# Difference in carb value for potatoes



## MrsAA (Jan 21, 2021)

Hoping someone can help me..how come that the carbs on potatoes seem to be higher on something like chips (fries) than when they are boiled?


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## Kaylz (Jan 21, 2021)

If your comparing fresh potatoes to frozen oven chips etc then you have to take into account that MOST manufacturers add stuff to their chips like starch, flours etc adding to the carbs from the potatoes, also new potatoes are lower carb than old potatoes xx


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## MrsAA (Jan 21, 2021)

What I’ve been doing was adding a plain uncooked potato (weighed) to my meal planner and adding the Fry Light spray...that was coming in around 32g of carbs.( potato then boiled, chipped and cooked in air fryer)..however when I looked at my app and saw actifry chips for the same weight the carbs shot up to 69g.. I’m gutted as means I’ve been having far more carbs than I thought...I do think though that the chips when cooked might be lighter in weight than the uncooked potato...silly mistake which I won’t make again..I will add we do boil and cook the potatoes the day before and then leave in fridge overnight before cooking so I’m hoping that will at least mean the GI value is lower...every little helps

(Tinned potatoes are also lower carbs too)


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## Billy Bob (Jan 21, 2021)

Potato's are just no good for me at all ,If I look at them my bg spikes


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## Robin (Jan 21, 2021)

MrsAA said:


> What I’ve been doing was adding a plain uncooked potato (weighed) to my meal planner and adding the Fry Light spray...that was coming in around 32g of carbs.( potato then boiled, chipped and cooked in air fryer)..however when I looked at my app and saw actifry chips for the same weight the carbs shot up to 69g.. I’m gutted as means I’ve been having far more carbs than I thought...I do think though that the chips when cooked might be lighter in weight than the uncooked potato...silly mistake which I won’t make again..I will add we do boil and cook the potatoes the day before and then leave in fridge overnight before cooking so I’m hoping that will at least mean the GI value is lower...every little helps
> 
> (Tinned potatoes are also lower carbs too)


I think this is a ‘per 100g' problem. Potatoes lose water when you cook them as chips, but not when you boil them in water. So if the values you have are for the cooked ingredient, then chips will contain more carbs per 100g , because they contain less water. Before they were cooked, the 100g of chips probably weighed a lot more than 100g.
Next time you make chips, weigh the raw potato, cook the chips, then weigh the chips, and you will probably find they weigh less than what you started with. The carb count for the original potato must be the carb count for the finished chips, because there hasn’t been any addition of carbs from anywhere.


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## Drummer (Jan 22, 2021)

It is fairly academic really - the information coming in is far less important than the info coming out.
I suggest that you use a modest amount of potato, prepare it in various ways (always the same amount) and see what your reading is afterwards. Give it a few goes unless something obviously drastic is going on, then adjust as required.
I did something similar with legumes, trying various peas and beans, and the results were 'don't eat them'. I got the same result for all grain, potatoes and most fruit.


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## MrsAA (Jan 22, 2021)

Drummer said:


> It is fairly academic really - the information coming in is far less important than the info coming out.
> I suggest that you use a modest amount of potato, prepare it in various ways (always the same amount) and see what your reading is afterwards. Give it a few goes unless something obviously drastic is going on, then adjust as required.
> I did something similar with legumes, trying various peas and beans, and the results were 'don't eat them'. I got the same result for all grain, potatoes and most fruit.


I don’t have a meter at the moment, I’m still waiting for a second blood test to confirm diagnosis in just over a week...I know it will be confirmed but I’m hoping it might show a lower figure (first one was 56)..I’ve lost almost one and half stone in 3 weeks by cutting down on my carbs (sadly by not as much as I thought due to those damn chips lol)


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## Toucan (Jan 22, 2021)

Hello @MrsAA 
Potatoes have always been troublesome for me in raising my blood sugar readings, so I usually just go for substitutes.

For mash I use cauliflower mash, for roast and chips I use celeriac. The tastes are different, but texture is similar and it helps to fill up the plate.


