Embrace the Humble Potato

Good Monday morning! After a great weekend, I'm feeling awesome, despite the weather.  We finally have warmer temps, but its pouring rain, and snow that fell yesterday (yes, more snow yesterday!) has turned into disgusting slush.  Lovely!

Okay, time to talk potatoes.

Ever since the resurgence in popularity of low carb diets over 15 years ago, the potato has been a much maligned vegetable.

That being said, its still one of the vegetables that North American's consume most.  We love potatoes! Unfortunately, its usually in French fry or potato chip form.  These are definitely not good ways to enjoy potatoes.  There is, in fact, research showing a link between fries/chip consumption and obesity. 

But potatoes can be part of a healthy diet, and there are actually some good reasons to include these starchy guys in your meal plan.

Here are a few benefits of potatoes:

1. They are chock full of nutrition, including lots of vitamins and minerals, fibre and protein!

2. They are a whole food.  Unlike a piece of bread, a potato is unprocessed, and contains no additives or preservatives.

3. Potatoes are extremely satiating and can actually help you lose weight. Eating potatoes will not make you pack on the pounds if you prepare them appropriately. They may actually help you eat less.  This is because they are one of the most satiating foods, according to many research studies.  This means they make you feel full to a much greater extent than the same quantity of most other foods (particularly carbohydrate foods). In addition, they are a good source of resistant starch, when cooked and cooled, a type of fibre that has a myriad of health benefits including appetite control. 

4. They are cheap and available all year round.

If you can't give up your fries, at least make a baked, rather than deep fried version at home. Its as simple as tossing sliced potatoes with a tiny bit of oil and seasonings, placing on a baking sheet and roasting for 40 minutes or so. Make sure you eat the peel, because that's where a lot of the fibre and nutrients are!!

Healthy ways to prepare and enjoy roasted, boiled or baked potatoes:

• Replace mayo with Greek yogurt or mashed avocado in potato salads
• Top baked potatoes with a runny fried egg, nutritional yeast, vegetarian chili, salsa, pesto or Greek yogurt and chives
• Prepare potato salads with a vinaigrette dressing instead of a creamy one
• Throw potatoes into a curry and skip the white rice
• Mash with skin on and stir in roasted garlic and a bit of olive oil or broth
• Combine with cabbage and turkey or veggie bacon for a version of colcannon

There are a zillion more ways to healthfully add potatoes to your diet and I encourage you to do so, particularly if you love carbs but find you are constantly battling hunger and low energy.  Potatoes will keep you going a heck of a lot longer than sugary breakfast cereal, a bagel, or bread!

I have shared this post with Urban Naturale's Happy, Healthy, Green and Natural Party Blog Hop.