Sweet Potatos, yay or nay...

sunlover89

...for fat loss?

I'm only on my first few days of Paleo and I'm easing myself into it gently, I'm still having porridge for breakfast (plain with berries and almonds) and bit of milk in my once a day coffee and afternoon tea.
I had a healthy diet before where my main carb source was lentils, but I found myself craving sweet food like crazy.

I eat sweet potato twice a day, with lunch and dinner, about 400g total (with sardines/tuna/turkey and salad) and I've found it gives me sustainable energy and almost wipes out sugar cravings.

But are sweet potatoes a good idea for someone who has about 60lbs of fat to shift? I'm worried about the carb content. I've tried getting my energy just from fruits, nuts, veggies, eggs and meat but I feel so lethargic, tired and often end up bingeing.

Any advice?

Shadowknight137

Absolutely yay.

Provided you're getting enough fat and protein and as long as you"'re in a deficit, there is no reason to avoid something as delicious as a sweet potato - especially of it satiates and satisfies you.

They make amazing chips, fries, and are INCREDIBLE with honey, coconut butter and cinnamon on them. Eat up!

Christie0428

Hi there, yes sweet potatoes are good! .... but everything in moderation right? Mark's Sisson, who has worked him welf to be some thig of a Primal guru has this to say on carbs:

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/the-primal-carbohydrate-continuum/#axzz2XKLozwFO

I'd set your macros to the number of carbs you are aiming for and try to stay with in that.

Also in March I completed the whole 30 (actually kept it going to 45 days), and I found that the first week of very low carb that feeling of lethargy went away.

GOod luck, I think we are all on a journey to find what works best for us individually, I don't thinks its the same for everyone.

AbbeyDove

I've done Atkins, and moved on to Paleo. I don't do so well with very low carbs, personally, (and I spent 4 months in induction in Atkins, experimenting with every possible approach to make it work for me). I try to keep my carbs at or below 75 g per day, tho that can be a challenge. I'd say, go for it with the sweet potatoes, but maybe not twice a day? You might need room to get other types of fruits and veggies in there, if you're going for a moderate carb count overall, and you wouldn't want to over rely on one food. They're a great, healthy source of nutrition, tho! Your picture is lovely, btw. Is that a penguin hat?

Alisha_countrymama

Too many carbs trigger the sugar monster for me, so I have to be careful and only have a small portion once in a while. But I love me some sweet taters, specially the purple skin ones. mmmmmm

Dragonwolf

I second Mark's carb curve.

If you've never done this type of thing before, the lethargy you feel is likely what's commonly referred to as "carb flu," which is basically sugar withdrawal (see the Whole 30 timeline for more info, too - http://whole9life.com/2012/06/the-whole30-timeline/ ). In short, you're depriving your body of dietary sugar in order to force your body to use fat as a fuel source, and your body doesn't like that. Even going to the somewhat higher end by Primal/Paleo standards of 100-150g of carbs can be a shock to your system if you're used to eating 300g+.

There are two things you can do about it:

1. Force yourself to push through the lethargy. Hang in there and you'll get through it. Make sure to increase your fat intake accordingly. Fat is pure fuel, too, and will help curb the sugar cravings.
2. Ease your carbs down. Slowly reducing your carbs will mean you'll need some ramp up time to really see weight loss results, but you won't get as much of the carb withdrawal effects.

As for sweet potatoes - they're an awesome food (I personally like them mashed with a little bit of milk, butter, and maple syrup), but they are carb-heavy and somewhat high on the GI/GL scale. If you have metabolic/insulin issues (which, if you've switched from the SAD, and with 60lbs to lose, it's likely that you have at least the start of it), then it's good to keep the sugar-insulin cycle in check. So, enjoy them in modest amounts as long as they fit into your carb goals, and don't forget to include some good sources of fat and protein in the meal to help slow down the sugar dump.

sunlover89

Thanks everyone!!! That helps so much.
It turns out I was actually greatly overestimating the amount of sweet potato I've been eating - The cooked weight is much less than raw weight, my diary is open so you can see. I just got an attack of the munchies (absence of sugar!) so I made a coconut pancake with PB, it really worked! I think what I'm going to do is gradually lower my carbs and up my fat. I also do crossfit 5x a week so I'm not too worried about going up to 200g carbs a day on those days.

meghanner

I'd try to nix the porridge and peanut butter (contains legumes) add in a little sweet potato with breakfast (so you still get the carbs when you're used to them). There are lots of grain free delicious breakfasts ideas out there.

I agree with some of the other posters, follow Mark's carbohydrate curve and modify it as you see results. For me, I find that my body sheds fat when I'm below 50g/day (total, not net). I also however, start to have poor sleep quality and notice a cortisol rise so I try to keep my carbs between 50-100g/day and happily am maintaining my current weight.

epcooper

I eat sweet potatoes on the regular and still manage to lose weight (albeit super slowly, as I only have 10 more lbs to lose). If I were to cut them out completely, I might lose a little faster - but that's just not worth it to me because I love them so. I just make sure they fit within my carb limit for the day (under 80g) and usually alternate between 1/2 a sweet potato or a small banana post-workout.

As other people have said though, it's a slippery slope with carbs and sugar. For some it's easier to cut way down early on to get all of the carb withdrawal out of the way quickly, then re-introduce some here and there later. For others, eating some sweet potato or fruit is a good paleo way to get through cravings for refined carbs and sugar. It just depends on the person. And to be honest, some days you're just going to stuff your face with carb-heavy foods.....eating a ton of sweet potato is still better for you than eating a ton of pastries. I consider myself an expert on this, as I live right next to a bakery and get to smell all the delicious goodies being baked every morning.