8 Reasons to Include Sweet Potatoes in Your Diet

Reasons to Include Sweet Potatoes in Your Diet, Sweet potatoes taste like potatoes, which is why they are often called “sweet potatoes.” Although it would be more correct to say that sweet potatoes are an improved version of the far from harmless potato. After all, they are that rare product that you can eat without worrying about checking the calorie table.

Sweet potatoes are grown in countries where the sun shines brightly – in India, China, and Indonesia, which is why they are so sweet and bright. They contain almost everything that a person needs for health: proteins, carotene, calcium, iron, and many vitamins. The following 8 points will help you to see that tasty and filling sweet potatoes are a cool fitness assistant and a real healer.

1. Normalizes the digestion process

Everyone’s dream is to find that one product that is both healthy and tasty at the same time. This is exactly what sweet potatoes are all about. Sweet potatoes are rich in fiber, which helps the body feel full faster, and as a result, overeating does not occur.

2. Improves skin condition

Thanks to vitamin A, our skin cells stay young longer, as skin renewal and restoration improves. Ascorbic acid, in turn, promotes collagen production, due to which skin elasticity is maintained longer. Proper collagen production is very important for both metabolism and skin tone.

Sweet potatoes are perhaps best known for their vitamin A content (it’s present in the form of beta-carotene, a plant pigment that gives sweet potatoes their orange color and which our bodies convert into vitamin A when we eat them).

Sweet potatoes are a good source of vitamin C and B6. One medium-baked sweet potato contains more than 100% of the daily value of vitamin A, 25% of the daily value of vitamin C, and 19% of the daily value of vitamin B6. That’s a lot of nutritional goodness!

3. Helps women with hormonal imbalances

Sweet potato is rich in substances that are similar to female hormones. The tubers contain phytoestrogens, which help normalize hormonal balance, so doctors recommend that women include it in their diet during menopause.

4. Does not increase blood sugar

Sweet potato is safe for people with diabetes as it has a low glycemic index.

While you may have been advised to avoid starchy vegetables if you want to lose weight, sweet potatoes (and other starchy vegetables like peas, squash, and corn) can certainly be part of a nutritious weight-loss diet.

Sweet potatoes are very filling thanks to their complex carbohydrates and fiber, which give you energy and keep you feeling full for longer.

Packed with many nutrients for a relatively small amount of calories (about 100 calories per medium-baked sweet potato), you’ll have a healthier, more fulfilling diet.

Also Read : 7 Reasons to Eat Dates Every Day

5. Excellent antidepressant

Everyone knows that sweets lift your mood, can make you forget about your problems, and look at the world with different eyes. Sweet potatoes have a sweet taste, so they can be used as an ingredient for a healthy dessert. In addition, they also replenish the lack of potassium, which decreases with stress, so they are considered an excellent antidepressant.

Orange sweet potatoes are one of the best whole food sources of beta-carotene you can find. Beta-carotene helps prevent dry eyes and helps you see well in the dark. It also acts as an antioxidant, protecting eye cells from free radical damage and inflammation.

Beta-carotene is fat-soluble, so it’s better absorbed when eaten with fat, such as butter, olive oil, or avocado—great news since they all pair well with sweet

6. Increases energy

Sweet potatoes saturate our body with a large number of useful vitamins, such as iron, which is necessary for energy production, normalization of metabolism, and maintenance of the functioning of all vital organs.

7. Prevention of arthritis

Best for arthritis sufferers. Sweet potato contains beta-cryptoxanthin, which helps fight chronic arthritis.

8. Helps reduce blood pressure and cholesterol

A large amount of fiber and B vitamins help cleanse the blood of cholesterol, strengthen the walls of blood vessels, and help normalize blood pressure. Sweet potatoes are also rich in vitamin C, which means they are an excellent antioxidant. They also help remove waste and toxins and normalize the water balance in the body.

Sweet potatoes are a good source of fiber , which promotes heart health and even reduces the risk of diabetes and some cancers. And 9 out of 10 of us don’t get enough. Sweet potatoes not only give you four grams of fiber (14 percent of your daily needs), but they also contain both insoluble and soluble fiber.

Contraindications

• Not recommended for use by pregnant and lactating women.
• Not recommended for people who suffer from gastritis and ulcers.
• There may be individual intolerance.

How to Select and Store Sweet Potatoes

If you’ve never tried sweet potatoes, when you head to the supermarket to buy them, remember two main rules:

1. You should put in your basket those sweet potatoes that have an even color and an even shape.

2. It is important to discard any product that is clearly damaged or soft. A good sweet potato must be firm.

3. Sweet potatoes can be stored at room temperature, not exposed to moisture. A box or basket is an excellent storage option.

Sweet potatoes are used to prepare dishes all over the world. Sweet varieties make excellent desserts – pastilles, soufflés, and chips. There are also a huge number of recipes with the addition of sweet potatoes to salad, porridge, and soup. You can find and come up with a sea of ​​options, the main thing is that a dish with sweet potatoes will definitely be healthy.

Vitamin C is also important for maintaining the immune system because it stimulates the production of white blood cells (the body’s infection-fighting cells). Sweet potatoes can give you 25% of your recommended daily intake.

While this won’t prevent you from getting a cold, research shows that it will shorten its duration. Extra vitamin C isn’t stored well in the body, so we need to get it from our diet (or supplements) every day.

Antioxidants help fight free radicals, unstable molecules that our bodies produce in response to factors like tobacco smoke, air pollution, UV rays, and even exercise and can damage our DNA and cell membranes.

Since free radicals cannot be avoided, it is important to get antioxidants from your diet. They counteract or neutralize free radicals so that they do not cause this damage. However, too many antioxidants can actually be harmful, so it is better to get them from a variety of foods rather than from supplements.