Sweet potato for a healthy diet

Sweet potato and weight loss

Sweet potato for a healthy diet: Sweet potato has immense health benefits. It can help you to reduce belly fat, strengthen your bones, and so on. It is considered the ultimate health food for your heart. So, the question is why are you still not thinking about this, right?

There are plenty of research studies that prove that sweet potato is great for your heart health. Let's look at a few of the health benefits that it has.

Sweet Potato Benefits For Your Heart:

1. It Is Rich In Potassium

Potassium is essential for your heart health. Studies have proven that dietary potassium is a great heart health supplement. It helps in reducing bad cholesterol levels and manages cardiac arrhythmias.

The most beneficial way of consuming it is by adding it to your everyday food or adding it to your food products that are being fried or baked.

It can be consumed in the form of sweet potato chips, sweet potato fries, sweet potato smoothies, or as a part of your desserts.

2. It Can Lower The Cholesterol Levels 

Lowers cholesterol levels and improves triglyceride levels. It can help you to deal with atherosclerosis by lowering your blood lipids. So, it is not only good for your heart, but it is also good for your kidneys.

3. It Can Relieve Your Arthritis Pain

Arthritis is not just painful, but it can also cause various side effects. According to the studies, it can reduce the pain of arthritis.

It can be beneficial for people with arthritis. It is also beneficial for people who are undergoing chemotherapy or have sustained injuries and pain.

4. It Can Help You To Lose Weight

Another health benefit of sweet potatoes is that they can help you to lose weight. It has a low glycemic index and it is used for weight loss. It is also helpful to get rid of belly fat.

It also relieves the appetite, as it contains plenty of potassium. Thus, it helps you to maintain your heart health and shed those excess kilos.

5. It Can Reduce The Risk Of Alzheimer's Disease

Do you know that if you are suffering from Alzheimer's disease, sweet potatoes can be helpful for you? It is rich in potassium and can help fight Alzheimer's disease. According to the studies, it can reduce the level of stress and improve mental well-being.

6. It Can Help You To Regulate Blood Sugar Levels

Sweet potatoes are considered to be the ultimate health food for your blood sugar levels. They can help regulate your blood sugar levels.

It has a low glycemic index. So, it is rich in magnesium, potassium, and vitamin C. These vitamins and minerals help in lowering the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

It also reduces the risk of obesity and heart disease.

7. It Can Lower The Risk Of Arthritis

Arthritis is one of the most common causes of disability. It is a condition that occurs when the joints become inflamed and cause pain. According to studies, it can be beneficial for people with arthritis.

8. It Can Assist You In Perform At Work

For you to perform well at work, it is necessary to maintain your weight. This is because obesity may lead to several diseases. So, to perform better at work, you will need to maintain a healthy weight. It can help you to perform better and you will have more energy.

9. It Can Improve Your Blood Pressure

According to the studies, it can help you to improve your blood pressure. It is loaded with vitamins B6, B3, and potassium. Hence, it is rich in the antioxidant, potassium.

So, it can help you to lower your blood pressure. This is because it helps in blood flow to the heart and brain.

10. It Can Help You To Deal With A Chronic Infection

The golden threads food is rich in potassium. It contains antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties. It can improve your skin condition and also helps in treating dermatitis and inflammation.

Therefore, you will be able to deal with any chronic infection with this natural food.

11. It Can Decrease Your Cholesterol Levels

According to studies, it can decrease cholesterol levels. This is because it contains high amounts of potassium. This helps in regulating your blood sugar levels and can help lower bad cholesterol.

12. It Can Stimulate Muscle Mass And Energy

Manganese is also present in sweet potatoes. It is responsible for stimulating muscle growth and is also a great source of energy. It can provide you with sufficient energy and can help you to overcome fatigue.

As the food industry gets richer and begins to think in terms of the latter and not the former, our mouths get sick and we get obese. And for us, the weight loss diet has already been invented.

