Is It Safe to Eat Potatoes If You Have Diabetes?

One of the most widely consumed items in the human diet is potatoes, whether they are baked, mashed, fried, boiled, or steam-cooked.

Their skin is a fantastic source of fiber and is high in potassium and B vitamins. On the other hand, you may have heard that potatoes should be limited or avoided if you have diabetes.

Actually, there are a lot of false beliefs regarding what foods are appropriate and inappropriate for diabetics. Many people believe that if you have diabetes, you should avoid eating potatoes due to their high carb content.

In actuality, there are a variety of potato dishes that diabetics can enjoy; nevertheless, it’s crucial to know how they affect blood sugar levels and what constitutes a healthy serving size.

Everything you need to know about potatoes and diabetes is included in this article.

How can potatoes impact the levels of blood sugar?

Like any other food high in carbohydrates, potatoes raise blood sugar levels.

Your body converts carbohydrates into simple sugars that enter your bloodstream when you ingest them. This is what is commonly referred to as a blood sugar surge.

After this, the hormone insulin is released into your bloodstream to assist in transferring the sugars into your cells for energy production.

This procedure is not as successful in diabetics. Sugar stays in circulation rather than leaving the blood and entering your cells, which keeps blood sugar levels higher for a longer period of time. Consequently, eating a lot of food or high-carbohydrate foods might be harmful to diabetics.

Actually, there is a connection between poorly controlled diabetes and heart failure, stroke, renal disease, nerve damage, amputation, and visual loss.

Read Also: Diet and Type 2 Diabetes: What You Should Know

As a result, it’s generally advised that diabetics restrict their consumption of digestible carbohydrates. This might range from a very low carb consumption of 20–50 grams per day to a moderate limit of 100–150 grams per day. The precise dosage varies based on your medical objectives and dietary habits.

Summary

As carbohydrates are converted to sugars and enter the bloodstream, potatoes cause an increase in blood sugar levels. Diabetes patients have improper sugar clearance, which raises blood sugar levels and may cause health issues.

What is the carb count of potatoes?

A high-carb food is potato. However, the technique of cooking can affect the amount of carbohydrates. This is the amount of carbohydrates in 1/2 cup (75–80 grams) of variously prepared potatoes.

• 11.8 grams in raw form

• 15.7 grams when boiled

• 13.1 grams after baking

• Microwaved: 18.2 grams

• Fries cooked in the oven (10 frozen steak cuts): 17.8 grams

• Grams deep-fried: 36.5

Remember that a giant potato (weighing 369 grams) has roughly 65 grams of carbohydrates, whereas an average small potato (weighing 170 grams) has about 30 grams. As a result, you are allowed to have more than twice as much carbohydrates in one meal as stated above.

Comparatively, one slice of white bread has roughly 14 grams of carbohydrates, one small apple (149 grams) has 20.6 grams, one cup (158 grams) of cooked rice has 28 grams, and one 12-ounce (350 milliliter) can of cola has 38.5 grams.

Summary

A similar serving size of french fries has 36.5 grams of carbohydrates, while 1/2 cup (75 grams) of diced raw potato has 11.8 grams. The serving size of this well-liked root vegetable is frequently substantially larger than this, though.

Do potatoes have a high GI?

Those with diabetes may find that a low-GI diet helps them better control their blood sugar levels.

The amount that a food raises blood sugar in relation to a control, like 3.5 ounces (100 grams) of white bread, is measured by the glycemic index (GI).

Foods classified as high GI—those with a GI of 70 or higher—raise blood sugar levels more quickly. Conversely, foods are categorized as low if their GI is less than 55. Potatoes typically have a GI of medium to high.

But since the GI doesn’t account for cooking technique or portion size, it’s not the best indicator of how a food may affect blood sugar levels. Alternatively, the glycemic load (GL) might be employed.

This is the GI divided by the real amount of carbohydrates in a serving and multiplied by 100. A GL of more than 20 is regarded as high, whereas one of less than 10 is low. A low-GI diet often attempts to maintain a daily GL of less than 100.

The types of potatoes and the GI and GL

GI and GL might differ depending on the type of potato and how it is cooked.

For instance, depending on the variety, a serving of potatoes that is one cup (150 grams) may have a high, medium, or low GL.

• High GL: French fries and mashed desire

• Russet Burbank, white, Pontiac, Charlotte, Desiree (boiled), potato crisps, and instant mashed potato are examples of medium-GL foods.

• Low GL: Nicola, Carisma

Selecting types like Carisma and Nicola is a better choice if you have diabetes in order to reduce the spike in blood sugar that occurs after consuming potatoes.

This website allows you to examine the GI and GL of several potato varieties.

