According to Julie Upton, MS, RD, and member of our Medical Expert Board, the healthiest way to eat your potatoes is to leave the skin on and bake them. "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."
Instead of consuming deep-fried potatoes, opt for air-fried, baked, mashed, or boiled potatoes to reap the potential benefits of the diet. Let your potatoes cool down after cooking before you consume them. It is because the amount of resistant starch is higher in that form, which aids in burning fat in the body.
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.
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. Potassium and vitamin C are found predominantly in the flesh of the potato.
Boiling potatoes causes water-soluble nutrients, such as vitamin C and potassium, to leach out ( 2 ). This results in slightly less nutritious potatoes. The longer you boil, the more nutrients are lost. Boiling potatoes in their skin helps to retain some of the water-soluble nutrients.
Baking a potato is the best way to prepare it, as baking, or microwaving, a potato causes the lowest amount of nutrients to be lost, she said. The next-healthiest way to cook a potato is through steaming, which causes less nutrient loss than boiling.
Boiled potatoes are naturally rich in potassium, calcium, and magnesium. Being a good source of fibre, they are also suitable for managing your weight. In addition, they keep cholesterol and blood sugar levels in check.
Baked potatoes are a naturally low-fat, low-cholesterol food. They're also packed with potassium, which some research suggests can greatly reduce risks of heart disease.
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.
The same goes for your spuds: Potato skins contain half the fiber—an essential carb that helps keep you full—and a whole lot more calcium and iron than just the starchy vegetable itself, Brown notes.
They can be prepared in many healthy ways including boiling, steaming and baking. However, frying is the worst way to cook them as this process may increase their calorie content drastically due to its contact with a lot of oil. It may help you lose weight curbing hunger pangs and cravings if eaten in correct way.
Steaming has all the benefits of boiling—no cooking oils, not much clean up—at a fraction of the time. Why? You're only waiting for a small amount of water to boil, not a whole pot. So the next time you're prepping potatoes for another dish or just softening them on their own, try steaming them instead of boiling.
The information gathered leads us to a conclusion that rice, especially brown or parboiled kind (white one with added nutrients) is a better choice than potatoes thanks to its high vitamin content and low glycemic index.
But as Nathan wrote, and as our registered dietitians teach at the Pritikin Longevity Center today, potatoes are actually very good for you, especially if you're trying to lose weight. That's because, ounce for ounce, potatoes are one of the most filling and low-calorie foods we can eat.
The high potassium in potatoes helps prevent water retention and plays an important role in aiding weight loss, as per the dietician. There have been studies that show that potatoes can even lead to your fat cell shrinking.
The potato diet is a short-term rapid weight loss solution. Potatoes are the primary source of calories on this diet. Potatoes are an excellent source of fiber, vitamins, and minerals, and proponents of the potato diet believe that you can lose about a pound per week.
Oil and Fat Content
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.
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.
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.
Yes. 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.
In general, longer cooking methods also mean higher chances of nutrient loss when cooking produce. Because microwaving can sometimes significantly lower the cooking time (five minutes instead of the 15 it would take to boil for veggies like Creamer potatoes) it can help to preserve nutrients as well as flavor!
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. They're a great source of potassium, which helps regulate blood pressure.
Vitamins. The potatoes and eggs are good sources of vitamin B-6 and folate, and the eggs contribute vitamin B-12. You'll get 12 percent of the recommended daily intake of folate and 30 percent of vitamin B-6 and vitamin B-12.