http://www.mercola.com/nutritionplan...vegetables.htm

Potatoes are the only vegetable listed that they say you should avoid. Is there a reason for that?

It seems as if that website is worried about carbs possibly? Maybe since potatos are high in carbs they are listing it as a vegetable to avoid. I'm really not sure. I love potatos.

I can imagine because most of the potatoes people eat are fried. They are also high in starch.

When I read or hear anyone telling me I should avoid a vegetable......I run in the other direction.

Dr Mercola is a quack. There are better vegetables to eat than potatoes, but there is no reason to avoid them, unless you can't eat them without drowning them in fat.



People misunderstand the roles of protein, carbohydrate, and fat in the body. Even carnivores don't utilize protein primarily for energy, they run on fat. Humans run on carbohydrate. Protein is needed in small quantities to rebuild tissue. Human breast milk contains only 6% of its calories as protein. If that is enough to grow an infant into a child, it is certainly sufficient to maintain an adult. Since protein is ruled out as an energy source, we have either fat or carbohydrate left with which to meet our energy needs. Humans who try to run on fat by reducing their carbohydrate intake end up with all kinds of health problems.

Potatoes, skin on, not deep fried or covered in cheese/butter/sour cream, are good for you. They should not be your only vegetable, but I think potatoes can be a part of a healthy diet.

I forget the studies, but at least two have shown that people eating nothing but white potatoes (one of them had added oil simply to increase calories) for months on end had no signs at an observable or lab-measurable level of any kind of malnutrition or deficiency. The first (with oil for calories) was with orphaned children in Peru, I think, who were studied for about 8 months. They met all normal developmental milestones. The second study was experimental and involved adult men and women, I forget where.



Not that it's ideal to eat nothing but white potatoes, but as others have said, the problem with potatoes is the oil they're fried in and the butter, sour cream, milk, cheese, bacon bits and other things that people pile on top. Potatoes themselves have very low caloric density and contain a wide range of vitamins and minerals and plenty of fiber. Many healthy populations have had white or sweet potatoes central to their diet - including the Okinawans and others who have extremely good health. Sweet potatoes do have an edge over white potatoes in terms of nutrition.



Like SomebodyElse said, Mercola is a quack. If juicing is an essential component to health, why are there no populations in the world who traditionally do it as an integral part of their diet? How can the healthiest populations in history and around the world be that way with no juicing? Doesn't pass my reality check.

Potatoes seem to give me energy. I'd never avoid potatoes.

Well, very green potatoes should be avoided but apart from that, they are fine.

I'd be curious as to these studies you're talking about. I was just doing research on the internet and found the site, so I'm not familiar with the site itself.

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Excerpted comments about the two studies and about white potatoes.



"A landmark experiment was carried out in 1925 on two healthy adults, a man 25 years old and a woman 28 years old. For 6 months these two people lived on a diet primarily of white potatoes. (A few additional items providing insignificant nutrients were added: a few fruits, coffee, and tea. Because they were losing too much weight, pure fatcontaining no other nutrientswas also added.)



"Could a diet of potatoes meet their nutritional needs? Even though they were both physically active (especially the man) they were described as, in good health on a diet in which the nitrogen (protein) was practically solely derived from the potato.



...



"White potatoes are 10% protein with all of the essential amino acids provided in generous amounts. These tubers have 2.5 grams of dietary fiber per potato. That translates into 50 grams for an active man and 37 grams for an active woman. Potatoes are very high in vitamin C, B vitamins, potassium and other minerals...



"The potato even meets the needs of growing infants. Eleven Peruvian children, ages 8 months to 35 months, recovering from malnutrition, were fed diets where all of the protein and 75% of the calories came from potatoes. Their growth patterns were normal. (Soybean-cottonseed oils and pure simple sugars provided some of the extra caloriesneither of these sourcesoil or sugarcontains protein, vitamins, or minerals.)



