Is sweet potato low glycemic
You're Doubling The Glycemic Index Of A Sweet Potato When You Bake It
A baked sweet potato is one of those rare things in life thats both good for you and intensely satisfying, kind of like watching multi-episode TV crime dramas. In terms of nutrition, a baked sweet potato is high in vitamins A and C, fiber, potassium and iron. Flavor-wise, its like dessert and a savory casserole got married and had a baby.
But a baked sweet potato also has twice the glycemic index of a raw sweet potato.
Before you panic, dont. Baked sweet potatoes glycemic index is still not very high, and theyre still recommended as a healthier alternative to white potatoes. However, if youre diabetic, you need to regulate your insulin levels for any reason or youre just looking to cut back on sugars, you may want to rethink the way you eat sweet potatoes.
The good news: there are simple ways to prepare sweet potatoes that can produce a dramatically lower GI, compared to baking them.
Well show you how to do that, but first, lets get to the root of this to understand what happens when you eat a baked sweet potato.
What is a glycemic index, and why should we care about it?
A glycemic index (GI) is a way of ranking carbohydrate-containing foods according to their immediate effects on blood sugar levels. Carbs with a low GI (which are considered to be the most diabetic-friendly) are more slowly digested, causing a slower rise in insulin levels, whereas foods with a high GI, such as white bread and table sugar, are quickly digested and make our insulin levels skyrocket.
That means foods with a high GI are also way more likely to make you hangry.
A low GI is defined as 55 and under, intermediate is 56 to 69, and high is 70 and above.
In the case of tubers like potatoes and sweet potatoes, we often overlook their incredible potential to convert from starch to sugar. Sweet potatoes may not be sold in a bakery box, but they still contain chains of glucose like other sugary foods the difference is that a sweet potatos glucose comes packaged in a plant, not in a cookie or cake.
As health journalist Max Lugavere explains in his book Genius Foods, our bodies can turn starch into sugar molecules with ridiculous ease. This conversion process begins even before you swallow your food, when an enzyme in your saliva called amylase begins to break down starch. But your body isnt the only thing that converts starch to sugar. Cooking does it, too.
How cooking affects a sweet potato
The nutrition facts for raw and baked sweet potatoes can be vastly different. One cup of raw sweet potato may contain 114 calories, 26.8 grams of carbs and 5.6 g sugar, whereas one cup of baked sweet potato may contain 180 calories, 41.4 g carbs and 16.9 g sugar. Thats a big increase in carbs and sugars. But why?
Heres the scientific explanation: Heat breaks down starch granules, which allows amylopectin and amylose (the two polysaccharides that form starch) to be more readily digested by pancreatic amylase (an enzyme), which turns starch into maltose (a sugar).
Heres the laypersons explanation: Heat breaks down the starch in sweet potatoes in a way that allows your body to easily convert that starch into sugar, which spikes your blood sugar levels.
So what does that specifically mean in the case of sweet potatoes?
A study conducted in 2016 subjected 11 types of sweet potatoes to three different cooking methods baking, microwaving and steaming to determine each methods effect on the foods glycemic index. And the differences were notable.
Cooking Treatment Effects On Sugar Profiles And Sweetness of Eleven-Released Sweet Potato Varieties, published in the Journal of Food Processing & Technology, found that the GI for a raw sweet potato started at 15 and that baking increased it the most (33), microwaving the least (18), and steaming came in somewhere in the middle.
Baking vs. microwaving
The longer a sweet potato is exposed to heat, the study found, the more its GI is likely to increase.
The sweet potatoes were baked in a conventional oven for 60-90 minutes at 180-220C which is much longer than they would be microwaved or steamed. Researchers concluded that the longer cooking time at high temperatures resulted in the highest sugar formation.
Baking also employs dry heat, which dehydrates the sweet potato, degrades its starches, concentrates its sugars and therefore increases the sugar content and glycemic index.
Conversely, the microwave exposed the food to heat for the shortest amount of time and increased the sweet potatos GI the least. The study cited the techniques rapid heating mechanism as being responsible for actually deactivating part of the process that turns starch into sugar.
No matter how you cook a sweet potato, its important to note that there are numerous varieties with different GIs. A 2012 study published in The Open Nutrition Journal, titled Glycemic index of sweet potato as affected by cooking methods, worked with the popular Beauregard variety, which has a raw GI of 32. The earlier study found that cooking a sweet potato approximately doubles the GI.
Heres what you can do at home
According to the 2016 findings, if you want sweet potatoes with the lowest GI, you should basically do anything but bake them.
Dont run off, however, and eat a bunch of sweet potatoes raw. The reason we cook them in the first place is to make them easier to digest. When heating breaks down those starch granules, it prevents you from experiencing certain embarrassing digestive issues.
But you can eat raw sweet potatoes in small quantities without much trouble. And unlike white potatoes, they dont contain the dangerous enzyme solanine in their raw state.
These are a few ways to cook and enjoy sweet potatoes, in order from lowest GI to highest:
- If you want to try eating them raw for the lowest GI, toss a handful of grated raw sweet potato into a smoothie or throw it on top of a salad.
- If you want to try microwaving a sweet potato, follow these directions. It takes 5-10 minutes.
- It takes a little longer to steam sweet potatoes. Follow these directions to make them in about 20 minutes.
