Eat Potatoes if You Want to Look Like a Potato

It’s no secret that potatoes are high in starch and calories, yet new research has taken this popular spud and put it under the microscope to see just how much damage it can do to your waistline.

This recent study out of Harvard University was published in the New England Journal of Medicine and looked at 120,877 men and women and their lifestyle choices when it came to exercise and diet.

This was a long-term study with measurements every four years for 20 years in total.

While exercise can help with weight loss, it is only part of the puzzle. If you don’t support your fitness regime with a healthy, balanced diet, then you will still gain weight and this is what the study set out to prove.

The average weight gain over 20 years was 17 pounds. Researchers broke down this weight gain into food and exercise and attributed 4 pounds of that weight gain to diet and 2 pounds weight loss to exercise. These figures show the accumulative effect of eating potatoes and other high-calorie foods regularly for four years:

• Potato chips – 1.69 lb
• Potatoes – 1.28 lb – of any kind such as baked, fried, mashed or boiled
• Sugary beverages – 1.00 lb
• Unprocessed red meats – 0.95 lb
• Processed (deli) meats – 0.95 lb

Other lifestyle choices that affect weight gain in this study include:

• Daily intake of alcohol – 1 drink = 0.41 lb weight gain
• Daily TV watching – 1 hour = 0.31 lb in weight gain
• Quitting smoking =  5 lb in weight gain
• Sleep – those who got less than 6 hours sleep a night experience more weight gain

Why are potatoes the worst offender? Dr Dariush Mozaffarian, lead author of the study says:

“Maybe because they’re generally eaten in large quantities,  or possibly because, as some previous research has shown, they are the type of food that causes big spikes in blood sugar and insulin, which tends to make people hungrier and overeat at their next meal. Other starches and refined carbohydrates like white bread, white rice, low-fiber breakfast cereal, candy and desserts may affect the body the same way.”

In contrast, healthy foods can help you lose weight. Foods to include in your diet on a daily basis include:

• Yogurt = 0.82 lb loss in weight
• Nuts – 0.57 lb loss in weight
• Fruits – 0.49 lb loss in weight
• Whole grains – 0.37 lb loss in weight
• Vegetables − 0.22 lb loss in weight

Learn to develop new habits and plan ahead, so you are always prepared and not rushing to the vending machine to curb those hunger pangs. Always make food choices healthy, fresh and wholesome.

Eating a diet that is higher in protein and lower in carbohydrates is the best way to go when it comes to eating healthy. One of the easiest ways to ingest high quality protein is with whey protein.