Question about sweet potato ?
midwest121
Posts: 13 Member
Hello everyone, I have a question to ask, I was wondering if sweet potato a good source of food to have, if you're fitness goal is weight loss ?
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There's nothing wrong with sweet potato, or any foods for that matter. Just fit it into your calorie goal.0
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First, focus on the amount of Calories for weight loss; if eating a portion of sweet potatoes fits into your Calorie goals, you will lose weight. Next, look at the macronutrients (carbs, fats, and proteins) a sweet potato provides per 100g and compare those to similar items per 100g. Sweet potatoes are high in carbs, virtually fat-free, and moderately low in protein. Finally, look at the micronutrients (such as fiber, vitamins, sodium, potassium, etc.) to see if sweet potatoes will help you maintain those goals; sweet potatoes are very high in vitamin A and potassium and quite low in sodium. Overall, sweet potatoes are a great choice.
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Sure - just watch quantity. Good stuff!0
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I am starting to see now, wish I had known that before I brought some, seems to be a healthy cheat food item.0
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I eat them, though sparingly. Steaming up a bunch now actually. I steam up a few, mash them and add curry powder (no sugar or salt) then pre-measure them into little half cup portions, which is a little less than 100 cal per serving. They freeze ok once cooked too. Fairly low GI and a great comfort food!2
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midwest121 wrote: »I am starting to see now, wish I had known that before I brought some, seems to be a healthy cheat food item.
How does this relate to the prior posts?
Sweet potatoes have a decent amount of micronutrients for the calories and IMO are filling and tasty. They are also in season where I am now, so I have tons of them from my CSA. They and carrots were my main carb source today, fueled a nice long run quite well.1 -
no bad foods only bad feelings!0
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@midwest121
You asked about sweet potatoes and said you bought some. I see that you logged yams in your Food Diary today. They are different foods and contain different Calories, macronutrients, and micronutrients.
Which did you actually eat? See the below for a picture comparison and the nutrition comparison per 100g.
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@CyberTone I ate yams today, but I have three sweet potatoes in the refrigerator, that I brought, I know they say regular potatoes are bad for you, so I wasn't for sure if sweet potatoes were bad for you, cause if they were I was just going to throw them out.0
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midwest121 wrote: »@CyberTone I ate yams today, but I have three sweet potatoes in the refrigerator, that I brought, I know they say regular potatoes are bad for you, so I wasn't for sure if sweet potatoes were bad for you, cause if they were I was just going to throw them out.
Who's "they"? Whoever it is, they're idiots who should be ignored. Potatoes are not bad for you unless you have some allergy or medical reason to avoid them.1 -
Oh my, I didn't know there was a difference! We get 'yams' in South Africa but they are called sweet potatoes here - the flesh is a whitish yellow colour and the skins are a purply brown colour. I must take a picture and submit so you guys can see. I think I will log my sweet potatoes as yams from now on to be on the safe side.0
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shelleysykeskeene wrote: »Oh my, I didn't know there was a difference! We get 'yams' in South Africa but they are called sweet potatoes here - the flesh is a whitish yellow colour and the skins are a purply brown colour. I must take a picture and submit so you guys can see. I think I will log my sweet potatoes as yams from now on to be on the safe side.
There are many different varieties of sweet potatoes, with many different skin and flesh colors. It is most likely that you have been eating sweet potatoes and not yams. These are pictures of sweet potatoes.
Reference: http://www.farm-fresh-produce.com/spvarieties.html
Here is another picture of the difference between true yams and a sweet potato.
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I've only recently started eating sweet potatoes and feeling GOOD about it. I, too, always thought they were one of those "bad for you" foods. Thankfully, I've learned otherwise. I like them plain (baked), but my favorite way is homemade veggie patties made with sweet potato and black beans and other yummy stuff. They're low cal and delicious. They freeze well and a great substitute for ground beef burgers.0
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The ones in the US are generally sweet potatoes even though some people call them yams.0
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I wrap several sweet potatoes in foil with a little salt and olive oil and throw them on the grill. Put them in the fridge (in foil) and eat for dinner each night. Pop on in the microwave with a little salt, cinnamon and fat free Pam butter spray. Yummy.0
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Rachel0778 wrote: »
Hmm, that did sound pretty gross but the more I think about it, the more I think it just might work. I'm really curious to try it now.
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I make a gypsy stew (you can Google the one from the moosewood collection) that includes sweet potato. I think the problem comes in when folks eat huge ones topped with brown sugar. I also like peanut butter on either yams or sweet potatoes. A handful of blueberries on top is my new pbj. I eat 100-130 grams of carb per day, so I don't overdo. I'd rather spend my carb allowance on a vegetable than on a piece of bread.0
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Good thing to understand is that no foods are innately more fattening than others, independent of the calories, although there are all sorts of silly myths that suggest otherwise. The effect on weight loss is going to depend on the total calories you consume and if eating them makes it harder to meet your calorie goals, because you don't find them filling -- which is going to vary person to person. I was just talking to someone who finds sandwiches far more filling than a salad, even with protein, for the same calories. I tend to be the opposite (but I can also fit a sandwich into my calorie goal if I feel like it). I think it's good to eat an overall healthful diet that meets nutrition concerns, of course, like adequate protein and vegetables and some healthy fats, but beyond that it's really about how much you like what you eat and how you respond to it.0
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The only travesty I see here is buying a sweet potato because one thinks it might be "good for you" and then throwing it out just in case it isn't.
All potatoes, sweet or otherwise, are good for you. Vegetables that are orange or dark green (the deeper the color the better) have desired vitamins in them. But even regular potatoes are good.
