I’m making my nutritional commitments for the year and need to know if potatoes are considered vegetables. My goals are to eat a minimum of 1 piece of fruit a day and 3 servings of vegetables. Not big but it is a huge improvement in how I’m currently eating.
I can get bored with veggies pretty easily so I’m thinking through some ideas to keep it interesting. Thus the potato question.
They sure as hell aren’t meat. 
Indeed they are. One of my closest friends is the Exec. Director of the Washington State Potato foundation. She tells me all the time about the goodness of our friend Mr. Potato
Indeed they are. One of my closest friends is the Exec. Director of the Washington State Potato foundation. She tells me all the time about the goodness of our friend Mr. Potato
So does the good people of High Fructose Corn Syrup…
I’m pretty sure most people consider them a starch, not a veggie… maybe school cafeterias still count them as veggies…
well sure they are, but in making this nutritional improvement, you aren’t going to deep fry them and smother them in ketchup and mayo right?
There are a lot more vegetables out there that give you more bang for the buck.
Not telling you how to make your commitment, but a suggestion made to me that I kept and it was great was in addition to eating more vegetables (it is good you have a specific number too rather than just ‘more’) an idea is maybe trying one new vegetable every week, something exotic maybe from the produce aisle. And if you don’t like it, fine, but you tried. Variety is good to cover all nutrition bases and keeps you out of a rut too.
I guess that’s my question ultimately. Are veggies and starches mutually exclusive?
I’m so glad you started posting here 
hahaha
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I’m with ya. I’m a vegetarian who has been eating horrible for the last 2 - 3 months so I need to get back on track. I eat all different veggies I just get sick of them in general.
No fried taters, I’m mostly thinking roasted or baked. I love roasting carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes and red potatos.
They seem classified as a veggie. Sure, they’re a very starchy vegetable, but they’re not a grain, dairy, fruit or meat so technically they’re vegetables. They’re also high in carbohydrates. Interesting idea I’ve come across is substituting cauliflower for potato in several recipes. Mashed cauliflower, for instance.
I made a promise to myself a few months ago to increase my veggie consumption. I’ve made them more of a staple for snackage, but I’m not at all good at fixing up veggies as food. I’m no fan of cooking to start with, so that probably has something to do with it. I’ve resorted to pre-made Indian food for some of the variety (I love palak paneer).
They technically may be, but I wouldn’t count them in your 3 veggies/day. Three is nothing. You should shoot for 5 or more.
clm
Oh I know, 3 isn’t enough but that is my minimum. If I have a salad that will end up being more than 2 servings just with that one meal.
I was hoping the potatoe would count but it might not. Sweet potatoes would probably be OK as they have higher nutrient value.
Stick with sweet potatoes if you like them.
From Wikipedia:
In 1992, the Center for Science in the Public Interest compared the nutritional value of sweet potatoes to other vegetables. Considering fiber content, complex carbohydrates, protein, vitamins A and C, iron, and calcium, the sweet potato ranked highest in nutritional value. According to these criteria, sweet potatoes earned 184 points, 100 points over the next on the list, the common potato.(NCSPC)
Mashed carrots & turnips w/ a little bit of cream cheese mixed in. My mom calls them bash-nips(sp?), but I call them mashed carrot & turnip deliciousness!
Reminds me of my first year at university, which was quite a few years ago … I was slowly forced to transition away from being vegan… I ended up having them cook me carrots one evening because the vegetable choices were: french fries, rice and corn. It seems odd that we had french fries at every meal but anything with more than a modest amount of nutritional value was a treat. It was an a-la-carte deal so if I ate every meal at the pay-by-weight salad bar, I’d have been out of $ by the time midterms hit.
I was always told that corn was a starch or grain, and didn’t count as a vegetable in a nutritional sense.
So does the good people of High Fructose Corn Syrup…
http://www.hfcsfacts.com/
Oh so correct you are.
I can get bored with veggies pretty easily so I’m thinking through some ideas to keep it interesting. <<
Pick up the Moosewood cookbook. And stick with green, yellow, red, orange.
You live somewhere cold, yes? Fresh is best, if you can get it.
kale or other greens now can go in soups or pasta sauce
green beans, my fave
asparagus, my other fave
brussel sprouts (roast them with a bit of olive oil, sea salt, pepper and balsalmic vinegar)
yellow squash
butternut squash
decent salad greens mixed with veggies, some protein, a bit of strong cheese
fresh spinach, my other fave
broccoli, my other fave
tomatoes (yes, technically a fruit)
beets (hot or cold) another fave!
Napa/Chinese cabbage
bok choy (stir fry with some water chestnuts, mushrooms and chicken)
I’m leaving out some more popular ones since I don’t really like them (peas, eggplant).
You should be able to find 5/day from this list.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_vegetables
I think I’m off to the market!
clm
Yes, but ditto others about them being mostly a starch (corn is the same way). The skin has most of the nutrients, eat that and scoop out part of the white part. We can get red, purple, yellow potatoes around here.
Sweet potatoes, still starchy but very high in all kinds of good stuff.
Potato chips definitely do not count! LOL.
so Brian and I were trying to decide what to make for dinner. Last night I suggested “milkshakes.” Which is what I had (chocolate!) and tonight he is cooking chips and salsa. He says this is a question for google (the potato one).
Google says potatoes are a vegetable.
I did get fresh salad fixings yesterday and have some fresh pineapple in the refridgerator which I’ll have as a snack later tonight.
I have to get better about cooking from scratch. It is easy to keep frozen peas, green beans, edemame, etc around so all I have to do is nuke them.
All part of the master plan to get off my butt and take training seriously again.
Salsa does count as a vegetable as long as it is fresh. Not sure that corn chips do though.
I just got done steam cleaning my carpet. My reward for vaccuuming it, 1 cookie. My reward for finishing the steam cleaning, 1 cookie. So far that’s been dinner.
I had 2 whole wheat toasts with peanut butter and apple sliced on it, and two chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk. Now I’m hungry again. I guess today’s training is catching up with me 
Brian had a candy bar.