"The healthiest way to eat a potato is baking it with the skin on," says Upton. "Baked potatoes add no additional calories like frying or roasting with oil." Sign up for our newsletter! Leaving the skins on the potato brings extra nutrients to the food.
A baked potato with a dash of salt and pepper can make a healthy side dish, but if you want to really amp up the nutrition, consider toppings that contribute protein, healthy fats and fiber. Forget the cheese, sour cream and butter and go for more nutrient-dense additions for your baked potato.
Yes, baked potatoes are healthy. There's nothing inherently wrong with including potatoes in an otherwise healthy, balanced diet. The only pitfall here is preparation. A plain baked potato is a rich source of fiber, vitamins, and minerals that provide protein, and is low in fat and sodium.
Yes, a plain baked potato is a healthy food, especially when it is consumed with its fiber-rich skin. But because its nutrient profile and composition is different from other vegetables (it has more starch than leafy greens, for example), it shouldn't be the only vegetable in your diet.
Eat the skin to capture all the russet potatoes nutrition. The potato skin has more nutrients than the interior of the potato. It has lots of fiber, about half of a medium potato's fiber is from the skin.
A baked potato is more nutrient-dense, providing 6 grams of protein and 6 grams of fiber. It has about 25 percent more magnesium as a boiled potato. It also contains 40 percent more phosphorus and potassium, as well as four times the amount of folate in a boiled potato.
Baked, mashed, or boiled, potatoes actually provide more energy-delivering complex carbohydrates than a cup of pasta. All varieties--russet, red, yellow, purple, and sweet--contain impressive quantities of vitamins and minerals. Plus, they're easy to digest and prepare.
And unlike white bread, the starch in potatoes hasn't been refined to deplete nutrients. Potatoes also deliver niacin, vitamin B6, folate, vitamin C and magnesium.
The more color in the potato, the more antioxidants it contains. On top of that, the skin of the potato can have up to 12 times more antioxidants than the flesh. So, don't be afraid to eat your potato skins. Baked potato skin is a great source of potassium and magnesium.
Still, she said, “I would suggest eating less than four servings a week.” If you need more convincing, Borgi said, take a look at the latest dietary guidelines, which suggest women consume no more than five servings of starchy vegetables a week and men, six.
To keep your healthy potatoes ranking low on the calorie front, try serving them boiled or roasted in a salad or mixed-veggie dish, or baked with nutrient-packed toppings like spices, Greek yogurt, salsa, or beans.
Both rice and potatoes are great thanks to their fat content being less than 1g, which makes them perfect candidates for weight-loss foods. Vitamin-wise, rice is a great source of vitamin B spectrum, while potatoes have gotten their good reputation in vitamin C content as one of the highest amongst vegetables.
The rules are simple in a potato diet. It is a short-term dietary plan where an individual has to eat only potatoes for three to five days, followed by a week or months, depending on the person's requirement. This extreme eating plan focuses on consuming nothing but cooked potatoes for rapid weight loss.
While baking is one of the healthier ways to cook a potato, and baked potatoes do provide some essential vitamins and minerals, they tend to be higher in calories than many other vegetables and the butter adds a lot of fat, including unhealthy saturated fat, without significantly increasing the vitamin and mineral ...
Thus, you should throw out any cooked potatoes that are older than 4 days. Additionally, if you ever spot mold on cooked potatoes, you should dispose of them immediately. Mold may appear as fuzz or a few dark spots that are brown, black, red, white, or bluish gray.
Are all the nutrients in the skin of the potato? No. While the skin does contain approximately half of the total dietary fiber, the majority (> 50%) of the nutrients are found within the potato itself. The only nutrient significantly lost when the skin is removed is fiber.
It does have no oil in the cooking process–potato slices are baked. Compared with fatty deep fry, bake is the more healthy way to cook food.
These veggies contain tons of important nutrients and anti-inflammatory compounds. "For example, tomatoes are rich in lycopene, an antioxidant compound that is thought to have anticancer properties and may play a role in skin health," explains Beaver.
Calories, Fat and Protein
They are also similar in caloric content. A cup of plain white rice has 242 calories and brown rice contains 216. A medium baked potato falls between them with 230 calories. Rice, with 5 grams of protein per cup, has slightly more protein than a potato, with 3 grams.
Eggs are a low-calorie food rich in protein and other nutrients. Eating eggs may support weight loss, especially if a person incorporates them into a calorie-controlled diet. Research suggests that eggs boost metabolic activity and increase feelings of fullness.
While microwaving to completely cook the potato will result in a soft and mealy Russet, cooking in the microwave for just 5 to 6 minutes before placing in the oven keeps the potato's original texture. Drizzling with olive oil and sprinkling with salt before baking at 400 F will allow the skin to get nice and crisp.
Cook potatoes by boiling, steaming or microwaving them without adding other ingredients. Preparing potatoes in this manner will ensure that they are very low in salt, sugar and fat. 3. Another method of cooking potato the healthy way is to cook it with its skin this provides fiber to the body.
MYTH #2. MOST COOKING METHODS DESTROY THE NUTRIENTS IN POTATOES. While boiling potatoes does cause a small loss of water-soluble nutrients like vitamin C and vitamin B6, the white potato retains most, if not all, of its potassium and dietary fiber regardless of cooking method, such as baking, boiling, or frying.