Starchy Foods and Carbohydrates

Starchy foods and fibre

Wholegrain varieties of starchy foods and potatoes (particularly when eaten with their skin on) are good sources of fibre.

Fibre is the name given to a range of substances found in the cell walls of vegetables, fruits, pulses and cereal grains. 

Fibre that cannot be digested helps other food and waste products to move through the gut.

Potato skins, wholegrain bread and breakfast cereals, brown rice, and wholewheat pasta are all good sources of this kind of fibre.

Fibre can help keep your bowels healthy and can help you feel full, which means you’re less likely to eat too much.

This makes wholegrain starchy foods and potatoes eaten with their skin on a particularly good choice if you’re trying to lose weight.

Some types of fibre found in fruits and vegetables – such as apples, carrots, potatoes – and in oats and pulses can be partly digested and may help reduce the amount of cholesterol in your blood.

Tips for eating more starchy foods

These tips can help you increase the amount of starchy foods in your diet.

Breakfast

• Choose wholegrain cereals, or mix some in with your favourite healthy breakfast cereals.
• Plain porridge with fruit makes a warming winter breakfast.
• Whole oats with fruit and low-fat, lower-sugar yoghurt makes a tasty summer breakfast.
• Try some left over potatoes – in hash browns or potato scones.

Lunch and dinner

• Try a baked potato for lunch – eat the skin for even more fibre.
• Instead of having chips or frying potatoes, try making oven-baked potato wedges.
• Have more rice or pasta and less sauce – but do not skip the vegetables.
• Try breads such as seeded, wholemeal or granary. When you choose wholegrain varieties, you’ll also increase the amount of fibre you’re eating.
• Try brown rice – it makes a very tasty rice salad.

Types of starchy foods

Potatoes

Potatoes are a great choice of starchy food and a good source of energy, fibre, B vitamins and potassium. 

In the UK, we also get a lot of our vitamin C from potatoes. Although potatoes only contain a small amount of vitamin C, we generally eat a lot of them. They’re good value for money and can be a healthy choice.

Although potatoes are a vegetable, in the UK we mostly eat them as the starchy food part of a meal, and they’re a good source of carbohydrate in our diet.

Because of this, potatoes do not count towards your five portions of fruit and vegetables a day, but they can have an important role in your diet. 

Potatoes are a healthy choice when boiled, baked, mashed or roasted with only a small amount of fat or oil and no added salt. 

French fries and other chips cooked in oil or served with salt are not a healthy choice.

When cooking or serving potatoes, go for lower-fat or polyunsaturated spreads, or small amounts of unsaturated oils, such as olive or sunflower oil.

For mashed potato, use lower-fat milk, such as semi-skimmed, 1% fat or skimmed milk, instead of whole milk or cream.

Leave potato skins on where possible, to keep more of the fibre and vitamins. For example, eat the skin when you have boiled or baked potatoes.

If you boil potatoes, some nutrients will leak out into the water, especially if you have peeled them. To stop this happening, only use enough water to cover them and cook them only for as long as they need.

Storing potatoes in a cool, dark and dry place or in the fridge will help stop them sprouting. Do not eat any green, damaged or sprouting bits of potatoes, as these can contain toxins that can be harmful.

Other starchy foods such as bread, cereal products, rice and grains and pasta are important in your diet.