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## Drummer (Jan 22, 2021)

By cutting carbs you will almost definitely have reduced blood glucose levels, so you might well be out of the diabetes range - but you will always need to be careful about carbs I suspect. 
These days I don't really need to be careful day to day - as I am in remission, but a little overindulgence shows itself as weight gain which is difficult to get rid of - I am still slightly up after eating all the Christmas pudding rather than just one serving and leaving the rest with my daughter.


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## MrsAA (Jan 22, 2021)

Drummer said:


> By cutting carbs you will almost definitely have reduced blood glucose levels, so you might well be out of the diabetes range - but you will always need to be careful about carbs I suspect.
> These days I don't really need to be careful day to day - as I am in remission, but a little overindulgence shows itself as weight gain which is difficult to get rid of - I am still slightly up after eating all the Christmas pudding rather than just one serving and leaving the rest with my daughter.


Sadly I know I’m going to always have be careful with carbs but I’m hoping that after a month or two it will just feel like the normal thing for me..I’m very much a creature of habit when it comes to food and have quite a limited menu but I’m fine with that...I lost 5 stone in 2019 by Good,old fashioned calorie counting, I didn’t even think of carbs then but did weigh everything before eating and my portion sizes probably halved...sadly lockdown was not my friend and we did lots of baking of bread and cakes and of course ate them...the scales on 2nd January when I went back to calorie counting were not kind lol...I’d put 3 1/2 stone back on...had I not done that I suspect I wouldn’t be where I am now, but hindsight is a wonderful thing isn’t it?  I’ve lost 19 1/2lbs since 2nd January so I’m still living in hope that my HbA1c might show a slight drop even though it’s only 4 weeks since the test that brought the result of 56.


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## nonethewiser (Jan 22, 2021)

Potato's account for lot of meals in our house, depending on how cooked absorption varies so chips roasts wedges are slower acting than boiled jacket pots.


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## Drummer (Jan 22, 2021)

MrsAA said:


> Sadly I know I’m going to always have be careful with carbs but I’m hoping that after a month or two it will just feel like the normal thing for me..I’m very much a creature of habit when it comes to food and have quite a limited menu but I’m fine with that...I lost 5 stone in 2019 by Good,old fashioned calorie counting, I didn’t even think of carbs then but did weigh everything before eating and my portion sizes probably halved...sadly lockdown was not my friend and we did lots of baking of bread and cakes and of course ate them...the scales on 2nd January when I went back to calorie counting were not kind lol...I’d put 3 1/2 stone back on...had I not done that I suspect I wouldn’t be where I am now, but hindsight is a wonderful thing isn’t it?  I’ve lost 19 1/2lbs since 2nd January so I’m still living in hope that my HbA1c might show a slight drop even though it’s only 4 weeks since the test that brought the result of 56.


Were you using low carb versions for your baking?
I have got a whole lot of ingredients which should make some low carb bread - just how low carb I have yet to determine exactly, but it ought to turn out a lot lower than wheat versions.
I have a large ring binder of recipes - whenever I see something which might be useful I jot it down and then I can carry it into the kitchen and also add notes or erase bits that do not work.


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## Perfect10 (Jan 22, 2021)

Celeriac makes good chips? And fewer carbs too
As for the app you use, think I remember you said it was Nutracheck? The carbs are not always accurate so worth doing an online search too.
I had a bottle of low sugar cider last weekend, Nutracheck told me it was 0 carb, thought I was onto a winner there till I googled it and found I had just consumed 28g of carbs!!!


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## MrsAA (Jan 22, 2021)

Drummer said:


> Were you using low carb versions for your baking?
> I have got a whole lot of ingredients which should make some low carb bread - just how low carb I have yet to determine exactly, but it ought to turn out a lot lower than wheat versions.
> I have a large ring binder of recipes - whenever I see something which might be useful I jot it down and then I can carry it into the kitchen and also add notes or erase bits that do not work.


No all flour etc...but then I had no idea I might be T2...only found out after a blood test for something totally unrelated...

last week we tried making the pizza base using the almond flour and cheese keto recipe...fair to say it was a disaster...we won’t bother again!


