All To Do With Potatoes
Photo credit Artland Kids via Pinterest
Recently as my husband and I were grocery shopping with some friends, someone mentioned how they can barely make it through a full bag of potatoes so they always buy the mini ones. I was shocked! I rarely buy mini potatoes because they are gone so fast and in the long run end up so spendy. That's when it occurred to me. Maybe this friend just doesn't know how many ways to use potatoes, and how stinking easy they are to cook (and even bake) with! So, potatoes being one of my absolute favorite food groups, I have taken it upon myself to educate the world (or my few readers) what they're missing out on. Nutrition
Yes this says nutrition. I feel like potatoes have this stigma around them that they are only a junk food. With the help of potato chips and French fries (which admittedly yes are junk food) potatoes have been written off. However, depending on how you prepare them, potatoes can be a staple to a healthy diet!
Potatoes are very nutrient dense little veggies (or roots whatever you want to call them) packed with healthy carbohydrates, fiber, a little healthy fat, and even protein! Not to mention other macros such as vitamin C, potassium, magnesium, iron, B6 and more! The exact amounts of each varies from variety to variety with sweet potatoes or potatoes with purple or blue skin being more nutrient dense and higher in antioxidants. Meanwhile, white or yellow potatoes like russet or Idaho are slightly less dense in nutrients and lower in phytonutrients which means they lack certain antioxidants and can worsen blood sugar spikes.
The way you prepare a potato also can affect its benefits. Boiling can cause some water soluble vitamins, like vitamin C, to leech out of the potato and into the water so sometimes including the water into your recipe can rescue those lost vitamins. Baking is one of the better ways to preserve a potatoes nutritional value however, any kind of heat can burn off a few of the good stuff. Most of a potato's fiber, iron, and other minerals, are stored in the skin so peeling a potato can remove some of that good stuff that is necessary for bodily function. Frying is (obviously) the least healthy ways to prepare a potato. The most obvious reason for this is the added grease but even air frying can be worse than you thought! The high temperatures destroy even more good stuff than baking does and can create a potentially harmful substance called acrylamide.
Acrylamide is caused by a reaction between the sugars and another harmless substance in potatoes. This chemical is very delicious (shows up in the brownest and crispiest potatoes) but can be avoided by cooking your potatoes for a shorter amount of time or at a lower temperature. Now, I said harmful substance but it is only harmful in very high quantities. It has been linked to being a carcinogenic in some studies but there is not enough research in humans to create any real concern. Acrylamide can also be found in coffee and bread. All the studies I found about it says that the levels of this chemical found in food is so low that there is really no need to worry! Just maybe avoid eating a bag of Lays EVERY day and stick to homemade or potatoes that aren't fried.
All this being said, one of the biggest benefits of potatoes are the resistant starches. This is something that potatoes in particular do better than just about any other food. Resistant starches are a type of fiber that helps with gut health, blood sugar control, and even weight loss! Amazing right?! Resistant starches are present no matter which way you prep a potato but if you want as much as possible, these resistant starches multiply when you refrigerate or freeze a potato after cooking it. And yes, you can reheat the potatoes again and most of these starches stay resistant. Cool, right?
Now, I will admit. I am not a nutritionist or a potato expert. I am just someone who googles a lot of stuff and follows a nutritionist or two on instagram. If I am wrong on a fact or two or am leaving something out please correct me in the comments!
Nevermind Nutrition
All that being said, I rarely hear anyone talking about eating a potato because of how healthy they are or even complaining about how unhealthy they are. I always hear people talking about potatoes because of how ridiculously tasty they are! There are so many ways you can prepare a potato and, in my opinion, not a single one is bad. Everyone's favorite hobbit, Samwise Gamgee, put it perfectly when he said "po-tay-toes! Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew!" There are so many options! There are even ways to make healthier versions of the junk foods we all know and love! From mashed, smashed and roasted to noodles, breads, and rolls there are almost infinite options to inject a little spud into your life. Over the next few months I will be developing some new recipes and sharing tried and true favorites to my blog. As I share them I will link each one to this post so that this can be your homepage for everything potato. Otherwise all you have to do is head up to the search bar in the top right corner and search the word "potato" and see all of the options! If you see something interesting or especially tasty looking try it out and leave a comment or email me with how it worked out! I'd love to see what you think!
Thank you so much for reading and happy cooking (and baking)!
Recipes
MORE COMING SOON!
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