Potato Substitutes on Low Carb? by Dana Carpender

Karyn Brown writes:

Hello Dana:

I have just bought four of your books and have placed an order for more at the library. Thanks for all of the great looking recipes and advice!

I am trying to find the products – and it seems that Ketatoes are no longer available. Since they are included in several recipes – please tell me what I can use as a substitute for the Ketatoes brand.

Thanks again! I am looking forward to trying these recipes.

Karyn

Sadly, Ketatoes are no longer with us, though I still have a stash I hoarded when the Keto company went under. There is a substitute: Dixie Diners Instant Mashers. I’ve tried them in several of my recipes, and they work just like the Ketatoes mix.

I also sometimes will steam a half-head of cauliflower and half a medium sized potato (both cut in chunks) together until tender, and then puree the two together. We call this Faux-Po, and it’s darned tasty. If you make Faux-Po with 1 1/2 pounds of cauliflower and 6 ounces of potato, and call it 6 servings, each serving will have 11 grams of carb with 3 grams of fiber, for a usable carb count of 8 grams.

Still, with a good, flavorful gravy you may as well go with the super-low-carb Fauxtatoes, made with just cauliflower. A whole head of cauliflower has about 30 grams of carb, 14 grams of it fiber, for a usable carb count of 16 grams, so it’s hard to get too much.

Hope this helps. And thanks for buying my books! I hope you enjoy them. And rah for your library! I’m a librarian’s daughter; it’s my favorite use of my tax money.

Dana

Karyn also writes:

Hello again Dana –

I forgot to ask – How many carbs can we have while we are trying to lose weight? I haven’t been able to find this info in your books.

Thanks!

I’m afraid I can’t answer that question, because carbohydrate tolerance varies dramatically from person to person. I’ve known people who had to go below 20 grams per day – Atkins induction level – to lose weight, while I’ve known others who did quite well simply knocking out all refined carbs – sugar, white flour, cold cereal, chips, etc. Only time, experimentation, and attention will tell you how much carbohydrate is right for your body.

The time-honored approach is to cut way, way back to 20 grams a day (Protein Power says 30), the quantity of carbohydrate you’ll get from a couple of small salads or servings of green vegetables per day, with no other carbs at all, not even low sugar fruit, nuts and seeds, nuthin’. Stick at this level for a few weeks, then add carb back slowly, increasing your daily carb count by 5 grams each week, until you find a level where you’re losing steadily. Once you reach goal, you inch your carb intake up just a little more, till you find a level where you’re neither losing nor gaining, and stay there for life. But whether that level will be 50 grams per day or 100, you’ll have to find out for yourself.

Be aware that while calories count less on a low carb diet, they still count. You probably can’t eat 5000 calories a day of pork rinds and cream cheese and still lose. But most people will lose readily on anywhere from 1800-2500 calories per day if they keep their carbs quite low, which is a heckuva relief if you’ve ever tried a 1000 calorie per day diet.

Also be aware that there is no minimum daily requirement for carbohydrate. Carbohydrate is nutritionally inessential, period. Given sufficient protein and fat, your body can make what little glucose it actually needs as it needs it. However, the few carbs we do eat, in the form of veggies, low sugar fruit, seasonings, nuts and seeds, etc, add tremendous appeal to the cuisine, and of course bring vitamins and minerals along with them. I’ve tried doing nothing but meat and eggs, and find I feel great when I eat this super-low carb diet; it’s great for knocking off a few extra pounds if I bump up. But it just plain gets boring after a while. We’re in this for life; we have to stay happy, and the variety afforded by just 20-50 grams of carb per day makes all the difference in the world.

Hope this helps!

© 2010 by Dana Carpender. What do you think? Please send Dana your comments to Dana Carpender.