Interesting and Scary

I saw this article on a very good healthy eating website by George Matelian, http://whfood.org.

I don't find it easy here in Las Vegas to find a decent potato. One of the best times of the year in the U.K. is when the new potato is in season. Usually a smallish yellowy fleshed potato that you just wash and cook whole. Keeping most of the goodness in the potato. To be strictly honest the best new potatoes in the UK come from the Channel islands Jersey and Guernsey.

You don't seem to get a potato like that here in the the west side of the USA.

The best potatoes I've found are from the small island of Cyprus. Cyprus is more well known for it's sunshine and wine. They also grow great oranges and lemons. The potato grown there, in a rich reddish brown soil, are quite like the UK new potato, but a lot larger.

THE INTERESTING ARTICLE:

Healthy Food Tip

Are colored potatoes healthier than white potatoes?

The differences in color between varieties of potatoes are basically differences in carotenoid and flavonoid content. Virtually all types of potatoes provide significant amounts of approximately seven to ten nutrients. While Americans are accustomed to potatoes with a white inside, potatoes in other parts of the world more commonly have starchy yellow insides. In the U.S. we call potatoes with yellow insides "specialty potatoes." However, worldwide they are the norm rather than the exception.

All colorful potatoes provide carotenoids (and some also provide flavonoids) that white potatoes do not. Carotenoids and flavonoids are pigments, and according to nutritional research, they provide us with many health benefits, including cancer protection. For example, the darker the starchy yellow flesh of a yellow potato, the greater quantity of carotenoids, including beta-carotene (and, in some cases, lutein) that is present. The blue in blue potatoes comes from their flavonoid content. Both the flavonoids found in blue potatoes and the carotenoids found in yellow potatoes help promote good health!

Some carotenoid- and flavonoid-rich potatoes currently available in different regions of the U.S. include: Yukon Gold (currently the best-selling yellow potato in the U.S. marketplace), Michigold, Donna, All Blue (also called "Purple Marker"), Purple Viking, Saginaw Gold, Red Gold, Rose Gold, and Ruby Crescent.

The presence of carotenoids and flavonoids, however, does not affect the carbohydrate content of potatoes. Potatoes all contain about one gram of carbohydrate for every four calories—they're basically all-carbohydrate when it comes to calorie content.

Technically, you'll get more fiber and minerals per bite from smaller potatoes of any kind, since they have more surface area (skin) per amount of starchy inside (total volume). The three to seven grams of fiber contained in a medium-sized potato are mostly in the skin, so consider enjoying it as well as the potato's insides the next time you cook some spuds. Of course, unless your potato is an organically grown one, you'll be getting most of the pesticide residue here—in the skin—as well, which is one of the reasons I am a big advocate for purchasing potatoes (and other foods) that are organically grown. Although there are some differences among potatoes, if you are seriously looking to lower carbohydrate intake, you need to switch to a different category of vegetable, like the leafy green vegetables.

THE SCARY ARTICLE:

This is an article I saw on yahoo.co.uk. The Ten Most Toxic Foods.

I often wonder if some of the stuff you find on the internet is not unlike listening to guys in the pub after a few pints. How much truth is there in these articles?

Rice:


It is impossible to dispute that rice has many great health benefits. However, like with most things, it may be best eaten in moderation due to its reportedly unsafe levels of arsenic. One study has suggested that one in five packs of American long-grain rice contain potentially harmful levels of the toxic substance, while others have reported concern for the levels of arsenic in rice milk and baby rice. While there is relatively little risk of the odd bowl of rice causing any long lasting harm, the consumption of high levels of arsenic has been linked to cancer.

Question is, where is the arsenic coming from? The water supply! How much should we drink a day? Fortunately the water from the tap here in Vegas taste as though it's straight from the swimming pool, with all it's additives. Probably a conspiracy by the bottled water companies.

I wonder if Agatha Christy knew this, she could have been killing people at dinner in her stories.