Very few people dislike mashed potatoes. It has always been a favorite dish among the public. With its creamy and fluffy texture and its rich flavor, it is a popular staple dish on many occasions.
You might be thinking that surely it cannot be all good? Nobody can deny mashed potatoes’ flavorsome taste, but are mashed potatoes healthy? Can I consume it daily, considering it needs many fatty products to prepare?
Well, worry no more. We are here to tell you all about the mashed potato’s effects on your health.
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A Little Bit About Mashed Potato
Its flavor and texture are some of the many features that have made this delicacy so popular.
However, the regular mashed potato, made with lots of milk, cream, and butter, is not healthy if consumed in a large amount. The fats in the butter can cause heart diseases. And if you are lactose intolerant, milk is not a good choice for you!
On the other hand, getting rid of saturated fat when preparing your mashed potatoes will benefit your health. But more on that later.
Are Mashed Potatoes Healthy?
Whether mashed potatoes will be healthy or not depends on the products used to prepare them. If you use too many fatty products in your mashed potato, it is a sure-fire way to become seriously ill.
So, you have to learn how to make mashed potatoes healthy.
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Healthy Mashed Potato:
A healthy version of mashed potato can have a massive impact on your health, and this mashed potato tastes just as good as regular mashed potatoes, if not more so.
Replace Trans Fats:
First, try to avoid adding too much-saturated fats and trans fats to your mashed potatoes while preparing. Use olive oil instead of butter. Butter is a high source of saturated fat and contains bad cholesterol – LDL.
The increased amount of saturated fats and low-density lipoprotein will clog your arteries and cause heart diseases such as cardiac arrest, heart attack, and heart failure. A high amount of cholesterol will also cause extreme fatigue, shortness of breath, and high blood pressure.
On the other hand, olive oil has many healthy features. It has unsaturated fats and is filled with good cholesterol – HDL. Olive oil is full of anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. This oil can also reduce your chances of getting type 2 diabetes.
Better Dairy Substitutes:
Instead of cream, try using Greek yogurt or cottage cheese. Cream, like butter, contains a high amount of saturated fats and LDL. On the other hand, Greek yogurt is a rich source of protein, and it also has few calories.
For your dairy milk substitute, use almond milk or other non-dairy milk. You can also use eggs instead of milk to make the mashed potatoes fluffier.
More Ingredients for More Nutrition:
Add cauliflower with your potato. You will get extra nutrition with fewer carbs.
Chopped green onion and parsley – add these to your garnish, and if you want, you can serve the mashed potato with bell peppers and sauteed mushrooms.
If you follow all these, your mashed potato will indeed become its healthiest and, not to say, its tastiest version.
Unhealthy Mashed Potato:
When you use fatty products such as milk, butter, and cream, there is a high probability for your mashed potato to become very unhealthy and deadly too.
Increases Cholesterol:
High saturated fats and LDL-containing products in mashed potatoes cause many serious health issues such as coronary diseases and weight gain.
Causes Weight Gain:
Unhealthy, fat-containing ingredients, which are used to prepare mashed potatoes, will increase your weight. Weight gain leads to various other diseases like type 2 diabetes, stroke, high blood pressure, gallbladder issues, osteoarthritis, etc.
Thus, to make your mashed potatoes healthier, try getting rid of these products and using healthy alternatives.
Impact of Potato on Your Body
Potato is a nutritious vegetable. But like everything, potato also has pros and cons for your health.
Health Benefits of Potatoes:
It is considered a starchy vegetable, and professionals recommend you have 5 to 6 cups of starchy vegetables per week.
Since it is a very easily attainable vegetable, you can make many tasty dishes using potatoes. Potato is one of the primarily eaten starchy vegetables in every household.
Great Source of Energy:
Potatoes are one of the primary sources of carbohydrates, and we all know that brain can only use carbohydrates for its metabolic function. Carbohydrate is also the most readily available energy source for you. If there is a shortage of carbohydrates in your body, you are sure to face many diseases.
Improves Metabolic Functions:
Other than carbohydrates, potatoes also contain vitamin B6, vitamin C, and potassium, and your body needs these vitamins and minerals for its metabolism.
Health Detriments of Potatoes:
Too much of something is never good, which is also the case for potatoes. If you consume too many potato dishes, it will undoubtedly lead to weight gain.
According to a study, if you consume an extra serving of potato chips daily, you will gain around 1.8 pounds in four years. The result was 3.5 pounds for French fries, and it was 1.5 pounds on average for any other potato dishes.
Try The Healthiest Mashed Potato Today!
So, the answer to your question, are mashed potatoes healthy, is that it depends on how you prepare them.
Follow the healthy version of the mashed potato recipe, make it for your friends and family, and receive all the praise. Since it is effortless to make and needs very few, easily attainable ingredients, it will not take much time to make the mashed potato.
If you are still wondering whether mashed potatoes are healthy or not, try the healthy version and see the improvement in your health.
