Potatoes are a starchy food, but diabetics can add them to their diet by steaming, boiling, or combining them with foods with a low glycemic index for balance.
1. Combine potatoes with low GI foods
Potatoes are mostly water, in addition, the main components of potatoes include carbs, protein and a moderate amount of fiber, especially potatoes have almost no fat.
Potatoes are a type of food with a high glycemic index (GI). A cup of potatoes can affect blood sugar levels like drinking a can of soft drink. However, the glycemic index of potatoes varies depending on how they are prepared.
Accordingly, the GI of baked potatoes is 111, boiled potatoes are 82, instant mashed potatoes are 87 and fried potatoes are 73.
However, people who choose to limit foods with high sugar content such as diabetics can still include potatoes in their menu by combining potatoes with low GI foods. That is, eat potatoes with low GI foods that provide fiber (non-starchy vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, tomatoes, spinach and other leafy greens), lean protein and healthy fats to balance the nutritional benefits of the meal. Eating foods high in fiber also helps moderate blood sugar levels and increase feelings of fullness.
A serving size for people with diabetes is ½ of a plate of non-starchy vegetables, with starchy options and lean protein making up only 1/4 of the plate.
Eating potatoes with the skin provides a lot of fiber for the body.
2. Cook it right
The second issue that affects the glycemic index of diabetics to consider when choosing starchy foods is the cooking method. Deep-frying potatoes (animal fat, other fats) increases the amount of saturated fat and trans fat. This increases the risk of heart disease, especially in diabetics, who are at high risk of cardiovascular disease.
The best cooking methods are boiling, steaming, salad (with low-fat mayonnaise and no added sugar) or baking in the microwave without adding other ingredients. Boiled and steamed potatoes are rich in vitamins, minerals and fiber but very low in fat, sugar and salt.
Potatoes contain very little fat, no cholesterol, no transfat, no saturated fat, very low sodium minerals, so when used properly, potatoes are safe for patients with dyslipidemia, cardiovascular disease , high blood pressure , diabetes, kidney disease, etc.
Cooking methods can affect the GI and nutritional content of potatoes. For example, whole potatoes have a lower GI than mashed or diced potatoes. Letting potatoes cool will increase the amount of resistant starch, thereby reducing the glycemic index (GI) by 25-28%. Therefore, potato salad is an ideal suggestion to replace baked potatoes, hot fried potatoes.
Eating potatoes with the skin can provide more fiber, up to 50% compared to peeling. The phenolic compounds contained in the skin of this tuber have antioxidant properties that are beneficial to health.
Carisma potatoes (a type of white potato) have a lower GI. In addition, sweet potatoes are another starchy food that is good for diabetics because they have a low GI, provide calcium, vitamin A and contain more fiber than regular white potatoes.
3. How many potatoes should diabetics eat per day?
Potato salad is good for diabetics.
Normally, diabetics should only supplement 100-150g of carbs per day (if blood sugar is moderately high) and 20-50g of carbs (if blood sugar is high). Meanwhile, a small potato (170g) contains about 30g of carbs and a large potato (369g) contains up to 65g of carbs. Therefore, it is necessary to limit the amount of potatoes and choose the right way to process them to control diabetes well. Specifically:
For patients who need to control moderate blood sugar levels, they should only eat about 3-5 small potatoes or 2-3 large potatoes per day.
For patients who need to control high blood sugar levels, the amount of potatoes they should eat per day is 1 small potato, do not use large potatoes.
That is when the patient only uses one food rich in carbs, which is potatoes. If you add other foods rich in carbs, you need to reduce the amount of potatoes in your diet. For example: When you add 1 serving of white bread/1 bowl of rice or 1 apple, you need to reduce 1 potato from the menu.
