[Sweet Potato Compatibility] "Boiled or Baked?"...How to Boost the Nutrition of Seasonal Sweet Potatoes?

Sweet potatoes come to mind when the weather gets chilly. Sweet potatoes, in season from August to October, are packed with dietary fiber and various minerals. While they're a delicious and nutritious snack, their nutritional value can be increased or decreased depending on how they're prepared and what side dishes are used. Let's learn how to eat them more healthily.

To eat sweet potatoes more healthily, it's best to pay attention to the washing process. Sweet potatoes are beneficial when eaten with their skins on, so washing them thoroughly is often recommended. When doing this, be sure to gently scrub with a soft sponge or your hands, rather than a hard surface. Scrubbing the sweet potato skin vigorously with a dishcloth or similar material can cause mineral loss. Studies have shown that up to 30-50% of iron and magnesium are lost, and up to 90% of the calcium within the skin is lost.

 

If you're concerned about gut health and blood sugar levels, try boiled sweet potatoes... Roasted sweet potatoes have a high GI.

 

The choice of cooking method is also important. For gut health, steaming sweet potatoes slowly and for a long time is beneficial. This process produces sufficient maltose, which is beneficial for the gut. It's known that sweet potato starch converts to maltose more effectively when cooked for a long time at 60-70℃. Cooking methods that require high temperatures and short bursts to achieve a crispy exterior and a moist interior don't properly activate the enzyme that converts starch to maltose.

Even when blood sugar control is needed, boiled sweet potatoes are better than roasted sweet potatoes. The GI of sweet potatoes varies depending on how they're prepared. According to the Diabetes Association, a raw sweet potato has a GI of 61. When baked, it's over 80, and when fried, it's around 70. A boiled sweet potato has a GI of around 45.

 

What foods are good and bad to eat with sweet potatoes?

 

There are ways to consider which foods are good and which are bad to eat with sweet potatoes.

 

Foods that pair well with each other can not only taste better but also be more nutritious. Sweet potatoes go well with red pepper powder for health benefits. When served with sweet potatoes and kimchi, the red pepper powder increases the absorption of vitamin A in the sweet potatoes, boosting beta-carotene synthesis. Vitamin A promotes skin regeneration by accelerating the division of keratinocytes. It smooths wrinkles and skin texture and reduces inflammation.

 

It goes well with Woowoo too. Milk is rich in protein and calcium, which sweet potatoes lack. Conversely, sweet potatoes are rich in carbohydrates and dietary fiber, which milk lacks. They are also great with kimchi or dongchimi (pickled radish kimchi). Sweet potatoes' high fiber content can easily cause intestinal gas. In such cases, the radish's digestive enzyme diastase aids digestion.

 

Sweet potatoes should not be eaten with peanuts or beef. Sweet potatoes are primarily starch, meaning they contain a lot of sugar. Peanuts also contain carbohydrates, primarily starch. Eating these two foods together increases the risk of obesity. Sometimes, sweet potatoes are added to dishes like braised short ribs. In these cases, the two foods can interfere with each other's digestion. The protein-rich beef and the fiber-rich sweet potatoes interact as they linger in the stomach for a long time.

 

⟨3-line summary⟩

Sweet potatoes should be washed gently by hand to prevent loss of nutrients such as magnesium and iron.

If you need to manage your intestinal health and blood sugar levels, boiled sweet potatoes are more helpful than roasted sweet potatoes.

Sweet potatoes go well with kimchi, cubed radish kimchi, dongchimi, and milk, but do not go well with peanuts and beef.

 

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Sweet potatoes, so the elderly

I guess you ate it with dongchimi.

 

These days, sweet potatoes are sweet and delicious.

They say it's better to eat it with the skin on.

Eat healthy