Friday, June 24, 2011
Food & Life In defense of potatoes
Posted by Katie Valentine on Fri, Jun 24, 2011 at 10:52 AM
Potatoes have been having a rough time lately.
To start, the USDA began their crackdown on starchy vegetables in school lunches back in January. The potato, as well as corn, green peas and lima beans, is now limited to one cup a week per lunch, and is banned from school breakfasts. Potatoes have been limited and eliminated in high-protein diets for years, as dieters scramble to scrape each and every carb off their plates. And now, according to a study done by Harvard researchers, potatoes are the number one food to eat if you're looking for some long-term weight gain. Here's a quote from the Washington Post article:
Among all the foods studied, potatoes stood out. Every additional serving of potatoes people added to their regular diet each day made them gain about a pound over four years. It was no surprise that french fries and potato chips are especially fattening. But the study found that even mashed, baked or boiled potatoes were unexpectedly plumping, perhaps because of their effect on the hormone insulin.
Of course, I trust the researchers at Harvard know what they're talking about. I get that the whole controversy behind potatoes is that it's so easy to prepare and purchase them in unhealthy, unnatural ways - french fries, potato chips and those horrible powdered "mashed potato" mixes you get in a bag for $1.09 at the supermarket, to name a few. And obviously, that plate of hash browns you just got at Waffle House that was cooked in a pool of butter and covered with processed cheese isn't the healthiest, most weight-concious choice. But considering the prevalence of sugary, fatty, refined and completely empty calories in our diet these days, I think we need to cut potatoes a little slack.
Here's the thing. People often compare potatoes to white bread and other refined carbohydrates, because starches don't make us feel as full as proteins or vegetables. This is unfair, I think, because potatoes provide far more nutrients than a slice of white bread or a serving of plain pasta. According to Self magazine's nutrition data, one medium baked potato and skin contains 4 grams of fiber, 4 grams of protein and 28 percent of the Vitamin C you need in a day. The National Potato Council claims that potatoes are one of the best sources of potassium in the produce section (600 mg in a baked potato compared with 400 mg in a banana), and that they're naturally low in calories, fat-free and sodium free.
So no, chowing down on a baked potato won't give you the same nutrients as snacking on raw broccoli or biting into a tomato. But I would venture to say it could replace your regular serving of Easy Mac or Toaster Strudel with little to no ill effects. It's easy, I think, to get caught up in the latest news of "what makes you fat," and forget that a diet of unprocessed, wholesome foods is probably the best diet to have. And no, potatoes just don't have the same nutrient levels as green, leafy vegetables, and they have higher carbohydrate counts. But for all the packaged, processed, refined food we consume these days, I would say a few spuds now and then are the least of our worries.
I'll take my pound every four years and keep eating potatoes as I please, thank you.
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