Desk of Contents[Hide][Show]
5 wholesome, scrumptious potato substitutes which can be non-starchy with very related texture for all of your low-carb, gut-healing, or keto-inspired dishes.
As I used to be choosing 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 full GAPS food regimen 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 residence broth-making endeavors within the coming week.
Why Use a Potato Substitute?
There are a few the reason why you may want to think about using potato substitutes often on the house menu.
First, avoiding starchy potatoes is a should in case you are consuming low-carb or following a keto protocol for a time to lose just a few kilos shortly.
Secondly, when you have any kind of intestine points, you will need to skip white and candy potatoes (additionally very starchy) within the food regimen.
Starch may be very onerous 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 nice flora.
In a nutshell, avoiding starch, a minimum of 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 many who have hassle digesting starch or are in any other case consuming low-carb to drop just a few kilos, a superb potato substitute that imparts an analogous 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 determine the 5 greatest options to potatoes, I wish to make clear that potatoes are a wholesome, conventional meals.
Simply because you should keep away from potatoes for some time as a consequence of digestive or different well being points doesn’t make them unhealthy!
It simply implies that you should go a special path dietarily to get to a more healthy model of your self.
In our residence, my husband doesn’t eat white or candy potatoes as a consequence of following the GAPS food regimen.
Nevertheless, my kids and I eat them steadily.
So, when I’m getting ready a meal that features potatoes, I take care so as to add a aspect dish of one in every of these potato substitutes under 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 you’ll want to all the time cook dinner it!
Cruciferous greens are greatest by no means eaten uncooked as a result of excessive goitrogenic elements 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 solution to put together is to toss one or two right into a pot of simmering pot of do-it-yourself 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 combined 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 basis.
The turnip has a novel taste that takes some getting used to in line with my style buds.
My husband and one in every of 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 do-it-yourself bone broth, I desire to cut and roast them individually in butter. To me, the robust turnip taste simply turns into infused with broth or soups to adverse impact.
Briefly, turnips are undoubtedly a private desire! However, simply because I don’t look after them, don’t be delay. You may love them!
Should you cook dinner for the entire household, one of many different selections 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 regimen, this nonstarchy root vegetable even seems like a potato when peeled and able to cook dinner.
You possibly can peel, chop and boil them till smooth after which mash with butter and milk to make low-starch mashed potatoes.
One other tasty possibility is to peel, chop and roast rutabaga within the oven with butter, sea salt, and pepper till smooth for a baked potato-style aspect dish.
Cauliflower
Cauliflower is maybe the most well-liked low-starch potato substitute that’s most generally out there in supermarkets.
In case you are consuming low carb to heal leaky intestine, nonetheless, notice that cauliflower florets solely are permitted for all 6 phases of the GAPS Intro Food regimen.
GAPS Intro Food regimen phases 3-6 incorporate cauliflower stalks as effectively. (1)
Hold 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 smooth, 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 aspect 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 perform.
Celeriac
Maybe the least identified of the potato options, celeriac is an excellent possibility to think about.
Like cauliflower stems, celeriac is reserved for the later phases of GAPS when some intestine therapeutic has occurred. (1)
Nevertheless, get pleasure from it anytime as a potato sub in case you are low-carb for weight administration functions solely.
As you will have guessed from the identify, celeriac is definitely the basis bulb of the celery plant.
Therefore, it’s extra frequent identify … celery root.
Thus, when you have your personal backyard, rising celery is sensible. You need to use 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 have to be totally cooked.
One other tip. Celeriac tastes rather a lot like parsnips, which isn’t allowed at any of the 6 phases of Intro GAPS and even the common GAPS Food regimen as a consequence of its greater starch content material. (2, 3)
Thus, in case you are on this gut-healing food regimen and miss parsnips in addition to potatoes, celeriac is certainly a sensible choice as an alternative to each!
(1) GAPS Intro Meat and Potatoes
(2) Common GAPS Food regimen meals checklist
(3) Intestine and Psychology Syndrome
