Did You Know Potatoes Can Help You Lose Weight?

It's holiday season, I don't know about you, but my jeans are getting a bit snugger than I would like. Potatoes are not something I would look to for weight loss, but a new study shows it may be more helpful at dropping poundage and inches then you would think.

New research shows the surprising health benefit of potatoes. They are incredibly nutrient-dense and could be a crucial “part of a healthy diet,” according to a new study by researchers at Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

Potatoes are starch and very filling but also low calorie. Unless of course you load it up with butter, sour cream, cheese and bacon. As long as your keep the pairings healthy a plate full of potatoes can contribute to a shrinking waistline.

“The key aspect of our study is that we did not reduce the portion size of meals but lowered their caloric content by including potatoes,” according to the study. “Each participant’s meal was tailored to their personalized calorific needs, yet by replacing some meat content with potato, participants found themselves fuller, quicker, and often did not even finish their meal.”

Potatoes contain Vitamin C, Vitamin B6, potassium, magnesium, folate and fiber, which all promote health, and have also been found to have antioxidants. When comparing the nutrients, scientists found that potatoes were just as healthy as beans and peas.

The study, which was published in the Journal of Medical Food, confirmed that "people can still maintain a healthy diet and indulge in some potatoes, challenging what was previously believed about the once-damned starch."