What to Tell People You Eat

What do you tell the other mom about okay breakfast foods when Kiddo is going for a sleepover? What do you tell the babysitter if she wants to give the kids a snack? What do you tell Sister-In-Law when you are planning Thanksgiving dinner together?

While one option might be to simply hand-carry your own meals everywhere you go, sometimes it's helpful to have a list that you can just hand out, for other people to keep for a reference. Below is a link to the list that I have created for these types of things; I hope that you find it helpful!

Please note: for my kiddo, he can "cheat" with a little bit of starch from time to time. Some people might be able to tolerate more, some people might be able to tolerate less. Feel free to change, or omit, that section as it applies to you.
Foods Containing Starch and/Or Maltose

What to eat (part four)

If you are following the SCD, there are a few ingredients that are called for from time to time on this blog that you might need to substitute for. Here are some of the more common ones.

Baking Powder
Use 1/4 teaspoon baking soda plus 1 teaspoon Meyer Lemon or Key Lime Concentrate for every teaspoon of baking powder.
OR
Use 1/4 teaspoon baking soda plus 1/2 teaspoon lemon juice or apple cider vinegar.

In either case, add the acidic ingredient during the last mixing step.

Raisins
If you cannot tolerate raisins, use an equal amount of dried plums or dried apricots.

Buttermilk
I use buttermilk in many of my baked goods. Simply substitute it with an equal amount of SCD plain yogurt. In fact, you can substitute any plain yogurt for buttermilk (soy, goatsmilk, etc) if you need to avoid dairy, or you can use any plain yogurt if you don't have (or don't want to use) buttermilk.

Milk

This is not a very common ingredient in my recipes, but if it is used substitute almond or cashew milk.

Starches and flours
Only low starch, gluten free flours are ever used, and they are used very sparingly. Generally only oat flour, brown rice flour, and buckwheat flour are ever used. If you cannot tolerate these flours, or cannot have starches of any kind, substitute with 1 part coconut flour and 1 part flax meal. This may change the texture of the recipe somewhat, but it should be minimal. You may also need to add an extra egg or two, and will likely need to lower the cooking temperature by about 10%.

Flax meal

Flax meal appears in many of my recipes. If you cannot tolerate flax meal, substitute an equal amount of coconut flour. You may need to adjust the amount of liquid, likely increasing the amount of liquid somewhat.

What to eat (part three)

There are several flours that make a frequent appearance in my kitchen. Here is a list of the most common ones, and why they are chosen. The starch amount listed is per 100 grams, which is just a bit shy of 1 cup.

Almond flour
5 grams of starch (blanched)
6 grams of starch (unblanched)
One of my favorite flours, this is sometimes called almond meal. The main difference is whether the almonds have been blanched before grinding. This has a rather subtle flavor, and I often use it in savory or strongly flavored dishes. This, or any nut flour, can be made by grinding the nuts in a coffee grinder if you can't find it commercially. Just be careful not to turn it into nut butter.

Pecan flour
0 grams of starch
This is also a favorite flour. I usually use it with chocolate, stone fruits, and poultry.

Walnut flour
4 grams of starch
I don't use this that much because it often becomes too oily. However, it works well in naturally moist things like banana bread, zucchini bread or pumpkin bread.

Coconut flour
1 gram of starch
This is another common flour, especially in baked goods. It doesn't have a strong coconut flavor at all, and is useful in just about any kind of baked good. The main trick to using this is to let any batter rest for 5-10 minutes to ensure that it doesn't become grainy. I have the best results with Bob's Red Mill brand coconut flour, and this is the brand that I've used unless noted. If you use another brand, you may need more or less liquid than called for in the recipe, so please keep this in mind.

Flax meal/ground flax seeds
0 grams of starch
For appearance I prefer golden flax meal, but I haven't noticed much difference in the quality or texture of baked goods, so feel free to use either variety that you have on hand.

Buckwheat flour
58 grams of starch
Because this is somewhat high in starch, I use it sparingly. However, occasionally it is well suited for the recipe in very small amounts.

Oat flour
59 grams of starch
Again, this is somewhat high in starch so it is used sparingly. It has a much more mild flavor than buckwheat flour, so it is my flour of choice when I need a small amount of starch in the recipe.

