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The Healing Power of Sweet Potatoes
by June Mims
The
healing power of the sweet potato: another good food that
has received a bad name, taking blame for weight gain. The
sweet potato is one of the most nutritious foods you can
eat. It can help preserve your memory, control diabetes and
reduce the risk of heart disease and cancer. Sweet potatoes
are more than just a filling food. Scarlet O'Hara had a
19-inch waist, which she kept by eating the sweet potato her
nanny prepared for her before filling up on party fare. She
could truthfully say, "Why I can't eat a thing!"
The sweet
potato is a member of the morning glory family and except in
name only, is not related to the white potato. It helps
prevent cancer and heart disease. It is rich in complex
carbohydrates and low in calories - there are only 117
calories in a 4-oz. serving. Sweet potatoes are used in
controlling weight and conditions like diabetes. They are an
easy way to get the heart healthy and to get cancer-
fighting benefits into your diet. This information comes
from the spokesperson for the American Diabetes Association,
Pamela Savage-Marr, R.D.
A little
known fact about beta-carotene and vitamins C and vitamin E
is the protection they give the blood vessels and certain
parts of the eye. The sweet potato gives you half of your
daily value of vitamin C in only a 4-oz. serving. The same
serving gives you 20 percent of the daily value of vitamin
E. "That's a very difficult nutrient to get from natural
sources," says Paul Lachance, Ph. D., professor of nutrition
at Rutgers University, New Jersey.
Since
sweet potatoes are such a good source of fiber, they're a
good food for people with diabetes. The fiber helps lower
blood sugar by slowing the rate at which food is converted
into glucose and absorbed into the bloodstream. Also,
because they are such complex carbohydrates, sweet potatoes
can help control weight.
Now,
let's get to the mind. Sweet potatoes not only keep you
healthy, they have those good B vitamins, folate and vitamin
B6, that give the brain a boost as we age. Jean Mayer, USDA
Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts University
in Boston, has been doing research on the value of the B
vitamins. The results are very promising.
When
buying sweet potatoes, look for the ones with the most
orange color. They have the most beta-carotene. They have
little fat, but they do require a little fat to get the
vitamins into your system. It is easy to get the required
five to seven grams from other foods in your meal. Knowing
this fact, I don't think I will worry about the pat of real
butter I will melt on my nutritious sweet potato. |
