Some people say that potatoes are a very nutritious food. As long as you eat enough potatoes and milk, you can meet all the nutritional needs of your body. Although this is a bit exaggerated, it is enough to prove that potatoes It's a good thing. No wonder Shakespeare once asked one of the protagonists in his play to shout: "Let it rain potatoes!" But some people say that eating potatoes will make you fat. As a result, people stayed away from potatoes. Is this really the case? Potatoes are one of the most caloric vegetables because they contain starch. However, its water content is as high as more than 76%, and its real starch content is less than 20%. It also contains "dietary fiber" that can produce a "feeling of fullness", so using them to replace staple food has a weight loss effect. So why are potatoes considered a fattening food by many people? One is because people cook them improperly and turn good potatoes into French fries and potato chips. Anyone who has cooked "roasted pork with potatoes" knows that potatoes have a strong ability to absorb oil. It has been determined that a medium-sized "French baked potato" without oil contains only about 90 kilocalories, while the same potato containing french fries contains more than 200 kilocalories. It can be seen that it is not the potato itself that makes people fat, but the fat it absorbs. The second reason is that people do not use potatoes as a staple food, but as a dish. Potatoes contain fewer calories than staple food, but more than ordinary vegetables. If potatoes are used as a dish, the quantity of staple food should be appropriately reduced. If the staple food is not reduced, the result will be that it is easier to gain weight eating potatoes than vegetables. In fact, from the perspective of nutritional value, potatoes are still an excellent staple food. First of all, its potassium and magnesium content are higher than those of refined white rice and refined white flour, making it an alkaline food. And all the polished white rice noodles make the body sour. Secondly, potatoes have high protein quality. Although the protein content is only 2%, it is rich in lysine. As long as you eat enough, you can get the various amino acids your body needs. Third, potatoes contain vitamin C, which is a good thing that polished rice and white flour don’t have. Fourth, potatoes contain dietary fiber, while polished rice and white flour have very little fiber. The fiber of potatoes has a soft texture and does not irritate the gastrointestinal tract, so it can be eaten by all kinds of people. People with gastric ulcer or enteritis can also eat potatoes with confidence. However, from a food safety perspective, potatoes are not a good snack. It turns out that when potatoes are heated to high temperatures, it is particularly easy to form toxic substances such as "acrylamide", so potato chips are the food with the highest content of this poison, and French fries also have this trouble. Therefore, be extra careful when eating potato chips, fried chips, French fries and other snacks, and do not exceed 25 grams per day. Fortunately, the heating temperature of home-style steaming, stewing, and stir-frying does not exceed 120 degrees and will not produce any harmful substances. Stewed potatoes, fried potatoes, steamed potatoes, etc. can all be eaten with confidence. Just be careful that if you eat them, you will need to reduce the staple food accordingly.