Sweet potatoes are a favorite food for people of all ages. Their peak season is from August to October, making now the perfect time to savor them at their most delicious. To help you enjoy sweet potatoes in a healthier way, let's explore their nutritional benefits and foods that pair well with them.
Sweet potatoes prevent constipation and boost immunity.
Sweet potatoes are rich in dietary fiber, which helps prevent constipation. One sweet potato contains about 4 grams of dietary fiber, which is 16% of the recommended daily intake. Dietary fiber binds to fat and cholesterol in the intestines and helps remove them from the body. It also helps prevent hyperlipidemia and hypercholesterolemia. When raw sweet potatoes are cut, a white sap comes out. This sap contains a compound called yarapin, which helps smooth bowel movements and soften hard stools. Sweet potatoes are also popular as a diet food because they are digested slowly, leaving you feeling full for a long time.
Sweet potatoes are rich in vitamin A, which is good for your eyes. On average, one sweet potato contains 18,441 IU of vitamin A, more than 3.6 times the recommended daily intake. Vitamin A improves eye function and is effective in preventing conditions like night blindness. Eating enough of them also helps boost your immune system. The potassium in sweet potatoes helps flush out sodium, which raises blood pressure, and balances electrolytes in the body.
◇Wash by rubbing with your hands and cook slowly in a steamer
To preserve the nutrients in sweet potatoes, you need to be careful about how you wash and cook them. When washing sweet potatoes, it's best to gently scrub them with a soft sponge or your hands. Vigorous scrubbing of the sweet potato surface with a dishcloth or similar device can cause mineral loss. Iron and magnesium can lose 30-50% of their content, and the calcium found in the peel can be lost by as much as 90%.
When cooking sweet potatoes, it's recommended to steam them slowly and for a long time. This is because short, high-temperature cooking, like in a microwave, doesn't sufficiently increase the intestinal-healthy "maltose." The enzyme that converts sweet potato starch into maltose is most active when cooked for a long time at a relatively low temperature of 60-70 degrees Celsius.
◇Kimchi tastes even better with milk
Sweet potatoes are especially good when eaten with ▲dongchimi ▲kimchi ▲milk. Sweet potatoes can easily cause gas due to fermentation by intestinal bacteria, but eating them with dongchimi helps digestion with the diastase in the radish. Kimchi is also high in sodium, but consuming it with sweet potatoes' high-quality fiber and potassium helps eliminate the sodium in kimchi from the body. Eating sweet potatoes with milk can complement each other's nutritional deficiencies. This is because milk is rich in protein and calcium, which sweet potatoes lack, and sweet potatoes are rich in carbohydrates and dietary fiber, which milk lacks.
Meanwhile, diabetics should be cautious when eating sweet potatoes. The carbohydrates in sweet potatoes are converted to sugar in the body, raising blood sugar levels. Steaming sweet potatoes is better than baking them. Baking sweet potatoes further increases their glycemic index, making blood sugar control more difficult. Those with poor kidney function should also consume them sparingly. The kidneys may not be able to effectively filter out electrolytes like potassium found in sweet potatoes, which can lead to kidney failure.
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I rubbed my hands and washed them with water.
I'm steaming it using a steamer.
I woke up at my mom's house before Chuseok.
Even if you want to eat it until then, haha you have to wait~
Eat it with dongchimi in winter... and kimchi in kimchi
These sweet potatoes are so delicious.
