When Jeff Nimoy “cheats” on his paleo diet, he almost always goes for pizza or a cheeseburger — with a side of French fries. But most days of the week, “I’m definitely anti-potato,” says the 48-year-old Los Angeles writer, who blogs about his food choices at CookingCaveman.com.
Nimoy is in good company, particularly among his paleo brethren who follow a diet built on lean meats, fruits and vegetables, and healthy fats, and eschew foods including grains, dairy and legumes. Even though potatoes are technically vegetables, their high glycemic load — or their ability to cause blood sugar and insulin levels to spike and plummet rapidly — is enough for some dedicated dieters to put them on the “do not eat” list.
“It’s just pure sugar once it enters your system,” says Nimoy, who’s been following the paleo diet for almost five years. “It’s not as bad as maybe some grains like wheat, but when you also add on top of it that it just turns to sugar because of the high glycemic load and the insulin spike it causes, then it’s just not great for you.”
Nimoy has a point. According to research compiled by the Harvard School of Public Health, a cup of potatoes might as well be a can of Coke or a handful of jelly beans from your blood sugar’s perspective. That’s not ideal because, among many potential problems, such surges and crashes can leave you hungry and prone to overeating.
Needless to say, the potato is in the midst of a public relations crisis — so much so that the U.S. Potato Board recently funded a study to explore whether potatoes can be a healthy part of a weight loss plan. “There’s been some negative messaging around potatoes” with the popularization of the glycemic index, says the study’s lead author, Britt Burton-Freeman, who directs the Illinois Institute of Technology’s Center for Nutrition Research.
But in reality, she and others say, potatoes are more than their glycemic load. They’re a great source of potassium, vitamin C and vitamin B6 — and fiber, if you eat the skin. “You can find candy bars that have a lower glycemic index than some fruits and vegetables, and you just kind of look at that and say, ‘Does that really make sense?'” Burton-Freeman says.
Meat and Potatoes
True, potatoes have a high glycemic index and, as such, have a greater effect on your blood sugar than other vegetables such as broccoli or carrots. This can lead to obesity, diabetes and heart disease, research shows.
But, experts say, there are ways to consume potatoes that lower their glycemic load, such as by pairing them with a protein like fish and a healthy fat like olive oil. “That’s how your body resists that glycemic index effect,” says Catherine Taylor, a registered dietitian at VIDA Fitness & Aura Spa in the District of Columbia. “Because once you pair that potato with something that’s slowly absorbed in the body, it’s all going to be slowed down.” (And who really wants to eat a plain potato by itself, anyway?)
Cooking potatoes and then cooling them for a dish like potato salad can lower the glycemic index, too, Burton-Freeman says.
And just because something has a lower glycemic load doesn’t necessarily mean it’s healthy, experts say. Take the potato topped with bacon and sour cream, for example: Lower glycemic index, thanks to the protein and fat, but healthy? Hardly. “The glycemic index is actually pretty controversial,” says Melissa Metcalfe, a naturopathic doctor in Los Angeles. “If you’re ever combining any protein with any vegetable matter, your blood sugar is going to stay pretty even keeled.”
Potatoes for All?
That’s not to say some populations such as those who have or are at risk for diabetes shouldn’t be cautious about their tot consumption. Long-term research in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, for example, has linked a diet high in potatoes and French fries to a greater risk of diabetes in women.
People who are overweight or obese, too, might consider limiting their potato intake because “it’s very likely you … have poor insulin sensitivity and can’t handle that much carbohydrate,” says John Rush, a physician in the District of Columbia who runs the age management medicine company Cenegenics. “Poor insulin sensitivity isn’t the same as being insulin resistant, but it’s a slippery slope if you don’t try and fix it.” Healthy, athletic individuals like Nimoy, on the other hand, “may consume potatoes in a variety of forms with nominal concern,” Rush says.
Still, the American Diabetes Association and other experts say there’s no need for people with diabetes to avoid the veggie entirely. The key, they say, is portion control and again, the proper pairing of the starch with a lean protein and healthy fats. “If anything, it’s looking at the whole plate and what the balance is that’s going to make a difference,” Taylor says.
There’s even new support in the journal of the American College of Nutrition that people who are trying to lose weight won’t necessarily derail their plans by eating potatoes. In Burton-Freeman’s study, her team found that whether potato-eating dieters were assigned to a high glycemic or low glycemic index meal plan, they lost similar amounts of weight. And among the control group — people who were simply told to eat five to seven servings of potatoes per week but weren’t necessarily trying to lose weight — weights dropped, perhaps because the potatoes made the participants feel more full, the researchers speculate.
Ultimately, “it’s not one specific carbohydrate or one specific food that can make or break a dietary plan,” Burton-Freeman says. “Potatoes can certainly be included in a healthy diet, whether it’s for weight maintenance or for losing weight. We don’t have any data to suggest that you shouldn’t be doing this.”
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The Great Potato Debate: Healthy or Not? originally appeared on usnews.com
