The sweet potato for weight loss: Dig it!
 

Ah, the Sweet Potato, how saweet it is {Jackie Gleason voice}.

- lots of fiber
- lots of potassium
- very good potassium to calories consumed ratio (much better than bananas)
http://www.fitday.com/fitness/forums...ed-ratios.html
- low glycemic index
- lots of flavor

And it's great for weight loss as well!

How Eating Sweet Potatoes Can Help You Lose Weight / Fitness / Weight Loss

Add some non fat sour cream (4 tablespoons), 1/4 teaspoon of "No Salt" (potassium salt with no sodium), and one teaspoon of Bragg Nutritional Yeast to the top of a cut, microwaved potato, and you get a powerhouse of health, all with excellent appetite suppression.

For even more flavor, a sprinkle of garlic powder really adds a whole new dimension.

And for you carb watchers, these are GOOD carbs.

I think I'm in love.


Nutrition Facts

Amount Per Serving (350 gram sweet potato, eaten with skin, along with above ingredients and amounts):

Calories 346.6
Total Fat 0.5 g
Saturated Fat 0.1 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 0.2 g
Monounsaturated Fat 0.0 g
Cholesterol 2.0 mg
Sodium 161.0 mg
Potassium 2,397.5 mg
Total Carbohydrate 75.8 g
Dietary Fiber 11.9 g
Sugars 0.0 g
Protein 9.7 g
Vitamin A 1,349.0 %
Vitamin B-12 13.2 %
Vitamin B-6 96.2 %
Vitamin C 114.0 %
Vitamin D 0.0 %
Vitamin E 12.0 %
Calcium 19.0 %
Copper 28.0 %
Folate 0.0 %
Iron 13.7 %
Magnesium 24.0 %
Manganese 87.0 %
Niacin 49.1 %
Pantothenic Acid 9.9 %
Phosphorus 21.0 %
Riboflavin 76.8 %
Selenium 4.3 %
Thiamin 84.4 %
Zinc 9.0 %

I'm crazy for sweet potatoes! Its not the healthiest due to frying, but can be somewhat justified with using extra virgin cold pressed coconut oil, my latest favorite carb-dish is SWEET POTATO HASH BROWN! If I had a toaster oven, I would explore ways to make give it some crispiness with less time in a pan...

leskats, if you've got a microwave, potatoes come out fantastic in one, just like baking, only it's quicker. And it's prepared without any oils or anyhing.

I take a 400 gram sweet potato, poke holes all around it with a fork to allow moisture to escape, zap it on one side for 5 minutes (1000 watt microwave), turn it over, zap the other side for 5 minutes, then let it stand for 5 minutes before eating.

I'm addicted. Been eating them about 5 times a week now. It really helps to meet my potassium RDA. Plus at less than a dollar a pound they are a bargain. Yesterday they had a special at my local supermarket... .39 cents a pound. I bought a bunch. :D

Last week I put one in the oven for a nice long time while we were baking chicken breasts for dinner, then, I cubed it up , tossed it with finely chopped red onions,

the next day (when it was all cool) I added cucumbers, lovely yellow grape tomatoes, and peanuts, tossed on a little home made balsamic vinegrette (very little oil), and served over fresh spinach for lunch - it was amazing!

For reasons that aren't clear, I let one sit on the counter too long, and it sprouted, it looked like a cute baby seal, so I kept watching it grow, it's in the basement now, and I plan to plant it in spring.

Yum!

Abby

Cute story, Abby. Made me smile. :)

sweet potao replaced with pumpkin
 

This year instead of having sweet potatoes or yams, my family cooked up frozen pumpkin. The kind that one would make pumpkin pie from. :)

Abby the salad sounds wonderful. I'm printing it out to try later this week.

We had mashed baked sweet potatos with jalapeno peppers, just enough to give it a little kick w/o being hot. I was a great taste combinition!

What is the difference between sweet potatoes and yams?

Answer:

Although yams and sweet potatoes are both angiosperms (flowering plants), they are not related botanically. Yams are a monocot (a plant having one embryonic seed leaf) and from the Dioscoreaceae or Yam family. Sweet Potatoes, often called ‘yams’, are a dicot (a plant having two embryonic seed leaves) and are from the Convolvulacea or morning glory family.

Yams

Yams are closely related to lilies and grasses. Native to Africa and Asia, yams vary in size from that of a small potato to a record 130 pounds (as of 1999). There are over 600 varieties of yams and 95% of these crops are grown in Africa. Compared to sweet potatoes, yams are starchier and drier.

Sweet Potatoes

The many varieties of sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) are members of the morning glory family, Convolvulacea. The skin color can range from white to yellow, red, purple or brown. The flesh also ranges in color from white to yellow, orange, or orange-red. Sweet potato varieties are classified as either ‘firm’ or ‘soft’. When cooked, those in the ‘firm’ category remain firm, while ‘soft’ varieties become soft and moist. It is the ‘soft’ varieties that are often labeled as yams in the United States.

Why the confusion?

In the United States, firm varieties of sweet potatoes were produced before soft varieties. When soft varieties were first grown commercially, there was a need to differentiate between the two. African slaves had already been calling the ‘soft’ sweet potatoes ‘yams’ because they resembled the yams in Africa. Thus, ‘soft’ sweet potatoes were referred to as ‘yams’ to distinguish them from the ‘firm’ varieties.

Today the U.S. Department of Agriculture requires labels with the term ‘yam’ to be accompanied by the term ‘sweet potato.’ Unless you specifically search for yams, which are usually found in an international market, you are probably eating sweet potatoes!

What is the difference between sweet potatoes and yams? Everyday Mysteries:Fun Science Facts from the Library of Congress)