Why Potatoes Might Not Love You As Much As You Love Them
Potatoes are vegetables. How bad can they be for weight loss, right? It’s not that simple.
As a nutrition coach specializing in low-glycemic lifestyle interventions for the treatment of insulin resistance, obesity, type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome, one of the most common misconceptions I come across among clients has to do with potatoes.
Despite what folks from the keto and ultra-low-carb crowds claim, I want to put my two cents in right here and state that there’s nothing inherently bad about potatoes.
For so many of us, depending where we were born, potatoes have been a ubiquitous part of our diets since the early days of life. And not everyone who eats potatoes suffers from metabolic issues.
Let’s face it, there are a lot of good sides to the potato. They’re cheap, widely available and incredibly versatile. Off the top my head I can think of dozens of ways to prepare potatoes.
On the health side, potatoes are no slouch. They’re rich in fibre and loaded with vitamins C and B6, potassium, calcium, magnesium and folate among other nutrients. They also contain antioxidants that keep our hearts healthy and reduce the risk of many types of cancer. No one would argue that the benefits of potatoes are significant.
But that doesn’t mean I recommend them to people trying to reverse insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes or obesity.
Yes I encourage eating fresh, whole foods. Yes I recommend a plant-majority eating strategy. Yes I prioritize foods that are rich in nutrients. And yes potatoes fit that bill.
But there’s one negative about the venerable potato that for me outweighs much of the good it brings: starch, and lots of it.
Foods high in starch are linked to spikes in blood sugar. That means when you eat potatoes, the body turns them into glucose too fast — long before you have time to use them as energy. In turn, the spike in blood sugar triggers an exaggerated insulin response, too much of which leads to insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes, the accumulation of visceral fat and a whole Pandora’s Box of other potential diseases and illnesses certain to follow.
To put it into clearer perspective for you, the glycemic index of a baked russet potato is 111. That’s higher than table sugar. Think about that.
Does that mean you’re better off skipping the baked potato on the side and opting for a slab of cake instead?
The hard truth is, If you want to get to the root of your metabolic issues and reduce insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes or obesity, for most people a diet that includes potatoes (or anything else that’s high on the glycemic index) is going to set you back.
Take a look at the glycemic index values of a few of your favorite potato-based foods and you’ll see what I mean:
But eating to defeat obesity and disease is all about adopting sustainable practices you can stick to and enjoy. If you’re trying to lose weight but simply can’t endure a life without potatoes, here a few tips to minimise their impact on insulin production.
Leave the skin
Potatoes are better when you leave on the skin, the most fibre and nutrient-dense part of the potato. Just make sure you wash them thoroughly before cooking. I soak all my vegetables in water for a good ten minutes and then rinse thoroughly before cooking.
Not all potatoes are created equal
Some types of potatoes are lower on the glycemic index than others.
Red skin potatoes, for example have a GI of only 56. Moreover, studies have found that, apart from boiling, the way you cook red potatoes has less of an impact on their GI than with others potatoes.
Purple potatoes, while high on the GI at 77, contain lots of polyphenols, plant compounds that reportedly slow down the absorption of starch and impact blood sugar much less than white and yellow potatoes.
Sweet potatoes are actually from a different family than potatoes but look and cook similarly. They are loaded with vitamins and minerals, particularly antioxidants, and come in on the GI at only 54. And taste-wise you won’t be making any compromise at all. Sweet potatoes are delectable.
Yams are another root vegetable that looks like a potato but is actually from a different family. They are similar but not exactly the same as sweet potatoes, coming in on the GI at only 51.
Roasted or boiled potatoes with the skin left on have a lower glycemic index than mashed potatoes because they retain their fibre content, which helps your body metabolize them much more slowly. However, like mashing, over-boiling can also result in the breaking down of fibre. When boiling, try not to cook them to mushy consistency.
If you really need your mashed taters, opt for mashing yams or sweet potatoes, which have a much lower glycemic index. And reduce the portion a bit too. Any damage control is good damage control.
The secret of resistant starch
Some studies have shown that when you let your potatoes cool down, the high glycemic starches are converted to resistant starch, a type of starch your body can’t digest. That means they pass through your digestive system without being converted to sugar while feeding the healthy bacteria in your gut. Resistant starches have little or no impact on blood sugar, which according to some nutritionists means you can eat as much cooked-then-cooled potato as you want.
As enticing as the resistant starch claims may sound, however, the jury is still out on this one. More research is needed to confirm or disprove its veracity.
I believe nutritionists and diet experts spend too much time these days demonizing foods and coming up with absolute rules about what you should and should never eat. Potatoes have been serving humankind for far too long to just eliminate them from our lives. Despite being high in fast-metabolizing starches, they have a lot to offer in the way of nutrition and in these times of inflation and economic uncertainty remain one of the most affordable foods on the planet. I hope the info and advice above will help you understand a bit better why overdoing your potato consumption can be problematic, and how you can minimize the not-so-savory side of one of humanity’s all-time favorite go-to savory foods.
More about me
I’m Scott Cohen — I run a coaching business called Kitchen Therapy where I help my clients learn to live with type 2 diabetes, obesity and metabolic disorders by learning how to live without them. https://www.kitchen-therapy-coaching.com/about-me
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