Chips, fried rice and pasta under a thick cream sauce all sit on a starchy base. The NHS page "Starchy foods and carbohydrates" doesn't tell anyone to drop the starch. It says starchy foods such as potatoes, bread, rice, pasta and cereals should make up just over a third of the food you eat. Its warning is about what goes on them, because the added fats you use when you cook and serve them will increase the calorie content. The five substitutes below keep the starch and change the cooking or the topping. Figures per 100 g come from USDA FoodData Central (FDC, SR Legacy records, last updated April 2019).
Why the topping matters more than the starch
The NHS notes that some people think starchy foods are fattening, but gram for gram they contain fewer than half the calories of fat. FDC puts plain cooked white rice (FDC 168878) at 130 kcal per 100 g. Salted butter (FDC 173410) has 717 kcal per 100 g. Per 100 g, that is more than five times the calories of the rice.
Five starchy substitutes for junk meals
1. Chips for a baked potato with the skin on
The NHS is direct here: French fries and other chips cooked in oil or served with salt are not a healthy choice. Its lunch and dinner tips suggest a baked potato, eating the skin for even more fibre, or oven-baked potato wedges instead of chips. FDC's restaurant French fries record (FDC 169836) lists 289 kcal, 14.0 g of fat and 357 mg of sodium per 100 g. A potato baked in its skin without salt (FDC 170093) has 93 kcal, 0.13 g of fat and 10 mg of sodium. Fibre comes out at 2.2 g for the baked potato and 3.9 g for the fries, so the gain from this swap is in fat and sodium, not fibre.
2. Buttery mash for mash made with lower-fat milk
For mashed potato, the NHS suggests lower-fat milk such as semi-skimmed, 1% fat or skimmed milk instead of whole milk or cream, and lower-fat spreads or small amounts of unsaturated oil when cooking or serving potatoes. FDC has two home-made mash records that differ only in the butter. Mash with whole milk and butter (FDC 168555) has 113 kcal, 4.22 g of fat and 2.61 g of saturated fat per 100 g. Mash with whole milk alone (FDC 170493) has 83 kcal, 0.57 g of fat and 0.302 g of saturated fat. Swapping the milk cuts a little more: whole milk (FDC 171265) has 3.25 g of fat per 100 g, and 1% milk (FDC 170872) has 0.97 g.
3. Takeaway fried rice for plain boiled rice
The NHS calls rice and grains an excellent choice of starchy food, low in fat and good value for money. FDC's restaurant fried rice without meat (FDC 167668) has 174 kcal, 2.96 g of fat and 387 mg of sodium per 100 g. Plain cooked white rice (FDC 168878) has 130 kcal, 0.28 g of fat and 1 mg of sodium. Cooking rice at home brings some rules from the same NHS page with it: serve rice as soon as it is cooked, or cool it within 1 hour, keep it in the fridge, and eat it within 24 hours. Rice should not be reheated more than once.
4. Pasta in cream sauce for more pasta and less sauce
One of the NHS dinner tips is to have more rice or pasta and less sauce, but not to skip the vegetables. FDC shows what cream adds when it is the base of a sauce. Heavy whipping cream (FDC 170859) has 340 kcal, 36.1 g of fat and 23.0 g of saturated fat per 100 g. Plain cooked pasta without added salt (FDC 169737) has 158 kcal and 0.93 g of fat. The NHS "8 tips for healthy eating" page puts the daily saturated fat guide at no more than 30 g for men and 20 g for women on average. The NHS also says wholewheat or wholegrain pasta is healthier than ordinary pasta, as it contains more fibre.
5. A sugary cereal for porridge with fruit
The fifth swap is at breakfast. The NHS "8 tips" page names sugary breakfast cereals among the foods that contain free sugars, and the starchy foods page warns that many cereal products in the UK are refined, with low wholegrain content, and can be high in added salt and sugar. Its breakfast tips are wholegrain cereals, plain porridge with fruit, or whole oats with fruit and low-fat, lower-sugar yoghurt. Plain oats (FDC 173904, dry) list 0.99 g of total sugars per 100 g. When you buy cereal, the NHS advice is to check the food labels to compare products.
Where Sayer dates fit in these meals
Sayer, also traded as Stamaran, is an amber-brown, semi-dry date from Khuzestan in Iran. FDC has no Sayer record. Its Deglet Noor record (FDC 171726) gives a picture of a dried date in general: 282 kcal, 0.39 g of fat, 2 mg of sodium and 63.4 g of total sugars per 100 g. On sugar, that is high by the NHS label rule, which calls more than 22.5 g of total sugars per 100 g high.
The NHS 5 A Day page counts a 30 g portion of dried fruit, such as currants, dates, sultanas and figs, as 1 of your 5 A Day, and says it should be eaten at mealtimes, not as a snack between meals. Porridge with fruit, swap 5, is a meal where a 30 g portion of chopped dates can go into the bowl, which keeps them at a mealtime.
A Malay-language site on dates is linked here: go to my site. Other articles are on the blog page. More about this site is on the About Us page and the contact page.
This article is general food information, not personal dietary advice. If you have a medical condition or follow a special diet, talk to your GP or a registered dietitian before changing what you eat.