The delicious orange flesh of a sweet potato may be one of mother nature’s unsurpassed sources of vitamin A. In a lifetime, you can cultivate many a bad habit, but eating sweet potato is definitely not one of them. Being very high in vitamin A, C fibre and calcium, they are a great addition to any healthy diet.
The sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas), commonly called a yam in many parts of the United States, is a crop plant whose large, starchy, sweet tasting tuberous roots is a very nutritionally sound root vegetable. The sweet potato is only distantly related to the potato (Solanum tuberosum). It is even more distantly related to the true yam (Dioscorea species) which is native to Africa and Asia.
Sweet potatoes are native to the tropical parts of the Americas and are one of the oldest vegetables known to man.
Sweet potatoes come in a variety of shapes and colours. This include white, orange, yellow as well as purple. The purple variety contain the most amount of antioxidants called anthocyanins. While the white version contains the least. The orange version contain the most amount of beta-carotene which is converted to vitamin A in the body.
Preparation ideas
When eating sweet potatoes, choose preparation methods that are healthy and will not detract from the nutritional value of the sweet potato.
For a snack, light lunch or dinner, try roasting your sweet potato and eating it, skin and all by itself or in a salad. You can also try mashing the flesh and sprinkling a little olive oil on. Vitamin A is best absorbed with fat.
If you have decided to have your sweet potato with another source of fat in your meal such as meat or fish, try skipping the fatty additions and sprinkle on some cinnamon to complement the sweet flavour of the sweet potato.
You can also cut your sweet potatoes into strips and toss with a little olive oil. Bake until somewhat crispy.