How to reduce a potato’s GI and GL

The GI and GL of potatoes are also impacted by how they are cooked. This is due to the fact that boiling alters the starches’ structural makeup and, consequently, the rate at which they enter your circulation.

Generally speaking, a potato’s GI increases with cooking time. As a result, prolonged boiling or baking tends to raise the GI.

However, chilling potatoes after cooking them can lead to an increase in resistant starch—a less absorbable type of carbohydrate—content. This results in a 25–28% reduction in GI.

This implies that if you have diabetes, a side of potato salad would be a little better option than hot baked potatoes or french fries. The way that french fries are cooked also makes them higher in fat and calories.

In addition, adding vinegar or lemon juice, eating mixed meals with protein and fats, or keeping the skins on for added fiber can all help lower the GI and GL of a meal by delaying the breakdown of carbohydrates and the subsequent spike in blood sugar levels.

For instance, the GL drops from 93 to 39 when 4.2 ounces (120 grams) of cheese are added to a 10.2 ounce (290 gram) baked potato.

Keep in mind that this much cheese also has 42 grams of fat and will add approximately 400 calories to the meal.

As a result, it’s still important to take into account the total amount of carbohydrates and the diet’s quality rather than just the GI or GL. Your total caloric intake is crucial if one of your goals is to control weight.

Summary

Individuals with diabetes may benefit from a low GI and GL diet. Potatoes typically have a medium to high GI and GL; however, cooled cooked potatoes have a reduced GI and GL, as do types like Nicola and Carisma. For this reason, they are a better option for diabetics.

Dangers associated with potato consumption

While most diabetics can safely eat potatoes, it’s still vital to pay attention to the kinds and quantity you eat.

In addition to raising your risk of type 2 diabetes, eating potatoes may worsen your condition if you already have it.

In one study with 70,773 participants, the incidence of type 2 diabetes increased by 4% for every three servings of baked, mashed, or boiled potatoes per week, and by 19% for french fries.

Furthermore, there are a lot of bad fats in fried potatoes and potato chips, which can raise blood pressure, lower HDL (good) cholesterol, cause weight gain and obesity, and all of these things are linked to heart disease.

Those who have diabetes, who frequently already have an elevated risk of heart disease, should be very cautious about this.

Additionally, fried potatoes have more calories, which may cause unintended weight gain.

It’s common advice for people with type 2 diabetes to either maintain a healthy weight or reduce weight in order to assist control blood sugar levels and lower their risk of complications.

Summary

Consuming unhealthy potato-based meals, such french fries and chips, raises your risk of type 2 diabetes and its complications, which include obesity and heart disease.

Sufficient substitutes for potatoes

If you have diabetes, you can still eat potatoes, but you might want to limit them or swap them out for healthier foods.

Seek for foods like these that are low in carbs, high in fiber, and low in GI and GL.

• Parsnips and carrots. Each 2.8-ounce (80-gram) serving of both is low in GI and GL and contains less than 10 grams of carbohydrates. Baked, steamed, or boiled, they taste fantastic.

• cauliflower. This veggie is a great substitute for boiled, steaming, or roasted potatoes. It’s a great choice for those following a very low carb diet because of its extremely low carb content.

• Squash and pumpkin. They have a low to medium GI, a low GL, and little carbohydrates. They work especially well in place of baked and mashed potatoes.

• Taro. With a GL of only 4, this root is low in carbohydrates. Taro is a healthier substitute for potato chips when it is thinly sliced and baked with a little oil.

• sweet potato. This vegetable ranges from a medium to a high GL and has a lower GI than some white potatoes. Vitamin A is also abundant in these tubers.

• Lentils and legumes. The majority of the items in this category are high in carbohydrates but also high in fiber and low in GL. Serving proportions should be considered carefully though, as they still raise blood sugar levels.

Another smart method to avoid excessive servings of high carb foods is to load at least half of your plate with non-starchy vegetables, such as broccoli, leafy greens, cauliflower, peppers, green beans, tomatoes, asparagus, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cucumbers, and lettuce.

Summary

Replace potatoes with lower-carb vegetables including carrots, pumpkin, squash, parsnips, and taro. Legumes, lentils, and sweet potatoes are high-carbohydrate foods with reduced GI and GL levels.

The final word

Everyone can appreciate potatoes as a tasty and adaptable vegetable, even those who have diabetes.

But because they are heavy in carbohydrates, you should always eat the skin, keep portion sizes to a minimum, and stick to low-GI kinds like Nicola and Carisma.

In addition, since fried potatoes and potato chips are heavy in calories and bad fats, it’s recommended to stick to boiling, baking, or steaming potatoes instead.

See your doctor, dietitian, or diabetes educator if you’re having trouble making good decisions to control your diabetes.