Daily Diet Tip: "Love♡Mr.Potato"

Remember a few years ago when the baked potato became a popular diet food? The idea was to avoid French fries or onion rings in restaurants by providing a “healthier” option. But as with many things, we find a way to get around the healthier possibilities – in this case, by adding bacon, cheese and sour cream. 

The good news is that baked potatoes are back. And some small changes can turn them into solutions for you. A baked potato with healthy toppings can actually be your main course – add some cooked ground turkey, corn, black beans, and salsa, and you no longer need rice or fried taco shells. Or add chopped tomato and onions and a little bit of feta and you have a more substantial salad.  A really good addition to the bake potato is chili.  Now you need to make the chili yourself so you know it's healthy and you can use ground turkey or lean beef.  Pour some chile right on top of your bake potato for a really yummy healthy meal.

The potato, as well as the skin, are great sources of vitamin C, vitamin B6, copper, potassium, zinc, and protein, but neither naturally contain any fat, cholesterol, or sodium. Leaving the skin intact can also help preserve the nutrients in the flesh of the potato. a medium-sized potato, including the skin, has approximately 110 calories. Potatoes are classified as bulb or root, and contain a protein called patatin that is specific to these types of vegetables. Patatin works as an effective antioxidant and helps to lower blood pressure, and potato skins may even help to provide protection against heart disease and cancer.  The skin is my favorite part of the potato and I was told at as a little girl that the skin held all the good stuff, so I always ate the skin. Little did I know that it held this much good stuff.

Potatoes contain more potassium than any other fresh vegetable in the produce department - even more than bananas. One potato has almost 900 milligrams, which is about 20 percent of what you need every day. Potassium is important for body growth and cell maintenance. It's also necessary for nervous function and for normal muscle contraction - including the heart muscle. Potassium is also an electrolyte that helps to balance the fluids in your body, which is important for healthy blood pressure. Potatoes also contain substantial amounts of vitamins C and B6, which are vital for blood clotting, wound healing, a strong immune system, normal nervous system function and for converting the food you eat to energy.

Potato's shouldn't be held out of our diets in fear of eating carbohydrates, they should be in our diets because of all these amazingly great things they have in them for our bodies. One Potato depending on size runs from 28-50 grams of carbohydrates in them. A medium is around 37g. which is considered pretty high, but it converts our food we eat to energy.  If eaten earlier in the day can be burned off easily and also be great benefit in giving us energy for our workouts. Plus it has the high Potassium benefit which is important for body growth and cell maintenance. When you're spending so much time working out, training your body this is a huge benefit for a healthy fit body.

So don't be so afraid of the potato anymore, just add it to your diet along with some good healthy topping choices and you will be doing your body good. Don't forget to eat the skin for more healthy benefits for you body. Love Mr.Potato♡