The Results How My Blood Sugar Spiked After Eating Half A Sweet Potato
Ive written out below various possible factors that could have affected my blood sugar results as well as more details on how the experiment was conducted, but let me set out the shocking findings first! My Blood Sugar Levels Skyrocketed Ive detailed some potential experimental errors below, but the simple fact is that my blood sugar went up quite dramatically as you can see from the chart and data table below. And I really felt it too!
Care Of Raw Sweet Potatoes Before Storing
Do not rinse fresh, raw sweet potatoes, but rub them gently to remove dirt. Moisture from rinsing them will encourage sprouting and mold. Keep them far from heat and moisture.
Store raw sweet potatoes away from other vegetables. They may cause undesired ripening in other raw foods.
Keep a little space between sweet potatoes when you put them away in storage. Friction, or pressing against each other, will cause bruising and later, spoilage.
Is Sweet Potato Good For Diabetes Here Is The Information
Is sweet potato good for diabetes:Many people are confused about whether or not diabetics can eat potatoes. But it depends on how much you should consume.
A lot of people like potatoes. Potatoes can be added to our diet in various ways such as sambar, milk, frying, pakoda and so on. Potato is one of the most popular foods. Potatoes are rich in potassium and B vitamins and are a good source of fiber. But the question that many are worried about is whether diabetic patients should consume potatoes.
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Florence Mama’s Candied Yams
3 pounds sweet potatoes , peeled and sliced crosswise in 1/4-inch-thick rounds Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In an ungreased 2-quart baking dish place sweet potato slices, overlapping slightly and covering the dish. In a saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Stir in brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Cook until sugar is dissolved, then add the orange slices. Pour the mixture over the potatoes, covering the entire surface. Cover the dish tightly with foil. Bake 40 minutes, or until the sweet potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork. Remove foil and bake 20 to 25 minutes more or until the top is golden brown. Let stand 15 minutes before serving. Makes 8 to 10 servings plus leftovers. Nutrition Facts This recipe was bomb diggity!! My bestie does like yams but one serving usually sufices. He ate 4 servings!! It’s amazing and I’m so glad you made this available online. Something about the carmelized oranges makes this stand out from the crowd. I usually use oj in my yams but the carmelization of the sugars in the oranges brings an intensity of flavor that just knocks it out of the park! How come there are oranges on the top but not in the recipe I found this recipe for candied yams in a BHG magazine a few years ago and tried it for Thanksgiving. My family won’t eat yams cooked any other way. Frequently preparing this dish throughout the year. Thanks Tyler for sharing.PatContinue reading > >
A Few Notes On Serving
Once you settle on having sweet potatoes as part of your meal, you should rule out other high-carb options such as dinner rolls, biscuits or white bread. Treat the sweet potato as your main starch for the meal, and keep the rest of the plate clear for your entree and plenty of nonstarchy vegetables, which are mostly low in carbs.
Whether you’ve baked it, boiled it in pieces or diced and roasted it, a small sweet potato makes a nutrient-dense addition to your meal. Of the three methods, roasting might be the most versatile. The sweet potatoes will caramelize in your oven, adding flavor, and you can enhance the effect by tossing them in a herb-heavy marinade or a dry spice rub. The roasted pieces can be served hot as a side dish, incorporated into a salad to make it more filling, or even tucked into a vegetarian taco or burrito made with a low-carb tortilla.
References
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Nutritional Content Of Sweet Potato
The sweet potato is one of the healthiest vegetables to be consumed. Its rich contents are all of good advantage to the body. Its high-water content, its carbohydrate and fiber content, as well as the no-fat content, makes the sweet potato very rich.
Below is the breakdown of the nutritional content of a 100grams sweet potato
- Calories
Sweet potato has a moderate caloric content of 86 to 103 calories. This level of caloric content is considered healthy and safe. It is due only to the sweet potatos rich carbohydrate content, not from fat.
- Water
In a medium-sized sweet potato, water makes up a 70% of its content. Sweet potato, thus richly hydrates the body, and is, therefore, a perfect meal for healthy skin.
- Protein
The protein content in a 100gram of potato, is only about 2%.
Sweet potatoes are not the best tuber vegetable to consider for a protein source. However, the type of proteins present, contains antioxidants properties, important for immunity.
- Carbohydrate
20.1 grams of carbs are found in 100 grams of sweet potato. Starch forms the bulk of the carbohydrates present in the sweet potato, and is responsible for the white ooze seen in freshly peeled potatoes.
- Sugar
The sugar content in a medium-sized sweet potato is about 4.2 grams. The type of sugar present includes all simple sugar like fructose, glucose and sucrose.
- Fiber
Sweet potato is also rich in fiber, with 3 grams of fiber in a 100 gram of potato.
- Fat
- Antioxidants
- Vitamins
Sweet Potatoes Vs Other Potatoes What Are The Differences
Sweet potato is only a variety of potatoes. There are other varieties of potatoes in the market that must not be mistaken for sweet potatoes.
