Sweet potatoes have long been celebrated for their health benefits, with reports claiming that if you consume them regularly they can aid weight loss. This is due to a combination of high fiber, low calories (around 86 calories per 100 grams), and high water content, all of which make sweet potato a fantastic food for those who are trying to shed extra pounds. Knowing this then, it was probably only a matter of time before someone came up with a diet revolving around this starchy root vegetable.

The Sweet Potato Diet is a carb cycling program, which means you introduce more carbs on some days of the week and less on others, the idea is to shock your body into losing weight. According to the book by fitness guru and founder of MorelliFit, Michael Morelli, you can lose up to 12 pounds in 2 weeks (which sounds very appealing to those who want a fast weight-loss solution). In addition to losing weight, it also claims to have a positive impact on your energy levels and will increase your overall health, plus it offers a step-by-step eating schedule so that dieters won’t have to worry about counting calories or weighing their food.

The sample recipes for this diet, as shown on the website, include sweet potato brownies, bacon wrapped sweet potato, and sweet potato waffles. So yes, you’ll be eating a lot of sweet potatoes, but as we discussed earlier it’s been known to have multiple health benefits. In addition to its link to weight loss, sweet potato is also filled with vitamins and minerals, including Vitamin C, Manganese, Pantothenic Acid, Vitamin B, Potassium, Biotin, and it’s a good source of beta-carotene.

Really, it’s more of a lifestyle change than a diet and should be approached as such. On Amazon, out of the reviews given, 79 percent of them have been 5 stars, which would suggest that for some people this diet works and customers have raved about how simple and straightforward it was to follow.

_{[Image via Shutterstock]}