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## MrsAA (Jan 22, 2021)

Perfect10 said:


> Celeriac makes good chips? And fewer carbs too
> As for the app you use, think I remember you said it was Nutracheck? The carbs are not always accurate so worth doing an online search too.
> I had a bottle of low sugar cider last weekend, Nutracheck told me it was 0 carb, thought I was onto a winner there till I googled it and found I had just consumed 28g of carbs!!!


I’ve found it pretty accurate when I check things online..obviously you will get the odd mistake as you do in anything...I only like “yer proper cider” as we would say in Somerset! Rarely drink these days though maybe a couple of gins on holiday,


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## Drummer (Jan 23, 2021)

MrsAA said:


> No all flour etc...but then I had no idea I might be T2...only found out after a blood test for something totally unrelated...
> 
> last week we tried making the pizza base using the almond flour and cheese keto recipe...fair to say it was a disaster...we won’t bother again!


Was that the fat head pizza? 
If so that is strange, as many people find that their family like it better than bread dough ones.


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## MrsAA (Jan 23, 2021)

Drummer said:


> Was that the fat head pizza?
> If so that is strange, as many people find that their family like it better than bread dough ones.


Yes, we just couldn’t get the consistency right....as hubby used To be a chef he’s used to making new things but it was beyond him...lol


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## Barbie1 (Jan 23, 2021)

When I was diagnosed and taught carb counting in 1967, we were told that there were 10g of carbohydrate in one hens egg sized potato, or in 5 chips ( size unspecified, so I always went for the largest I could find). The explanation given for the difference was something to do with the act of cooking in high temp fat somehow altered the constitution of the carbs.


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## Perfect10 (Jan 23, 2021)

MrsAA said:


> Yes, we just couldn’t get the consistency right....as hubby used To be a chef he’s used to making new things but it was beyond him...lol


Mozzarella melts differently depending on type, you then have to work with it quite quickly. I find it doesn’t really matter whether it is a bit wet or whether a bit crumbly once it’s cooked it looks like a pizza base! Made it tonight and it’s the first time I have been able to roll it out properly!


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## MrsAA (Jan 23, 2021)

Perfect10 said:


> Mozzarella melts differently depending on type, you then have to work with it quite quickly. I find it doesn’t really matter whether it is a bit wet or whether a bit crumbly once it’s cooked it looks like a pizza base! Made it tonight and it’s the first time I have been able to roll it out properly!


That was the problem we had, it just kept sticking...so he added more almond flour and then when we did eventually get it made up it was too almondy...sure I can live without it though...I will be treating myself to a slice of normal pizza if we get to New York in September!


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## Drummer (Jan 23, 2021)

MrsAA said:


> That was the problem we had, it just kept sticking...so he added more almond flour and then when we did eventually get it made up it was too almondy...sure I can live without it though...I will be treating myself to a slice of normal pizza if we get to New York in September!


Ah - that is the probably cause - and the usual cures - for a chef - can be the reason for failure - maybe try using coconut flour on the sheet and then the top surface before placing the second sheet and rolling out, rather than any extra almond flour.


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## Charliesnana (Jan 24, 2021)

Anitram said:


> I think it might vary depending on the variety of potato. Some varieties are more suitable for roasting, others make better fries and so on. In terms of carbs it may be that not all potatoes are created equal.


I have no idea. I think that boiled new potatoes have the lowest amount of carbs per 100 gram.


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## Drummer (Jan 24, 2021)

I'm just going to start dinner, and there will be slices of swede in the tray and a piece of pork on the rack on top of it.


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## Ditto (Jan 25, 2021)

Billy Bob said:


> Potato's are just no good for me at all ,If I look at them my bg spikes


I'm the same.  How can this be? I'm half Irish!


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## Billy Bob (Jan 26, 2021)

Ditto said:


> I'm the same.  How can this be? I'm half Irish!


Irish blood here as well


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## ukjohn (Feb 2, 2021)

Ditto said:


> I'm the same.  How can this be? I'm half Irish!



Ditto.. If your half Irish, can you have half a potato   .

John.


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## Ditto (Feb 2, 2021)

ukjohn said:


> Ditto.. If your half Irish, can you have half a potato   .
> 
> John.


Ha!  I can scarf half a pound in minutes. Potatoes = ambrosia. 

Half a potato is a taster to see if they're done.


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