Finest Low Starch Potato Substitutes

5 wholesome, scrumptious potato substitutes which might be non-starchy with very comparable texture for all of your low-carb, gut-healing, or keto-inspired dishes.

As I used to be selecting up greens at our native farm final weekend, I seen a vegetable I hadn’t cooked in a really very long time….kohlrabi.

With my husband on the complete GAPS food plan for greater than 5 years now (and starting to reintroduce meals efficiently!), I instantly checked my GAPS authorized meals checklist for this beautiful purple crucifer to make sure it was nonstarchy to fulfill his dietary wants.

Yay! I discovered it was a-ok, so I scooped some up for my dwelling broth-making endeavors within the coming week.

Why Use a Potato Substitute?

There are a few explanation why you would possibly want to think about using potato substitutes repeatedly on the house menu.

First, avoiding starchy potatoes is a should if you’re consuming low-carb or following a keto protocol for a time to lose a couple of kilos rapidly.

Secondly, when you have any kind of intestine points, it is very important skip white and candy potatoes (additionally very starchy) within the food plan.

Starch may be very exhausting to digest for these with any sort of digestive points. It tends to digest incompletely when the intestine is imbalanced, leaving plentiful meals for pathogens to strengthen and crowd out the great flora.

In a nutshell, avoiding starch, at the very least within the quick time period, is essential to heal/seal the intestine wall and restore the integrity of the enterocytes and the probiotic flora that nourish them…the gatekeepers of our immune system.

For individuals who have bother digesting starch or are in any other case consuming low-carb to drop a couple of kilos, a very good potato substitute that imparts the same texture is a should in my expertise to keep away from cravings that might derail the therapeutic course of.

Low Starch Potato Options

Earlier than I establish the 5 greatest options to potatoes, I need to make clear that potatoes are a wholesome, conventional meals.

Simply because it’s good to keep away from potatoes for some time because of digestive or different well being points doesn’t make them unhealthy!

It simply implies that it’s good to go a special path dietarily to get to a more healthy model of your self.

In our dwelling, my husband doesn’t eat white or candy potatoes because of following the GAPS food plan.

Nevertheless, my youngsters and I eat them incessantly.

So, when I’m getting ready a meal that features potatoes, I take care so as to add a facet dish of one in all these potato substitutes beneath in order that my husband can benefit from the texture of starch with out the precise starch.

Kohlrabi

Kohlrabi is a cruciferous vegetable that makes a beautiful sub for potatoes at any meal.

Simply make sure you all the time cook dinner it!

Cruciferous greens are greatest by no means eaten uncooked because of the excessive goitrogenic facets that negatively have an effect on the thyroid and block the uptake of iodine.

The warmth from cooking deactivates roughly two-thirds of those substances in kohlrabi, rendering it extra digestible in addition to thyroid-safe.

My favourite technique to put together is to toss one or two right into a pot of simmering pot of home made meat inventory for a one-pot meal.

When your inventory and slow-cooked meat are prepared, so are your veggies!

Turnip

Turnips look a bit like purple kohlrabi, however are distinguished by a blended purple and white look.

As well as, turnips have the greens coming off the highest in a single spot. This compares to kohlrabi which has a single stalk rising out of a number of locations on the foundation.

The turnip has a novel taste that takes some getting used to in accordance with my style buds.

My husband and one in all my boys completely love the flavour of turnips, however I’m not a fan. I discover the flavour extremely robust and a bit unpleasant even after cooking.

Whereas my husband likes to simmer them in a pot of home made bone broth, I choose to cut and roast them individually in butter. To me, the robust turnip taste simply turns into infused with broth or soups to damaging impact.

In brief, turnips are undoubtedly a private choice! However, simply because I don’t take care of them, don’t be delay. You would possibly love them!

When you cook dinner for the entire household, one of many different decisions on this checklist might be a good suggestion to please everybody.

Rutabaga

A lot sweeter and milder than turnips and kohlrabi, rutabaga is my favourite potato substitute.

Authorized for all phases of the GAPS food plan, this nonstarchy root vegetable even appears like a potato when peeled and able to cook dinner.

You’ll be able to peel, chop and boil them till gentle after which mash with butter and milk to make low-starch mashed potatoes.

One other tasty choice is to peel, chop and roast rutabaga within the oven with butter, sea salt, and pepper till gentle for a baked potato-style facet dish.

Cauliflower

Cauliflower is maybe the preferred low-starch potato substitute that’s most generally obtainable in supermarkets.

In case you are consuming low carb to heal leaky intestine, nonetheless, word that cauliflower florets solely are permitted for all 6 phases of the GAPS Intro Eating regimen.

GAPS Intro Eating regimen phases 3-6 incorporate cauliflower stalks as nicely. (1)

Preserve this in thoughts if you happen to want to use this tasty crucifer as your potato substitute of selection.

Cauliflower mash (simply chop, steam till gentle, and mash with butter, sea salt and pepper) might be the best-known dish for low carbers who’re avoiding white and candy potatoes.

Cauliflower rice is one other fave as a facet dish.

Observe that like kohlrabi, cauliflower is a cruciferous vegetable. Thus, it ought to solely be consumed completely cooked to cut back goitrogenic substances that negatively have an effect on thyroid operate.

Celeriac

Maybe the least identified of the potato options, celeriac is a superb choice to think about.

Like cauliflower stems, celeriac is reserved for the later phases of GAPS when some intestine therapeutic has occurred. (1)

Nevertheless, take pleasure in it anytime as a potato sub if you’re low-carb for weight administration functions solely.

As you might have guessed from the title, celeriac is definitely the foundation bulb of the celery plant.

Therefore, it’s extra frequent title … celery root.

Thus, when you have your individual backyard, rising celery is sensible. You should utilize your entire plant from root to stem to leaves.

Regardless of the recognition of celery, celeriac is definitely pretty unknown to most individuals!

The wonderful thing about it’s that it’s fit for human consumption uncooked too, in contrast to different potato substitutes like kohlrabi and cauliflower, which must be absolutely cooked.

One other tip. Celeriac tastes rather a lot like parsnips, which isn’t allowed at any of the 6 stages of Intro GAPS and even the common GAPS Eating regimen because of its larger starch content material. (2, 3)

Thus, if you’re on this gut-healing food plan and miss parsnips in addition to potatoes, celeriac is certainly a good selection as an alternative choice to each!

References

(1) GAPS Intro Meat and Potatoes

(2) Common GAPS Eating regimen meals checklist

(3) Intestine and Psychology Syndrome