Eat sweet potatoes to lose weight but get fatter the more you eat? Eating this way reduces calories and avoids pitfalls

The most common ingredient on the weight loss rankings is sweet potato. Some people eat sweet potato as a meal, which not only makes them feel full but also helps them lose weight. However, some people are worried that sweet potatoes are high in sugar and may make them fatter the more they eat. How should we eat sweet potatoes wisely to avoid stepping on landmines and truly achieve the effect of weight loss? Let’s listen to the nutritionist’s solution.

Sweet potatoes are rich in dietary fiber and eating them with the skin has many benefits

Let’s first look at the nutrients in sweet potatoes. Sweet potatoes are whole grains, rich in dietary fiber, β-carotene, magnesium, potassium and other nutrients. The red sweet potatoes have the highest β-carotene and vitamin A content, even 90 times higher than the yellow ones.

Nutritionist Gao Minmin said that sweet potatoes themselves contain a lot of nutrients, but if you eat them with the skin, you can take in more beneficial ingredients "mucin". Sweet potato skin is rich in mucin, a polysaccharide that can lower blood cholesterol levels and prevent fat deposition in the cardiovascular system, thereby maintaining blood vessel elasticity and helping prevent cardiovascular problems such as vascular sclerosis and high blood pressure.

Eating sweet potatoes with the skin can help you take in more vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals, which has many benefits! However, the sweet potato skin must be scrubbed clean. Also, because the sweet potato skin is high in dietary fiber and has a rough texture, people who are prone to bloating, or have symptoms of gastrointestinal inflammation such as gastric ulcers and diarrhea should avoid eating it.

Can eating sweet potatoes help you lose weight? Nutritionist: It should be replaced with the whole day's starch intake

Why is sweet potato considered a weight loss magic tool? Nutritionist Gao Minmin said that every 100 grams of sweet potato contains about 2.5 grams of dietary fiber. Most people know that dietary fiber can promote intestinal peristalsis and help stool formation. Proper supplementation can accelerate the excretion of waste and toxins in the body and prevent constipation. In addition, dietary fiber can delay the rise in blood sugar after meals and increase satiety, making it very suitable for supplementation for diabetic patients and people who want to lose weight.

Although compared to refined starch, sweet potatoes contain dietary fiber and rich nutrients that can replace part of the starch source. However, since the carbohydrate content of 220g of sweet potato is approximately equal to that of a bowl of rice, please remember to eat it in exchange for the entire day's starch intake to avoid excessive starch intake which may lead to obesity. As a result, you may end up gaining weight by trying to lose weight with sweet potato. Here is also a tip for eating sweet potatoes to reduce calories:

[Tips for eating sweet potatoes to reduce calories]:

Put the sweet potato in the refrigerator for about 1 to 2 hours before eating it. Eat it after it becomes frozen. The starch in the sweet potato will crystallize into resistant starch, which can reduce the calorie absorption rate.

As for the three meals a day, how can we wisely replace one meal with sweet potato? Nutritionist Gao Minmin suggests that if you are used to eating white steamed buns, white toast, or bread for breakfast, you can replace it with a medium-sized sweet potato. If you like to eat porridge, you can cook sweet potatoes into sweet potato porridge to replace part of the white porridge, which can also increase the intake of dietary fiber and nutrients. Or you can cook sweet potatoes into sweet potato rice at home.

As a reminder, sweet potatoes are a whole grain, so you won’t go wrong if you eat them in exchange for starchy foods!

【Eat sweet potatoes without risk】:

● Cooking - vitamins are easily lost.

● Steamed sweet potatoes: The cooking temperature of steamed sweet potatoes is about 100°C, which can retain more water and nutrients, making them softer and moister.

● Eat after baking – It is recommended not to eat sweet potatoes that are baked until they are burnt to avoid ingesting acrylamide.

Therefore, those who want to obtain nutrients by eating sweet potatoes may choose steamed sweet potatoes, which can allow them to consume more antioxidant nutrients.