"People in New Guinea who live on diets consisting almost entirely of sweet potato tubers and leaves have cholesterol levels, on the average, of 108 mg/dl. Heart disease, obesity, inflammatory arthritis, colon cancer, and type-2 diabetes are unknown in these people on their sweet potato diet.



Some of the references cited:



Kon S. XXXV. The value of whole potato in human nutrition. Biochemical J. 1928; 22:258-260.



Lopez de Romana G. Fasting and postprandial plasma free amino acids of infants and children consuming exclusively potato protein. J Nutr. 1981 Oct;111(10):1766-71.



Lopez de Romana G, Graham GC, Madrid S, MacLean WC Jr. Prolonged consumption of potato-based diets by infants and small children. J Nutr. 1981 Aug;111(8):1430-6.



Luyken R. Nutrition studies in New Guinea. Am J Clin Nutr. 1964; 14:13-27

Doesn't Mercola also think that vegetarians and vegans do harm to themselves by not eating animals?

He thinks a lot of weird stuff. Having said that, though, his diet is probably still healthier than what the average Westerner eats these days. But then it's hard to get too much worse than that - overladen with highly processed "foods," fats and animal protein with very little in the way of minimally processed starches, legumes, fruits and veggies.

I remember reading in my anthropology group about a tribe who lived almost exclusively on potatoes. They appeared to be healthy and robust.

They were known as 'The Irish'

Fresh potatoes are low glycemic. Baked ones are not. Combining baked potatoes with a lower glycemic food will lower the overall glycemic index of the meal.



Like the others have said: If it says to avoid any vegetable, their reasons for that claim should be examined. Most likely they will make such a claim if the website is oriented toward low carbohydrate diets. Remember: low carbohydrate diets are the bane of our bodies!

Mercola talks such rubbish.



His website should be avoided. An absolute quack who must make loads of dollars from his quackery and his so-called science.

How does it transform when cooked? I've never known anyone to eat raw potatoes.

Not sure how processing changes the GI of a particular food. Probably something to do with heat breaking down enzymes. It's not only potatoes. Any carbohydrate that is processed will metabolize quicker than its raw form.

I was waiting for that.

I wouldn't think that there would be anything wrong with potatoes, I don't know anyone who hasn't ate potatoes at any given time.



They may, like the other posters have mentioned, just be worried about carbs or something, I'm not really sure what there concern is for but I'm sure it's nothing that's going to kill you or give you pain.

my mom is convinced that potatoes contain vitamin c especially in the skin. i think that because they grow underground that they would not contain much vit c. anyone know for sure?



eta: hah nm someone posted already that they do. i always thought they were a bit of an empty 'filler' with not much nutrition. that's what i've always been told anyway. now that i know they're so good for me i won't feel guilty for eating so much of them. i'm a potato addict

All sorts of good stuff in potatoes:

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?t...itionalprofile



I loves me some spuds.

I planted 2 varieties of potatoes in the garden this year, Red Gold and Carola, both yellow varieties. Like Yukon Gold potatoes, they are very good, especially in the winter wrapped in foil and baked in the woodstove or hash brown potatoes with baked apples for fall and winter weekend breakfast or cut in chunks and roasted with other root vegetables.



I ain't giving up me spuds!

Cooking helps break down cell walls, which we don't digest well. This makes it faster and easier for us to digest the tater and get at the stored starch.

Potatoes are fine food, but you shouldn't go so far as to say that you can live almost exclusively on them. British Andean, and Soviet regions have tried this in the past and though they sustained populations to reach reproductive age and procreate, they didn't tend to have very long or comfortable lives.

Potatoes have Vitamin C? I'm not sure why it sounds kind of odd to me, I think I just was thinking that Vitamin C was more of a citrus type vitamin, such as those found in Oranges and Lemons. I didn't even know that Potatoes contained Copper, anything contain Gold? I'm looking for a new job in gold sales. (< It's a joke! =P)