Chief Longwind Of The North
Certified/Certifiable
I thoroughly enjoy sweet potatoes. They are nutritious, taste great, and are easy to prepare. Just pop 'em in the oven, right? Not if you're diabetic.
I've checked numerous sites for both the glycemic load and glycemic index for sweet potatoes, and they are medium load values, which makes them a good choice for diabetics. But hold the phone. Whether they are good for you or not depends on how they are prepared, and I'm not talking a casserole dish of sweet spuds with orange juice, all covered with melted and browned marshmallows!
When sweet potatoes are baked, the natural starches in the tuber transform into sugar, and more importantly, the available fiber is not available to the body. The humble sweet potato rises to the top of the glycemic index and loads, yup, close to pure sugar.
When sweet potatoes are boiled, the starch remains starchy, and the soluble fiber jells, which then causes both the complex carbs, and the simple carbs to absorb into the body very slowly. That's when the sweet spud becomes a powerhouse of nutrition, with medium-low impact on blood sugar. Also, the sweet potato gets some of its sweet favor from a compound called inulin, which doesn't affect blood sugar, and is a pre-biotic that feeds gut flora, making the good microbes in your gut healthier.
So go ahead and enjoy sweet potatoes. Just boil them rather than bake them.
Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North
I've checked numerous sites for both the glycemic load and glycemic index for sweet potatoes, and they are medium load values, which makes them a good choice for diabetics. But hold the phone. Whether they are good for you or not depends on how they are prepared, and I'm not talking a casserole dish of sweet spuds with orange juice, all covered with melted and browned marshmallows!
When sweet potatoes are baked, the natural starches in the tuber transform into sugar, and more importantly, the available fiber is not available to the body. The humble sweet potato rises to the top of the glycemic index and loads, yup, close to pure sugar.
When sweet potatoes are boiled, the starch remains starchy, and the soluble fiber jells, which then causes both the complex carbs, and the simple carbs to absorb into the body very slowly. That's when the sweet spud becomes a powerhouse of nutrition, with medium-low impact on blood sugar. Also, the sweet potato gets some of its sweet favor from a compound called inulin, which doesn't affect blood sugar, and is a pre-biotic that feeds gut flora, making the good microbes in your gut healthier.
So go ahead and enjoy sweet potatoes. Just boil them rather than bake them.
Seeeeeeya; Chief Longwind of the North
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