Jul 30 2008
Lunch tomorrow: In praise of the Sweet Potato
It takes a while to train the taste buds to enjoy vegetables, especially if your switching from a meat and potatoes diet where sweet flavors dominate. Finding something that both is tasty and worth eating is one of the constant notes in the symphony day to day of life.
Meat is easy. No matter what animal it comes from, all you really have to do to meat is season it a little and apply heat and as long as you don’t burn it, it will probably taste good.
But Side dishes are a bit harder. Quick side dishes even more so. And that’s usually where we get the majority of non-protien nutrients to keep our bodies running.
Enter the sweet potato.
It’s easy to think one should avoid sweet potatoes if one is diabetic. After all, they are mostly carbs. A large one is about 37 carbs, though they have enough dietary fiber to count that as 31. Also, they balance out their sugars with a lot of other nutrients: vitamins A, B6, and C.
A lot of grocery stores sell them plastic wrapped for the microwave, though I’ve found it just as convenient to wrap them in saran wrap for the 8 or 12 minutes of zapping. Being already sweet, they don’t require a lot of seasoning, though a little salt and a touch of butter doesn’t hurt. And they are pretty cheap.
If you are just used to marshmallow topped casserole at Thanksgiving, it may be worth your while to give the little orange tubers another look. When they are not candied, sweet potatoes are completely viable as a staple in the diabetic diet.
