Oats and Sweet Potatoes

[reboundstudent]

Quick question, expanding from today's article on how to eat healthy on a budget. I noticed that the author mentioned oats and sweet potatoes as being a fantastic bang for your buck.

Starting in January, I'm going Paleo again (though I mix philosophies, so I allow myself 2 cheater meals a week and dairy.) My goal right now is to keep carbs at under 100 grams of my daily diet, and avoid grain whenever I can.... however oats are one of my favorite foods. I also found a wonderful recipe that makes them easy to make in bulk (steel cut cooked in a little coconut oil and stored in glass containers.) How awful would it be for me to have 1/3 cup of oatmeal once a week if I'm trying to do Paleo?

Now, sweet potatoes... I've never quite understood why sweet potatoes are allowed in Paleo, but regular potatoes aren't. Have I misunderstood and sweet potatoes aren't allowed at all? If they are allowed, why?

Thank you!

[Georges]

Here's what I can say about sweet potatoes.

* They are, botanically, in the same family as Morning Glories. (Real potatoes are in the Solanaceae family, with tomatoes.) Some people avoid real potatoes because nightshades have some "anti-nutrients" that cause some problems for some people (inflammation and/or immune system issues).

* They are have a lower Glycemic Index than real potatoes. This essentially means that 100 grams of sweet potato cause less of a spike in blood sugar than 100 grams of real potato (and presumably, less of an insulin response). Some people avoid real potatoes because they are managing their blood sugars with their dietary intake instead of, or along with, medication.

* They are nutritionally more "dense" than real potatoes. For a given amount of calories, sweet potatoes are higher in a bunch of vitamins and fiber. Real potatoes are generally viewed as empty carbohydrates (although they actually have vitamins and some fiber, moreso when the skins are eaten as well).

* A little more random: Sweet potato leaves are edible. Real potato leaves are not. Probably only relevant if you're growing your own.

* A little more relevant: If your plan is a low carb diet, you'll want to moderate the amount of sweet potato. It is a very healthy food, though.

[weirdquark]

There isn't anything wrong with eating oats and unless not eating them makes you feel better, there's no reason not to eat them.

However, they are not Paleo so if you want to eat Paleo you can't eat oats.

[Kishi]

The reason that most people are against starchy tubers like potatoes and sweet potatoes on a Paleo diet is because they're attempting to go low-carb and induce a semi-Ketogenic state. Potatoes and sweet potatoes both are potent sources of carbohydrate, which is the rocket fuel you use in intense exercise.

 

If you're not prepared to go hard, you might want to save those starches for a once-in-a-while kind of thing. Otherwise, there's no reason not to eat either white or sweet potatoes, barring food allergies and the like.

[Kristen]

Every time a question like this comes up, my answer is the same. I suppose I could take up the title of NF resident anti-strict-diet curmudgeon, because stuff like this drives me insane.

 

If you have some health/allergy/dislike-related reason not to eat oats, don't eat them. If not, EAT THE OATS! 

 

You already mentioned that you allow dairy and a couple free meals. That's a good plan. If eating was about following strict rules all the time, no one would bother doing it much. Eat what you like, eat what your body likes, and call it whatever you want. Don't listen to the haters.

 

Oh, and your idea for steel cut oats sounds great. They keep in the fridge for a while, freeze well too. My grumpy old self would use butter instead of coconut oil though.