Hi,
I'm a newbie here and was wondering two things. How many people here who have lost weight still eat potatoes as part of your diet. I love potatoes. I've been trying various low-carb diets and just can't stick to them to much restriction for me. As you know potatoes are a no-no. I thought I would give 1200-1300 cals. a day a try with exercising. But I would like to know if you can eat like this (low-calorie) and still have potaotes. Also do you count carbs I'm finding it hard to stay away from this way of thinking. "Restricting your carbs that is." I still have this thinking that if it's not low in carbs you can't have it. Basically, do you stay away from everything white?? You know like POTATOES, sugar, white flour, white rice. Really need your advice.

DeeD110

Yep, potatoes are a fine part of a low calories diet, as long as you are sensible about them. I weight the ones I eat, and either have them roasted or boiled, not french fries. Account for the calories, and they are fine. But of course, they are not low carb.

Amen. I lost 70 lbs and ate potatos and bread, but not fried, and always measured.

I've never counted a carb in my life. One of my favorite dinners, especially in the winter, is a big baked potato topped with sauteed vegetables & light sour cream

I count calories and generally have between 1300-1600 a day.

I went crazy on South Beach, but I'm doing well on the Weight Watcher's Core plan which has some similarities, but allows one serving a day of potatoes, brown rice, or whole wheat pasta. It also allows other whole grain carbs like oatmeal and cous-cous with no restrictions except paying reasonable attention to how full you are. It's worked for me.

I lost about 50 pounds and never once stopped eating potatoes or any other grain or carb lol. I counted calories and just focused on eating healthy and balanced foods. All things in moderation!

Livi

I know the low carb plans are sometimes a bit extreme regarding starchy veggies, but I don't think there's any reason to be that paranoid. It's primarilysually what we put on carrots, sweet potatoes and white potatoes that make them less than diet friendly. Even a really big potato is very low in calorie in relationship to how filling it is.
If you miss french fries, try these.

Roasted French Fries


Cut potatoes and/or sweet potatoes into your favorite shape and size pieces (chunks, fries, whatever). Spray a bit of cooking spray into the bag and/or add a tiny bit of oil or even water (just enough to dampen the slices, and no more oil than 1 tsp per very big potato). Squeeze the bag around to dampen all the potato slices. Add a package of dressing mix (ranch is the best, but italian is very good too) or your own seasonings (garlic powder, chives and seasoned salt are good). Spray a little cooking spray in the bottom of a baking pan or even on a cookie sheet (just make sure the potatoes aren't too wet if using a cookie sheet). and bake at 425 - 450 until the potatoes are done (soft on the inside, crispy on the outside). How long will depend on how thin you slice the potatoes, start checking at about 20-25 minutes.

I still eat potatoes, almost every day! I don't think the low carb diet is health, you need carbs! Potatoes are a good source of potassium. The recipe for oven fried potatoes is really good. I also use that with sweet potatoes. Whie rice used to be a no-no and I was eating bown rice all the time. I just read that white is actually very nutritious! I say, use some common sense. Diet fads come and go!

I eat carbs every day, and have lost 16 pounds in 8 weeks. I get potatoes in about 2x per week. I weigh them to count WW points. My favorite thing to do with them is put a little low-fat sour cream, low fat cheddar, and freshly cut chives from the garden on them. I make servings about 5 WW points, or about 250 calories.

I eat very small portions of white potatoes infrequently, and frequent small portions of sweet potatoes or yams. In general, yes, I've gotten rid of all "the white stuff", but not carbs in general. I stick mainly to fruits, whole grains, and beans for my carbs.

Mel

I just had to post this here since you mentioned potatoes. I have arthritis in my knees and shoulders (but mostly in my shoulders) and I have a lot of miserable "achy-ness." I was Googling it one day and I started reading something about "nighshade" vegetables and avoiding them if you have arthritis. Never heard of this! One of the nightshade vegetables is potatoes. I love potatoes and work them into my WW Core Plan every day. The day before I read this I had splurged on a rather sizeable helping of potato salad and had been up all night with my shoulders aching. I thought, "Nah, this is crazy, never heard of such a thing." Then I decided to experiment, and didn't eat potatoes for a couple of days and felt better. Then had potatoes and had a miserable night. Weird, huh? I will put on the usual disclaimer that this isn't meant to be medical advice, talk to your doctor, yadda, yadda, yadda. Anyway, if you have arthritis and love potatoes and have a lot of aches you might want to look into it. It's not necessarily a bad thing for me to stay away from them anyway...they kind of set me off and I have a problem with portion control when I eat them. This whole achy thing might be all for the best....pain is a great motivator!!!

Armygirl, the nightshades are well-known triggers for arthritis pain. I have fibromyalgia, and much as I love tomatos, potatoes, eggplant, etc, I have far less pain when I avoid them. Wheat is also a pain trigger for some people.

Mel

Wow, I have fibro and arthritis, and I never knew about the nightshade-pain connection. I have noticed that since reducing starches, including potatoes, I've had alot less pain. I'll need to pay closer attention

I agree with what just about everyone here said about whoever said potatoes were bad were wrong. For lunch everyday, I have a small baked potato (5-10 ounces), 1/2 cup of Hormel Turkey chili (you can use the lean meat chili too, it's just as well), and 2 tbsp. of chopped onion. Since I don't eat hotdogs anymore due to all the carbs and fat grams in the ones that my parents get, the potato with chili and onions tastes the way I always used to fix hotdogs anyway

hi, i am low carbing and have cut the taters! I LOVE them also, but I have founda great substitute! I make mashed cauliflower! i cook the cauliflower, then put some heavy cream, butter, minced garlic and cheese in with salt and pepper to taste, throw it in a blender and BAM! youve got Imitaters they taste just like mashed potatos, the texture is slightly different but I am satisfied with them.