Sweet potatoes can help with weight loss

If you were used to labeling all carbs as fattening foods, you’ll love this news. Sweet potatoes, previously limited to June parties, have been gaining more and more space and importance on people’s menus, especially those who play sports and want to lose weight.

All this started after a research carried out by the College of Agriculture and Life Scienses, in the United States, which identified that sweet potatoes can help in the weight loss process. Thanks to its low glycemic index, also known as GI, food is digested more slowly, increasing the feeling of satiety and fighting obesity. In addition, it releases glucose gradually, preventing its storage in the body that would turn into fat.

After that, the sweet potato came to be considered the darling of athletes, regarded as the ideal carbohydrate source and leaving the other tubers behind when comparing their nutrient levels.

To give you an idea, sweet potatoes have 5 times more calcium, twice as much fiber and more potassium than sweet potatoes. When compared to cassava, sweet potato gains in amount of fiber, calcium, protein, phosphorus and potassium, which stimulate the intestine, helping to control diabetes and cholesterol and helping to lose weight.

While foods with a high glycemic index stimulate the increase in blood sugar, forcing the pancreas to work double in order to produce insulin, the substance responsible for taking sugar into cells, sweet potatoes, which have a low glycemic index, do so that sugar is absorbed in the exact measure, providing the body with energy in a balanced way, without causing glucose spikes, avoiding the production of large doses of insulin and increasing the disposition to practice physical activities.

In the diet, what explains the success is the fact that, despite being a carbohydrate, sweet potato behaves like an insoluble fiber that resists the enzymes of the intestine. This starch also fights LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, contributing to the prevention of cardiovascular diseases.

And the benefits do not stop there. Sweet potato also has vitamins A and B, essential for eye and skin health, magnesium, activator of several enzymes, calcium, which acts directly on the bones, phosphorus that increases disposition, potassium that keeps blood pressure under control. , in addition to beta-carotene, anthocyanin and vitamins C and D, which help prevent cancer and fight cellular aging.

In Brazil, there are four types: white, yellow, purple and red potatoes. They are found in various formats such as rounded, long and tapered and can give a special and healthy touch to both sweet and savory dishes, being able to replace the potato in recipes such as soups, salads, purees, among others, depending on your creativity. .

The information contained on this page is for informational purposes only. They do not replace the advice and follow-up of doctors, nutritionists, psychologists, physical education professionals and other specialists.