When Dr. Bob Arnot, the in-house doctor for Men’s Journal Magazine was asked what the most nutritious vegetable was, pound for pound, his answer was based on research done at the Center for Science in the Public Interest. This health watchdog foundation, based in Washington, DC, rated foods based upon their nutritional wealth and found that (drum roll, please)…………the sweet potato is not only the healthiest vegetable, but the healthiest FOOD! Weighing in at about 130 calories each, the sweet potato offers twice the daily recommended amount of vitamin A, tons of vitamin C and lots of potassium to keep your muscles (including your heart) healthy. They continue about 10 additional vitamins and minerals and slow burning sugars that give you lots of energy but do NOT make you fat!
I am off to Whole Foods for my early Sunday morning quick shop. Publix has a whole section of plant-based items in the produce department, but most of the cheeses are not vegan. They contain a product called casein which is a milk product that is use for binding. I think I would avoid this product even if I weren’t a vegan as it’s impact on our health are quite controversial. If you are sensitive to gluten, or lactose, you may also be sensitive to this product which is found in many additional products such as cereal bars and packaged goods. Hence a once a week trip to Whole Foods, which I am lucky to have directly across the street from my house, allows me to find my vegan cheese as well as a few other products that I cannot get during my regular big shop at Publix.
This morning while at Whole Foods, I am definitely grabbing a couple of sweet potatoes!!! Not only do I LOVE potatoes (they ARE my favorite vegetable of all) but I knew all along they were NOT the devil! If we eat for our health and count our calories, I don’t think we would find potatoes making us fat! And as for the sweet ones, anything that is naturally that gorgeous in color HAS to be really good for us!
Mother Nature. She had it all figured out for us! Thank you, Mother.
Cheers…I always go for the sweet potato knowing it’s a gold mine of goodness and so-o good. Which reminds me, the melons top the list too … just started another one.
Anything orange has an abundance of goodness (beta carotene)………sweet potatoes, carrots, cantaloupe ……yum!