Food For Thought - Sweet Potatos

Taken from At Home With Asmaa

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It's Friday, another week GONE and did i really appreciate the many blessings i have in my life?

Food is an absolute blessing Alhamduillah (All praise be to God), the fact we complain so much

about it, "there is nothing to eat" when your cupboards and fridge are half full, you have money in your purse, the thing is we are ever so picky, me included and for some nothing is every good enough INSTEAD we should think about the many people that have less than us both in terms of worldly and non worldly affairs i.e. religion.

A reminder to myself first and foremost: Give all thanks and praise to your creator more often and be content and satisfied with what you have and don't have because inshaAllah there is good in it.

I  wanted to start a weekly/monthly, depending how busy my stay at home days are, feature named food for thought friday i discuss and share health benefits of certain foods.

As i posted a sweet potatoe bread recipe recently, i found the following article fitting to start with.
 

Source : Healthy Muslim

The sweet potato is not actually a potato, or a yam. It is a nutritionally superior and versatile tuber that has a unique and distinctively sweet flavor. Here are some of the benefits of this delicious vegetable:

• High Nutritional Value Sweet potatoes are an excellent source of starch and therefore, energy. They provide some protein, Vitamin C, Vitamin E and a huge amount of carotenoids, including Beta-carotene. It is these and other phytochemicals in the tubers that make them such a powerful anti-cancer food. A mere 100g a day has been found to dramatically reduce the risk of lung cancer.
  
• Low glycemic index The glycemic index indicates the impact a food substance has on blood sugarlevels. A high glycemic index means blood sugar levels can spike. diabetes and others who monitor their blood sugar levels seek to avoid foods with a high glycemic index or load. Sweet potatoes have a glycemic load of only 17, in comparison to a white potato, which has an index of 29. Their high vitamin B6 content also helps to keep blood sugar levels steady, helping to prevent mood swings and relievedepression. Recent research indicates that steaming or boiling sweet potatoes rather than roasting them helps to preserve their low glycemic index.
  
• Good For Your skin Their high levels of Vitamin E means sweet potatoes are a skin superfood. Orange-skinned sweet potatoes are rich in the anti-aging, antioixidant Beta-carotene, which is stored in the fat layer of our skin and protects against the damage from the sun's ultraviolet rays.
  
• A Versatile Vegetable Sweet potatoes are extremely versatile and make a wonderful health food for both children and adults alike. They can be boiled and mashed, roasted, or even juiced.
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• I hope you will enjoy the upcoming posts on food for thought friday and find a way to incorporate this sweet vegetable into your diet. I like to grate into salad (raw), roast along with other vegetables such as butternut squash or even in soup it would be tasty. 

Do share with me your favourite sweet potatoe recipes in your comment.