Are sweet potatoes considered a vegetable serving?

okohjacinda
okohjacinda Posts: 329 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I hope so because I didn't feel like cooking a lot of veggies tonight and felt like a sweet potato instead...according to the reports I got in a lot of fiber (52g in total) because of it so I am satisfied but lots of people say stay away from potatoes because they're starchy vegetables but I like sweet potatoes and I think they actually are helping my satiety and weight loss...white potatoes not so much.
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Replies

  • okohjacinda
    okohjacinda Posts: 329 Member
    JaydedMiss wrote: »
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    Potatoes, both regular and sweet potatoes are nutritional power houses...there's nothing wrong with starch or starchy vegetables...they are whole foods...it's just that carbs are currently the latest and greatest of the dietary demons...for absolutely no reason I might add...

    potatoes in particular sadly, ITs the deep frying butter coating sour cream and bacon topping people who ruin potatoes for us all. Potatoes are a near perfect food by themselves. All kinds

    And cheese...don't forget the cheese lol
  • JaydedMiss
    JaydedMiss Posts: 4,286 Member
    okohjacinda wrote: »
    JaydedMiss wrote: »
    cwolfman13 wrote: »
    Potatoes, both regular and sweet potatoes are nutritional power houses...there's nothing wrong with starch or starchy vegetables...they are whole foods...it's just that carbs are currently the latest and greatest of the dietary demons...for absolutely no reason I might add...

    potatoes in particular sadly, ITs the deep frying butter coating sour cream and bacon topping people who ruin potatoes for us all. Potatoes are a near perfect food by themselves. All kinds

    And cheese...don't forget the cheese lol

    yum though. Also curious why wouldnt a potato be a vegetable serving? I believe im going to go make sweet potato toast now. Thanks for that craving lol
  • 69HealthyMe
    69HealthyMe Posts: 24 Member
    I love sweet potatoes with a little cinnamon sprinkled on them.
  • JaydedMiss
    JaydedMiss Posts: 4,286 Member
    69HealthyMe wrote: »
    I love sweet potatoes with a little cinnamon sprinkled on them.

    mmmm also amazing with a drizzle of maple syrup .... -drools-
  • Dnarules
    Dnarules Posts: 2,081 Member
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    skinnyjingbb wrote: »
    There are nothing wrong with eating sweet potato, but I would think it more like a replacement for bread and pasta than vegetables

    This is how I think of it. I think tubers are wonderful, but would not use them as my vegetable course, but instead of grains (rice, oats, pasta, etc.). I would not have them in place of/as substitute for non starchy veg, at least not on a regular basis. I'd have both.

    In other words, technically they are a vegetable, but culinarily and nutritionally I consider them a starch.

    OP, regarding fiber, I don't get how you would get 52 g of fiber from them (which would be an enormous amount). USDA says they have about 3 g of fiber (and 86 calories) in 100 g. But I would agree they are nutritious and would not avoid them!

    This will probably seem silly. I do not really consider regular potatoes as a veggie. Because of the beta carotene, I do consider sweet potatoes a veggie. Yep I realize that doesn't really make sense.
  • TonyB0588
    TonyB0588 Posts: 9,520 Member
    I eat them as starch, not vegetables.
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  • megpie41
    megpie41 Posts: 164 Member
    lemurcat12 wrote: »
    skinnyjingbb wrote: »
    There are nothing wrong with eating sweet potato, but I would think it more like a replacement for bread and pasta than vegetables

    OP, regarding fiber, I don't get how you would get 52 g of fiber from them (which would be an enormous amount). USDA says they have about 3 g of fiber (and 86 calories) in 100 g. But I would agree they are nutritious and would not avoid them!

    I agree about the fiber. No way a sweet potato has 52g of fiber (unless it's the size of a watermelon). There are about 5-6g/cup. For most people, 52g of fiber would cause some stomach/bowel distress since most aren't used to that much fiber (especially from one meal).
  • Hamsibian
    Hamsibian Posts: 1,388 Member
    edited January 2018
    I eat low carb paleo, and I'm having baked sweet potato fries as part of my post workout snack. I love them! They are vegetables, but I count them as starches.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    edited January 2018
    It's a vegetable so I don't see any reason not to count it as a serving.

    The USDA and the NHS counts them
    https://www.choosemyplate.gov/vegetable-group-food-gallery
    https://www.nhs.uk/Livewell/5ADAY/Pages/Whatcounts.aspx
  • jgnatca
    jgnatca Posts: 14,464 Member
    Canada food guide classes all potatoes as a vegetable. I count them as my starch.
  • janejellyroll
    janejellyroll Posts: 25,763 Member
    Sweet potatoes are a vegetable. I consider all potatoes vegetables.
  • counting_kilojoules
    counting_kilojoules Posts: 170 Member
    I count potatoes (and other starchy vegetables like corn, peas, parsnips etc) as vegetables. For a start, they are botanically vegetables. Secondly, their nutrients are more similar to other vegetables than to other starchy things like bread. Thirdly, I try to eat plenty of vegetables in a wide range of colours (starchy and non starchy) which is the thing I think is important unless you need or want to count carbs.
  • fb47
    fb47 Posts: 1,058 Member
    edited January 2018
    It's a vegetable and according to my dictionary "a plant or part of a plant used as food, typically as accompaniment to meat or fish, such as a cabbage, potato, carrot, or bean' . I view them as both starch and veggie.
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
    Rice is too under that definition.

