Sweet potatoes are a great tonic food for the digestive system. It is a great food to eat if you have weak digestion. They are helpful for both loose stools and for constipation. It is also really good at helping with blood sugar imbalances. I suggest to my patients that they should eat their sweet potatoes steamed. If you eat too much baked sweet potato it can cause constipation. Steamed sweet potato generally does not cause this problem. I will talk about the effects of different cooking methods in future posts.
It is best to have one sweet potato per day or at least every other day. There are many varieties of sweet potato. Orange flesh, purple flesh, white flesh, etc. Some are from the Americas some are from Japan there are probably many others. If you have diabetes or blood sugar issues it is probably best to eat the orange variety. They are not as sweet as the other varieties. Best is to buy organic if you can. Try having sweet potato regularly for two to three weeks. You may notice some changes in your digestion.
In my house one of the things that my wife and I like to eat as a snack or part of a meal are steamed sweet potatoes. Every once and a while we get a craving for something sweet. Years ago before I knew anything about diet or health I would just eat a cookie or a piece of cake without thinking twice. Now I rarely eat cake or cookies and once in while I might crave something sweet. When I do I probably have a piece of fruit or steamed sweet potato.
When I was living in Beijing you could always see someone seeling freshly baked sweet potatoes on the street. Chinese people eat them both steamed and baked. We tend to eat more steamed ones because they cook a lot faster and we enjoy the taste. We usually steam a few and leave them out on the counter to have whenever we want.
I hope you find this information helpful.
-Enjoy
