Let’s talk about carbohydrates… and in particular, “white foods” as well as potatoes. One reason I wanted to mention this is because many health and fitness professionals trash talk potatoes about being a bad carbohydrate choice because of their high glycemic index. Some even say such things as “avoid any and all white carbohydrates”.
While white bread and refined white sugar are two of the worst things we can eat, I don’t agree with avoiding any and all “white carbohydrates”. All of the buzz has been about colorful foods and the protective antioxidants they contain. They tell you to focus on colors and stay away from white.
It’s true that colorful foods are great, but it is a big mistake to specifically avoid “white” foods. There are plenty of white foods that have specific nutrients that are hard to find elsewhere.
Onions and Garlic
Chock full of protective phytonutrients, vitamins, and trace minerals that aren’t easy to find elsewhere in a normal diet… such nutrients as allicin, quercetin (an important flavonoid), chromium, and other unique anti-inflammatory nutrients.
Cauliflower
Cauliflower is loaded with vitamin C, fiber, minerals, and special compounds such as glucosinolates and thiocyanates, which are specifically abundant in cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage. And a little-known fact is that some of the compounds in cruciferous vegetables help to combat other estrogenic compounds in our food supply and environment and can help prevent excess belly fat. So eat up on that cauliflower!
Mushrooms
Not many people realize this, but even white mushrooms have high levels of unique nutrients and antioxidants. White mushrooms are high in a couple types of antioxidants called polyphenols and ergothioneine.
Potatoes
Now that also leads us to another example – white potatoes (which by the way, can also be found in red, yellow, purple varieties, etc). Many health professionals claim that potatoes are a bad carbohydrate because they are thought to have a high glycemic index. Glycemic index is not necessarily the most important factor in choosing your carbohydrates.
While a generalization can be made that most low glycemic index carbohydrate choices will help you lose body fat easier than high glycemic index choices, it is not all that it’s cracked up to be. There are many other factors that determine how your body will react to and process the carbohydrates you ingest, such as glycemic load and also how you combine the high GI food with other foods.
Using glycemic load as an example… it is known that watermelon has a high glycemic index. However, the glycemic load of a normal serving of watermelon is just way too low for your body to start packing on body fat just because you ate a high glycemic index fruit. You would have to eat such an enormous quantity of watermelon just to get enough grams of carbohydrates to have any negative glycemic effect, that it is just nonsensical.
Not to mention that watermelon is a great source of vitamins, minerals, and lycopene. There’s just no reason to avoid it simply because it has a high GI. My point is candy bars, cupcakes, and donuts make you fat, NOT watermelons, carrots or potatoes.
Food combinations are important in how your body processes the carbohydrates and the associated blood sugar and insulin response you receive. For example, if you mix a high glycemic index carbohydrate with an extra source of fiber, healthy fats, or even certain proteins, many times the blood sugar and glycemic response will be slowed down considerably by the way you combined the food.
So back to my point that white potatoes are actually a healthy carbohydrate as long as you eat them in the right form, with the entire skin, and please don’t ruin them by deep frying them into french fries! French fries are one of the most evil things ever invented for your health, but only because we ruin them by soaking them in a scorching bath oil in the deep fryer.
Keep in mind that potatoes contain so many vitamins and minerals that the list is way too long to even try. Also, as long as you eat the skins, you get a decent shot of fiber too.
On the topic of potatoes not being so bad, I don’t remember where I saw this referenced, but I recently saw a particular study that had participants eat something like 7-9 whole potatoes per day for several weeks. At the conclusion of the study, the potato eaters had consistently lost weight. I’d venture a guess that the reason the people lost weight is that they were probably so full from eating all of those damn potatoes that they actually consumed less calories than normal. An average sized potato only has about 100-120 calories, and I can surely imagine you’d be full constantly from eating 7-9 potatoes each day.
Now I would never recommend going to those extremes, but my point is that an occasional potato is not going to hurt your efforts to get lean, especially if you combine it with some other fibrous vegetables and a healthy fat and some protein. On that note, here’s a favorite recipe, using potatoes.
Lean-Body Potato Side Dish
- Desired quantity of baby potatoes (I like to use this mixture I found recently at a health food store… it is a mixture of white, red, yellow, and purple baby potatoes)
- 1 red pepper
- 1 green pepper
- 1 yellow pepper
- 1 or 2 onions
- a couple cloves of garlic, finely chopped
- 1 or 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
- a little salt and pepper to taste (I like using a sea salt instead of normal commercial salt)
Cut the baby potatoes into slightly smaller pieces and place in a steamer until soft all the way through. Slice up the peppers and onions into strips and add with the chopped garlic into a pan with the olive oil. Cook the peppers, onions, and garlic until tender, and then add the steamed baby potatoes. Stir it all together and serve. This is a delicious and healthy side dish that goes great with chicken or red meat.
Enjoy!
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