dh SAID he wanted to stop eating all the processed veggie protein sources but he starts having such bad reactions to eating too much meat (I'm sure his alcohol consumption is at the root of many of his problems) that we've got to go back to buying that stuff.

Hey Koks,
Did you hear Wandy trash talking about you being FAST??? (okay, "quick", same difference!) She has definitely become a rogue element around here!

I've got (I believe) burned or at least singed adrenals. SO I'm doing the 25 grams plan. Except for the sugar craving stuff when I eat fruit.

Looks like we have varying opinions on the nut butters. Actually I eat almond butter, dh eats pnut. My almond butter lists (2 tbs) 220 cal, 18 fat, 6 carb, 6 fiber?!, 8 protein. I too count the carbs Wands cuz I have probs with the nuts/legumes. I'll just continue to use fitday totals, which considers everything.

One more thing, when eating fruit in lieu of sugar addiction, we don't have to add protein do we? Otherwise we wouldn't get the same boost out it, right? I'll try to look it up but since Dr. Wanda seems to have a photographic memory for this stuff... :thup:

Thanks!!
Jinx

Heck ya, that's the easiest way if you don't mind doing it. I know her system is supposed to be easier, but I find my software program tons easier b/c I weigh my carbs and protein, then enter it into my program. I have to journal my foods anyway so it makes no difference. If I had to measure like in her book, I wouldn't do it.


Hell if I know. :daze: She mentions to try to balance your fruit with a protein to help get your hormones into balance sooner. It's on pg 371, #2. I guess that means, do what you can do. ;)


LOL, you've got one of them too, huh? Rules, rules, rules.... you either like something or don't like it! What's with "I like it by itself, but not in something else"....? DH is the king of this kind of pickiness. He will only eat corn if it's on the cob. If he watched me cut it off the cob and serve it to him, he wouldn't eat it. I won't bore you with all the little rules. And he say's he's not picky! :lol: :lol: :lol:

WB

I know! Mine says he's not picky either! He talks about me and all MY rules. I say, uh huh, enough protein, a non starch, and a fairly low carb starch. WOW HOW COMPLELX :rolleyes:

Jinx