Hi,
I have been listening to various keto podcasts, where they mention healthy carbs you can ocasionally introduce (be it around workouts, or for women in particular days of the menstrual cycle). I think I’m experiencing a language barrier 
Sweet potatoes I get (= batatas), but what the hell are “plantenes”? I’m not sure how to spell it, but after trying to google it I end up with bananas, which can’t be right?
A plantain is a fruit but considered a vegetable. When green, they are bland and starchy, much like a yucca root or potato. Medium ripe plantains are yellow or yellow dappled with black, and they are slightly sweet. When the skins have turned almost black, the plantains are fully ripe, aromatic and sweet.
I never had one 
no interest LOL
Back when I tried paleo and “resistant starch” for a short time, I tried these:
They were very good, but still cause high blood sugar. And resistant starch – for me – made things worse, not better.
It’s a somewhat less sweet banana according to my experiences (it was green and sweet but yeah, I already felt sweetness more strongly at that point). The usage is different too. People usually use it for cooking, not eating raw as a properly sweet banana. I would use it similarly to a batata as it’s sweet but not a proper fruit to be eaten raw…
I don’t really have healthy carbs (except the animal ones ;)) and never felt the need for extra carbs yet so I don’t try to eat such things. Way too much carbs find their way into my life anyway… It’s best for me to avoid plants. But it’s just me. I am aware many people function better with some amount of carbs.
But plantains are very carby so obviously not for keto or in quite small amounts. It may be worth it for someone…
Hah, so it kinda IS a banana yeah, doesn’t seem tempting, I’ll look around for some alternatives. @Shinita: for me I feel like I do need to add a little carbs. No labs to prove it yet, but I feel like my cycle and hormones suffered a bit from too strict keto and too much TRF / IF, especially now that I’m getting back into sports. I think I might have been lying to myself that regurarly working out after 20h fasting is “just fine”. I guess it’s different for everyone, but I feel I have a long way to go still to figure stuff out, so gonna experiment a bit. For example I’ve found that a small piece (50g) of sweet potato spikes my glucose instantly while a handful of raspberries doesn’t, like at all.
If you’ve never heard of plantains, they might not have them where you are. Yes, they’re a kind of non-sweet banana, and they’re usually treated as a vegetable.
Personally, I prefer sweet potatoes …
Plantains are an acquired taste, I think. When I was young, we attended a church with a large Hispanic congregation, and some of my friends would go wild when their mothers made fried plantains, but I never found them all that interesting. Even when Mrs. Quiles and Mrs. Lopez, who were phenomenal cooks, and whose arroz con pollo was to die for, made fried plantains, I couldn’t muster up enthusiasm for them. So an acquired taste, definitely.
Tastier but very sweet. I am not often in the mood for very sweet… Plantain was much sweeter than I expected too as I didn’t know it’s sweet at all… It was nice though. My body is fine with starches - but even better without plant carbs so it’s easy for me but if I want to eat carbs for some reason, the less sugar, the better.
And potatoes are tastier than the plantain I had, it was merely exotic and very expensive… (I only see it once or twice in my life, it’s not really a thing here.) I probably would use cheap, simple, everyday starches if I needed extra carbs as I like them just fine. Potato has its very unique wonderful taste anyway. It was my old huge fav, it was easy to stop eating it though…
Much carbs while still keto, I did that with normal vegs and oily seeds and fruits. If it’s just carbs, we have zillion options… Everyone should figure out what they prefer
Plantains are like more mature bananas. More of a vegetable as not usually eaten raw. They can be green/unripe…or yellow/ripe. Usually peeled then sliced&fried…or roasted whole. Some people boil them but rarely so.
Plaintains are quite starchy. They can be sweeter than bananas when ripe & fried - as they caramelize.
Same family as banana, taste totally different. Some mash them like potato’s that I’ve never been a fan of, and many cases they’re fried like a desert, which is amazing, but typically covered in sugar.
Macros between a banana and a plantain are nearly identical, contrary to popular belief in keto cicrcles, all fruit that’s not a berry doesn’t equal bad! Fructose doesn’t affect our blood sugar the same, as it’s preferentially metabolized by the liver.
I’m a dude, but that’s a very known thing for women, and every woman I’ve ever known to do keto has done better with their carbs a little higher.
For example I’ve found that a small piece (50g) of sweet potato spikes my glucose instantly while a handful of raspberries doesn’t, like at all.
No doubt it would, but with 50g of sweet potato only being a couple bites, don’t fall into that trap where you redefine “spike” to equal all transient rises. That happens WAY too much with keto.
What would a “spike” be then? They’re really all the same. At least for me: I either got nothing or high. The only difference was real pizza, which caused high for hours (others shot up then down within an hour).
I wouldn’t use the term spike for anything less than 50-60 myself. Calling a rise a spike is like calling a tap a punch. One in minimal, one is drastic.
My normal glucose in the morning is ~75, after exercise it can drop to 50~60. After a keto meal (measured usually at 30 min or 1h) I see very little change, up to ~90. Sweet potato registered 120, raspberries… 85. So OK, I guess not a “spike” and it doesn’t worry me, just a noticeable difference considering the baseline. I still felt good.