Non-starchy vegetables can benefit your health in many ways.

These vegetables are key to keeping you healthy, your gut healthy, and can help you manage your weight. Many people are confused about which vegetables are starchy and which aren’t, so I’ll explain that in this post.

What are non-starchy vegetables?

Without getting into complex organic chemistry and food science definitions of starch, non-starchy vegetables have low enough levels of starches so that they are considered to be low in carbohydrates.

Nutrition facts labels don’t list the starch content of foods.  The good news is they do list the carbohydrate levels.  This is an easy way to identify non-starchy vegetables vs starchy vegetables.

Starchy vegetables typically have about 15 grams of carbohydrates per half cup serving.

Non-starchy vegetables typically have about 5 grams of carbohydrates in a half cup serving.  Some will have slightly more, but it’s nearly always below 10 grams per half cup serving.

Raw leafy greens are even lower in carbs, with 5 grams of carbohydrates per cup.  (Another reason to love those leafy greens!)

The easy way to determine if a vegetable is non-starchy or starchy!

If you’re in the produce aisle of a grocery store or at a restaurant, you won’t have a nutrition facts label to see how many carbohydrates are in a vegetable. But the good news is there is an easy way to remember which veggies are non-starchy:

Most of the vegetables we eat in the United States are non-starchy.  So, learn this short list of starchy vegetables, and pretty much everything else would be non-starchy vegetables.

3 Reasons to eat vegetables that aren’t starchy

Non-starchy vegetables are good for you for three main reasons:

1) Non-starchy vegetables are rich in various micronutrients, phytonutrients, and “biochemicals.” All of these play an important role in helping your body respond to stress, illness, aging, and the “wear and tear” of daily life.  You can read more about this in the short article “Why eating different types of foods makes you feel better.”

2) Eating non-starchy vegetables is good for your gut health.  They provide fiber and other nutrients for your gut microbiome.  Some people think the gut microbiome is only associated with gut health issues and bowel movements.  As a registered dietitian nutritionist with years of experience working with the gut microbiome and gut health, I can tell you that’s wrong.

Your gut microbiome plays a significant role in many things, including sleep, bone health, metabolism, weight, protection from illness, blood sugar levels, and even anxiety and depression. If you want to learn more about this, read “Gut health: 9 Ways your gut microbiome affects your overall health.

What you eat can also affect how often you have a bowel movement and how easy your poop is to pass.  Eating more non-starchy vegetables can also help reduce constipation, especially if you eat vegetables in a wide range of colors.

3) Vegetables can help you to lose weight and avoid gaining weight.  They are extremely low in calories. Depending on which non-starch vegetable you choose, the calories are from about 2 to 25 per half cup serving.  (Of course, how you cook the vegetable and anything you put on it can increase this!)

These vegetables can also help you lose weight because of how much you need to chew them, how they affect how full you feel, and how they can help prevent your blood glucose from rising too high.  This is something I discuss with people when they see me for nutrition counseling sessions.

H3: Getting more of these vegetables into your day

Now that you know what non-starch vegetables are and why they are so important for your overall health, gut health, and your weight, it’s time to focus on making sure you’re eating enough of them every day and eating a wide variety of them each week.

To get started, instantly download a free chart of herbs and spices that can make 15 different non-starchy vegetables taste amazing by clicking here.

If you want personalized help with getting more non-starchy vegetables into your day, or how to discover ones that work for your health, body, and your taste buds, start by booking a free discovery call with me. We can discuss what you want to accomplish and see if working with me would be helpful.