Potatoes are the world’s favorite vegetable. Americans eat 126 pounds of them a year. The problem is that the majority of those pounds are made up of highly processed potato chips or french fries that have been deep fried in toxic vegetable oil. The other common options are baked potatoes loaded with fatty, toxic toppings or mashed potatoes, drenched in butter, milk or cream, with all of the nutrient dense skin peeled away and discarded in the trash.
Because of the way potatoes are eaten, they’ve gotten a bum rap. Potatoes are not the enemy folks. The problem is how we consume them. Harvard doesn’t even include them as a vegetable. They say the starchy, glycemic load is too high and the body digests them too rapidly, causing blood sugar and insulin spikes. This is a very skewed view; in fact, the rapid assimilation of potatoes are a powerful healer for compromised digestive systems.
The Perfect Fuel
Potatoes actually build up our stores of glycogen, which protects us against blood sugar issues, liver problems and weight gain. There’s a lot of confusion out there presently about carbohydrates. They are the fuel that our bodies and brains need to perform. Keto diets, paleo diets, intermittent fasting and various other methods of dieting attempt to trick the body into adapting to a sub-optimal, (low carb) diet. Turn your body into a thermogenic fat burning superstar or something like that –“NOT”.
Carbs are the fuel of a clean, fast and balanced metabolism. The idea with Keto, is that with a low carb diet, your body goes into ketosis and will burn fat for fuel but that’s not exactly how it works. When your body has to burn fat for energy; it goes into conservation mode; running very inefficiently, sort of like a car on ethanol. Science frequently disassembles the whole and hyper-focuses on a single component, instead of looking at the entire system.
Plenty of Potatoes
Yes, the body will burn fat and protein for fuel when there are no carbs, but there are numerous side effects, like brain fog, lethargy, cramps, constipation, heart palpitations and numerous others. Does that sound like a body operating with a clean and balanced metabolism or a body that’s suffering from disease? What do quality carbs look like? Pretty much what they tell you to stay away from on a Keto diet; Fruits, juice, root veggies, rice and potatoes, plenty of potatoes.
“What I say is that, if a man really likes potatoes, he must be a pretty decent sort of fellow.” ― A.A. Milne
They are easy to digest and burn clean and fast. They are bursting with nutrition as well. A single medium potato with it’s skin still intact contains 25% of daily potassium, 35% of vitamin C, 30% of B, four grams of fiber and five grams of protein. They’re also filled with valuable antioxidants that inhibit free radical production.
We planted some potatoes in the 3mph garden this year and they have beautiful dark green foliage and are really easy to grow. Our soil is a bit on the alkaline side, so we have to work a little to get tomatoes and peppers but the potatoes are a breeze. We dug a plant up the other day to see how they were doing and the little purple potatoes were so beautiful, (see the cover photo). We immediately made a bunch of potato and egg breakfast tacos and the little baby taters melted in the mouth.