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Sweet! I Love potatoes!

Posted By: Katelyn Leahy on 08/03/2011

I think back to Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners at my grandmother's house at times to decided what I'd like to fix for dinner) I do choose healthier ingredients though- really make the recipe my own). One of the things I come back to quite often is sweet potato casserole, though as a healthier alternative, I just bake them and add a little cinnamon. Great, huh?

Well, Leigh Ann is one of my clients, and one of the things we talk about each session is her diet. She is doing such a great job with choosing vegetables and trying new recipes with them. Just the other day she used spaghetti squash, which she had never even heard of, for dinner. Today Leigh Ann told me she loves sweet potatoes, but she is so bored with the same old recipe. Now, I would like to blog about some of the recipes I have found for sweet potatoes that do not involve sugar and cream or just the standard baked with cinnamon staple, but I have not tried anything yet, so I will get back to you on that.

What I do want to talk about is the sweet potato itself, for those of you who do not know its health benefits. 

A medium sweet potato baked in its skin with nothing added is described as 2" diameter and 5" long, has approximately 103 calories and 2 calories from fat. It has 3.8g dietary fiber, 438% daily vitamin A, 37% vitamin C, and 4% each iron and calcium. Other vitamins and minerals include phosphorus, magnesium, potassium (542 mg!), sodium, zinc, copper, manganese, selenium, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, vitamin B-6, folate, choline, betaine, vitamin E, vitamin K, fatty acids, tryptophan, and still more! To see the whole list and how much of each vitamin and mineral, visit: http://caloriecount.about.com/calories-sweetpotato-i11508.

Sweet potatoes help lower the risk of heart disease by lowering LDL-cholesterol. They stabilize blood sugar levels, and the folate in them helps the brain produce neurotransmitters responsible for regulating mood. They support healthy eyesight and contain cancer-fighting agents.

Have I gotten it across yet how great sweet potatoes are for you? Well, PLEASE don't go junking your's with added sugars and creams! Actually, there are many different sugars already NATURALLY in this spud: sucrose, glucose, fructose, and maltose!

Sweet potatoes are tasty AND great for you! Try one today, even if it is just the basic baked with sprinkled cinnamon. With time, I will be posting recipes I liked.