 Are potatoes healthy for you? This might shock you. I hate to break it to you, but regular good old potatoes are one of the worst things you can eat because they're a nightshade vegetable. Some of the worst sources of nightshades there are. Now nightshades unfortunately contain some of the highest concentration of toxic lectins. They also contain a natural pesticide called glycoalkaloids. They act as the plant's first defense system against being eaten by insects. They actually damage cell membranes by attacking your body's cholesterol. And it takes over 24 hours for your body to eliminate these glycoalkaloids. So, if you're enjoying potatoes in any form, you're accumulating a hefty helping of these toxins. This can contribute to serious health issues down the line. But I get it, potatoes are tasty and they're incredibly versatile. The good news is that sweet potatoes are a wonderful alternative and you can prepare them in all the same ways you would a regular potato. Now, unlike regular potatoes, they're actually low in lectins and they're incredibly rich in vitamin A, C and B and they're loaded with polyphenols. But what makes them especially great is that they are a type of resistant starch. When you cook them, cool them and then reheat them. Now, otherwise, without that crucial preparation, they don't have a lot of resistant starch. Let me explain resistant starches for a second. So, these are soluble fibers. These are fibers that we don't adjust very well that our gut bugs then feast on because they've made it past our digestive enzymes. But starches aren't made resistant without actually cooking them and then cooling them. And that actually increases the amount of those starches that are resistant to digestion. And sadly, most people don't bother to take that step. So what I like to do is go ahead and cook your sweet potatoes, however you wanna cook them, but then put them in the refrigerator. Do a whole week's batch on the weekend, put them in the refrigerator and then when you're ready to eat them, bring them out, reheat them on the stove in the oven, in the microwave, however you wanna bring them up to temperature. That same sweet potato, because you cooled it, will have far more resistant starch than if you just ate it out of the oven. It's a trick that most people forget, but it makes a big difference in the amount of resistant starch that your gut bacteria are going to get. The other thing that's important to realize is these are still starches. Starches are sugar molecules all lined up together. They have to be broken by enzymes into individual glucose molecules. The harder it is to break those bonds, the more resistant it is to you digesting it and absorbing it as sugar and the more it's available to your gut bacteria to eat. And the purpose of eating these is to give your gut bacteria what they desire. So that's why you wanna take the trouble of turning any of these starchy vegetables into a resistant starch by cooking and then cooling. Okay, cook, cool, and then reheat them. That's what gives them the resistant starch. Now interestingly enough, the Okinawans, some of the longest-lived people in the world, and the Katavans, that group of long-lived people in Pepe, New Guinea, eat a diet very high in resistant starches. The Okinawans, 85% of their diet is the purple sweet potato. Now why is that so important? Well, the purple sweet potato is loaded with anthocyanins and polyphenols. That gives it its purple color. And if you've read, Unlocking the Keto Code, you know that these dark polyphenols uncouple your mitochondria, which promotes longevity. And it's no secret that their potato is the purple sweet potato. Also, the purple sweet potato is much denser and harder to break down in sugars than a traditional sweet potato. So two good reasons to look for the purple sweet potato. The good news is it's now readily available in most grocery stores. It's not an exotic food item anymore. Now let me talk to you in a minute about naked mole rats. You may remember from the longevity paradox that there's a group of rats in the Sahara Desert that live about 20 times longer than any other rat species. And one of the interesting things about their gut microbiome is they eat underground tubers and roots. And many of us believe that it's the tubers and roots that these rats are eating that are uncoupling their mitochondria, changing their gut microbiome for the better. And it's one of the reasons they're so long live. Now, if you remember, I've always been a proponent of yams over sweet potatoes. We don't even have a yam here to show you because often they're mislabeled in grocery stores. This was actually labeled as a yam, but in fact, it's a sweet potato. If it's orange color, it's more than likely a sweet potato. A yam is actually part of the Lilly family originated in Africa, where all of us originated. So you're better off eating the type of tuber that our ancestors ate. So whenever you get a chance, look for a yam instead of a sweet potato, but the purple sweet potato is the big winner. And again, it's easy to find. How do you use them? Well, you don't have to just bake them. You can actually get a spiralizer and make sweet potato noodles. It's fun. The kids love to do it. They're delicious. And spiralizers now are really cheap. Make sweet potato fries in an air fryer. Make them exactly the same way as you'd use regular potatoes. You can even make potato chips out of sweet potatoes in your air fryer. And they're delicious. Also, I have tons of recipes for sweet potatoes in all of my books. I've got a kale onion sweet potato hash that's unbelievably delicious and sweet potato gnocchi. It's really good. Now, just a word of note. The more the plant material remains in its original form, whole, if you will, the more resistant it will be to digestion and as such, more usable for your gut buddies. So a yam that's cooked, cooled and reheated is gonna be much more resistant than say sweet potato flour or even sweet potato pasta because you've made it easier for your digestive enzymes to attack those string of sugar molecules. And that's true with most foods. The more we eat these starches in their original form with the addition of cooking it, cooling it and then reheating, the much better it's going to be for you. And remember, our great, great grandparents only ate these starches in their original form. And that's one of the reasons that they didn't have the ill health and obesity epidemic that we're seeing because they didn't have the tools or probably the imagination to change these things into something your great grandparents would have never recognized. Okay, if you want a tasty potato alternative recipe check out my video on the podcast YouTube channel titled Potato Salad That's Lekton Free. You see, there's so many ways to add sweet potatoes home to your diet. Make sure to check out the next one here. Sadly, almost all granola sold in this country even several of the organic varieties are laced with Roundup.