Which Potato?

[Crawfinski]

Also potatos are potatos. They are not butter, bacon, cheese, sour cream, etc...

Agreed.

[HappyOldGuy]

Don't obsess over GI (Glycemic index). It is absolutely true that some foods create a different level of blood glucose rise for the same amount of carbs. It is not at all proven that this happens in any predictively useful way. Alot of the major medical groups, including the american diabetes association do not accept GI as a useful tool. Not because it isn't true, but because it is too variable to be useful. For example potatoes will vary depending on what variety they are, where they were grown, when they were picked, how they were cooked, what foods they were served with, and who is eating them. Depending on all those variables, they may come up anywhere from low to high. Other groups say that in spite of the flaws, there is something there that can be useful. The research is mixed.

That said, it is somewhat true, and it is definetely true in the sense that you need to make sure to balance your high GI foods with lower ones and make sure to always eat some complex carbs in every meal. But not eating otherwise healthy foods because of the GI is exactly what they are saying you should not be doing.

So chomp away on those spuds and **** south beach.

Or not.

More than you want to know

[Crawfinski]

I agree Happy. I only know enough about the GI to know get a sense of how to balance out what I'm eating. But there are some things that are consistently high that I stay away from. I'll err on the side of caution. The few times I've even looked at the GI I learned exactly what you are talking about; apples are all over the place.

Lately I've been sticking to fruits and veggies and whole wheat stuff for my carbs and I have no complaints.

[Crawfinski]

That is a good article, btw.

[Emevas]

I had a double western bacon cheese burger and a single western bacon cheeseburger for lunch today. They had onion rings on them. Were the onions high on the GI chart?

[AeroChica]

I had a double western bacon cheese burger and a single western bacon cheeseburger for lunch today. They had onion rings on them. Were the onions high on the GI chart?

Nope - no potatos, so you're good.

*goes home to make sweet potato fries AND onion rings*

[HappyOldGuy]

Sweet potato fries=good eats! I usually spice em with garlic, salt, cayenne, and some allspice.

Bacon cheesebugers=good eats too, but I would skip the allspice.

[The Question]

Sweet potatoes taste better.

[isol8d]

if you're shaped like a potato, go easy on the potatoes.

"If want to eat a carbohydrate that’s not a fruit or a
vegetable (this includes things like things rice, pasta,
potatoes, quinoa, etc.), you can – but you’ll need to
save it until after you’ve exercised."

Dr. John Berardi

[AeroChica]

So chomp away on those spuds and **** south beach.

Yeah, I am having a hard time wrapping my head around some of the South Beach stuff. Generally, it's pretty sound - your diet should be mostly based on veggies, lean protien and whole grain carbs, with regular carbs and sugar saved as treats. It's the same healthy diet advice we've been hearing for years (right, Macho?), just dressed in a sexy package.

The part I don't get is that, if you are going to eat regular carbs, it is actually better to dress them up with some fat. He says that eating fat with your carbs slows the absorption, hence a slower blood sugar rise, more balanced insulin response, and therefore no great blood sugar crash that sends you off craving carbs again. By this logic, french fries are healthier for you than a baked potato, because the fat in the fries slows down the absorption of the potato (I didn't come to that conclusion on my own, he uses that example in the book). Now that's just whack, as far as I am concerned.