How much potato?

[snshne322]

Hi everyone!  I'm on day 6 of my first Whole30.  It's challenging, of course, but I'm hanging strong so far.  My main goal for this is to kick my sugar intake (desserts and coke zero were my weaknesses) and cravings and to lose weight.  So far, I'm feeling more satisfied between meals, and I've started realizing how often I rewarded myself with food.  If nothing else, I'm pleased to have realized that.

After reading through old posts, I think I may be eating too many potatoes.  Between white and sweet, I'm probably eating them once a day.  I kind of think it was my crutch from my prior eating.  I'm eating A LOT more veggies (obviously) that I wasn't before, so that's improving.  How often do you eat potatoes?  I'd like to maximize my weight loss, so I'm thinking it's probably a good idea to limit them. I'd love to hear about everyone's experiences. 

Secondly, I'm hoping that I continue eating this way afterward, but Google tells me 80/20 is a bad idea.  Do you find this is because it's a slippery slope to getting back to bad habits?  My idea is that my indulgences would be dinners out, birthday cake, etc.  And of course, I'll see if I feel like eating them when the time comes.

TIA!

[wambam]

Are you working out at all? That influences my answer to your potato question.

80/20 is fine if you are disciplined enough to have a "cheat" meal and then move on. If you know yourself and know that one off-plan meal will turn into a week of pizza and cake, then that requires a different strategy.

[snshne322]

No, I'm not really exercising. At least, not enough to speak of. I can add it in though, if it's helpful I just haven't.

[wambam]

Feb 13, 2015 11:47:54 GMT -5 snshne322 said:

No, I'm not really exercising. At least, not enough to speak of. I can add it in though, if it's helpful I just haven't.

Okay in that case, I recommend limiting to a couple times per week.

[snshne322]

Feb 13, 2015 12:10:11 GMT -5 superduper said:

I've moved on from W30 and am mostly Paleo now, but I will say that potatoes are like a gateway drug for me, so I really need to to limit them to once or twice a week. Plus, anymore, they sit in my stomach like a brick which is less than pleasant.

This is what I'm wondering about myself.  Seems smart to limit them just in case.

[meshimeshi]

Popping in ---not really active on this board and haven't been around GBCN in general lately because my life turned crazy busy....but just wanted to throw out some info that I learned.

If you poke around the whole30 website/forum a lot, you will end up reading about this topic. The experts over there wouldn't specifically say to eat potatoes every day, but you should eat some sort of starchy vegetable every day. That's where you get the carbs that your body needs for energy. So if you are feeling that your whole30 isn't giving you the "Tiger blood" then it could be attributed to not eating enough starchy veg. I usually have some sweet potato everyday, and it's usually with my breakfast in a hash.

Starchy vegs are sweet potato, butternut squash and other winter squashes, plantains, rutabagas, turnips, etc.

Here is a quote from a moderator about this:
"Starchy veggies can be included as often as your personal context dictates (more for highly athletic folk, more if you're feeling low or cranky, more if you are a woman heading into her period, less if you have weight to lose and are not active). Our standard starter recommendation is one serving a day, a serving being a fist sized amount.
Listen to your body, you'll know if you're eating too many."
Link: forum.whole9life.com/topic/24764-starch-veggie-ratio/

[snshne322]

Thank you, meshimeshi! That info is very helpful.

[toastie]

Since you're not really exercising, I'm not either, I would use them as you would use a condiment. In an entire crockpot of soup I threw in 2 potatoes. I use them for enhancement, but not as a serving of vegetable.