I'd like to begin a little discussion about carbohydrates... and in particular, "white foods" as well as potatoes. One reason I mentioned this is because so many health and fitness professionals bad mouth potatoes about being a bad carbohydrate option because of the high glycemic index. Some even say such ridiculous things as "shun any and all white carbohydrates".

Ok, now while I indeed allow that white bread and refined white sugar are two of the worest foods we can be feeding our bodies, I definately don't tolerate with eluding any and all "white carbohydrates". Now I know all of the hype lately has been about a multihued of foods and the protective antioxidants that they contain. They tell you to focus on colors and avoid white.

It's factual that colorful foods are great, but it is a big mistake to avoid all white foods! There is an abundance of white foods that have explicit nutrients that are hard to find. Let's look at a few examples...

Onions & Garlic

What about onions and garlic? They are both white and they are full of protective phytonutrients, vitamins, and touch of minerals that aren't that simple to find elsewhere in a ordinary diet... such nutrients as allicin, quercetin (an important flavonoid), chromium, and other rare anti-inflammatory nutrients.

Cauliflower

Another example of something white that is great for you is cauliflower. Cauliflower is a wealth of vitamin C, fiber, minerals, and rare compounds such as glucosinolates and thiocyanates, which are specifically abundant in cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, and cabbage. And a little-known truth is that some of the compounds in cruciferous vegetables help to combat other estrogenic compounds in our food supply and environment. Can help thwart prevent excess belly fat. So eat up on that cauliflower!

Mushrooms

Not many people recognize this, but surprisingly, even white mushrooms have high levels of rare nutrients and anti-oxidants. White mushrooms are high in a few types of anti-oxidants called polyphenols and ergothioneine.

Potatoes

Now that also leads us to another example - white potatoes (which by the way, can also be found in red, yellow, purple varieties, etc). Many health professionals maintain that potatoes are a bad carbohydrate because they are thought to have a high glycemic index. The glycemic index is not necessarily the most important reason in choosing your carbohydrates.

While a generalization can be made that most low glycemic index carbohydrate choices will help you reduce your body fat easier than high glycemic index choices, it is not all that it's cracked up to be. There are many other reasons that conclude how your body will answer-to and process the carbohydrates you consume, such as glycemic load and also how you merge the high GI food with other foods.

For example, with glycemic load as an example... it is known that watermelon has a high glycemic index. However, the glycemic load of a ordinary serving of watermelon is just way too low for your body to begin packing on body fat just because you ate a high glycemic index fruit. You would have to eat such an vast amount of watermelon just to get enough grams of carbohydrates to have any harmful glycemic effect, that it is just non-sensical.

Not to mention that watermelon is also a great wealth of vitamins, minerals, and lycopene. There's just no logic to avoid it merely because it has a high GI. The point is... candy bars, cupcakes, and donuts make you fat... NOT watermelons, carrots or potatoes.

Also, as stated, food combinations are important in how your body processes the carbohydrates and the associated blood sugar and insulin response you receive. For example, if you mix a high glycemic index carbohydrate with an extra source of fiber, healthy fats, or even certain proteins, many times the blood sugar and glycemic response will be slowed down considerably by the way you combined the food.

Alright, so back to the point that white potatoes are actually a healthy carbohydrate as long as you eat them in the right form... with the complete skin, and don't ruin them by deep frying them into french fries either! French fries are one of the most evil foods ever created for your health, but only because we ruin them by saturated them in a boiling bath of trans fats in the deep fryer from the hydrogenated oils that are typically used.

Keep in mind that potatoes include so many vitamins and minerals that the list is way too long to even try. Also, as long as you eat the skins, you get a suitable amount of fiber too.

On the subject of potatoes not being so bad after all, I don't recall where I saw this referenced, but I recently saw a particular report that had participants eat something like 7-9 whole potatoes per day for serveral weeks.

At the conclusion of the report, the potato eaters had actually consistently reduced weight! I'd venture a estimate that the reasons the people losts weight is that they were probably so full from consuming all of those damn potatoes, that they actually consumed less calories than normal! An median sized potato only has about 100-120 calories, and actually assume you'd be full constantly from consuming 7-9 potatoes each day.

Now I would never advocate going to those extremes, but the fact is that an occasional potato is not going to hurt your efforts to get lean, especially if you combine it with some other fibrous vegetables and perhaps a healthy fat and some protein. On that note, here is a recipe for you, with potatoes.

Lean-Body Potato Side Dish

-Preferred amount of baby potatoes (I like to use this mixture I found lately at a health food store... it is a mixture of white, red, blonde, and purple baby potatoes)

-1 red pepper

-1 green pepper

-1 yellow pepper

-1 or 2 onions

-2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

-1 or 2 Tbsp extra virgin emerald oil

-a little salted and pepper to taste (I like to add sea salt instead of ordinary commercial salt)

Cut the baby potatoes into slightly smaller pieces and place in a steamer until soft all the way through. Slice up the peppers and onions into strips and add with the chopped garlic into a pan with the olive oil. Cook the peppers, onions, and garlic until tender, and then add the steamed baby potatoes. Stir it all together and eat. This is a delicious and healthy side dish that goes great with chicken or red meat.

I hope you've enjoyed this topic about potatos, healthy carbohydtates, glycemic index, and my killer potato recipe idea.