The following starchy foods are high enough in calories that they can serve as the center of a meal:
Whole Grains
- barley
- oats
- brown rice
- quinoa (pronounced “keen-wa”)
- buckwheat
- rye
- bulgur (cracked wheat)
- triticale
- couscous (refined wheat)
- wheat berries
- corn
- wild rice
- millet
Unrefined Flours
- barley
- rice
- buckwheat
- rye
- corn
- soy
- garbanzo beans
- triticale
- lima bean
- wheat
- oat
- whole wheat pastry
- potato
Egg-Free Pastas
Pastas come in many shapes including spaghetti, macaroni, lasagna noodles, flat noodles, spirals, wheels, alphabet noodles. Most of these are made from highly refined flours and therefore should play a small role in your diet.
- artichoke pasta
- tomato pasta
- corn pasta (no wheat)
- whole wheat pasta
- spinach pasta
- rice pasta (no wheat)
- bean pasta
- lentil pasta
Asian Noodles
Most of these are made from highly refined flours and therefore should play a small role in your diet.
- bean threads
- somen
- buckwheat soba
- udon
- rice noodles
Roots
- burdock
- sweet potatoes
- celeriac (celery root)
- tapioca
- Jerusalem artichoke (sunchoke)
- taro root
- jicama
- water chestnuts
- parsnips
- white potatoes
- rutabaga
- yams
(Carrots, beets, turnips, daikon, and salsify are low in carbohydrates and calories and so are not considered starch staples.)
Winter Squashes
- butternut
- acorn
- Hubbard
- banana
- pumpkin
- buttercup
- turban squash
(Summer squashes usually cannot serve as the center of a meal because of their low calorie content. They are also lower in carbohydrates than winter squashes.)
Legumes
Beans:
- aduki (azuki)
- red kidney
- black
- mung
- fava (broad)
- navy
- garbanzo (chick-peas)
- pink
- great northern
- pinto
- limas
- white kidney (cannellini)
(Soybeans cannot be considered a starch staple because they are too high in fat to be allowed on the diet regularily.)
Lentils:
- brown
- red
- green
Peas:
- black-eyed
- split yellow
- split green
- whole green
