Nowadays, after the nutritional facts about sweet potatoes are revealed, they are highly recommended. The diet of bodybuilders should contain sweet potatoes along with other food items like rice, pasta, oats, and potatoes. All these foods are high in carbs and thus provide sufficient energy to compensate for burnt calories in the gym. Sweet potatoes are not just carbs but a lot more. In this article, you will read about sweet potato benefits.
Nowadays, after the nutritional facts about sweet potatoes are revealed, they are highly recommended. The diet of bodybuilders should contain sweet potatoes along with other food items like rice, pasta, oats, and potatoes. All these foods are high in carbs and thus provide sufficient energy to compensate for burnt calories in the gym. Sweet potatoes are not just carbs but a lot more. In this article, you will read about sweet potato benefits.
Sweet Potatoes: Carb Content
One sweet potato of average size contains 112 calories, while a white potato of the same size contains 168 calories. Hence, sweet potatoes contain low carb content (26g). If you are working on your muscles and don't want to gain weight as well, then sweet potato is your best food. You will burn more fat and will consume sufficient calories.
Bodybuilders should regulate carbohydrate intake, as low intake leads to decreased training quality and hormonal imbalance. One large size (5 inch) sweet potato is enough for you per serving, as it accounts for 38g of carbs. This is not the only sweet potato health benefit; keep reading the article.
Sweet Potatoes: Glycemic Index (GI)
When you start muscle strengthening exercises, you start avoiding sweets. In this situation, your tongue will no longer remember sweet flavors. Afterward, when you feel crazy for sweetness, you will suffer from unhealthy diet habits. Any other starch than sweet potatoes will negatively affect your blood sugar levels.
So, if you eat one baked sweet potato, you will enjoy more energy and remain satisfied between meals. Your glycemic index can only stay considerate if you avoid extra sugar and rely on natural sugars only (like sweet potatoes). Cinnamon is another healthy addition to compensate for low sugar levels and to avoid weight gain. The sweet potato benefits weight loss is not the end of the story, continue reading.
The glycemic index of sweet potatoes varies as it depends on how sweet potatoes are prepared. Before deciding if sweet potatoes are low indexed or not, you must know that 55 is the upper limit for low glycemic index foods. For glycemic load, the upper limit is 10.
A boiled sweet potato (30-min boiled) has GI 46 (glycemic load - 11). It implies it had a low GI. If sweet potato is cut into cubes and then boiled, its GI is 59 (glycemic load - 18). In this case, sweet potatoes have a moderate GI. If you bake your potato for 45 min, then you are likely to increase GI to 94, and hence sweet potatoes become food with high GI.
Sweet Potatoes: Potassium Content
When you do strenuous exercises, you sweat more than normal. During sweating, the body's electrolyte homeostasis gets disturbed, especially potassium. For normal muscle functioning, your body requires sufficient potassium. If you add sweet potatoes to your diet, you can somehow compensate for mineral deficiency due to sweating. Sweet potato provides you 694mg of potassium. Your daily body need is 4700mg of potassium, and it makes about 15% of your daily in-take.
You will also get some amount of electrolyte sodium and magnesium.
Sweet Potatoes: Fiber Content
Where carbohydrates, proteins, fats, and vitamins are essential to normal body growth, there, fibers also play an important role. Joining a gym is easy but keeping up with both exercise and diet is hard. A balanced diet is essential to take out most benefits from exercise.
The diet of bodybuilders should contain a sufficient amount of fiber content. Here, sweet potato is the best choice to substitute fiber-containing foods. Fiber controls your appetite, helps in burning of far, and improves healthy gut functioning. Fibers also take part in muscle building. According to studies, 1-cup of sweet potatoes provides you 8g fiber content.
Try yummy recipes: Shakarkhand (Sweet Potato) Halwa / Sweet Potato Cake
Sweet Potatoes versus Normal Potatoes
Let's compare the nutritional facts among sweet potatoes and normal potatoes (white, red, etc). Individuals consider sweet potatoes healthier but, it depends on what your standard is. Both types provided the same amount of energy, carbohydrate content, fats, and proteins.
GI also doesn't differ much and depends on the method of cooking. GI for normal potatoes is higher, and if you overcook sweet potatoes, their GI is higher then. Real differences exist in the nutritional values of both potato types. Sweet potatoes are rich in Vit. A, C, and fiber content. While normal potatoes contain a higher amount of iron and potassium content. Normal potatoes have more nutrients than other potato kinds.
Conclusion
Sweet potatoes are healthier as long as you are boiling them and not making French fries. Baking sweet potatoes will also prevent nutrient loss and hence is healthy. This article covered many sweet potato health benefits, and now you are aware enough of the nutritional value of sweet potatoes.
