Speaker 1 (00:33):
I get a lot of questions about potatoes. Now, a potato is not a potato, it’s not a potato. Let’s start with a basic definition. So potatoes like white potatoes or russet potatoes or even purple potatoes are a American plant. They are part of the nightshade family of vegetables. And like any nightshade, unfortunately, they contain lectins primarily in the peel and also in the eyes like that. Sadly, potatoes, any of these potatoes, whatever color they are, are still mischievous from a lectin standpoint. And as I wrote about in Gut Check, one of my newer books, many of us react to a, a lectin that’s called an aquaporin that’s present in potatoes. That’s not in the peel, that’s not in the eyes, it’s in the flesh. So even if you peel potato, it doesn’t necessarily make it safe. But let’s suppose you just have to have potatoes.

(01:54):
Remember, these are starch storage systems for the plant. The plant relies on this as a storage system for nourishment when the sun isn’t shiny. The more concentrated the starch is, like in a red potato, the harder those starches are to break down. Unfortunately, we prefer the classic Idaho baked potato. And as all of us know, once we kind of cut it and squeeze it, all these kind of granules of potato that soak up the butter and sour cream, those granules are exposed starches. So we digest, like an Idaho baking potato, far quicker into sugar than a waxy potato. So if you have to have a potato, pressure cook them to destroy the lectins, but then choose the more waxy varieties than the classic Idaho baker. And please, don’t have potato skins. That’s where all the bad stuff is, and you can’t make a pretty with sour cream and chives and bacon.

(03:17):
All right. Sweet potatoes. Now, there’s actually, it’s again, our underground storage system for the plant. There’s actually a difference between a yam and a sweet potato. And interestingly enough, in grocery stores, they’re often mislabeled. So that this one, the kind of orange guy, is labeled as a yam, and this guy is labeled as a sweet potato. It’s actually the exact opposite. Why is it interest … Well, for a nerdy detail, yams come from Africa, and they’re part of the Lily family. And we all came from Africa long ago. So we were exposed to this tuber for a very long time. On the other hand, a sweet potato, which most of us kind of like, is actually part of the Morning Glory family, and it’s actually from the Americas. So we have not been exposed to this for as long as this guy. The problem is, most people don’t like this guy very much, and they like these.

(04:30):
When I was writing The Plant Paradox, we had two pages trying to explain the difference between these two and what to look for in a grocery store. We, my editor and I finally gave up because it was just too consuming to worry about. On the other hand, your best choice is a purple sweet potato or a blue sweet potato. Now, this is sometimes called an Okinawan potato or Okinawan sweet potato. Why is it so good? Well, remember, I told you that the denser, the starch is, the slower you break it down into sugar. These guys are dense. They’re much denser than yams and sweet potatoes. Number two, that blue color when you cut it open or kind of reddish color, purple color, those are anthocyanins. Uh, let me see if I can break one of these. Yeah. There. Those are anthocyanins. Those are polyphenols. And what’s interesting about the Okinawans before World War II, everybody hears about the Okinawan diet.

(05:44):
The Okinawans, about 80% of their calories that they ate were from the purple sweet potato. And many of the ancient Okanawans believe that their longevity, and I think they’re right, was because this was basically their food. So again, why was it so good? It’s a very, very dense starch. It’s loaded with polyphenols, and the denser the starch, the more tough, harder to break down, the slower the carbohydrates are released as sugar. And the other huge benefit is a lot of these starches are resistant to digestion, resistant starches. So they then become food for healthy bacteria in our gut. And if you’ve listened to me long enough, you know, the happier you make your gut buddies, the more they take care of you, which really explains how the Okinawans, unlike the rest of their Japanese counterparts, have this longevity benefit. It was because of their purple sweet potato.

(07:01):
So look for these guys. They’re becoming more common in the grocery store. Yes, they’re really ugly. They’re really weird looking. Don’t let that be off-putting. And yes, they are waxier than a sweet potato, uh, but these are your best bets. Having said all this, when I tell my patients that sweet potatoes are a much better choice, yams are a much better choice, many of my patients say, “Well, that’s a better choice so I can have as much of these things as I want because they don’t have any elections.” And Dr. Gundry said they’re a good choice and they kind of go all in. And just this past week, I saw a patient whose triglycerides were going up, his insulin levels were going up, his insulin resistance was going up, and I said, “Something’s changed in your diet.” He said, “Oh yeah. I have been adding sweet potatoes every day.

(08:06):
I have a sweet potato fry for breakfast. I’m having sweet potato soup several times a week. It’s sweet potatoes because they’re so good for you. ” Not so fast. Adding these starches, even though they’re safe starches, they’re still a starch. And most of my patients, starches, because they have high insulin levels, because they have insulin resistant, are still mischievous to them. Are there better swabs? Well, make a cauliflower or celerac root mash. Have shirataki or conjack root potatoes. Have hearts of palm, have a rutabaga, have a turnip, and by all means, try hekema fries. They work great as a substitute. So best are the purple sweet potatoes. You’ll begin to see them. Second best are the yams, the ugly ones. The other reason is you probably won’t eat as many of these as you will of these orange guys, but really keep the real potatoes away.

(09:18):
Even if they say blue or orange, those are still potatoes.

Speaker 2 (09:27):
I hope you enjoyed this episode of the Dr. Gundry Podcast. If you did, please share this with family and friends. You never know how one of these health tips can completely transform someone’s life when you take the time to share it with them. There’s also the Dr. Gundry Podcast YouTube channel, where we have tens of thousands of free health insights that can help you and your loved ones live a long, vital life. Let’s do this together.