sweet potatoes

weathergirl320

so can someone explain to me why sweet potatoes are ok? and also, would sweet potato fries be ok? if fried in delicious lard or tallow or coconut oil?

jamk1446

Sweet potatoes are actually not related to white potatoes. They are considered a safe starch because they have been around longer than white potatoes and in theory, we should be better adapted to eating them. But they don't work for everyone, I couldn't eat them for years because they spiked my blood sugar and made me feel ill, same with white potatoes. I'm better adapted to handling them now.

Fried in lard or tallow sounds delicious to me.

twinmom01

lots of different takes on potatoes vs sweet potatoes within the Paleo realm...

Purists will say stay away from white potatoes because they can contain things like lectins which can be toxic to your body (and one of the reasons Paleo stays away from beans) and even further purists will say stay away from Sweet Potaoes as well...something to do with the idea of thinking along the lines of "Can you eat this raw"...you can eat a potatoe or sweet potatoe raw but it would probably make you sick

Others will eat white potatoes because they provide a moderate carb load and don't see things as strict as a purist does - also the question of how are they truely different if they provide a good amount of vitamins and minerals and white has a lower sugar/carb content then sweet...others stay away from white but will eat sweet potatoes.

That being said - I stay away from white mainly because i dont' find them all that appealing to me to eat - I do eat sweet potatoes BUT since I am watching my carb and sugars i only have them maybe once a week and usually after a lifting workout.

I usually do them up in some sort of hash - peel and cube a sweet potatoe and sautee in coconut oil (or bacon fat if I have some in my fridge) with onion, cauliflower, peppers, etc...my one daughter LOVES my sweet/cauli/onion hash and it is one of the only way I can get her to eat veggies (whereas my other daughter doesn't really like cooked veggies but will tear up a head of raw broccili )

shar140

sweet potatoes also have a lower GI rating than white. Personally, I know white potatoes generally leave me craving more carbs. Sweet potatoes I can get away with, as long as I keep serving sizes down.

I roasted some cubed sweet potatoes in some bacon fat and it was delicious! I cooked the bacon in the oven first, then had an epiphany, why not just leave the drippings in the pan, then cook the sweet potatoes?! But in general, as I still have a lot of weight to lose, I don't eat either potato on a regular basis - unless it is rugby season, and I supplement with extra carbs.

mehaugen

Sweet potatoes can also be a problem for those who have issues with fructose and fructans. For those people, squashes like pumpkin would be a better option.