Sweet Potatoes!

Wow!  I love sweet potatoes!  As a child, I wouldn't touch a potato and as adult I don't suffer from cravings for french fries or potato chips, and I probably never will.  They only way I will willingly ingest white potatoes is if they are mashed....with garlic please.  Oh I will eat them, but I don't ever really want them, and they must have a lot of stuff on them.  Sweet potatoes have been at every holiday function and I never really partook of them because they fell under the "potato" category. 

I started a diet two weeks ago and white potatoes were out, (so disappointed) but sweet potatoes were okay because of how they are broken down by the body.   My dear friend, whose house I visit each weekend, made a white potato for herself and a sweet potato for me for dinner last weekend.  I LOVED IT!  I mean loved it, since then I have eaten about 4 more sweet potatoes.  I may be in danger of becoming a sweet potato at this point.

Due to my new found love I decided to do a little research and see what kind of benefits these little sweet things possessed.  They are loaded with Vitamin A, over the recommended daily allowance, RDA.  Vitamin A, in case you were in unaware, is known to help in fighting off cancer, viruses and keeps your cells healthy.  It is also believed to keep you looking younger.  Beyond that, sweet potatoes have 15% or more of the RDA for Vitamin C, Magnesium, Vitamin B6, Potassium and Fiber.  Not only do they taste delicious, they are good for you!  They are loaded with Beta Carotene and other cartenoids which  help strengthen vision and boost the immune response. 

At this point I want to be chanting in the streets, "Eat More Sweet Potatoes."  They best thing about these little guys is that they may actually help reduce the insulin response for type 2 diabetics.  The sugar in them is digested slowly; instead of getting a sugar spike and then low you get from other sugary snacks, you are loaded with sustained energy. 

 If I hadn't sold you on the sweet potato, I am not sure what will.  I know I will be eating them at least once a week.