Potatoes are a staple vegetable that is available year-round and relatively inexpensive. While potatoes do not have as low of a glycemic index as some other weight loss foods, you can make them a weight loss food with this one trick.
Professor Candida Rebello reported in Australia’s The Herald Sun that research from scientists at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center (USA) found that potatoes can aid in weight loss with the right preparation. The experts compared the weight loss benefits of potatoes to peas, a well-known weight loss food, and found that potatoes measured up. The study included 36 people between the ages of 18 and 60.
The 36 participants in the trial ate common foods like peas, beans, meat, and fish, along with plenty of fruits. The experts replaced 40 percent of their meat intake with either peas or potatoes. When scientists compared the potato diet to the diet with beans and peas, they found that the health benefits and weight loss were the same. This indicates that potatoes are just as effective for weight loss as peas.
Tips for preparing potatoes properly to aid in weight loss
Potatoes are a starchy food, but they are a resistant starch, which means that this starch is absorbed slowly and does not cause a sudden spike in blood sugar.
To make potatoes a weight loss food, it is important to follow this crucial step: Boil them whole with the skin on and refrigerate for 12 to 24 hours before eating to increase fiber and resistant starch. Refrigerating potatoes increases resistant starch content, so this is an important tip.
When you are ready to eat, remove the refrigerated potatoes and prepare them into dishes like potato cakes, shrimp and potatoes, mashed potatoes, roasted potato wedges, potato salad, and potato fries.
Refrigerating boiled potatoes increases the formation of resistant starch, which is a type of starch that the body digests more slowly than regular starch. This type of carbohydrate can aid in weight loss and slow the rise in blood sugar; it reduces the glycemic index by about 25 percent and helps prevent blood sugar from spiking after a meal.
Resistant starch also promotes gut health benefits and increases weight loss. Gut bacteria ferment it into short-chain fatty acids, which help keep the lining of the colon healthy. This increases metabolism and helps you lose weight.
Leaving the skin on the potato increases fiber. Potatoes provide a feeling of fullness. The low-calorie count of potatoes means that participants in the study felt full while consuming fewer calories than they would have from other foods.
Potatoes also help boost metabolism, burning fat quickly. Furthermore, potatoes have detoxifying properties.
Potatoes should be eaten with the skin on to increase fiber. Potatoes are quite rich in fiber, especially after being boiled, but the method of boiling with the skin on is better because the skin of the potato contains the most fiber, at 12%. The flesh of the potato is mostly insoluble fiber, such as pectin, cellulose, and hemicellulose, which is best for digestion and fiber when cooked thoroughly.
The fiber content is higher in the skin, so remember to keep the skin on when boiling unless the potato has sprouted or the skin has turned green, in which case you should not eat the skin because it can be toxic.
You should only eat boiled potatoes that have been refrigerated for 3-4 days. If you want to store them for longer, you should freeze them. Mashed potatoes that are properly sealed and protected from air can be stored in the freezer for up to a year without affecting their quality or taste. For this reason, it is important to use airtight plastic bags, containers, or remove all of the air before storing the potatoes. When you are ready to eat them, defrost them in the refrigerator overnight before reheating and eating.
Potatoes are a common and relatively inexpensive food in Vietnam, so eating potatoes to aid in weight loss is a great option for many people.
However, when preparing potatoes for weight loss, remember to leave the skin on and refrigerate for at least 14 hours before eating. You can then prepare them in different ways, but avoid cooking them in dishes with a lot of oil, butter, or cheese.
Vietnam has potatoes year-round, and the price is relatively low compared to sweet potatoes and other beans. So add potatoes to your weight loss diet.