According to dietitian R.S. Gupta, many people do not do so because they are unaware of what they should eat to get their required quantity of nutrients. Eating less in this way becomes extremely difficult. But, the good news is that you do not have to start consuming only plant-based diets, as most vegetables are quite rich in minerals, vitamins, and amino acids.

Just take a look at the sweet potatoes, says, Gupta, since this is a sweet vegetable that does not need sweetening. It has a good quantity of potassium and manganese, both of which are very beneficial for the heart. It also contains lots of fiber that helps to keep your digestive tract healthy. We all know that sugar in the diet causes plaque and cavities and so the same applies to sweet potatoes. They are said to reduce high blood pressure too. And since they are packed with water content, sweet potatoes help to keep you hydrated, especially in summer, says Gupta.

Why do sweet potatoes taste sweet?

The reason why sweet potatoes taste sweet is that it is sweeter when cooked and have a higher glucose content, says Gupta. Its natural sugar content is around 17.1 gms per 100 gms and so, making it inedible will be a terrible move, especially if you are trying to stay healthy.

Why are sweet potatoes good for our guts?

Sweet potatoes contain three types of fiber: soluble fiber (virgin, insoluble, and digestible), resistant fiber, and non-starch polysaccharides, says Gupta. It also has significant amounts of vitamin A, potassium, manganese, riboflavin, folic acid, thiamin, and copper. And these not only protect the heart but also boost the immune system.

In case you are wondering whether adding sweet potato to your diet will help you lose weight, you might want to know that this vegetable is known to increase satiety by almost 10 percent.

Still, the problem is that once your body has burnt some of the sweet potatoes, it will then go in search of more sugar to satisfy its high hunger, which leads to more sugar consumption.

Here is how you can prepare sweet potato with turmeric and Kasuri methi.

Ingredients

• 1-1.5 kg baby sweet potatoes
• 1 tbsp turmeric powder
• 1 cup Kasuri methi (split black chilies)
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 2 tbsp yellow corn flour
• 2-3 tbsp curd
• Salt to taste
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter or ghee

Preparation :

To prepare the turmeric-Kasuri methi chutney, heat the oil in a pan and add the chopped chilies. Fry them for a few minutes, until the color changes. Then add the turmeric powder and mix well. Keep aside. Heat the remaining oil in a pan. Add the turmeric and the Kasuri methi and fry till the methi becomes slightly crunchy. Transfer to a plate and keep aside. Slice the potatoes into quarters and remove the strings. Bring a saucepan of water to a boil, add salt and when it boils, add the potatoes. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Drain and drain well. Mash the potatoes and keep them aside. Heat the ghee or the butter in a pan and add the salt. Stir for a minute and then add the corn flour. Mix well and cook for a minute. Add the curd and mix well. Cook for 2 minutes. Pour the chutney into a serving bowl. Serve with boiled potatoes and a bowl of buttered rotis.

This is, in fact, the “inner Mumbai” version of the sweet potato – stuffed with the spicy heat of yellow and green chilies and spices. (Source: Gurbhane Basu and Rawan Bhattacharjee) This is, in fact, the “inner Mumbai” version of the sweet potato – stuffed with the spicy heat of yellow and green chilies and spices. (Source: Gurbhane Basu and Rawan Bhattacharjee)

Preparation tips:

As far as sweet potatoes are concerned, you can buy the tubers from the markets or the fruit and vegetable section of your supermarket. But, if you have some good sweet potatoes, ask your farmer friends for these, which are not as difficult to grow as compared to those already cooked. Cut the potatoes into pieces, 1 inch each. Keep them aside. In a pan, add 1 cup of water and salt. Bring it to a boil and cook till the potatoes become soft. Drain and set aside. Take a pressure cooker and add the grated potato pieces. Pour 1.5 cups of water into the cooker. Cover with a lid and cook for 3-4 whistles. Take it off the heat and cool down. Add turmeric and half a cup of water in a blender and mix well. Then add the curd and the potato mixture and blend again. Mix in a bowl with the sweet potatoes.