Potatoes sometimes get disregarded because we associate them with greasy fries and chips, but whole potatoes cooked with healthy techniques give you a lot of nutritional bang for your buck.
My family just loves potatoes. Mashed, baked, roasted or steamed, I think that sometimes we could eat potatoes every single night of the week.
Potato Nutrition
The problem with potatoes isn’t the potato itself, it’s how we tend to prepare them. Mashed potatoes full of butter and cream are not doing you any favors. French fries are certainly not good for you, and potato chips are arguably even worse. But you don’t have to deep fry a potato or drown it in butter to make it taste good, and when you look at the nutritional value of the vegetable itself, it’s pretty decent.
One large baked potato with the skin contains:
- no fat or cholesterol
- 7 grams of fiber
- 7 grams of protein
- 48 percent of your daily vitamin C
- 18 percent of your daily iron
- 4 percent of your daily calcium
- 46 percent of your daily potassium
- 46 percent of your vitamin B6
Not too shabby, right? We ruin this poor root vegetable’s health value when we treat it in such an unhealthy way.
In fact, potatoes contain a compound called kukoamines that lower blood pressure. Its high B6 content means it can contribute to brain and heart health. Let’s look at some healthier ways to cook potatoes instead.