Google a roasted sweet potato recipe, and give it a try. Have it with a grilled chicken breast and wilted spinach, and you'll practically be in heaven you'll be so saintly.1 -
Poke several times with a fork, rub with oil, and roast them lighly wrapped in parchment paper at 400 degrees on a cookie sheet until soft.
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midwest121 wrote: »@CyberTone I ate yams today, but I have three sweet potatoes in the refrigerator, that I brought, I know they say regular potatoes are bad for you, so I wasn't for sure if sweet potatoes were bad for you, cause if they were I was just going to throw them out.
There are no bad foods (apart from toxins, of course, or foods you have an allergy or intolerance to). Foods, in isolation, aren't healthy or unhealthy. Diets can be healthy or unhealthy, but even this depends on your goals and your current state of health. A double cheeseburger could be healthier for you than a salad, for example, if you were deficient in protein or vitamin B12.0 -
I eat sweet potatoes.0
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Bumping thread for the upcoming holiday season of logging. When in doubt, log what you are eating as sweet potato, not as yam; because you are most likely eating sweet potatoes.0
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No food is bad for you (unless you are allergic to them).0
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Sweet potatoes are magnificent. Incredibly healthy, tasty, and low calorie. I'm cognizant of my carbs, but still find sweet potatoes easy to fit into my diet. They're a staple for me.
Eating them with butter lowers their glycemic index. And is delicious.0 -
Chunkahlunkah wrote: »Sweet potatoes are magnificent. Incredibly healthy, tasty, and low calorie. I'm cognizant of my carbs, but still find sweet potatoes easy to fit into my diet. They're a staple for me.
Eating them with butter lowers their glycemic index. And is delicious.
Why are they healthy? Taste is individual. They are only low calorie if you eat small portions. A large portion would be high calorie.0 -
Chunkahlunkah wrote: »Sweet potatoes are magnificent. Incredibly healthy, tasty, and low calorie. I'm cognizant of my carbs, but still find sweet potatoes easy to fit into my diet. They're a staple for me.
Eating them with butter lowers their glycemic index. And is delicious.
I like them, but agree that taste is individual. They are similar to potatoes in terms of nutrients and calories, which is great (I eat both) but I find it weird that they get held up as healthy by people slamming potatoes these days, often. Trendy, I guess. Anyway, definitely keep the skin if nutrients are why you are eating them.
I am not concerned about carbs but their carbs are also similar to potatoes. I don't like them with butter (I most commonly roast them with a touch of olive oil, as with potatoes) and don't think GI matters -- after all, presumably you eat them as part of a meal with other foods including protein and fiber and fat.0 -
trigden1991 wrote: »Chunkahlunkah wrote: »Sweet potatoes are magnificent. Incredibly healthy, tasty, and low calorie. I'm cognizant of my carbs, but still find sweet potatoes easy to fit into my diet. They're a staple for me.
Eating them with butter lowers their glycemic index. And is delicious.
Why are they healthy? Taste is individual. They are only low calorie if you eat small portions. A large portion would be high calorie.
“Why are they healthy?” Interesting question! Healthy, in the sense that I was using it = Nutritionally rich.
Would you not consider them a healthy food? What do you consider “healthy” when it comes to food?
I think a food’s “healthiness” can be evaluated in two general ways:
(1) Intrinsically - the innate nutritional profile it offers us, and
(2) Contextually - the role it plays within the whole diet, and/or how well it meets a specific individual's needs.
Do you reject (1) as a way to evaluate a food?
Of course taste is individual. “Tasty” is subjective opinion. Implicit with subjective diction is “to me,” as in “tasty to me.” Since you saw it meaningful to point out that taste is subjective, I suspect you misinterpreted my meaning. I was naming the reasons I find sweet potatoes magnificent.
Well, calories being dependent on portion size is the nature of the beast with all foods. That goes without saying. It also ignores the idea of caloric density, which is what can distinguish high calorie from low calorie foods. Using the USDA database, sweet potatoes are about 0.86 calories per gram. For some context, compare that with peanut butter at 5.98, white bread at 2.66, and broccoli at 0.31. On second thought, I’d say sweet potatoes aren’t low but are instead a moderate calorie food. I say that because of their caloric density as well as their typical size, so “portion.” The non-massive ones that I currently have on hand average 187 calories. The massive one is 268. Again, that the portion could be decreased or increased applies to all food, so doesn’t conceptually apply when evaluating a food in terms of (1) but only in terms of (2).0 -
lemurcat12 wrote: »Chunkahlunkah wrote: »Sweet potatoes are magnificent. Incredibly healthy, tasty, and low calorie. I'm cognizant of my carbs, but still find sweet potatoes easy to fit into my diet. They're a staple for me.
Eating them with butter lowers their glycemic index. And is delicious.
I like them, but agree that taste is individual. They are similar to potatoes in terms of nutrients and calories, which is great (I eat both) but I find it weird that they get held up as healthy by people slamming potatoes these days, often. Trendy, I guess. Anyway, definitely keep the skin if nutrients are why you are eating them.
I am not concerned about carbs but their carbs are also similar to potatoes. I don't like them with butter (I most commonly roast them with a touch of olive oil, as with potatoes) and don't think GI matters -- after all, presumably you eat them as part of a meal with other foods including protein and fiber and fat.
To the part in bold -- don't think it matters universally, as in for all people?
I actually usually do eat sweet potatoes separate from a meal! They're the meal. I've been eating sweet potatoes regularly since, oh, probably 2010. I usually eat it with butter and walnuts.
I also love it roasted with oil too! I often top it with cayenne when I do it that way.
It's rare that I have it with a meal. Maybe 10% o the time that I eat it, it's like that. I can only eat a small amount when I do because combined with the protein in the meal, I get too stuffed if I eat more than half a sweet potato.
I love regular potatoes too. A significant difference between the two is sweet potatoes supply a ton of vitamin A.0
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