Potato's - A Love/Hate Relationship

I love potatoes... cooked about any way.  Fried, mashed, baked, cheesy, tots/fries, and of course, every one's favorite: Lay's Potato Chips!  For several months now, I've avoided potatoes.  My traditional potato is baked (in the micro) and topped with (light) cheese, bacon, (light) sour cream, (light) butter... but, ugh.. all those "lights" add up to a whopping 7-10 PointsPlus.  Depending on how carried away I would get.

 Last week, I posted my very own creation, Potato Toss. (I'm not very creative when naming recipes)  I really wanted a potato last night, but had used all of my zucchini and kielbasa on the original creation.  Instead, I chopped my potato, tossed with 1 tablespoon of olive oil, added my preferred seasoning (garlic salt, season salt, chives, cayenne, pepper, etc) and cooked in a skillet for 10? minutes.  It was delicious.  Total PointsPlus value: 6!  Yesss! I actually think I prefer the taste of this potato over my baked potato!

I decided to look up some information about potatoes to support my love of the spud.. Here's what I found on the Weight Watchers website:

• An average potato, eaten with the skin, provides 45 percent of the daily requirement of Vitamin C and is a better source of potassium than bananas. It’s also a good source of fiber, iron and magnesium.
• As often as possible, eat the potato with the peel — just rinse and scrub. While it’s not true that all the potato’s nutrition is found in the peel, much of the fiber is, which aids digestion and helps you feel full longer.

And this from http://www.organicfacts.net/:

• Weight Gain: Potatoes are mounds of carbohydrates and contain little proteins too. This makes it an ideal diet for those lean and thins who desperately want to put on weight. The vitamins like vitamin-C and B-complex also help in proper absorption of this carbohydrate. That is why they make an inevitable part of the diet of Sumo Wrestlers.
• High Blood Pressure: Since high blood pressure is caused due to a number of reasons, including diabetes, tension, indigestion, nature of food and many such, different are the cures. Potato can be used to relieve High Blood Pressure due to tension, indigestion etc. due to abundance of vitamin-C and B in it, but should be avoided if it is due to diabetes. The fiber present in it is helpful in lowering cholesterol and improves functioning of insulin in the body, which aids to lowering of blood pressure, since there is a direct relation between the blood pressure and the glucose level in the blood and insulin regulates this glucose level.
• Heart Diseases: Apart from the vitamins (B-complex, C), minerals and roughage, potatoes also contain certain substances called Carotenoids (lutein, zeaxanthin etc.) which are beneficial for heart and other internal organs. But again, since it raises the glucose level in the blood and over intake may cause obesity, which in turn can put a lot of pressure on your heart; hence it is not recommended for obese or diabetic people.
• Other Benefits and Cautions: Juice of potato is a good treatment for burns, bruises, sprains, skin problems, ulcers, effect of narcotics, cancer of prostrate and uterus and formation of cysts or tumors. On the other hand, some care also needs to be taken while eating potatoes. Green potatoes are poisonous, and so are potato leaves and fruits, as they contain alkaloids like solanine, chaconine and arsenic whose overdose may prove fatal. Moreover, the glycemic index (in simple words, the energy or sugar content) of potatoes is very high (above 80) and so obese, diabetic and those who are slimming down should avoid eating potatoes. If eaten, potatoes are better baked than raw or fried.

There was a lot more listed on the website, but I'm trying to condense here.  So my theory is this:


Live everything else, potatoes are great - when eaten in moderation!


Do you like potatoes? What is your favorite, low-fat, potato recipe?