Monday, November 7, 2011

Purple Potatoes

Think potatoes are bad for you? Eating the purple kind may bring down blood pressure almost as effectively as oatmeal.
The poor potato. We load it with butter, cheese, or sour cream or fry it into french fries or chips and then have the nerve to call it fattening. But if you take away all the condiments and oil, potatoes are neither high in calories nor nutritional slouches.

A plain medium potato has just 150 calories and nearly 30 percent of your day’s vitamin C needs and it’s a good source of folate and iron. And if you opt for the colorful kind, like vibrant purple ones, you’ll get a megadose of healthful phytochemicals that help protect your DNA from damage (that’s how many diseases get triggered).
Plus, a small study found that eating a couple of servings of the purple-fleshed spuds a day may help lower blood pressure by a few points. It’s worth noting that volunteers did not gain any weight from their potato-happy menu.
To get all the health benefits that plants offer, enrich your diet with vegetables that run the full color spectrum.



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