Yes. Regular potatoes and sweet potatoes were both on my Phase 1 list, and they carried me through the weeks when most other food felt like a gamble.
Boiled, baked, mashed with low-fat milk: fine. Fried: a different food with the same name.
The fat math
A medium boiled potato (about 150 g): about 0.1 g of fat. A baked sweet potato: about 0.2 g. You can’t meaningfully spend budget on plain potatoes.
Now the other version. 100 g of fries: about 15 g. 30 g of crisps: about 10 g. Mash with a tablespoon of butter: add about 11 g. Against my budget (20 to 30 g a day while I’m strict, 40 to 50 g once things have settled), a portion of fries is a whole strict day.
Which phase
Potatoes, regular and sweet: Phase 1. Butter: Phase 2, “the less the better”. Cooking spray: Phase 2 on my sheet, so even oven fries waited.
Your gut may handle the skin differently from mine; I peeled everything in Phase 1. Try it and tell your team.
How I actually eat them
Boiled, peeled, with fresh parsley and a little salt. Mashed with warm 1.5% milk and nothing else, which took some getting used to and now tastes normal.
A baked sweet potato split open with 100 g of low-fat cottage cheese on top was a full Phase 1 dinner for me, about 2 g of fat on the plate.
Questions people ask me
Can I eat french fries with pancreatitis?
Not in Phase 1, and rarely since. 100 g of fries is about 15 g of fat, a whole strict day. In Phase 2 I make oven wedges with a few sprays of oil, about 2 or 3 g.
Can I eat potato skin with pancreatitis?
The skin has no fat; the question is fibre. I peeled everything in Phase 1 because my gut wanted plain food, and I eat baked skins now in Phase 2 without trouble.
Are sweet potatoes OK with pancreatitis?
Yes, Phase 1 on my list, about 0.2 g of fat baked. A sweet potato with low-fat cottage cheese was one of my standard early dinners.
Read on
The full phase lists and the fat budget are in the book. For a plate that uses this: the healing chicken and vegetable soup. More answers like this one: all food questions.
Not medical advice. This page reflects one patient’s low-fat approach grounded in published guidance. Fat tolerance is individual. Check with your own healthcare team before changing your diet.