These varieties of potatoes, though related, have a difference in their nutrient content. Thus, have different effect to health and affects the fasting blood sugar level differently.
The first step to differentiating the sweet potatoes from other varieties in a market or farm is by their marked physical appearance, different from the regular potato.
When you see a sweet potato, youll be able to tell by its small or medium-sized tapering tuber. A thick but, smooth skin accompanies this fusiform shape.
It has an outer light-brown color, with its inner flesh ranges from orange to purple color, depending on the variety of the sweet potato.
The sweet potato is also differentiated from other potatoes by its nutrient content, literally. Its high vitamins A content gives its flesh a characteristic orange color, which other potato does not have.
When peeled, the sticky white ooze from the sweet potato can be used to differentiate it from the regular potato. The white ooze, resulting from excess starch mixed with sugar in the flesh of the sweet potato, is not seen in other potatoes.
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Is Sweet Potatoes Good For Diabetics
Sweet potatoes can also help manage diabetes Sweet potatoes are categorized as low to high on the glycemic index scale, and several studies have indicated that it can minimize the occurrence of insulin resistance and low blood sugar levels, as well as high blood sugar in people who are suffering from diabetes .
How You Can Include Sweet Potatoes And Yams In Your Day To Day Diet
As a diabetic, if you consume much of the sweet potatoes this is likely to have a negative severe effect on your blood sugar level. But when consumed in small amounts sweet potatoes are very healthy and nutritious. According to the American Diabetes Association, a diabetic should eat approximately 45-60 grams of carbohydrates per meal. Depending on the kind of activities you engage in you can increase this amount but ensure that you first consult with your doctor.
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What Is Sweet Potato
Scientifically, Sweet potato is also called Ipomoea batatas. It belongs to the Morning Glory family of plants, and is generally cultivated in tropical regions like Africa, tropical America, warmer islands of the Pacific and even in the Caribbean.
Added to its sweet taste, sweet potatoes give a creamy feeling in the mouth. Its texture, being very soft, makes an appropriate food, especially for infants.
And its versatility makes it one of the most consumed and enjoyable tuber vegetable plant in most parts of the world.
Sweet potato is a tuber crop or vegetable tuber, just like yams and cassava. Like other tuber crops, it has a starchy, large and tuberous root. Only that its tubers have a characteristic sweet taste.
However, its leaves and shoots are also edible, and is consumed as green vegetables in some parts of the world.
Though edible in several parts, it is most highly cultivated for its fleshy and starchy, sweet-tasting root, as its root can be prepared by several recipes into several sweet and savory meals.
But, how different these sweet potatoes from other types of potatoes?
Lets find out
Problems Of Potatoes With Prediabetes
If you have prediabetes or other risk factors for diabetes, the main problem with potatoes is that they raise your risk. In one study published in Diabetes Care, researchers estimated that people who ate a serving of potatoes most days have a nearly one-third higher risk of diabetes compared to people who ate only about 2 servings per week.
The carbohydrates in potatoes may contribute to this effect. In fact, potatoes are the ninth greatest source of carbs in the typical American diet. According to the Department of Agriculture, a baked potato that weighs 150 grams has 138 calories and 32 grams of carbs, and a large, 10-oz. baked potato, such as one that you may have in a restaurant, can have 265 calories and 61 grams of carbs. If you are following a moderately low-carb diet, that single potato can have half of your total daily goal for carbohydrates! As the Harvard School of Public Health notes, potatoes are also high-glycemic, which means they spike your blood sugar.
The calorie content of potatoes may also contribute to their effect on diabetes risk. A small baked potato has 128 calories and that baked potato that you may order as a side can have 270 calories. In contrast, a side of steamed vegetables can have under 50 calories. Regularly choosing potatoes if you have prediabetes, instead of choosing lower-calorie sides, can get in the way of weight loss.
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What Are Sweet Potatoes
There are many different types of potatoes, from the basic white potato to purple potatoes, red potatoes, and sweet potatoes, among many others.
Like all potatoes, sweet potatoes are root vegetables that are easily recognizable because of their bright orange color.
Potatoes may vary in size and color but they all have one thing in common: theyre all starches, which means they are going to crank up your carb count, very fast!
Risks Of Eating Sweet Potatoes
MISHKANET.COM” alt=”Are potatoes bad for diabetics > MISHKANET.COM”> Yes, sweet potato has several health benefits attached to eating it, as noted above. Similarly, there are a few risks to eating sweet potatoes too. And they include:
- Buildup of beta-carotene
This risk could be self-inflected when the sweet potato, which is very rich in beta-carotene is eaten too much. The effects of the buildup of beta-carotene will result in orange-colored skin and nails.
- Kidney stones
People with kidney stones should avoid sweet potatoes because of the antioxidants richly present in it.
