Friend or Foe??

I have heard not to eat brown ones while losing weight.
Red,blue and gold are ok. What do you think?

I think overall calorie intake (and carb intake if you're carb sensitive) are a lot more important than any single foods.

Waxy potatoes (the smooth skinned type) do have more water and fewer calories per ounce than starchy potatoes, but unless you're eating a lot of potatoes, it probably isn't that big of a deal (and if you are eating a lot of potatoes, it still may not matter if you're using some sort of portion- or calorie- control.

I choose waxy potatoes (the baby red, blues, and golds) because they tend to come in much smaller sizes. The russets and other rough-skinned potatoes) tend to be a lot bigger, so that one potato is two to four or even more "starch exchanges" on my exchange plan.

That means I can use up all my starch exchanges for the day, with only one potato. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Three Each of my starch exchanges average about 80 calories. I can have 80 calories of waxy potatoes (three or four small potatoes) or I can have 80 calories of starchy, brown-skinned potatoes (about 1/4 to 1/2 of a potato depending on the size of the potato).
I don't eat potatoes often, because I do follow a relatively low-carb exchange plan. When I do eat potatoes though, I try to find the smallest I can find, because the best part of the potato to me, is the skin, so I also want the best skin to flesh ration. My absolute favorite is tiny pea-sized to grape-sized potatoes at our farmer's market. This time of year, those aren't available, so I buy golf-ball sized potatoes (I found a mix of red, yellow, and blue potatoes at Aldi).

I do think the skin is the healthiest part of a potato, and the skins on the starchier, dryer potatoes often aren't as tastey as the smooth (I think). They also are harder to clean, because there are more nooks and crannies for the dirt to get into.

Well potatoes are a whole food and many people following a whole foods lifestyle eat them. I think they are a good thickener for soups which is probably my most frequent source of potatoes. I've never had an issue with incorporating potatoes in my weight loss diet.

I eat potatoes no problem. Even white potatoes are concidered a complex carb (which suprised me) But I'm not counting carbs right now because without them, I have no energy whatsoever.
I love roasting potatoes with herbs and garlic and I love homemade sweet potatoe fries.

thanks for the info! I'm trying to cut back on carbs. I have carbs with every meal and I LOVE them. most of my fat is in my belly So I think having a carb once a day is good for me. something whole wheat. but anyways about potatos.. I just wasn't sure bc i hear SOO many things. I like to cut up red ones, mix with olivie oil and seasoning and bake in the oven. they come out really good and I feel bad bc something that taste so good can't be healty right LOL

I refuse to believe anything that you dig out of the ground and looks like that could possibly be bad for you

I'd always heard it was the stuff you put on a potato that gets you into trouble

I agree with cherrypie, I don't think it's the poor ole potato that's so bad, it's the sour cream, butter, cheese, bacon, etc that makes it a poor choice!

I love potatoes & eat them several times a week, in lots of different styles. I count calories, and control my portion size.

I've learned that anything can be bad for you if you eat too much of it, and potatoes are a food that I can very easily (even with no toppings whatsoever) eat too much of.

That doesn't mean I have to avoid potatoes entirely, I just have to be smart about eating them.

A whole food diet isn't necessarily a low-calorie one. For many years friends would say "I don't know how you can be so overweight, everythiing you eat is so healthy," and I did eat healthy, and didn't eat a lot of "junk" but I knew why I was overweight, I ate too much. Too much good, healthy, wholesome food is still too much food.

I've found that (probably due to my insulin resistance and blood sugar issues) grains and high-starch or high-sugar foods (even fruit) can trigger an increase in hunger. So for easier weight loss, nutrient balance (carb/protein/fat ratio) and calorie intake are as important to me as choosing only whole foods.

Totally agree. And potatoes are so cheap to grow yourself, even in a small space. New potatoes are the easiest to eat plain - peel and all. Potatoes are great in soups and salads. Agree, too, that too much of anything isn't good, so don't make potatoes the main part of your meal - surround them with lots of good veggies.

Look up Sweet potato vs white nutrition, sweet wins but there are a few pros to the white.

As long as portion control is used it alone will not be a cause of weight gain, some people seem to be carb sensitive I defo lose a lot more eating more fats and I have white potatoes once a week as I think they are pretty quick release energy = stalls weight loss for me.

In a limited quantity I don't think they are that bad for you. But if you are watching your carb intake you should really limit them.

Here's a treat for you:

1 - 3 oz red potato, nuked or how ever you want to cook it. 75 cal
1 T (mine are Costco brand) Bacon bits 35
1+ T light sour cream (mine is Daisy brand) 30
Salt and pepper to taste 140 total
chives or green onion tops

If you are particularly sensitive to any of the ingredients, of course this won't work. My main issue is portion control...my dh eats tons of potatoes a year. He buys them in 50 or 100 lb bags. There are always lots of small ones in the bag. I weighed a few of the small ones that I use and they average about 3 oz.

You can probably guess my dh is not overweight, in spite of tons of potatoes with moderate amounts of butter applied. The rat!

Hi,

Potatoes are highly rich in calories and are carbohydrates which are very difficult to digest and will increase obesity.