Potato – 4th on my list of ‘pure calories’ after sugarcane, watermelon, & mango. The similarities are they are cheap, pure calories, super food/meal by itself with only difference being ‘potato’ is all season.
“Potato makes you fat” ???
NO, no, and no.
From nutrition perspective, potato broadly have carbs and little bit of fiber, Vitamins B6 or C which is similar to many veg/foods. So nothing unique and yet a fabulous food. Read on….
Firstly, no one food gives us complete nutrition. That’s why we have variety of vegetables, fruits, dal’s, wheat, legumes, meat, or others to complete our nutrients quota which could be daily/weekly/long term.
Fiber is a bonus in any food as it not only helps in clearance but also gives us filling effect. Its like a food coming with clearance voucher 🙂
We would use food instantly as a fuel when we are hungry and the rest gets stored as fat. So it is good if we can digest a food instantly and put to use? Yes…imagine, good part of all the calories you have eaten, have been put to use and burnt.
To make it simpler, lets look what is energy:
Instant Energy = Fuel = Glucose = Food
Protein, fiber, minerals, vitamins, or fats are all parts of food and get segregated in our metabolic machinery. However, what gives us instant energy is ‘glucose’. Our body uses stored fat as energy during longer spells like sleep or hunger states. Everything we ingest has a role and of course but since they are imbibed into each other from physiology purposes; they are all needed by our system. But for broader understanding, lets just look at pure ‘energy’ for this post.
So when we feel hungry; we feel hungry for energy. IF something gets ingested & digested immediately; this would mean instant energy. Isn’t it? So wouldn’t you like to eat something that gives us instant energy?
Of course, we all eat potatoes in different forms with bread/roti’s or mixed in some vegetables etc. where depending on your preparation, it may stay as pure calories or compromise some in processing. The purity of any food from digestion perspective is in having it by itself.
Ques: Why not just have potatoes?
My breakfast – whenever I decide to have potato in breakfast, I have it with cheese and butter/Olive oil. All pure form of calories making my breakfast a wholesome meal. It works for me and keeps me full until lunch pretty easy. Besides the fullness, since I train; and I can confirm, that it provides me with great energy.
Note: Researches have also proved that the potato when compared to other vegetables have a higher satiating effect – fullness.
So in the context of the post – potato is an excellent source of calories. There are multiple ways to prepare it – I would even fry boiled potatoes in Olive oil. It stays as pure calories as long as you are not mixing it with any other food type or process it. If I deep fry it; then it no longer stays as pure calories.
In India, we would have it with roti’s which is another excellent way to eat it. It only becomes weight savvy when you do not need calories. And that’s because it is pure calories.
Just like fruits I mentioned; if we eat in fed state; these beautiful calories become fattening for us because they get stored straight away as fat if not put to use. Remember – pure calories. The same when consumed in hunger state; they become the best source of energy. We do need to store fat as well (from all foods) so considering how easily a food digested, it will get stored as fat similar way.
Learning: there is no need to compromise on your favourite food. Find ways to consume it to keep its nutritional component intact.
Having said that one must try to keep the nutritional value intact while preparing It.
Example – KFC where a chicken is deep fried in some oil multiple times compromises the nutritional value of chicken in compare to having it grilled.
Umesh Chhikara 