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Do Potatoes Raise Your Blood Sugar What Is Their Glycemic Index
Potatoes are high in the type of carbohydrate that the body digests rapidly, causing blood sugar and insulin to surge and then dip. For example, a one-cup serving of potatoes has a similar effect on blood sugar as a can of sweetened pop or a handful of jellybeans. This roller-coaster-like effect on blood sugar and insulin can result in people feeling hungry again soon after eating, which may in turn lead to overeating. Over the long term, diets high in potatoes and other rapidly digested, high-carbohydrate foods can lead to obesity and complications of diabetes, such as heart disease.
The glycemic index is a measure of how a certain food affects your blood sugar. The GI of regular potatoes varies. For example, boiled waxy potatoes have a glycemic index of 89 while baked starchy potatoes have a glycemic index of 111. Depending on the type and cooking process, sweet potatoes have a glycemic index of 44 to 94. Baked sweet potatoes tend to have a much higher glycemic index than boiled ones because of how the starches break down during the cooking process.
People who have diabetes can benefit from limiting high-GI foods. Thus, its often recommended that they choose sweet potatoes, especially when boiled rather than baked, over white potatoes, as they generally have a lower GI.
Learn more about the glycemic index for a diabetes diet here.
What are some suggested ways to use potatoes in my diet?
How I Felt After Eating Half The Sweet Potato
I took some notes on how I felt after eating half the sweet potato , and this is what I wrote:
Hungry, craving, thirsty, want to eat the other half of the sweet potato, banana, chocolate chips, tired, yawning, eyes dry.
Images of the blood sugar readings and more details about the experiment are recorded below. My Mother-in-laws Blood Sugar Levels Also Skyrocketed My mother-in-law joined me in the experiment as she loves sweet potatoes but is pre-diabetic. And her results arent too different from mine . Her reading started at 120 mg/dL and shot up to 185 mg/dL after 30 minutes! The graph doesnt look as dramatic because her fasting blood sugar level is higher than mine. Both Sets of Data Plotted Together
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Does Sweet Potato Spike Blood Sugar
Since sweet potatoes are high in carbohydrates, they can spike blood sugar levels. Their fiber content helps to slow down this process. Orange sweet potatoes have a higher GI. This can increase your blood sugar level, compared to other sweet potato varieties.
Rating On The Glycemic Index
Glycemic index is a scale rated from 0-100 and is used to show how a certain food substance causes a rise in the blood sugar levels. Pure glucose is rated 100. Sweet potatoes have a glycemic index of 70 which is considered high. On the other hand, yams have a glycemic index of 54 which is relatively low.
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Can Type 2 Diabetes Patients Eat Potatoes Every Day
Devlin and her team note the study only focuses on the GR effects of one meal. The meal size was also larger than what is typically recommended for T2D patients, but was still in line with the countrys normal eating patterns. Researchers will also need to determine the long-term impact of adding potatoes to a diabetic diet.
Potatoes are a vegetable that is sustainable, affordable and nutrient-dense, and thus, they can play an important role in modern diets irrespective of metabolic health status, the study authors conclude.
The study appears in the journal Clinical Nutrition.
No Change Awake Or Asleep
Type 2 diabetes patients ate the same breakfast and lunch during the experiment, but then had four dinner options. The test meals featured either skinless white potatoes which were either boiled, roasted, or boiled then cooled and reheated. The control meal gave participants rice.
The group cycled through all of these meals with a nine-day break in between each. Researchers took blood samples right after each meal and again every 30 minutes for two hours. The study also monitored each diabetes patient as they slept to track glucose levels throughout the night.
The results find a persons GR does not change whether theyre eating rice or a high-GI food like potatoes. The Australian team adds overnight GR readings stayed more stable after eating potatoes with dinner compared to a low-GI alternative.
These findings are contrary to that of observational research and traditional dietary guidance that has led some to believe potatoes are not an appropriate food choice for people with Type 2 diabetes, Devlin adds in a media release. Our study shows high GI foods, like potatoes, can be consumed as part of a healthy evening meal without negatively affecting GR and while delivering key nutrients in relatively few calories, which is essential for people with Type 2 diabetes.
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Choosing And Storing Sweet Potatoes
Picking the right sweet potato can make all the difference when youre trying to achieve that perfect baked sweet potato. So how do you end up with the right one? Go for thinner, uniform sweet potatoes.
Although you may be tempted to pick the more meatier potato, thinner sweet potatoes will cook evenly all the way through to the center. With fatter sweet potatoes, the outsides will be done before the centers have been fully cooked. If youve ever encountered this problem when baking sweet potatoes, its probably because youre cooking with the wrong size.
Is There Any Science Suggesting Sweet Potatoes Is Good For Diabetics
Shockingly very little as it happens! A 2014 review of randomised controlled trials concluded that There is insufficient evidence about the use of sweet potato for type 2 diabetes mellitus. In particular, they only found 3 trials even worthy of including in their review and even those 3 they described as very low quality. In those 3 trials , they did find a decrease in glycosylated haemoglobin A1c after 3-5 months, but again all 3 trials were based on providing the sweet potato extract and NOT the whole sweet potato. In fact those 3 trials were all done by the same author as the study described above using caiapo.
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