Smart Nutrition Hacks: Sweet Potatoes

Starting and maintaining healthier eating habits is easier than you probably think without spending a great deal of money or enrolling in the “next” quick fix program. In today’s Smart Nutrition Hacks, Elise M. Karnegis RDN, LDN CDCES, Center for Family and Child Enrichment Dietitian and Diabetes Educator shares a great source for a healthy gut and immune support nutrients that are right in your kitchen.

Baked sweet potatoes with broccoli and chick peas
Baked sweet potatoes with broccoli and chick peas

Sweet potatoes are typically recognized by their vibrant orange flesh but are also white, yellow, and reddish-blue. Sweet potatoes with orange flesh are richest in beta carotene, which your body can convert to Vitamin A. Vitamin A is a vital nutrient for vision and maintaining healthy organs, like the heart, kidneys, and liver.

Sweet potato fries
Sweet potato fries

Sweet potatoes with purple flesh are also rich in beta carotene but also rich in anthocyanins. Anthocyanins possess antidiabetic, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, antimicrobial, and anti-obesity effects, as well as the prevention of cardiovascular diseases.

And that’s the power of the sweet potato! So, next time you think of a starchy vegetable, consider the sweet potato and all its benefits.

Sweet potato soup
Sweet potato soup

FREE nutritional counseling is available for any woman of childbearing years if enrolled in the Jasmine program. For more information contact ekarnegis@cfceinc.org.

If you have a question or would like to schedule a nutrition consultation, please email ekarnegis@CFCEinc.org. The cost is just $25.

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