In the classic food pyramid starchy foods are the basis, since they constitute that 50-60% of the daily calories recommended in a healthy diet.

We will not stop to discuss and comment on the correct combinations for preparing meals, but let's start to understand which starchy foods are and to see some examples, so that we can approach our diet more consciously.

Starchy foods: what they are

Various foods and food products are considered "starchy", due to the prevalent presence, in their composition, of starch, the reserve carbohydrate typical of the plant world .

Starch is, in fact, in the plant world the energy reserve to cope with periods of scarce nutrient availability in the soil, such as winter (such as potatoes and potatoes, are particularly rich) or to allow the first moments of seed germination and the subsequent development of the small plant.

For humans, starch has been the main food source of energy . The starch molecule has a complex structure that makes it indigestible for humans in the form present in raw foods: potatoes and rice for example should be consumed exclusively cooked.

Once ingested, through saliva, chewing and intestinal enzymes, starch is broken down into the individual sugars that make it up, or into individual glucose units.

At the intestinal level, the glucose deriving from starch is absorbed and released into the bloodstream and subsequently used by the cells for the relative metabolic processes, or stored as a short-term energy reserve (such as glycogen deposits in the muscles and the liver) or in the long term ( by converting to triglycerides in the liver and adipose area).

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Starchy foods: some examples

Where do we find starchy foods, or mainly starch?

The main foods are those most known to us, namely cereals : wheat, rice, corn, barley, rye, oats, spelled.

Cereals can be consumed in the form of grains (such as rice, spelled, barley for example) or flour (such as polenta), or used to make food products that derive from them (pasta, bread, rice, flour, starch, biscuits, breakfast cereals ...), but also flakes (famous corn or rice ones).

There are other large "families of starchy foods often frequent on our tables: tubers, starchy fruits and legumes:

> Tubers and starchy fruits : potatoes, American potatoes, Jerusalem artichokes, cassava (tropical tuber) taro, yam: roots rich in starch, with a nutritional value relatively similar to that of cereals. Even chestnuts (which are technically fruits) contain a lot of starch.

> Legumes : even legumes are a good source of starch, despite - due to their generous protein content - they are generally classified as protein foods.

The so-called " pseudocereals " used - as gluten-free - to replace wheat or wheat-based flours and their derivatives, such as, for example: buckwheat, teff, quinoa, millet, amaranth are also starchy.

Starchy foods: some nutritional advice

It is good to remember that natural starchy sources do not only contain starch, but also the other nutrients necessary for the plant and for seed germination: proteins, vitamins, mineral salts, unsaturated fats, and fibers.

Most of these nutrients are lost in the refining process : as a result, we obtain products that are rich in "empty" calories, because they are too abundant in energy and poor in essential nutrients, such as vitamins and mineral salts.

Therefore an excessive consumption of starchy foods - especially if refined - over time, and without a regular and demanding physical activity, can be responsible for overweight, obesity, insulin resistance and diabetes.

Compared to the daily food balance it will therefore be essential - to reduce the incidence of the aforementioned "wellness diseases" - to moderate the amount of starchy foods preferring the full versions, richer in nutritious and more satiating principles, giving more space to fresh vegetables and to lean proteins.