Crispy roast potatoes are a staple of a Christmas dinner, and everyone has their own favourite way of making them.
Do you lather your roasties in goose fat? Or coconut oil for something different? It turns out making a simple swap when it comes to making roast potatoes at Christmas could have heaps of health benefits – including helping prevent stroke.
Although Christmas is all about enjoying delicious food, Heart UK says you can still still make healthier choices, making it less likely you’ll gain lots of weight or increase your risk of health conditions. For example, instead of butter, Heart UK recommends switching to rapeseed oil or olive oil – and be careful how much you use. They say: “Switch to rapeseed oil or olive oil for roasting and watch how much is used. Unsaturated fats such as rapeseed and olive oil are excellent for roasting your turkey and potatoes.
“Not only do they give beautifully crisp results, they’re also heart healthy, unlike the saturated fat in butter. As all fats are high in calories, still watch how much you use.”
Olive oil and rapeseed oil, which are monounsaturated fats, has many health benefits, including helping maintaining levels of ‘good’ HDL cholesterol while reducing levels of ‘bad’ cholesterol in your blood.
Dr Haris Mumtaz, UK medical doctor co-founder of @herb_docs, says he “lathers everything in olive oil” for a number of reasons. Taking to TikTok, he said it’s “packed with phenolic compounds, which are potent antioxidant and could protect your cells against free radicals that cause damage”.
He says olive oil is also packed with flavonoids like oleocanthal and oleic acid, which are anti-inflammatory. As a healthy fat, it’s also been shown to “modify cholesterol levels in the body,” said Dr Mumtaz. Too much cholesterol can cause blocked blood vessels, which increases the risk of heart problems or stroke.
Heart UK also recommend making other healthy swaps for your Christmas dinner. For example, if you’re hoping to keep calories to a minimum, opt for white breast meat and avoid the skin when having turkey. If you’ve making gravy from the juices, you can first spoon off the fat and include some vegetable cooking water, which will add extra flavour and nutrients.
They warn potatoes tend to be “high in fat”, so you should “watch how many you eat”. If worried, you can replace with boiled potatoes. You could also opt for plant-based alternatives to dairy cream, to reduce the amount of saturated fats.
Keep in mind that high cholesterol, which is mainly caused by eating fatty food and not exercising enough, doesn’t usually cause any symptoms. If you are worried, you should speak to a GP.