So I'm just wondering... I know baked potatoes have plenty of carbs, but they have other good things too. It is ok to have a baked potato? I like to have them for lunch with salsa. The calorie counter on this website said that a medium baked potato would only be like 150 calories I think.... so that's not so bad right?
Yep - I eat potatoes regularly. You may want to double check that your potato is "medium" by weight or some other method, since "medium" is pretty arbitrary, but there's nothing wrong with a baked potato as part of a calorie controlled diet.
Potatoes are great, lots of vitamin c and fiber (assuming you eat the skin, too). Just be careful of size - a lot of potatoes I find in the store weigh even more than what a "large" potato is in many food databases. Weighing them is your best bet. If you don't have a food scale, you can put it on a scale at the grocery store - a medium potato should be about 5-6 ounces.
I eat them quite frequently and I am on WW. I even use butter and light sour cream and cheese. It's a treat I look forward to. All I do is account for the points and it's perfectly fine!
Try switching to sweet potatoes, too. That makes a big difference for me. Not only are sweet potatoes higher in many nutrients and other good stuff, but I find that I need to put NOTHING on them. Maybe a sprinkle of salt. Maybe. White potatoes I do have to add something like a little spray butter or some FF sour cream and salsa or something. And don't forget to eat the skin!
I just wrap them in wax paper and toss them in the microwave. Super fast and super easy. I don't even get anything dirty! I weight out my portions rather than going by S/M/L designations. But then again, I weight EVERYTHING...
But yes -- that's why I LOVE counting calories. I can have ANYTHING I want as long as I account for the calories. I probably have sweet potatoes 3 times a week and rice another three. Whole wheat pasta once a week, too.
Potatoes (and especially yams and sweet potatoes) are super high in nutrients and good stuff - and relatively low in calorie. As others have said, it's the toppings that can push up the calorie count - take your typical restaurant side baked potato, where they ask if you want sour cream and bacon bits in addition to your great lump of butter! Try topping with small amounts of low fat sour cream, salsa, or maybe some veggie chili.
I remember one of my friends getting ultra into cutting carbs and freaking out on me for eating potatoes.... I know they've gotten quite a bad reputation lately and for some people... maybe it's well deserved. I, for one, have never been an after dinner snack type person. Oh, the entire rest of the day is one temptation after another, but after dinner... no thanks. Thus, I've never felt as though I need to cut potatoes out of my diet. My friend, however used to harp on me about evil potatoes and how they just make me hungry later because of the glycemic index and yadda yadda yadda yadda.
Personally, I loved how she used to tell me potatoes make me hungry later. I must have been making some phone calls to her while asleep! People are such individuals. If potatoes work for you, then they work for you.
Baked potatoes... ok or not?
