Are Sweet Potatoes Good for Diabetics?

Diabetics have to keep a close eye on their diets, in order to manage carbohydrates and limit their impact on blood glucose and insulin levels. That means high-carbohydrate foods can be problematic, but some, such as sweet potatoes, offer substantial nutritional benefits to offset their impact on blood sugar. Deciding how much or how often you can consume them is an individual decision, but sweet potatoes can certainly find a place in a diabetic meal plan.

Carbs in Sweet Potatoes

Any discussion of food and diabetes management should begin with the American Diabetes Association‘s recommendation, which is to count the grams of carbohydrates you eat in a day. The number of carbs you need is calculated based on your body weight and activity levels, but as a rule the ADA suggests aiming for a range of 45 to 60 grams of carbohydrates per meal, although some people may require fewer for optimal blood sugar control. By that reckoning, sweet potatoes pose a challenge: One large baked sweet potato provides over 37 grams of carbs, which represents most of your allowance for that meal. By that measure, incorporating a sweet potato can sharply limit what else goes onto your plate.

It’s Not as Bad as it Looks

That being said, there are a couple of reasons sweet potatoes might not throw your meal plan off balance. First, a large sweet potato is a substantial quantity, and if you’re diabetic your meal plan probably calls for a serving of no more than 1/3 cup mashed or one small potato. This brings down your total carbohydrates to a much more manageable 12 grams for a small baked sweet potato, or a shade over 19 grams for 1/3 cup boiled, mashed sweet potato. Those figures are still high, but easier to incorporate into your daily total. Also, a large portion of those total carbohydrates comes in the form of fiber, which doesn’t raise your blood sugar and contributes to your overall health.

Sweet Potatoes and Glycemic Index

Aside from straightforward carb-counting, some diabetics use a tool called the glycemic index, or GI, to gauge a food’s impact on their blood glucose. GI testing uses the effect of pure glucose as its benchmark, and then measures how the test food’s impact on your blood glucose compares to that standard. A GI of 55 or lower is considered low, 55 to 69 is considered moderate, and 70 or above is high. Sweet potatoes are usually cited at an average GI of 70, which qualifies as high, but only just barely. More importantly tests results have varied widely, reporting GIs as low as 44 or as high as 94. The ADA endorses counting carbs as the more reliable tool, then using GI, if you wish, as a tool to further fine-tune your carb consumption.

Look At the Big Picture

The best carbohydrates to incorporate into your meal plan are those that pack solid nutrition to balance their impact on your blood glucose, and by that measure sweet potatoes are a clear winner. That 1/3 cup of baked sweet potatoes provides over 20 percent of your day’s requirement of vitamin C, substantial amounts of B vitamins and minerals, over 2 grams of fiber, and – most notably – enough vitamin A for almost three days. Boiled sweet potatoes are slightly lower in vitamin C and some minerals. The bottom line? You’ll need to watch your portion size carefully, but if you love sweet potatoes there’s no need to give them up.

A Few Notes on Serving

Once you settle on having sweet potatoes as part of your meal, you should rule out other high-carb options such as dinner rolls, biscuits or white bread. Treat the sweet potato as your main starch for the meal, and keep the rest of the plate clear for your entree and plenty of non-starchy vegetables, which are mostly low in carbs.

Whether you’ve baked it, boiled it in pieces or diced and roasted it, a small sweet potato makes a nutrient-dense addition to your meal. Of the three methods, roasting might be the most versatile. The sweet potatoes will caramelize in your oven, adding flavor, and you can enhance the effect by tossing them in a herb-heavy marinade or a dry spice rub. The roasted pieces can be served hot as a side dish, incorporated into a salad to make it more filling, or even tucked into a vegetarian taco or burrito made with a low-carb tortilla.



Source: SF Attack