potatoes and nuts

[LisaLulu]

I am confused as to why white potatoes are out (When all other starchy root veggies are in), but nuts and seeds (which seem to be just as inflammatory and full of bad stuff as grains and legumes) are in. What is it about potatoes that makes them bad and nuts and seeds that makes them fine?

[missmary]

This has a lot to do with the context of people beginning the whole30. For someone coming from a diet where the only "vegetables" you were eating were peas, potatoes and corn, the whole30 guidelines will help open up possibilities for what vegetables to eat, and that variety is a very good thing. If potatoes were allowed, the worry is that people would over-rely on them and not get out of their comfort zone.

 

Post whole-30, I put white potatoes in the same category as nuts and seeds, actually: both are foods that I eat, but only on rare occasions.

[LisaLulu]

That makes sense. I've always eaten a lot of vegetables to begin with so I didn't even consider that being a problem. 

[CRCBN]

I always wondered why white potatoes were not ok but plantains were. But, I figured it must be because somebody out there would use the loophole to pile their plate with 'compliant' french fries and no other veggies, then b**ch because they felt like crap and put on weight  . I guess it was easier for the Hartwigs to just ban white potatoes for the Whole30 than to rely on people using their common sense about their food choices.   

 

Nothing really wrong with white potatoes.

[Tom Denham]

I never ate nuts until I did my first Whole30. I got the impression that all Paleo people ate nuts, so I bought some. The truth is that nuts are a food without brakes for many people and are so abused, it is best for most folks to avoid them completely. I recommend that they never be eaten except as part of a recipe. I have added them to liver and onions, tuna salad, and baked sweet potatoes.

[LisaLulu]

Nuts aren't a food without brakes for me, but they have that bitter aftertaste and gut rot that whole grains seem to give me, I feel like it's pretty much the same thing.

 

Potatoes on the other hand are just the same to me as any other starchy vegetable, but I can abstain for another 2 weeks and add them back into the rotation when I'm done just to keep things legit. Potatoes will never crowd the green things off my plate because it's a completely different taste. Even before whole 30 I always ate plenty of vegetables, it was the crap I was eating before bed that was my problem.

[ultrarunnergirl]

Nuts (and nut butters) are SO easy to overeat, even if you don't go hog wild. And they significantly affect how I feel, and not for the better, when I eat more than a reasonable handful/portion.

 

They are good as an accent to dishes, one of my favorite uses is in cauliflower 'rice'.

 

I don't miss potatoes. I've grown to adore rutabagas as a substitute. More flavorful and more nutritious. I shred em and fry up in a breakfast hash, cube and toss into soups/stews, even roast em with carrots and other root veggies. Yum!

[mangio_bene]

I also found the white potato ban a bit arbitrary but i can omit them for 30 days.  I had already started mashing cauliflower, rutabaga, sweet potatoes and turnips prior to starting the Whole30 because one or the other is often in my CSA box.

 

I'll have to try the rutabaga in a hash.  We used turnips this week and didn't care for them that way.  I had a lot of sweet potatoes in this weeks CSA so will be making a sweet potato hash.

[LisaLulu]

At least now that I know why potatoes are considered out I won't worry too much about adding them back in here and there when the 30 days are up. We get a CSA box too so we eat a variety of everything, including potatoes. They are actually my least favorite root vegetable but I do enjoy them roasted sometimes, plus they are cheap and fill up my bottomless pit husband and kids.

[Mads]

I'm already getting some new potatoes in my CSA box, and it bothers me that I'm not "allowed" to eat them when the Hartwigs straight up tell us the distinction is arbitrary. I don't want french fries, but I would love to see these potatoes go underneath a roasted chicken along with the beets and carrots the CSA provided, rather than going into the compost heap. 

[Guest Andria]

Mads, I understand your frustration. Some CSA's will allow you trade out items. Perhaps you can contact your CSA and see if they could accommodate you by trading out the new potatoes for more of something else they are already providing.

[Physibeth]

I'm already getting some new potatoes in my CSA box, and it bothers me that I'm not "allowed" to eat them when the Hartwigs straight up tell us the distinction is arbitrary. I don't want french fries, but I would love to see these potatoes go underneath a roasted chicken along with the beets and carrots the CSA provided, rather than going into the compost heap. 

 

 

Mads, I understand your frustration. Some CSA's will allow you trade out items. Perhaps you can contact your CSA and see if they could accommodate you by trading out the new potatoes for more of something else they are already providing.

 

Also I do believe that properly stored your potatoes will last more than 30 days. Why not just wait and have them when you are done? In the past I've shredded mine and stored them in freezer bags to make hash as well. I do believe cubed frozen potatoes would work just fine under your roast chicken later as well if you don't want to store them whole. 

[Mary Carmosino Beougher]

Put the potatoes in a brown paper bag in a cool dark place. They will keep a long time that way. I remember my great grandmother putting back lots of potatoes that way for over the winter.