Sweet Potato Spotlight

Let’s talk about food. Ya’ll seem to really like food posts and I love offering up spotlights on various fruits, veggies and healthy meals.  Today boys and girls, we’re gonna talk about sweet potatoes.

 

Now if I mention that and you think “Hey, that’s Thanksgiving food!”

Well just hold on a minute. If your idea of eating them involves a lot of sugar and butter, well.. we need to talk….

Now don’t get your feathers ruffled up. I know it’s tasty and hopefully you eat them like that once a year but let’s be honest. With all the sugar, butter, marshmallows, etc. it might, just might, negate the goodness of the lowly, not really attractive looking potato.

Here’s the low down on them

Although they’re soft and creamy enough to be put in pies and called dessert, sweet potatoes are also a surprisingly nutritious vegetable.

For a one cup serving they come in at only 114 calories. They pack a whopping amount of Vitamin A in the form of beta- carotene  providing 377% of your daily needs.

They are also a very good source of vitamin C, manganese, copper, pantothenic acid and vitamin B6. Additionally, they are a good source of potassium, dietary fiber, niacin, vitamin B1, vitamin B2 and phosphorus.

If you’re wanting to lose weight the sweet potato is a healthy, low calorie, satisfying food to add in your daily nutrition. Just as long as you don’t load them down with sugar, butter and other stuff 😉

Why are sweet potatoes good for you?

Well besides all the good vitamins and minerals mentioned above, consider this,

For as sweet as they are, sweet potatoes have a low glycemic index (which means they release sugar slowly into the bloodstream). … Manganese helps the body metabolize carbohydrates and thus maintain healthy blood sugar levels, and it can even stabilize your appetite. It also helps the body utilize antioxidants. Sweet potatoes are also high in fiber helping the digestive system.

That all sounds like a win, right?

What about some health benefits?

Due to the color-pigmented vitamins, sweet potatoes are high in anti-inflammatory benefits.  One sweet potato contains about half of the daily recommended intake of vitamin C. Vitamins A and E also support a healthy immune system and are powerful disease fighting antioxidants. While orange sweet potatoes contain more vitamin A, purple sweet potatoes are packed with the antioxidant anthocyanin, which is responsible for red, blue and purple colors in fruits and vegetables.

The high level of Vitamin A also contributes to healthy glowing skin and hair and promotes collagen growth.

Ok well sign me up. But how do I cook them?

There are all kinds of healthy and tasty ways to eat sweet potatoes year round. Below is one of my favorite, quick and easy ways to eat them. You seriously can’t go wrong roasting any vegetable in my opinion.

Oh, brussel sprouts are also making an appearance with them, don’t go hatin’ on them ok? Roasted together with olive oil and cracked pepper and sea salt are amazing.

 

Cold sweet potatoes are always tasty the next  morning tossed in with my other veggies and eggs.

If you don’t like those options, I’ll toss in a couple recipes here from my Pinterest board for you.

You’re welcome for the last one 😉

You can always turn a potato into a meal by adding healthy proteins like lean chicken or turkey. Black beans are pretty tasty with it too.

Wrapping it up….

Oh. Yeah you can wrap them in foil and just bake them too, nothing fancy required there. Sweet potatoes are a healthy. low calorie, food choice that offer again, lots of good nutritional value to your daily eating plan.

Don’t be afraid to experiment with new ways to eat them, but be mindful too that various add in’s can move up the calorie count.

Tell me, do you like sweet potatoes? Do you eat them all year, or just occasionally?