Sweet Potatoes: A Nutritious Food for Health and Taste
Not only are sweet potatoes themselves a healthy food, but their leaves and stems can also be used for consumption.
Raw Sweet Potatoes Detoxify the Blood, Cooked Sweet Potatoes Nourish the Blood
White-skinned sweet potatoes are great for the skin. Those with rough skin can improve skin smoothness by frequently eating white sweet potatoes.
Red-skinned, red-fleshed sweet potatoes are highly nutritious. They help nourish the blood and energy, and their role can be compared to that of red dates, except that red dates can easily get moldy.
Women with pale complexions should eat more sweet potatoes to improve their rosy glow.
A tip for using raw sweet potatoes: chew them well and apply the pulp to ulcers for pain relief. This method is particularly effective with white sweet potatoes, which help promote cell regeneration due to their anti-inflammatory and detoxifying properties.
Sweet potatoes benefit the spleen and stomach. Children with weak spleens or stomachs should eat sweet potatoes for nourishment. If the child is healthy and free of phlegm, enjoying sweet potatoes is quite natural. Sweet potatoes help regulate the digestive system. People with constipation can eat boiled sweet potatoes, while those who have diarrhea from drinking too much alcohol can eat baked sweet potatoes to alleviate discomfort.
Eating Sweet Potato Stems Lowers Blood Sugar
Many people don’t know that sweet potato stems are edible. Sweet potato stems have been recognized as a health food. For those with diabetes, consuming more sweet potato stems can help lower blood sugar effectively.
Sweet potato stems also detoxify and help manage intestinal inflammation, skin redness, and ulcers. If you’ve eaten unclean food and experience stomach discomfort, you can boil water with old sweet potato stems and drink it. Skin pain can be relieved by applying mashed sweet potato leaves to the area to reduce swelling and draw out pus.
Eating Sweet Potatoes with the Skin Won’t Cause Bloating
Many people love sweet potatoes but tend to avoid eating the skin. However, sweet potato skin is a very healthy part of the vegetable.
The skin and flesh of plants form a yin-yang pair, and sweet potatoes are no exception. The flesh of sweet potatoes is “nourishing,” while the skin is “detoxifying.” The flesh strengthens the spleen and stomach, while the skin aids digestion. The flesh boosts energy, while the skin promotes airflow. The flesh is acidic, while the skin is alkaline.
If you experience bloating or acid reflux from eating sweet potatoes, eating the skin can resolve these issues.
However, be cautious: if the sweet potato skin has turned black or has brown spots, it indicates mold, and the sweet potato should not be consumed, especially the skin.
The Benefits of Eating Sweet Potatoes:
1. Weight Loss
Modern diets often include large amounts of fatty foods, dairy, and meat, which, combined with a lack of physical activity, can lead to obesity and “rich man’s diseases.” Sweet potatoes are low in fat and calories and create a feeling of fullness, making them a great food for those trying to lose weight.
Just 100 grams of fresh sweet potatoes contain only 0.2 grams of fat and produce just 99 kcal of energy—about one-third of the calories in rice. Thus, sweet potatoes are a great low-fat, low-calorie food. If used as a staple food, they can significantly reduce the consumption of other foods, aiding in weight loss.
In addition, sweet potatoes prevent sugar from converting into fat, contributing to better skin health.
2. Beauty and Skin Care
Sweet potatoes contain substances similar to estrogen, which help reduce fat accumulation, soften the skin, and prevent wrinkles, promoting beauty and skin health.
Sweet potatoes are rich in vitamins, proteins, lysine, and other nutrients that boost the immune system, contributing to improved health and longevity.
3. Preventing High Cholesterol
Sweet potatoes are 10 times more effective at suppressing cholesterol than other foods. So, if you have high cholesterol, eating more sweet potatoes can help.
4. Regulating Blood Sugar
Research shows that people with type 2 diabetes experience improved insulin sensitivity and better blood sugar control after consuming white sweet potatoes.
5. Lowering Blood Pressure
The anti-hypertensive effects of sweet potatoes are primarily due to their high potassium content. Potassium and sodium are key factors affecting blood pressure. Consuming potassium promotes the excretion of excess sodium, helping to balance minerals in the body and ultimately lowering blood pressure.
6. Reducing Stroke Risk
Sweet potatoes are high in potassium and low in sodium. Research shows that foods rich in potassium, like sweet potatoes, can reduce the risk of stroke by 20%.
7. Nourishing Joints
Sweet potatoes are rich in mucin, which is beneficial for joint health.