5 Amazing Things You Never Knew About Sweet Potatoes

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Some few months ago, it was in the news that Michelle Obama cultivated sweet potatoes in the White house. The issue is if such a personality could decide to cultivate sweet potatoes among all the available plants to cultivate, there must be something special about her choice.

In Nigeria, sweet potatoes are readily available and are quite cheap. People unfortunately prefer going for the traditional yam and Irish Potatoes, not realizing what they have been missing. In fact, I will be putting it mildly if I say this great tuber has been under-appreciated.

Here are some amazing things about sweet potatoes that you may not know.

Powerful Antioxidant

In case you are wondering what antioxidants are or what they do. Antioxidants are great for your entire health and they work by mopping up free radicals in your body. These free radicals are usually not great for you and have been identified as a factor in many disease conditions. They cause damage to the cells in your body. The good news is that sweet potatoes contain high amounts of antioxidants that tackle these free radicals. They contain beta-carotene which is a powerful antioxidant.

Great for Diabetics

At first glance, you will believe that sweet potatoes are not great for diabetics because of its sweetness. That cannot be further from the truth. Sweet potatoes contain a complex carbohydrate and this raises blood sugar slowly compared to simple sugars that you find in Irish Potatoes for instance. This is the reason why it is still great for diabetics.

Great Source of Vitamin A

Just one 5 inches long sweet potato can provide you with over 300% of your daily Vitamin A requirement. Isn’t that incredible? No other root-vegetable contains as much Vitamin A as that! It also contains significant amounts of Vitamin B-6 and other Vitamins. Most of us depend on nutritional supplements in drugs to fulfil our Vitamin requirements. Imagining how much Vitamins you get from sweet potatoes alone should make you add it to your meal schedule.

Great source of Minerals

Sweet Potatoes are a great source of Potassium. Potassium is important in regulating your heart beat and also in the transmission of nerve signals. They are also a great source of other important minerals such as Magnesium, Iron and Calcium.


No Fat and Cholesterol


If you are concerned about your intake of fats and cholesterol, then sweet potatoes should be on your menu. This is because it contains zero percent fat and zero percent cholesterol.

With all these benefits, it is important that you take advantage of this great tuber. Compare the benefits to the price and you will agree that you are paying so little for something so great.



Photo credit: www.therxreview.com
 
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