Sweet Potatos and Yams... Quick, Easy, Healthy, Delicious, and Filling!

Here's another healthy item you can add to your diet, the sweet potato. Sweet potatoes which are closely related to and are pretty much the same things as Yams can look scary and gross if you've never tried them but they're actually not bad at all! Whole Foods actually says that sweet potatoes are one of the healthiest vegetables we can eat! There are a ton of benefits to reap from them as well; they're loaded with vitamin A, vitamin C, Iron, Potassium, B vitamins, and a lot of fiber to keep you full! They're also very low on the glycemic index, so you won't have a fast spike in your blood sugar levels; or in other words they're digested and broken down slower than other foods like fruit, which allows for a gradually and continual disbursement of energy. This in turn makes you feel fuller, satisfied and energized longer.

Now some diet regimens, like the Paleo diet for example, tell you to stay away from yams and sweet potatoes. One of the main reasons for this is because of the high amount of carbohydrate found in sweet potatoes; but as long as you don't pair them together with other food sources with carbs, and instead eat them with lean foods like chicken then they're perfectly okay to eat.

I myself usually have a sweet potato or a yam twice a day, one at breakfast with some eggs, and one at lunch with chicken or steak. They're super easy and convenient to make in the microwave, just poke some holes in it with a fork, wrap it in a paper towel and cook each side for 3-6 minutes depending on how big it is. Take it out, unwrap it and cut it down the middle and there you go! If you don't like the way it tastes just plain, you can put a tiny bit of butter, not more than a teaspoon and a small amount of maple syrup (not more than a teaspoon either). I'll just say though that a lot of the time I can't even finish a full one sometimes because they're so filling, so keep that in mind when picking yours out! Check your grocery store to see if they have the ones that are already wrapped all you have to do is microwave them, and they're cheap, 1-2$ a potato.