Sweet potatoes, a staple winter snack, are loved by many for their rich dietary fiber, high antioxidant content, and delicious taste. Some use it as a diet food, while others enjoy it as a snack. How should we properly consume sweet potatoes, which are of various types and have a wealth of nutrients, and how much should we eat?
What’s the Caloric Content of Sweet Potatoes?
One sweet potato contains 128 calories, which isn’t exactly low. However, sweet potatoes make for a perfect diet when used as a meal replacement. The nutritional composition of a sweet potato consists of 0.2% fat, 36% carbohydrates, and 1.4% protein, with the remainder comprising water, dietary fiber, and vitamins. Because it can make you feel full even with a small portion, it makes an ideal meal replacement when combined with protein foods like chicken breast.
Essential for a GI Diet!
The Glycemic Index (GI) measures how quickly a consumed food is digested and converted into glucose, raising blood sugar concentration. Consuming high-GI foods triggers excess insulin secretion, causing surplus calories to be stored as fat. The GI of sweet potatoes is 5.5, which is only 50% of that of potatoes, a very low figure. Eating sweet potatoes causes blood sugar levels to rise slowly, inhibiting the conversion of residual sugar into fat cells, making it fit for a diet.
Helpful in Relieving Constipation
Did you know that sweet potatoes contain ingredients that can relieve constipation? When you cut a sweet potato, a small amount of liquid comes out, a component called allantoin that protects the wounds on the sweet potato. Allantoin’s functions include cleaning the intestines, preventing colon cancer, and aiding bowel movements. Also, sweet potatoes are rich in enzymes that break down starch and Vitamin B1, which activates intestinal function. These ingredients synergize with the dietary fiber in sweet potatoes to facilitate smoother bowel movements.
Foods That Go Well with Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potatoes go well with kimchi, milk, and tangerines. Consuming the excellent fiber and potassium in sweet potatoes with the sodium in kimchi helps flush the sodium out of the body. Eating sweet potatoes and milk together can supplement each other’s lacking nutrients. Eaten together, tangerines and sweet potatoes can also boost immunity, and both sweet potatoes and tangerines have excellent antioxidant effects and are rich in Vitamin C.
Foods to Avoid Eating with Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potatoes are primarily composed of starch. Peanuts also contain a lot of starch, so eating them together can increase the risk of obesity. Sweet potatoes and peanuts are opposites; a similar example would be not eating beef and sweet potatoes together. The concentration of gastric acid needed for digestion differs for each, which can hinder the digestion and absorption of the health components of each food.
Things to Note When Washing Sweet Potatoes
You should not use a scrubber when washing sweet potatoes. If you scrub the surface of the sweet potato with a scrubber, you lose minerals. Iron and magnesium are lost by 30~50%, and calcium, particularly abundant in the skin, is lost by over 90%. Therefore, it is better to gently rub sweet potatoes with a soft sponge or by hand.
Avoid Using a Microwave
You should avoid cooking sweet potatoes in a microwave. If you cook sweet potatoes at high temperatures in a microwave for a short time, the maltose that aids intestinal health does not sufficiently increase. The enzyme that converts the starch of sweet potatoes into maltose is not activated at temperatures above 90 degrees, and it comes out more when cooked for a long time at relatively low temperatures of 60-70 degrees. It’s best to simmer sweet potatoes in a steamer for a long time.
Beware if You’re Diabetic!
If you have diabetes, eating raw sweet potatoes rather than cooked ones is healthier. Cooked sweet potatoes have a higher glycemic index than raw sweet potatoes. Baking sweet potatoes increases the glycemic index, and when blood sugar rises quickly, blood glucose turns into fat and accumulates in the body, which is not helpful for those on a diet.
Eating Sweet Potatoes Late at Night is a No-No!
Our bodies’ metabolic function decreases at night, so the sugar in sweet potatoes can quickly accumulate, and digestion or absorption may not work well. Therefore, eating sweet potatoes late at night can be harmful. If you want to eat sweet potatoes, it’s better to eat them as a daytime snack in moderate amounts, as they can make you feel full and aid digestion.
A Lot of Antioxidants in Purple Sweet Potatoes
Sweet potatoes come in various types, including regular, pumpkin, and purple sweet potatoes. Among these, the one with the most antioxidants is the purple sweet potato. The antioxidant power of purple sweet potatoes is thanks to anthocyanin. This red polyphenol pigment removes oxidized substances caused by active oxygen when it enters the body and prevents inflammation. Yellow sweet potatoes do not contain anthocyanin, and the darker the color of the fruit or vegetable, the more antioxidants it has. So, if you want to consume a lot of antioxidants, eating purple sweet potatoes would be helpful, right?
By. Jeon Shin Young
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