What Are Healthy Examples of Starchy Foods, and Which Ones Should You Avoid?

Starch is a complex carbohydrate. Healthy examples of starch include whole grains, beans, legumes, bananas, and cooked and cooled starches.

Starchy foods may not always get respect, but they have a crucial role in your diet. They can be nutritious, versatile, and tasty, but choosing the right starchy foods can be overwhelming. It can be tempting to just order french fries or mashed potatoes with your meal.

However, what exactly is the nutritional value of starch, and how can you make the most of it?

Starch is a complex carbohydrate. Starch, sugar, and fiber are the three most common carbohydrates you will get from your food. Your body breaks down some carbs into blood sugar that provides energy to the cells in your body.

Starches have a bad reputation in certain circles, but the type of starch you eat is what plays a significant role in its nutritional value.  

Starch vs. resistant starch

People once thought all starch quickly turned into glucose, became blood sugar, and was used up as energy. This conception changed in the 1980s when researchers discovered that some starches act like fiber. Your body doesn’t digest fiber. Instead, it passes through your digestive tract unscathed.

The slow movement of fiber through the digestive tract serves several functions. It helps you maintain your blood sugar levels, prevents constipation, makes you feel full longer, and more.

Resistant starches are similar. They pass through your digestive tract, unaffected until they reach your large intestine. Then, the resistant starch becomes food for bacteria in the large intestine. A robust population of friendly gut bacteria may then improve your digestive health. 

Since resistant starch isn't digested like other starch, it also doesn't spike blood sugar levels. Foods high in resistant starch, then, are ideal if you’re looking for healthy starchy food. 

Resistant starch isn’t a well-advertised feature of food. You won’t find it on many nutritional labels. It can be found in a number of foods, though, including:

Whole grains

You should already eat whole grains because of their fiber content, but whole grains also contain resistant starch. Refined grains have all the grain layers stripped away, but whole grains retain more nutrients.

Beans

Most beans, especially kidney and white beans, are high in resistant starch. Beans are also a great source of protein and fiber.

Legumes

Legumes are one of the most robust sources of resistant starch. Chickpeas, lentils, and peas are nutritious and versatile legumes.

Lentils, in particular, are a rich source of protein and resistant starch. They have at least four times more resistant starch than certain other starchy foods, like potatoes.

Bananas and plantains

If you need sweet but starchy food, unripened (green) bananas and plantains contain resistant starches. These starches turn to sugar, though, as the banana ripens and gets sweeter.

Cooked and cooled starches

Some starchy foods, like rice or potatoes, lose some of their starches when cooked. However, a specific type of starch crystalizes and becomes resistant when the food cools down.

Foods with resistant starches like those listed above often have more resistant starch when they are cooled after cooking. On top of that, reheating them later isn’t enough to destroy the resistant starches again, so they’re similarly healthy as leftovers.

The most famous starchy vegetables are peas, corn, and potatoes. Starchy vegetables have more carbohydrates than nonstarchy vegetables, but that doesn’t mean they’re unhealthy: They’re just more calorically dense.

Starchy vegetables are rich in vitamins and minerals like other vegetables, so they still have many health benefits. You can enjoy potatoes and corn without worry (so long as they don't contain unhealthy additives like excess salt).

Of course, there are many starchy vegetables, so you don’t always need to grab the potatoes. Incorporate any of these starchy vegetables into your diet:

• Cassava
• Corn
• Jicama
• Lima beans
• Taro root
• Water chestnuts
• Yams
• Yucca

Starchy vegetables have more carbs on average than nonstarchy vegetables, though, so you may wish to opt for nonstarchy vegetables more often if you are specifically trying to reduce your calorie intake.

You should omit processed or refined starches from your plate. Foods like white bread, white rice, enriched pasta, instant potatoes, and other processed foods are potentially unhealthy starches for a few reasons:

Refined starches lack significant nutrients

Processed foods are often stripped of their nutritional value, leaving only starch behind. They still give your body energy, but refined starches lack the nutrients they have when they’re whole.

Refined starches don’t fill you up

The lack of nutrients in refined foods often means you don’t feel as full from eating them. This lack of satiety can cause overeating, weight gain, and health problems.

Refined starches are digested too quickly

Refined starches travel more quickly through the body because of the simplicity of their nutritional makeup. Quick digestion lets them hit your bloodstream faster and spike your blood sugar.

You’ll have to do a little math to figure out how much starch is in your food. Food has three primary carbohydrates: starch, sugar, and fiber. To figure out how much starch is in your food, then, you’ll need to subtract the total sugars and dietary fiber from the total carbohydrates. 

There’s no formula or recommended amount for resistant starch, so all you can do to up your intake of this nutrient is to eat foods with resistant starch.

While those on certain diets may wish to moderate their intake, carbs and starches aren’t innately unhealthy for most people. In fact, they play an essential role in a diet that’s hard to replace. The important thing is obtaining them from sources that will also provide other nutrients while leaving out unhealthy additives.