This Spud’s For You

There’s the squash, stuffing and cranberries, the broccoli, yams and rolls, but when it comes to Thanksgiving, no meal is complete without a freshly baked potato to complement the cornucopia of flavorful festive favorites.

There’s been a campaign of misleading information in recent years regarding the potato being a nutritional lightweight. Perhaps you’ve fallen victim to some of these misleading claims: how they’re loaded with simple carbohydrates, are barren wastelands for vitamins and   nutrients, how they cause one’s sugar levels to spike, and that they’re only tasty when loaded up with heaping dollops of sour cream or pad upon pad of butter.

All these claims are bogus! The potato is one of the most nutritious, delicious vegetables available. And it’s a good thing, too, because the potato is the fourth largest food staple in the world (behind only wheat, corn and rice).

First off, the potato is not a simple carbohydrate, it’s a complex one. And when it comes to eating right, complex is the carb to look for.

The essential difference between simple and complex carbohydrates is the number of sugar molecules that are bonded together. Simple carbs are composed of single sugar molecules, while complex carbohydrates are made up of multiple sugar molecules, thus taking longer for the body to digest and store as energy. Simple carbohydrates break down quite quickly and are stored as fat when not used as energy.

With this in mind, contrary to popular belief, potatoes are complex carbohydrates, making them an ideal carbohydrate for anyone wanting to maintain or lose weight.

Regarding the nutrients in potatoes and the barren wasteland notion, potatoes are more like an overpopulated metropolis! They’re packed with vitamin C, fiber (especially when eaten with the skin on, which it always ought to be), have more potassium than bananas and are among the best vegetable sources for iron.

As for the potato being high on the glycemic index, well, that’s true, but the fact that the potato is a starchy vegetable should not eliminate it from contention as a healthy vegetable. In fact, because the potato is so nutrient dense and low in calories (about 110 calories for a medium-sized potato), the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee says the glycemic index is of “little utility” when it comes to assessing how good or bad something is for the body. More and more evidence is coming out regarding the flimsiness of the GI scale because so many isolating factors play into each food’s assessment (e.g. carbohydrates in a vegetable or fruit often differ depending on its origin and variety; the ripeness of a banana changes its glycemic index; even how thoroughly one chews changes a given fruit or vegetable’s GI!).

The fact of the matter is this: the potato is one of the best vegetables out there that’s delicious with merely a splash of unrefined sea salt and a dash of black pepper. If that isn’t enough to spice up your potato this Thanksgiving, why not top it with some organic salsa? Or some chopped up chives? You could even try sprinkling your tuber with some toasted sesame seeds or adding some flavorful fun with fresh herbs like dill or basil (which will add some additional antioxidants to a food that’s already loaded with them!).

Whatever’s your way, make sure to grab yourself a hot potato this Thanksgiving Day!