Tag Archives: potatoes

P is for Potatoes – Put ‘Em on your Plate Please!

Potatoes are a Plus for your Natural Health

Putting off putting potatoes on your plate?  Pooey – they’re good for you!  Potatoes aren’t the devil food they’ve been made out to be.  Of course, if you’re going to go to some big chain restaurant and eat a huge baked potato with sour cream and butter and bacon and who knows what – you’ve got a big, bad plate of high fat poop!  For example, one chain restaurant, Ruby Tuesday’s Loaded Baked Potato contains 591 or 688 calories (too high to really make you question it!), 29 g fat and 545 mg sodium.   This potato delivers nearly half the fat you should eat in an entire day, and much of that comes from the load of animal fats – sour cream, bacon bits, cheddar cheese, and butter are all heaped upon a delicious low-fat potato which contains about 280 calories and next to no fat!

The potato itself is full of nutrition and should be a part of your healthy diet.  One medium potato (150g) with the skin provides  almost 30 grams of Vitamin C, almost half of the recommended daily intake.  They also contain Vitamin B, folate and minerals such as potassium, magnesium and iron.  The Vitamin B6 that you find in potatoes is an excellent source of stress-relieving neurotransmitters like serotonin, dopamine and adrenaline that help you to relax and calm down.  And the skins of the potatoes are fiber-rich foods and we know that to be essential to maintaining healthy weight (see F is for Fiber – The Facts for Fabulous Natural Health).

 

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H is for Naturally Healthy American food – Mashed Potatoes and “Potatoes”

Naturally Healthy Mashed Potatoes

One of my guilty pleasures is mashed potatoes – creamy, rich, delicious spuds.  I once spent an entire year on a kibbutz eating nothing but mashed potatoes and ketchup!  What a confession – now the world knows my guilty sins!

Now, my life of course is much different.  Shortly after my year of gluttony (if you can call mashed potatoes and ketchup gluttony!!!), I lost 70 pounds, learned about nutrition, and never looked back at those creamy spuds.  Well, I do eat them, but I’ve found ways to make them that are good for your natural health!

There’s nothing wrong with potatoes – especially some of the colorful, carotenoid-packed, anti-oxidant rich dark ones – Purple potatoes, half yellow/half purple potatoes, red ones.  For those of you with inflammatory diseases like arthritis, take heed – potatoes are part of the nightshade family (see previous post – N is for No on Nightshades.

For mashed potatoes that are great for your natural health, try making them with lots of garlic!

GARLICKY GOOD AND HEALTHY MASHED POTATOES

Ingredients

3 pounds good healthy potatoes, peeled and cubed

6 garlic cloves, separated and peeled

1/2 C. fat-free milk

1 TBL. butter

Ground black pepper, to taste

2 TBL. chopped fresh parsley

Directions

In a large stockpot, cover the potatoes with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain the potatoes thoroughly and return to the stockpot.

In a small saucepan, cover the garlic with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until tender, about 10 minutes. Drain the garlic.

In a food processor or blender, combine the garlic and milk. Puree until smooth. Add the pureed garlic and the butter (yes, I believe in using a little of the real thing!)  to the potatoes. Mash to desired consistency. Season with black pepper to taste. Garnish with parsley and serve immediately.

 

AND, if you really want something healthier, try using cauliflower for the very famous South Beach Diet Surprise Mashed “Potatoes” which uses cauliflower and fat-free sour cream to make a dish that you will swear is mashed potatoes!  Even I do and I don’t need the ketchup anymore!

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