5 Health Benefits Of Potatoes

Potatoes are often regarded as the evil carb bombs, especially their yellow varieties but in reality they are packed with nutrients, resistant starch, and fiber that can help a lot with both weight loss and diet management.

Potato Benefits You Need To Know About

Potato benefits

It’s true that potatoes are high in carbohydrates and have a pretty high glycemic index, but there is another side to them that often gets overlooked leaving a potato with a pretty bad reputation.

Potatoes Got Potassium

Potatoes have more potassium than bananas, which makes them a great post-workout food. One small potato (170 g) with roughly the same amount of calories as a large banana has 7% more potassium, which makes a total of 20% of RDA. In case you didn’t know, potassium is great for relieving stress and blood pressure, enhancing muscle strength, metabolism, and water balance.

They’re Full of Vitamin C

If you thought oranges were the only Vitamin C loaded food, try eating one medium potato to get around 70% of Vitamin C’s RDA. And if you thought that Vitamin C protects only against immune deficiency, it is also good for your skin, eye health, and cardiovascular system.

A Natural Prebiotic

Potato starch is a resistant kind, means it’s indigestible when potatoes are raw. Passing through digestive tract however it feeds some beneficial bacteria that lives in the gut positively affecting gut health. Now there’s a catch. When you cook it or reheat it above 130 degrees you can’t really enjoy the benefits of the resistant starch, so be sure to cool your potatoes before eating them.

There’s Also Fibre

Fiber consumption is ridiculously low all the while fiber normalizes bowel movements and helps control blood sugar both of which are crucial for health. One medium potato’s got almost 5 grams of fiber, which amounts to nearly 20% of fiber RDA.

It’s Almost Fat-Free

Potatoes themselves contain 0,1 to 0.3 grams of fat (depending on portion size), it’s butter, bacon, and vegetable oil that amps up the calories and fat content. Sure, these things go ridiculously well with potatoes but they are the culprits of weight gain and elevated cholesterol levels, not the veg itself.

Now if you could only resist frying, greasing, and overeating potatoes you’d get all the benefits without unwanted adverse effects. Boil them with salt, cool them off and make an avocado or chicken salad.

Read about other foods that got bad rap>>> and find out which ones help stabilize blood sugar>>>

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Mona Liz

Editor/Writer
Mona Liz is a fitness and healthy lifestyle enthusiast with a passion for writing, music, cats, and food.

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