By Delicious potato hack that lowers your blood sugar impact
Potatoes have gone astray due to the overcrowded ‘low carb’ era, which seems to be taking over our plates.
I was once a victim of low-carb dieting.
It was successful for a while, and I lost weight quite effortlessly.
But — and there is a big BUT here — I couldn’t sustain it.
The real reason behind not sustaining any quick-fix diet is that you need more critical nutrients.
That’s what keto/low-carb eating did for me. But on the other hand, some people thrive on eating little to no carbs.
But it didn’t seem to work over the long term.
Healthy eating is a critical part of our lifestyle, which we must adhere to throughout our lives.
Potatoes are no exception.
Perhaps they don’t provide as many vital nutrients as sweet potatoes, but they add variety to our plates.
And that’s what having a ‘lifestyle’ plan is all about.
They are one of the cheapest carbs, versatile enough to be mashed, baked, boiled or even air fried.
Gone are the good old days when we fry potatoes in toxic vegetable oil.
Air frying is the new ‘in’, and can you blame the movement?
Anything air-fried without oil tastes delicious!
Potatoes are in two categories — waxy or starchy-based. The more starch potato has, the creamier they are.
These varieties are great in a mash or when baked. Waxy potatoes are better when boiled as they tend to keep their shape (hopefully not fall apart when chopping them).
Waxy potatoes go well in a potato salad.
To make your potatoes hold their shape in a salad without them crumbling to pieces when you bite into it, you only need to add vinegar and a touch of salt to the boiling water.
Vinegar helps your potato retain its shape.
Boil the potatoes for 30 minutes, and add vinegar and a pinch of salt during the 13th minute of cooking.
It’s essential to add those ingredients at that time.
What is so good about vinegar?
Vinegar helps the potato crust on the outside become thin.
You need to keep the skin (or crust) to keep the shape of your salad.
Acid from the vinegar prevents the pectin in potatoes from breaking down too quickly.
But let me tell you something hidden in vinegar.
Not only is it good for keeping your potato intact, but it’s also great for lowering your glycemic and insulinemic responses.
A volunteer study was conducted amongst 13 healthy subjects. There were four meals applied in this study which included the following:
- freshly boiled potatoes, boiled and cold-stored potatoes
- boiled and cold-stored potatoes with the addition of vinaigrette sauce & white wheat bread
- freshly boiled potatoes
- boiled and cold-stored potatoes
These meals consisted of 20 carbs and were served breakfast after an overnight fast.
Blood samples were taken at time intervals.
- Cold-stored potatoes increased their resistant content significantly by 3.3 to 5.2%
- Cold potatoes with added vinegar were significantly reduced by 43 and 31%
- Cold-stored potatoes were reduced by 28% compared with freshly boiled potatoes.
Key take away
The key to lowering the glycemic index of carbs is to store them in the fridge and add vinegar to the salad dressing.
Suppose you add vinegar to the boiling water.
In that case, you have the added benefit of retaining the potato shape so that it’s a lot easier to eat and adding a dash of vinegar to the potatoes before serving will help you keep the gi rating in the lower range.
Don’t really like vinegar? How about adding apple cider vinegar, salt and olive oil?
Try sprinkling spring onions or red onions with chives and oregano. Then, add some bacon and boiled egg to make it more of a meal.
So, who said you couldn’t ‘dress up’ potatoes?
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