Intermittent fasting is a way to add a meal planning strategy to your lifestyle. It’s fairly straightforward and can really help you with weight loss and maintenance. But are potatoes good for intermittent fasting?
Potatoes are not only a versatile food, but they come packed with important nutrients for health and longevity. If you’re interested in an intermittent fasting diet, potatoes should definitely be included. Because this kind of diet can help you lose weight, it’s a good idea to explore the benefits of potatoes on a calorie-controlled IF plan.
The benefits of this vegetable and carb source include inexpensive, readily available, good flavor, and versatile ways to serve them. On the other hand, potatoes are comparatively high in starch and sugar, making them less of a superfood than one might think. This post explores potatoes and intermittent fasting, as well as the role that potatoes can play in an intermittent fasting diet.
Ways in Which Potatoes Can Be Good for Intermittent Fasting
When you’re considering an intermittent fasting plan, one question that often comes up is whether or not potatoes are good for you. Many people have concerns about the starchiness of potatoes and wonder if it’ll mess with their digestion or if it might cause weight gain. But don’t worry! There are plenty of health benefits to be found in this humble vegetable.
The first thing to consider is the glycemic index of a potato—this is a scale used to measure how quickly they affect your blood sugar levels. A potato’s glycemic index lands at around 69, meaning it has less of an impact on your blood sugar than other starchy foods like pasta or white rice. Some people believe this makes potatoes better for an IF plan because they won’t spike your insulin levels and cause hunger pangs later in the day.
When it comes to fasting, most experts agree that your body will enter “ketosis”—a state where it’s using fat as its main source of fuel—after around 12 hours without food. It’s important to note that ketosis is NOT starving or depriving yourself of nutrients; your body is simply re-configuring its energy usage from carbohydrates to fats. Your body burns through its glucose stores after only a few hours of fasting, and then it starts burning fat instead.
Also learn about how many days of starvation you need in order to lose belly fat.
Is Sweet Potato Good for Intermittent Fasting?
Sweet potatoes are a healthy, low-calorie vegetable that can be part of a weight loss diet. They’re also high in fiber, which helps you feel full. Avoid eating sweet potatoes with added fat and sugar if you’re trying to lose weight. This includes toppings such as butter or margarine, honey, brown sugar, or syrup.
The amount of calories in sweet potatoes depends on their size. A small baked sweet potato contains about 100 calories, while a large one has about 160 calories. A medium raw sweet potato has 90 calories. A cup of mashed sweet potato provides 185 calories.
To reduce the number of calories in your sweet potato dish, choose a small one instead of a large one when possible, and avoid adding extra fat or sugar to your meal. For example, instead of topping your baked sweet potato with butter and brown sugar, try sprinkling it with cinnamon or nutmeg instead.
Does Starch Increase Your Blood Sugar in a Way That Can Affect IF?
Research suggests that the storage carbohydrate for potatoes is not readily available for use in the body, which means it does not raise blood sugar levels; however, the starch in potatoes is a complex carbohydrate, so it may have a slightly higher impact on insulin.
When you eat a sweet potato or other types of starchy vegetables, your body converts most of the carbs into glucose and stores it as glycogen for energy. The body also converts some of these carbs into triglycerides and stores them as fat if they are not needed immediately.
If you are following a strict ketogenic diet that limits carbohydrates even more than intermittent fasting (such as eating 20 grams or fewer per day), then you will likely want to avoid eating potatoes of any kind except for one serving per day.
The standard advice for anyone trying intermittent fasting is that you should eat no more than 500 calories per day during your fast and that you should be sure to get plenty of protein, fats, and fiber.
Potatoes are an excellent source of fiber, and many varieties of potatoes are also high in healthy fats, so they can easily fill up one of your two daily meals and help keep you satisfied with your fast.
How Does Cooking Potatoes Affect How They Interact with Intermittent Fasting?
The way that you prepare potatoes has a big effect on their ability to interact with intermittent fasting.
Boiled Potatoes
When boiled, potatoes have a high glycemic index of about 82. This means that they raise blood sugar quickly, and your body will be looking for more food within about an hour after eating them. Boiled potatoes are also very easy to digest, meaning they have a low satiety value (they don’t keep you full).
Overcooking the potato will damage some of its resistant starch, but not all of it. While this isn’t ideal, it’s still better than eating a raw potato since cooking increases the absorption of vitamins and minerals by as much as 50%.
Baked Potatoes
Baked potatoes have a glycemic index of about 111. They take longer to digest than boiled potatoes and are less likely to be stored as body fat because they contain resistant starch (RS), which doesn’t get digested by our bodies but can feed our gut bacteria instead. This can lead to better digestive health and immunity in general.
What About Adding Fats Like Oil When Cooking Potatoes?
Pompeian Robust Extra Virgin Olive Oil is cold-pressed from organically grown olives, ensuring a vibrant flavor and smooth finish. This oil is perfect for salad dressings or marinades, and its full-bodied flavor enhances any dish. It’s perfect for dipping breads in or drizzling over vegetables
First, you should always choose your oil wisely when frying your potatoes. The best type of oil that you can use when frying potatoes is extra virgin olive oil because it has been shown to have many health benefits, such as lowering bad cholesterol levels and increasing good cholesterol levels in our body.
The next thing that you need to remember about frying potatoes is the temperature at which they should be fried. When frying potatoes, always make sure that the temperature does not exceed 350 degrees Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius). This temperature allows for all the nutrients in the potato to be preserved, so it will still provide all its health benefits when consumed by us humans!
Frequently Asked Questions
Conclusion
Potatoes are a great food for IF enthusiasts and for most people, too. They’re an excellent source of fiber and complex carbohydrates and provide a healthy dose of vitamin C.
Moreover, they’re relatively low in calories and saturated fat, so there’s no reason not to enjoy them in moderation. You’ll just want to avoid potatoes that come in heavy dressings or sauces; it’s better to stick with the plain or lightly steamed ones.
When it comes right down to it, the diet you choose is dependent on your own goals, lifestyle, and overall well-being. For example, someone trying to lose weight may find that intermittent fasting fits well in their plan. Someone who eats pretty much everything in their diet might not find the same benefits in intermittent fasting.
