What is a starch? It’s a complex carbohydrate that gets broken down into simpler sugars called glucose once we eat it, and then used for energy! So best time to eat them? Early in the day and around our workouts! Any unused glucose is stored in the liver or our muscles for use later.
The benefits of eating starchy carbs is they contain a lot of more nutritional value. We call simple carbs empty calories because they have little to no nutritional value!
Starchy carbs contain fiber and B vitamins. More nutrients mean better energy and recovery from exercise and more fiber means we’ll be more full after eating which will reduce that post meal sugar spike and crash. (Sugar crashes usually make us crave more carbs quickly after a eating a meal).
Potatoes are one of our favorite types of carbs, they’re filling, easy to cook and go with just about anything.
We love all kinds of potatoes, but we wanted to know the stats and nutrition between the different types of potatoes. Below are stats for 100g serving of sweet potato, yam and white potato:
100g Baked Yam
118 calories
0.2 grams of fat
28 grams of carbs
4 grams of fiber
0 grams of sugar
1.5g protein
Potassium 816mg
Vitamin A 3%
Vitamin B6 15%
Vitamin C 28%
100g Baked Sweet Potato
86 calories
0.1g of fat
20 g of carbohydrates
3 grams of fiber
4 grams of sugar
1.6 g of protein
Potassium 337mg
Vitamin A 284%
B6 10%
Vitamin C 4%
100g White Baked Potato
94 calories
0.2g of fat
21g of carbohydrates
2g of fiber
2g of sugar
2.1 g of protein
Potassium 544g
Vitamin A 0%
B6 10%
Vitamin C 21%
We noticed that Yams are highest in potassium and Sweet Potatoes are highest in Vitamin A. Yams and White Potato have a high Vitamin C content.
They all have a good amount of fiber and are relatively low in sugar, Yam having the lowest amount of sugar.
In my opinion pick one you find most enjoyable!
Baked, Steamed or Boiled is the best way to cook it.
Carbs often get a bad rep because of the way they’re cooked, like mashed potatoes are cooked with cream, butter and salt. Find substitutes to make your food taste good but still be healthy, like adding plain Greek yogurt instead of sour cream to a baked potato.
A serving size of about 100g to 200g of potatoes is ideal but it’s also dependent on your goal and overall daily nutrition.
If you’re unsure about how many carbs you should be having in a day, email us at info@luxfit.ca!