Starches to me were always a 'fat delivery system'. I have no interest in potatoes without any one (or a combination) of: butter, sour cream, cheese, bacon... and so on. I can eat fries with just salt, because the fat is already in there. But hand me a baked potato with nothing on it and I'll gag at the thought.

I'm not a big fan of starches without fats and/or protein. They wreak havoc on blood sugar without something to slow the absorption of their sugars into the bloodstream, so I avoid them unless there is butter, whole-milk greek yogurt, or pulled pork involved.

BORING Even my daughter wouldn't eat mashed potatoes ever! She does now as an adult and with good pastured butter. It was always a texture issue. She doesn't like bananas either. And I don't really like sweet potatoes unless I roast them. Again, they grow in my mouth otherwise. So I guess if that is all I had to eat I would lose weight, but as soon as other food was available, I would probably binge.

Plain microwaved sweet potatoes have been a godsend for me at college. They're delicious and I can stretch one out for 1-3 meals if it's big enough. I don't even think I'd like them with butter or extra sugar.

I am not so used to sweet potatoes, so they still seem like novel food to me. Easy to eat too much, even steamed. Regular potatoes less so. I eat sweet potatoes when regular potatoes are out of season. It just seems so silly to eat tubers that they grow on other side of planet. So i propably revert back to potatoes and turnips.

My favorite potatoe is the native potatoes of Lapland. Its the original finnish potato species. The grow differently in Lapland summer where there is 24H daylight during summer. And the air there is as clean as it gets. They are a bit expencive for a potatoe (3,4eur per kg). But i am sure they are worth much more, they are better tasting and propably more nutrients and minerals.

Hmm... no seasoning at all or just salt/butter? Japanese sweet potatoes and Jewel Yams steam nicely and I eat them roasted, sorry, without seasoning all the time. Butternut squash is a a nice one as well because the flavour is quite tasty on it's own, earthy and delicious. If you're allowing spices in - a sprinkle on top that will help for sure. Curry, baking spices, etc. When I steam I just let things get to the "barely just" stage so the flavour doesn't get cooked away, how long are you letting go for?

Steaming with aromatics and broth will definitely improve the flavour as will a squeeze of lemon or lime juice and a sprinkling of fresh herbs. Manipulating the flavour naturally :)

I love starches! When I was a kid I used to boil pasta and eat it with a little salt and pepper. Now, not so much ;-)

I've been experimenting with rice flour pancakes and even ungarnished I find them delicious. If I just stick to the plain or with-bacon-and-cheese-fried-in, then I definitely have a point where I'm full.

However if I add even a tiny spoon of sugar, I'm really craving the next one and I have to drink some water and wait for the craving to subside. Kinda scary…

This makes me think that food reward is at least involved in obesity, although I think it's more to do with hyper-rewards that are outside our evolved patterns.

I LOVE plain steamed (or baked) potatoes, sweet potatoes of all kinds, yucca, steamed rice, etc. I still eat them. However it's basically impossible for me to overeat them, unless I add butter or another fat.

When I was in high school I used to take a whole microwaved sweet potato with me down to the bus stop for a warm breakfast in the winter. I found it to be quite tasty, but pretty difficult to overeat (and it kept my hands warm). Some days I would force myself to scarf down the rest of it just so I wouldn't have part of a cooked sweet potato in my bag, but usually I had some left over for a mid-morning snack.

Plain steamed tubers are decadent, in my opinion.

But would love to share this nonetheless-

If you're into some lovely Asian dessert - the Chinese Teochews enjoy yam paste with gingko nuts in a sugary syrup - what I do is sub the sugar with a teeny bit of honey, or heck the added sugar altogether.

1 lb yam

1/2 cup water

1 tsp honey

1-2 tbsps coconut cream/milk/oil

Handful of gingko nuts, steamed

Boil yam till softened then mash. Leave it on a small fire till it forms a paste. Stir in honey and coconut cream/milk/oil if desired. Garnish with steamed gingko nuts.

I personally enjoy my yams this way the best ;)

I often have a micronuked sweet potato with a tablespoon of coconut oil mashed in as a side to whetever hunk of meat I'm eating. Only in the evening though, as it tends to turn on "sleep mode".

Better with butter! :) The only potatoes I would ever eat without butter are small new potatoes because they are so succulent.

I could eat them plain without a problem, but since I have a salt wasting type deal going on, I make sure to always salt my potatoes. If my salt/potassium ratio isn't in balance I get heart palpitations.

A really tasty sweet potato can be good on its own, but it's just so much better with butter. I never could eat baked potatoes without some kind of topping...adding butter, sour cream or gravy is the only way to make them edible. Same thing with rice or pasta; they need some kind of sauce for enjoyment.

I find it's directly correlated with the source, and mostly correlated with the color intensity of the starch.

• Supermarket purely white potatoes: completely unappetizing without butter/salt; needs 1T butter per half pound.
• Farmers market white potatoes, deep yellow hue: enjoyable steamed, benefits from a bit of salt, no butter required
• Supermarket sweet potatoes (the yellowish kind, my store; Wegmans; calls them "jersey" potatoes): Needs some butter and salt.
• Supermarket yams: Enjoyable plain, benefits from a touch of butter/salt
• Farmers market sweet potatoes: No amount of salt/fat makes them any better. Deep orange hue.