What to eat (part two)

My child is lucky and can tolerate ordinary table sugar (sucrose) just fine, but I know that many children can't. Here are some simple ways to convert the recipes found on this blog so they can work for you.

Substitutes for granular sugar
1 Tsp Stevia=1 Cup Sugar
1/2 Tsp Stevia=1 Tbsp Sugar
A pinch of Stevia=1 Tsp sugar

Substitute for brown sugar
Substitute as for granular sugar. Additionally, add 1/8 teaspoon maple or anise extract for every 1/2 cup of sugar replaced.

Substitute for powdered sugar
1 Tsp Stevia + 1 tsp cornstarch =1 Cup powdered sugar

Substitutes for molasses
Use an equal amount of dark corn syrup plus 1/4 teaspoon maple or anise extract. Depending on the recipe, you may find that you need to increase the amount of other spices in the recipe. You may also use liquid creme Stevia if you prefer.

Substitute for honey
Although there is very little sucrose in honey (on average less than 2%) many people can't tolerate it at all. In this case, use an equal amount of light corn syrup.

FAQs

What is Glucoamylase Deficiency?

The best answer is really here (the official, wordy answer). But basically it means that the person lacks the enzyme that breaks down starch. That person is "starch intolerant", but the symptoms can be very severe, and starch needs to be eliminated from the diet.

Most people are familiar with lactose intolerance- the person is missing the enzyme that breaks down the milk sugar Lactose. Once the person develops it, it's a life long problem. The only "cure" is to avoid diary products, or to take an enzyme replacement like Lactaid. The missing starch enzyme works kind of the same way, but the symptoms are usually much more than just than the tummy ache that one would get from lactose intolerance.

A similar enzyme deficiency is Sucrase-Isomaltase deficiency. This is not the disorder that my kiddo has, but they are similar conditions. I try to address the need to eliminate sucrose for these kiddos in many of my recipes, just because I know how tough these diets can be.

What kinds of recipes do you have?

All kinds. My main focus is on creating starch free baked goods, both sweet and savory. However, there is a pretty wide variety of recipes that I post.

What does "starch free" or "low starch" mean?

For the purposes of this blog, I define "low starch" to mean less than 10 grams of starch per serving. I define "starch free" to mean less than 1 gram of starch per serving, unless there is known starch from added flour in the recipe. I usually state how much starch per serving is in the recipe so you can make informed choices.

How do you figure out what the starch content is?

My main resource is Nutrition Data. Keep in mind that the starch content can vary slightly depending on measuring variances, serving sizes, and because most of these ingredients are natural foods. A medium apple has 2 grams of starch, but if you were to misjudge it and decide that your large apple was actually a medium one the amount of starch you'd consume would be slightly more. Also, most fruits and vegetables naturally convert their sugars to starches during storage, so older apples will have a higher starch content than their freshly-picked counterparts (and this goes for the rest of the fruits and vegetables you'll see here). I try to give you as much information possible regarding starch content, and you can help keep the starch numbers low by using the freshest produce available.

Can I request a recipe?

Sure. Simply Contact Me and let me know what you'd like to see. I'll do my best.

This is a cooking blog. Why aren't there a million pictures like some blogs have?

There are several reasons for this. First, it makes it easier for people who subscribe to the blog to read.

Second, the majority of these recipes aren't nouveau French cuisine. Most people know what a muffin or a cupcake looks like, after all. I know how to "add next three ingredients to mixing bowl", and I'm pretty sure that the vast majority of other cooks out there do too. We don't need a picture to show us how.

For that reason, I personally dislike having to scroll through photo tutorials with a lot of unnecessary pictures. I'll add pictures when it's necessary or helpful, but my posts will not (generally) be full of photos.

I love these recipes! Can I share them?

Sure, I'd love for you to share these recipes! However, these are all my own recipes, not things I've cobbled together from the internet. So if you share them, please just share the blog link and do not copy/paste or otherwise post them.

What to eat (part one)

I am going to have periodic posts that include some of the resources that have been the most helpful for me.

Nutrition Data
This site has been fantastic to help me determine how much starch is in a particular ingredient, allowing me to make smart choices while I'm cooking.

Honeyville Grain
The cheapest almond flour I've ever found.

Surratt Farms
I prefer pecan or walnut meal when making cookies, and this is the best place to get pecan meal.