Potatoes make an excellent side dish to serve alongside your choice of meat and other vegetables.
Now I know what you’re thinking: Wait a minute. I thought potatoes weren’t Paleo?
As it turns out, it’s not that simple.
Yes, potatoes are starchy and tend to raise our blood sugar. Isn’t that something we generally try to avoid when living a Paleo lifestyle? you ask.
Yes, but another aspect to the Paleo lifestyle is consuming nutrient-dense foods, and potatoes definitely qualify. They come loaded with vitamin C and a host of minerals, such as magnesium, phosphorous and potassium. It would be a shame to pass all those up based on an excessively-strict sense of what should and should not be considered Paleo.
When paired with meats and other vegetables, there’s really no reason to avoid potatoes. I would, however, always recommend you choose organic potatoes since you can regularly find them on the dirty dozen, a list of vegetables with the most toxins found on them each year.
A combination of fat and protein found in meat, combined with fiber from other vegetables, can help slow down the digestion of the potato’s carbs, so they don’t cause a massive spike in blood sugar.
Sometimes it is possible to have your potatoes and eat them too. :)
