Ep. 231: Are Those Potatoes?!
In this episode, Sarah and Stacy discuss the pros and cons of eating the dreaded potato!
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The Paleo View (TPV), Episode 231: Are Those Potatoes?!
- Intro (0:00)
- News and Views (0:40)
- Stacy caught her first Ditto! So exciting
- Sarah has so many Dittos, though.
- Stacy is in California this week on vacation. We’re recording ahead of time.
- Sarah is that person you know who’s almost completed a Pokemon Go Pokedex.
- This week’s episode is all about potatoes! Those most reviled of starchy carbs!
- Potatoes! (6:58)
- Potatoes are a very contentious topic in paleo!
- Chris Kresser approved of potatoes back in late 2010 thanks to research by Stephan Guyenet
- The Whole30 approved of potatoes in July of 2014
- People who come from a low carb perspective, particularly those who come from Loren Cordain, tend to be angry about the inclusion of potatoes in paleo.
- In Paleo Principles, Sarah is breaking down foods into “Paleo Yes”, “Paleo No” and “Paleo Maybe”
- Potatoes have been demonized as being “pure sugar” or the same as white bread
- Sarah says to find what you absolutely need to do the rest of the diet. If it’s whipped cream, do it.
- Stacy loves her iSi Easy Whip
- Potatoes aren’t empty. They have nutrition similar to other root vegetables.
- Potatoes have potassium, Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, Manganese, Magnesium, Vitamin B3, Vitamin B9, Phosphorous, Iron, and Copper plus a bunch of other trace minerals.
- Yes they have a high glycemic index, but you can lower it with other foods, such as with fat (butter on your potato perhaps)?
- Also, cooking and cooling will also break down the starches and lower glycemic response.
- You can lower it by about half with these tricks.
- Potatoes are nightshades and contain glycoalkaloids (these are the poisons which make nightshades a problem), which is why they aren’t in the Autoimmune Protocol. But some varieties are higher in them than others
- Potatoes and other “potatoes” come from completely different groups. They’re both tubers and look similar, but they’re not nearly as related as, say, broccoli and Brussels sprouts
- Potatoes are much more closely related to tomatoes, peppers, and tobacco than either sweet potatoes or yams
- Glycoalkaloids are a saponin, which is a chemical that helps mix oil and water.
- They are toxic, and super high amounts (3-6 mg per kg of body weight) could kill you. Half of that is a toxic dose.
- Don’t eat green potatoes, those have higher amounts of glycoalkaloids. But a super super large amount of ripe potatoes could be toxic too.
- Eat a variety of root veggies! Not only potatoes are tasty!
- Some scientists believe that all these potatoes in the diet are a cause of all the chronic illnesses lately. It’s probably more complicated, but an interesting thought.
- Glycoalkoloids damage the gut, enter the bloodstream and cause inflammation.
- Potatoes are tested for safety. The limit is 20 mg glycoalkaloids per 100 g of potato (one small potato).
- You’d have to eat about 50 pounds of Russets to get a fatal dose
- Lenape potatoes are very high in toxic chemicals, and have been known to make people sick easily.
- Other foreign cultivars have thousands of times more toxic chemicals than American grocery store varieties.
- Most of the glycoalkaloids are in the peel and just below the peel, so peeling will safeguard you from it.
- Microwaving actually works better at getting rid of the toxicity than other cooking methods. (Microwaves are cool. See this podcast and this post.)
- There are reasons to eat them, and reasons not to. But don’t lump them in with white sugar or anything because they are different!
- See Sarah’s post on potatoes, including a chart of potato cultivars and their toxicity!
- People doing introductions from Autoimmune often find that potatoes are okay since peeling gets rid of most of the toxicity
- A lot of different things go into whether a particular food is right for you or not. And some “paleo foods” might not work for you.
- Don’t get caught up in the lists and the rules and figure out what actually helps you to be healthy and what doesn’t.
- It’s a good idea to peel potatoes, but if you’re not getting ill from them, definitely eat them for their nutritional content!
- Replacement starches: green plantain, white or purple sweet potatoes, parsnips, boniata root (Thanks Russ!), squash, cassava, taro root, lotus, turnips, rutabaga
- Mix up your root veggies! If you eat seasonally, you’ll always be rotating what you eat!
- Outro (50:49)
