In one of his articles, Mike Geary, who knows as much about food and belly fat [links to http://www.truthaboutabs.com/fat-burning-veggies.html] as anyone, addressed the issue of eating several potatoes per day, and the effect it would have on body fat. He says that he didn't recall the specific reference, but a study having participants to eat 7 to 9 whole potatoes a day for several weeks.
The bottom line of this study was that most of those potato eating participants actually lost weight. His assumption was that, since the calorie count from 9 potatoes is less than 1200, these participants were consuming less calories on a daily basis. Potatoes are very filling. They probably didn't eat much else during the day.
Now, Mike is not condoning an all-potato diet. Particularly not french fries; in fact, he points out that french fries will not only make you fat, but that the trans fat is life-threateningly dangerous, contending that the acrylamides and compounds created by the reactions of deep fat frying oil and starch are carcinogenic. He strongly suggests that french fries as we know them should actually be removed from our food supply.
So, while it is evident that Mike doesn't advocate for the extremes of eating 8 potatoes a day, he does acknowledge that no major damage to your pursuit of leanness will be caused by consuming a couple of potatoes during the week. This is particularly true when you prepare it a certain way and combine it with some fibrous vegetables, some healthy fat, and protein. We'll also appreciate that Mike provides us with a healthy potato recipe (one of his favorites) in that article, which is repeated here for convenience.
Side Dish: Lean Body Potato Recipe
(great to serve with chicken or red meat)
- Mixture of red, yellow, white and purple baby potatoes
- Red Pepper (1)
- Yellow Pepper (1)
- Green Pepper (1)
- Onions (1 - 2)
- Finely chopped or mashed organic garlic
- 1 - 2 Tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil, coconut oil or grass-fed butter
- Sea salt & black pepper
Cut potatoes into small pieces and steam thoroughly until soft. Add sliced strips of peppers and onions to the garlic and cook all until tender. Then add the baby potatoes. Combine this mixture and it is ready to serve.
If you appreciate this like we do, please take a look at Mike's article "3 Unique Veggies That Fight Abdominal Fat" and sign up for his mailing list. Mike is also the co-author (with Catherine Ebeling) of The Fat Burning Kitchen [www.truthaboutabs.com/fat-burning-kitchen.html].
