Picture this: You’re at a family barbecue. A well-meaning aunt pushes a bowl of potato salad toward you, saying, “Eat up, it’s vegetables!” Meanwhile, your keto-cousin glares from across the table as if you’re holding a sugar cube. It’s confusing, right?
Botanically speaking, a potato is a vegetable. It grows underground as a tuber, it’s a plant part, and it counts toward your daily veggie intake. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) even classifies it as a starchy vegetable.
But here’s the kicker: nutritionally, a potato behaves a lot like a carb. One medium baked potato has about 37 grams of carbs, which is similar to a slice of bread or a cup of cooked pasta. So, the potato is a vegetable that moonlights as a carb.