- Baking takes the longest. Follow these directions and youll have baked sweet potatoes in a little over 45 minutes.
Now that everythings been explained, just remember not to freak out about eating baked sweet potatoes if you dont have issues with your blood sugar. Even baked sweet potatoes still have a lower GI than a lot of other foods we consider to be healthy, such as instant oatmeal, brown rice, watermelon or rice milk. And theyre still seriously good for you in so many other ways.
Here are some of our favorite ways to cook them:
Maple And Brown Sugar Oatmeal With Sweet Potato
Foodie Crush
Skinny Tandoori Butter Sweet Potato Fries With Creamy Baked Harissa Feta
Half Baked Harvest
Veggie Fajita Stuffed Sweet Potato With A Chipotle Drizzle
How Sweet It Is
Sweet Potato, Brie And Bacon Grilled Cheese
How Sweet It Is
Southwestern Kale Power Salad With Sweet Potato, Quinoa And Avocado Sauce
Cookie + Kate
Thai Sweet Potato Soup With Lemongrass And Ginger
Feasting at Home
Winter Chopped Salad With Roasted Sweet Potato And Blood Orange Vinaigrette
How Sweet It Is
Sweet Potato Hash With Poached Eggs And Harissa
Feasting at Home
Baked Sweet Potato Chips
Minimalist Baker
Sweet Potato Enchiladas
Damn Delicious
Baked Sweet Potato Tater Tots
Minimalist Baker
Simple Salty Sweet Potato Skin Chips
Half Baked Harvest
Garlic-Herb Roasted Sweet Potatoes With Parmesan
Cooking Classy
Sweet Potato and Black Bean Burrito
Foodie Crush
Sweet Potato Almond Butter Muffins
Minimalist Baker
Brazilian Steak And Grilled Sweet Potato Fry Quinoa Bowl With Spicy Coconut Tomato Sauce
Half Baked Harvest
Sweet Potato Chili Cheese Rounds
How Sweet It Is
Sweet Potato And Black Bean Tacos With Avocado-Pepita Dip
Cookie + Kate
Sweet Potato and Caramelized Onion Pizza
Foodie Crush
5-Ingredient Sweet Potato And Black Bean Chili
Minimalist Baker
Buttermilk Sweet Potato Pancakes With Coconut Whipped Cream
How Sweet It Is
Superfood Sweet Potato Dessert Fries
Minimalist Baker
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7 New Ways to Make Sweet Potatoes Part of Your Diabetes Diet
7 Tips and Tricks for Preparing Sweet Potatoes if You Have Diabetes
If you have diabetes, you can eat sweet potatoes daily as long as you factor the vegetablescarbohydratecount into your meal planning. Sweet potatoes are a source of carbohydrates, which raise blood sugars, says White. People with diabetes can eat carbs but need to watch portions of foods with carbs. What this means: Limit portions to half a sweet potato per meal or snack. Then pair that portion with aprotein source, such as chicken breast or eggs, to further stabilize blood glucose levels, advises Zanini.
Now go ahead and try these ideas for preparing sweet potatoes, from culinary dietitians around the country.
Add sweet potatoes to a smoothie.I add cooked sweet-potato pieces to a smoothie with of a small banana for sweetness, yogurt for a boost of protein, and a sprinkle of cinnamon and ginger or pumpkin spice for an added aromatic flavor, says Tracee Yablon Brenner, RDN, a certified holistic health counselor and the author ofSimple Foods for Busy Families.
Top it with nut butter and fruit.This is a go-to forMarisa Moore, RDN, a registered dietitian nutritionist in Atlanta. Just heat up half a baked sweet potato in the toaster oven or microwave, then add a dollop of peanut butter and a few sliced freshgrapes, she suggests. If youre having this for breakfast, serve with a side of scrambled eggs for extra protein.
RELATED: 7 Healthy, Protein-Packed Nut Butters
Make sweet-potato toast.I love cutting sweet potatoes into thin slices and toasting them to makesweet potato toast, says Abbey Sharp, RD, a registered dietitian in Toronto. You can then top them with any of your favorite healthy high-protein toppings. Trycottage cheese, plain Greek yogurt, or eggs.
RELATED: 10 of the Best Plant-Based Sources of Protein
Eat a baked potato side.Flavor half a baked sweet potato with chipotle pepper for sweet and spicy flair, suggests Moore. Or roll baked sweet tater pieces in nuts and seeds. Try a mixture of chopped pecans, walnuts, hemp seeds, andcinnamon, suggests Yablon Brenner.
Mash em.To cut down on added sugar, Yablon Brenner suggests mashing cooked sweet potatoes with diabetes-friendly seasonings like cinnamon and ginger. The cinnamon brings out the sweetness in the sweet potatoes, she says. Mashed sweet potatoes are a delicious side, as well as a breakfast dish when combined with yogurt, nuts, or nut butter.
RELATED: The Next Generation of Food Sweeteners
Create a sweet potato bowl.Cube half a cooked sweet potato, then add it to a bowl with black beans, cup of cookedquinoa, and sauted spinach, suggests Toby Amidor, RD, of New York City, the author ofThe Healthy Meal Prep Cookbook.
Add em to soup.Soups are nourishing, and sweet potatoes add a creamy texture and sweetness to soup, says Yablon Brenner, whose favorite sweet potato soup is made with red lentils, carrots, onions, and a variety of spices and herbs.
