The Real Reason You're Craving Sweet Potatoes - Health Digest (2024)

FAQs

The Real Reason You're Craving Sweet Potatoes - Health Digest? ›

Foods higher up on the list are faster absorbed and rapidly increase glucose levels. Whereas foods lower down release steady levels of glucose. All in all, you could be craving sweet potatoes because you're in need of energy.

Gastrointestinal Health

Along with anti-inflammatory properties, sweet potatoes have plenty of gut-friendly fiber, especially if you eat the skin. They are a mixture of soluble fiber, which can lower cholesterol and balance glucose, and insoluble fiber, which helps keep your bowels healthy and regular.

If you enjoy sweet potatoes, you can absolutely enjoy them daily. However, eating multiple sweet potatoes every day could cause a harmless condition called carotenodermia, where your skin turns yellow-orange. You may also want to be cautious about your sweet potato intake if you have a history of kidney stones.

Sweet potatoes are a healthy root vegetable chock full of antioxidants that protect your cells from damage. Plus, the nutrients in sweet potatoes are excellent for your gut, eyes, immune system, and more.

well, don't need to worry, there are several reasons why you are craving potatoes, and trust me it's normal. Generally, these cravings may be related to your diet or lifestyle. Some of the reasons may include dehydration, lack of energy, nutrient deficiency, or simply your love for potatoes.

Just one sweet potato gives you 102% of the vitamin A you need each day. This helps keep your eyes healthy as well as your immune system, your body's defense against germs. It's also good for your reproductive system and organs like your heart and kidneys.

High fiber: Sweet potatoes are rich in fiber that helps the body in many ways. Fiber improves digestion, prevents constipation, promotes regularity, and maintains good gut health. It also lowers the risk of type II diabetes. Regulate blood pressure: Sweet potatoes are rich in potassium.

Sweet Potatoes

Plus, their high fiber content helps protect the body from free radical damage and supports a healthy digestive tract, which is critical in the body's natural detox process.

Consuming sweet potatoes in excess can result in sweet potato side effects such as Vitamin A toxicity, which is manifested in skin rashes and headaches. Due to high fibre content, excess intake of sweet potatoes can result in bloating, stomach pain and diarrhoea.

How to tell if sweet potatoes have gone bad. If your sweet potato is soft in spots, smells rotten, or oozes a mysterious liquid, that potato should be discarded. Another sign that sweet potatoes have taken a turn for the worse is if they start growing stalky purplish sprouts.

What does it mean when I crave sweet potatoes? ›

So, if you're craving sweet potatoes your body may be saying it needs more nutrients. Think vitamin C, A, B, and E, potassium, and manganese — this orange vegetable is abundant in nutrients, shares Healthline.

Sweet Potatoes and Health

Sweet potatoes with orange flesh are richest in beta-carotene. Sweet potatoes with purple flesh are richer in anthocyanins. Beta-carotene and anthocyanins are naturally occurring plant “phyto” chemicals that give vegetables their bright colors.

You've probably noticed that you feel calmer and more content after digging into a yummy baked potato or plate of home fries. And researchers may have figured out why: Potatoes boast rich stores of tryptophan and potassium — nutrients your brain and digestive tract use to produce the mood-steadying hormone serotonin.

Like soluble fiber, the resistant starch in potatoes acts as a prebiotic, compounds that are helpful to the bacteria in your gut. Like insoluble fiber, it can prevent or treat constipation and irritable bowel syndrome.

Though potatoes themselves are pretty nutritious, they do lack some essential nutrients. The potato diet may result in nutritional deficiencies if followed long-term. Weight loss is likely to be short-term: Any weight lost during very short fad diets may not be kept off long-term.

"A diet of just potatoes will be deficient in vitamins A, E and K, the minerals calcium and selenium, essential fatty acids, protein and dietary fibre. Although they may provide enough iron for a man, they will not provide enough iron for women.

One medium-baked sweet potato with skin has 3.8 grams of fiber, which can help get things moving along. This high fiber content in sweet potatoes helps prevent and relieve constipation. The skin contains most of the fiber so leave it on for the biggest benefits.

How to tell if sweet potatoes have gone bad. If your sweet potato is soft in spots, smells rotten, or oozes a mysterious liquid, that potato should be discarded. Another sign that sweet potatoes have taken a turn for the worse is if they start growing stalky purplish sprouts.

Sweet potatoes are lower on the glycemic index

This means that potatoes break down more quickly into sugar in your digestive tract, causing your blood sugar to spike. These measures are important because eating foods with a generally lower glycemic index may help lower your blood sugar and manage your weight.

Sweet Potatoes

This nutritious tuber is a smart choice for beating belly bloat and gas. “Potassium-rich foods like sweet potatoes, which are also antioxidant superstars in the vitamin A department, are a healthy food that can reduce bloating,” shares Moon.