    I think of it as a starch in that I wouldn't have fish, sweet potato, bread as a meal, I'd have fish, sweet potato, and asparagus (and maybe some other non starchy veg).

    The only reason I think it matters is that in the average US diet people tend not to eat enough non starchy veg (often very few) but plenty of starchy sides. I think it's helpful for me that I grew up thinking of a complete meal as involving a pattern where you'd have some non starchy veg with every dinner (steak, corn, salad (with a variety of veg), perhaps). I currently try to have a significant portion of non starchy veg with almost every meal. I do think it's technically a veg (as is potato) and while I would also have a non starchy veg I don't think it's a big deal if someone doesn't, nutritionally, if their diet includes a reasonable amount of them regularly.
  • Alatariel75
    Alatariel75 Posts: 18,224 Member
    I think of potato and sweet potato as my non-veggie side. Like @lemurcat12, my meals tend to follow a protein, starch and veg patters where the starch is potato/sweet potato, rice, pasta, bread, couscous and then non-starchy veggies or salad. If I ate a meal that was potato or sweet potato without starchy veg, I wouldn't consider that I'd eaten enough veg that day.
  • fuzzylop72
    fuzzylop72 Posts: 651 Member
    I usually just consider anything that's botanically a vegetable as a vegetable. I also consider some savory fruit (eggplant, bell peppers, tomatoes, avacado, etc) as vegetables too.
  • Need2Exerc1se
    Need2Exerc1se Posts: 13,575 Member
    fuzzylop72 wrote: »
    I usually just consider anything that's botanically a vegetable as a vegetable. I also consider some savory fruit (eggplant, bell peppers, tomatoes, avacado, etc) as vegetables too.

    That's what I do too. Technically any edible plant or plant part is a vegetable but I generally don't think of nuts or seeds in that way. Starch has never been a factor for me.
  • Hamsibian
    Hamsibian Posts: 1,388 Member
    fuzzylop72 wrote: »
    I usually just consider anything that's botanically a vegetable as a vegetable. I also consider some savory fruit (eggplant, bell peppers, tomatoes, avacado, etc) as vegetables too.

    I thought nightshades are vegetables...?
  • J72FIT
    J72FIT Posts: 6,002 Member
    okohjacinda wrote: »
    I hope so because I didn't feel like cooking a lot of veggies tonight and felt like a sweet potato instead...according to the reports I got in a lot of fiber (52g in total) because of it so I am satisfied but lots of people say stay away from potatoes because they're starchy vegetables but I like sweet potatoes and I think they actually are helping my satiety and weight loss...white potatoes not so much.

    and those people would be wrong...
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    edited January 2018
    moosmum1972 wrote: »
    I'd say no to it being a "vegetable" and more of a complex carb like rice

    I would consider rice to be a vegetable as well...it grows.

    I would consider a potato or sweet potato to be a serving of vegetable...but I'd also make sure I was having other non-starchy vegetables as well.

    If I had a steak with a serving of potatoes and my usual double serving of non starchy vegetables and someone asked me how many servings of vegetables I had, I would say 3...
  • inertiastrength
    inertiastrength Posts: 2,343 Member
    It *is* a vegetable but I use it interchangeably with bread/rice/pasta. If I'm making a meal of meat, green beans and potatoes I consider that my starchy carb that just so happens to be another vegetable.

    I meal prep on Sundays and I remember a FB group ripping me apart for having ONLY potatoes and sloppy joes for lunch (which I might add had a decent amount of tomato and onion inside!) for "not enough vegetables"
    It's important to remember most people lack nutritional knowledge, and also common sense.
  • fuzzylop72
    fuzzylop72 Posts: 651 Member
    Hamsibian wrote: »
    fuzzylop72 wrote: »
    I usually just consider anything that's botanically a vegetable as a vegetable. I also consider some savory fruit (eggplant, bell peppers, tomatoes, avacado, etc) as vegetables too.

    I thought nightshades are vegetables...?

    Botanically speaking, any seed bearing structure of a flowering plant is fruit.

  • perkymommy
    perkymommy Posts: 1,642 Member
    Love sweet potatoes! I will bake one and eat a little salt on it with grilled chicken and it's delicious. Sweet potatoes go nicely with chicken.

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