What is a Starch-Free Diet? (FREE Starch-Free Food List PDF Included)

“Is it keto?”

“Is it the same as gluten-free?”

“Paleo sounds pretty close to that?”

When learning about a starch-free diet for ankylosing spondylitis my first thought was, “Ok, so I cut the grains? That’s doable!” 

However, the more I read, the more impossible a starch-free diet seemed. In many parts of the world (including mine), starchy foods are absolute staples: biscuits and bagels, pasta and pizza, and cereal and sandwiches were only the obvious starchy foods! In addition to those, I learned that all grains and even certain fruits and vegetables contain starch!

What is left to eat?!

I became more hesitant.

I quickly learned that a starch-free diet is automatically free of gluten while a gluten-free diet isn’t necessarily free of starch. For example, rice, quinoa, and potatoes are gluten-free but not free of starch. As such, a starch-free diet is more restrictive than a gluten-free diet.

A starch-free diet can be a ketogenic diet, but it does not have to be. When I first started my elimination diet (starch-free AIP) I limited the variety of foods I ate to only foods that were very unlikely to increase the inflammation in my body. My ultimate goal was to eliminate (or at least reduce) inflammation which, I hoped, would result in reduced ankylosing spondylitis symptoms. Therefore, I went on a low-carb, sugar-free, dairy-free, nut-free, nightshade-free elimination diet. As a result, my diet was ketogenic.

With time, this elimination diet provided significant relief but it was very limiting. It was also important to me to have a greater variety of nutrient-dense foods in my diet. Therefore, I started to individually re-introduce starch-free foods, carefully and meticulously noting any possible reactions to these foods. I hoped to reach a diet that I felt was sustainable long-term. Amongst many other foods, I successfully re-introduced starch-free fruits and natural sweeteners while continuing to limit my dairy intake. Thus, my starch-free diet became less like a keto diet and more like a starch-free paleo diet. A starch-free diet isn’t strictly paleo or keto, but, it is always gluten-free (and more!).

It appears that starch is a common culprit for inducing AS-related symptoms. As such, I have included numerous starch-free recipes on this site. I also created ‘nightshade-free’, ‘egg-free’, ‘dairy-free’, ‘nut-free’, and ‘gluten-free’ search categories because many other individual restrictions are also critical to cater to. For example, some people may react poorly to nuts while others may not. Ultimately, everybody is unique. Starch-Free Feasting‘s goal is to inspire everyone to thrive on a diet that best suits their individual needs through the sharing of suitable recipes.

The starch content in certain foods like apples or cauliflower can vary greatly depending on the variety, region grown, and ripening time. These variables caused me to feel overwhelmed with the starch-free diet. To make a starch-free diet less overwhelming for you, I am sharing an unofficial ‘Starch-Free Foods’ list (as well as lists of medium and high starch foods, which I need to avoid) below.

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Please help yourself to the FREE downloadable PDFs below.

• The list of STARCH FREE FOODS in the downloadable PDF below is meant to be a loose guide. This is not an exhaustive list.
• An iodine test will most accurately examine your foods for starch content. In general, the foods on this list are my ‘safe foods’.
• It should be noted that I did not experience full relief of symptoms until even trace starches (such as those found in supplements) were removed from my diet. This is not the case for everyone.

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Please Note: The list of MEDIUM STARCH FOODS in the downloadable PDF below is meant to be a loose guide. An iodine test will most accurately examine your foods for starch content. In general, I use caution with the foods on this list.

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Please Note: An iodine test will most accurately examine your foods for starch content. Personally, I avoid the foods on the list of HIGH STARCH FOODS as I experience increased inflammation when eating these foods.

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