Holy Tators

Recently much has been written about carbohydrates, much of it asking should you eat them or not, if so how much and which ones. In particular, the starchy carbs have come under scrutiny as a “bad carb”. The starchy carbs list include whole grains such as rice, corn and oats, anything in the bean family (excluding green beans), anything in the pea family (excluding snow peas in pods), potatoes, and any bread products. That’s a large list that makes up the bulk of carbohydrate calories consumed by humans.

These starchy carbs yield anywhere between 180-300 calories per cup cooked. Green beans and snow peas clock in at 40 and 60 calories per cup respectively so they belong to the fibrous carbohydrate group with most other “garden vegetables”. For this report we will examine potatoes…white, red, purple, yellow, Russet, sweet potatoes and maybe a few others (there’s a gob of them).

Potatoes are the number one vegetable crop in the U.S.A. and the fourth most consumed crop in the world behind rice, wheat and corn. Potatoes are rich sources of Vitamin C and potassium, in addition to containing Vitamin B6, calcium, iron and the phytonutrients carotenoids, flavonoids and caffeic acid. Evidence of their existence in the human diet goes back at least 5000 years.

The peel of the potato is a good source of fiber and should remain intact especially while cooking to retain the mineral content. If you desire not to eat the peel, cook them with the peel on before removing which helps retain more of the vitamin and mineral content. In order of best to worst for nutrient content preservation:

1. Baking
2. Microwaving
3. Steaming
4. Boiling
5. Frying

Glycemic Index for Various Potatoes

The term glycemic index refers to the rate a given food elevates blood glucose after consumption. The range is 0-110 with 0-55 being low, 56-69 moderate and 70-110 high. The glycemic index for the various potatoes varies dramatically depending on the particular potato and the cooking method. It must be noted that if three different people ate the same potato cut up into thirds, you would likely get three different glycemic index readings so this is not a precise guide for food selection. The sweet potato is typically the lowest at around 70, purple, red and Russet 75-78, yellow 81 and white 93 if you consumed these after boiling while warm. Baking would lower these values and refrigerating and eating them cold (think potato salad) would dramatically lower the reading. If you consumed the white potato with some chicken and a salad with an oil based non-sugar dressing you drop into the 50s!

Diabetics should not eat potatoes without consulting their dietician, nutritionist or physician, but the average person should not shy away from this nutrient dense food.