Until Dr. Carney has a chance to answer your question Norma Jean, I thought you might be interested in my experience.  I have been thriving on a gluten-free vegan diet for decades.  The whole grains I eat regularly are teff, millet, sorghum, quinoa, buckwheat (NOT related to wheat) and all colours of rice.  

These are excellent for people who want to normalize their blood sugar because they are low in fat & high in the complex carbohydrates that help us optimize our insulin sensitivity.  For more on that, please read on the following link what Dr. Michael Greger has to say about diabetes (which includes prediabetes).  There are also links in the article to numerous short videos you may also find helpful.  :-)

https://nutritionfacts.org/topics/diabetes/

Thank you very much Deborah.  I also have been living well for years without Gluten. :-)

Thanks so much Deborah! You are appreciated! Do you mind if I ask how you feel about sugar issues when eating potatoes?

Norma Jean, I tend to avoid potatoes (mostly) in favour of sweet potatoes.  To me, most regular potatoes have a bitter flavour that I find unpleasant.  My understanding is that the bitter taste is the solanine common among the Nightshade family of veggies: tomatoes, potatoes, peppers & eggplant.  I seen to be one of the group of folks who do better with less of these foods.  Thankfully, I can choose yams or squash, or whole grains instead.  We are so fortunate to have choices when it comes to foods!  :-)  

Thank you Deborah! I had the same feeling about white potatoes, so I will go back to my sweet potatoes!

Sorry, sent too soon! Deborah I meant to ask about how you use sorghum, teff, millet, and buckwheat? I've only been eating brown rice, quinoa, oats. Thanks!

LOL!  No worries Norma Jean!  I press send too soon sometimes too.  :-)  

All of those grains can be ground into flour and used in gluten-free baking, if you want to do that.

I rarely bake though, so I usually serve them as the starch for lunch or dinner; or slow-cook them overnight for our hot breakfast cereal.  

I find that 1/3 cup sorghum, or millet or buckwheat with 2 cups of water makes a good amount per person for breakfast.  

Whole grain teff is VERY tiny... the size of a pencil dot... so it cooks better in a pot on the stove as one might do rice or oatmeal.  For it, I use 1/4 cup per 2 cups of water per person.  

It makes me SO happy to see our members helping each other out. :-)

Hi Deborah, Dr. Carney's starch smartest info states to use no flours of any kind. Does that include gluten free bean pasta, or polenta corn grits? Trying my best to stay under the 10% fat limit, and quinoa is higher than that, and I believe amaranth is also. I'm finding a lot of info on www.wholegrainscouncil.org have you checked that out?

Hello Norma Jean,

For the Starch-Smartest program there is not even the grinding of grains. Basically whole grains in tact. This is designed for a very therapeutic program of for significant weight loss. The pasta and polenta would be OK in the Starch-Smarter program. This is the text from the write up about grains in the Starch-Smaretest program: 

Grains:

All grains or grain-like seeds must be unprocessed (except for cooking), whole and intact. Grains should be cooked to help break down the strong cell walls so that the body can best access the nutrition in them. Because grinding grains into flour is a form of processing, the seriously ill should avoid food products made with flour of any kind.

So, you may find that Starch-Smarter program is more to your liking and might actually suit your needs just fine. 

Here is a spreadsheet you can download with side by side comparisons: 

https://www.drcarney.com/images/starch_smart/handouts/Starch-SmartSystemLevels.pdf

Sean

Thank you for the clarification Sean! Actually I've had the problem of LOSING weight, I only weighed 93 first thing this morning!  My main concern is my blood sugar at this point. So what gluten free whole grain pasta do you recommend?

We generally purchase the brown rice pasta from Trader Joes. But, there are other places that sell it also. We are not big pasta eaters but occastionally we make it and enjoy it. :-)  I am very slender too so need to make sure not to lose weight. But, that is where beans and root vegetables and grains comes in. :-)

Sean

Sorry to keep asking questions, Sean, but would that mean that bean pasta and corn tortillas would fit the starch-smarter program? I'm still struggling to get my blood sugar down, so do I need to stick with the starch smartest at the time being?  This next question is addressed to Deborah, since I have celiac disease. I'm having trouble finding millet, amaranth, and buckwheat that are "certified" gluten free. In fact, they do not even have gluten free on the package, although those grains are naturally gluten free. I'm assuming there's cross contamination issues is why? Any suggestions? I seem to be limited to only rice, and with the arsenic issues, that, too can be a problem! Quinoa doesn't fit the starch-smartest level Due to being about 14% fat. Thanks for all your help!

Norma Jean, as you say, millet, amaranth & buckwheat are all naturally gluten-free.  They are in a different botanical families than the gluten-bearing grains.  I use the whole grains, whole, so it's easy to see if there is any cross contamination from other grains in the grain.  If there were any wheat, rye, barley or oats, they would show up when I am measuring out the whole grains.  Millet, amaranth & buckwheat all look completely different than the gluten-grains which are long & slim, a bit like grains of rice.  Millet & amaranth are both small round grains; buckwheat looks like a teeny tiny tricorn hat.  LOL  Sorghum is related to millet, and teff looks a lot like amaranth but tastes even better.  :-)

Personally, I think quinoa is good choice when eating a low-fat vegan diet. It's highly nutritious, adds variety & 14% fat is within the range of low-fat when you eat it as *part* of a low-fat meal with vegetables, legumes & fruits.  If you were trying to eat ONLY quinoa, that would be different!  LOL  Thankfully, we have many food options and can enjoy quinoa as a small part of a larger diet.  The high fat plant foods that we need to avoid start at 50% fat (soy) and go up from there.  My understanding is that people with diabetes typically recover their insulin sensitivity while including quinoa in their diet. 

I have heard that most celiacs can tolerate millet even if it not marketed as 'gluten free.' i use a gluten-free diet as I am very sensitive to gluten. We have enjoyed millet as a breakfast cereal and I have made bread with it.

I also eat a gluten free diet and can freely eat Millet without any of the problems that I get from gluten. :-)

Norm Jean,  I also have celiac disease and I know from my celiac classes I took at the Mayo Clinic that a celiac should not be purchasing any product that is either not marked “gluten free” on the packing, or without placing a call to the company to verify there is no risk of cross-contamination.  From many of the calls I have made, you will find that most grains are cross-contaminated from being produced or packaged on the same lines as gluten-containing grains. I have found that Bob’s Red Mill offers many safe certified gluten free grains, so I buy many of those. If not available in stores near you, you can surely purchase them online.  I hope this helps :)