The Not So Sweet Potato : The Scoop on Vegetable Starches


Dr. Graham talks about vegetable starches, addresses the cooking of starches, and answers the question of eating sweet potatoes, potatoes, pumpkins and other winter squashes raw.


“There must be some cooked foods that we can eat that aren’t harmful.”

 

“There must be some cooked foods that we can eat that aren’t harmful.” Such is the chant of the cooked food addict, or, if seen from the other side of the coin, the person not yet ready to adopt a wholly raw lifestyle.

Unfortunately, the facts are in, and the cooked food story just isn’t sweet at all. Plants store their primary fuel, sugar, in much the same was as do animals, by converting the sugars into a complex form known as starch. (In animals, what is referred to as starch in plants is known as glycogen.) By definition, starch is tasteless, telling us that we do not possess the digestive enzymes to access the sugars from which it is comprised. Only after cooking the starch so as to break it down to simple sugars does starch taste sweet even slightly sweet. Even the sweet potato does not taste sweet until it is cooked. But cooking carries profound consequences. In the late ’90’s, heating of carbohydrates came under scrutiny with the discovery of the Class 1 carcinogen acrylamide in baked potatoes. People eating cooked foods may prefer to forget this fact, but many states across the US have already passed laws making it illegal to cook complex carbohydrates without posting a warning notice to patrons about the dangers of acrylamide.

Only after cooking the starch so as to break it down to simple sugars does starch taste sweet even slightly sweet.

Protein in the form of DNA is in the nucleus of every cell, including those of the sweet potato. Proteins denature when heated, in a way that results in the formation of “enzyme resistant, cross-linked” bonds. We simply do not have the digestive enzymes to make proper use of the proteins in cooked foods. Instead, the human body recognizes such proteins as foreign, and attacks them, resulting in a wide range of auto-immune conditions.

The best reason for eating an all-raw diet is that you feel better. But science provides many other reason, including exposure to cancer causing carcinogens, age-promoting mutagens, and even the teratogens that result in birth defects. The next time you are tempted to eat a baked sweet potato, consider the facts, and choose to satiate yourself with fruit.

Of course, some people ask about eating the starchy vegetables in their raw state. Raw potato, raw sweet potato, raw pumpkin and other such vegetables are edible, and if prepared properly, can even be quite enjoyable. They are no substitute for fruit, however, as most people find that they can only eat such foods in relatively small quantities, or if eating a larger quantity, fairly infrequently. Where you might eat salad every night for dinner, or mango or banana for lunch every day, no one sits down to a meal of raw potato, pumpkin, or yam day after day. In fact, most people find these starchy foods quite unappetizing in their whole, natural state, and can only enjoy them when prepped in specific ways, usually processed sufficiently so that much less chewing is required, and with sufficient flavoring enhancement so that the starch is being used as a carrier for the added flavors.

Certainly there is room within The 80/10/10 Diet to enjoy the occasional noodle, pudding, ice cream, or pie filling made from a starchy vegetable, but these treats are to be eating in addition to a fruit-based diet, and not intended to replace the consumption of fresh fruit.

Additional Resources

Articles:

Retreats:


Amp Up Your Fitness


Practical Skills To Thrive


Self-Study Materials:


The 80/10/10 Diet


Grain Damage


The Cause Of Health


Making Friends
with Your Food
DVDs


Making Friends
with Your Food
Online


Raw Nutritional Science:
Part 1

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About Dr. Doug Graham

Dr. Douglas Graham, a lifetime athlete and raw fooder since 1978, is an advisor to world-class and motivated athletes and trainers from around the globe. He has worked professionally with top performers from almost every sport and every field of entertainment, including such notables as tennis legend Martina Navratilova, NBA pro basketball players Ronnie Grandison and Michael Porter Jr., track Olympic sprinter Doug Dickinson, pro women's soccer player Callie Withers, championship bodybuilder Kenneth G. Williams, Chicken Soup for the Soul coauthor Mark Victor Hansen, and actress Demi Moore. As owner of a fasting retreat in the Florida Keys for ten years, Dr. Graham personally supervised thousands of fasts. He was in private practice as a chiropractor for twenty years, before retiring to focus on his writing and speaking. Dr. Graham is the author of many books on health and raw food including The 80/10/10 Diet, The High Energy Diet Recipe Guide, Nutrition and Athletic Performance, Grain Damage, Prevention and Care of Athletic Injuries, and his latest, Perpetual Health 365. He has shared his strategies for success with audiences at more than 4,000 presentations worldwide. Recognized as one of the fathers of the modern raw movement, Dr. Graham is the only lecturer to have attended and given keynote presentations at all of the major raw events in the world for each of the last eight years. Dr. Graham has served on the board of governors of the International Association of Professional Natural Hygienists and the board of directors of the American Natural Hygiene Society. He is on the board of advisors of Voice for a Viable Future, Living Light Films, Vegetarian Union of North America, and EarthSave International and serves as nutrition advisor for the magazine Exercise, For Men Only. Dr. Graham is the raw foods and fitness advisor for The801010Forum.com. He taught the Health Educator program at Hippocrates Institute, served as the "source authority" for Harmonious Living, and authors a column for the magazines Get Fresh! and Vibrance (previously known as Living Nutrition). Dr. Graham is the creator of "Simply Delicious" cuisine and director of Health and Fitness Week, which provides Olympic-class training and nutrition for people of all fitness levels in beautiful settings around the world. He will inspire, motivate, educate, and entertain you like no one else in the health movement can.