Sweet potatoes page

[Lilith]

Hi all,

Newbie here and just wondered if sweet potatoes are ok to have within a paleo lifestyle?

If so, can you bake them like normal jacket potatoes or is the skin too tough?

Thanks

[j3nn]

All potatoes are fine.

[Lilith]

Hi j3nn, thanks for that. I thought white potatoes were considered starchy carbs and were 'out'?

I have read this in a paleo recipe book, so bit confused!

[Drumroll]

Sweet and regular potatoes are fine. Better than grains at least. Depending on your weightloss goals you may want to restrict your carb intake a bit (or a lot), but if you're not trying to lose or deal with any sort of metabolic irregularities or other health issues, then have at it.

[Damiana]

Potatoes both regular and sweet are fine. Skin on is great, just make sure you scrub them well.

[Tribal Rob]

Here is a large pinch of salt - take it with everything you read here

YMMV = Your milage may vary.

White flesh potatoes are in no way harmfull (unless you count shoving a freshy baked potatoe down some-ones pants to burn there special area, or putting a large spud in a sock and using to give some-one a beating)

They are however not partically nutitionally dense and quite high on the GI index, so if you are looking to lose weight they may not work for you.

Sweet potatoes are IIRC lower GI, more nutitionally dense, and I think slightly less carby gramm for gramm. They also have a hell of a lot more flavour and feel more satisfing IMHO. So make a better choice for carbs then white spuds.

I don't eat a lot of sweet potatoes, maybe a couple of times a week, cottage pie topping and in curries and roasted with other roots is my most common use of them. I only eat white potates when out and there is little choice, less than once every 3 months, like some chips with a steak.

[Lilith]

OK cool, thanks everyone.

I don't think I need to lose weight as such - I don't weigh myself but go by my shape so my main aim is to lose fat/tone up. I do prefer the taste of sweet potatoes so think I will use those instead of white ones.

I am going to try cooking cottage pie tonight with cauliflower mash on top instead of potato, so we'll see how that goes!

[Pillow]

FWIW if you have access to organic farmers market or home grown Sweet Potatoes they are much better IMO. They orange color is so much more vibrant and a better sweetness to the taste.

I love sweet potatoes, but rarely touch a white potato. As stated before, the white potato is high GI and low in nutrients... Mostly a filler.

Enjoy!

[Daemonized]

I agree and I also really like the white sweet potatoes as well as the purple yams that I get from the local Asian market once in a while.

[Neckhammer]

White potato is a night shade and may be a bad idea for someone with gluten sensitivities, leaky gut or other autoimmune disorders.

Sweet potato is in a different family completely and does not contain the nightshade alkaloids.

Micro and macronutrient content along with carb load are all comparably equal (unless you wanna get really anal about the details).