Sweet potato is a kind of potato, which is very popular in daily life, especially with the strengthening of people's awareness of health preservation. Whether patients can eat sweet potatoes has always been controversial. Can they eat sweet potatoes? Can they lower blood sugar?

Can sweet potatoes lower blood sugar?

First of all, let's be clear: Even diabetics need to consume a certain amount of carbohydrates to ensure sufficient energy. Therefore, from this point we can know that diabetics can eat sweet potatoes.

Compare the nutritional content of the same amount of rice and sweet potatoes. For example, 100g of sweet potatoes contain 102 kcal, 23.1g of carbohydrates, and a glycemic index of 54, while the contents of 100g of rice are 116 kcal, 25.6g, and 83.2, respectively. .

It can be seen that if you can replace some staple foods such as white rice with potatoes, it will help reduce blood sugar. However, it is important to know how to eat.

Precautions for diabetics eating sweet potatoes:

First of all, it is best to mix it with other vegetables, meat dishes and other ingredients. Don't eat sweet potatoes alone, which can slow down digestion and absorption, and make the nutrition more balanced;

Secondly, it is best to take steamed sweet potatoes as the best choice, and the calorie and carbohydrate content are higher than those of sweet potato porridge, shredded sweet potatoes, roasted sweet potatoes, etc.;

The last thing is to control the amount, don't eat too much, if you eat sweet potatoes, you should eat less other staple foods.

Often eat sweet potatoes, the main benefits are these three

Sweet potatoes are rich in dietary fiber, carotene, vitamins and other nutrients. Eating sweet potatoes in moderation is good for health, such as:

1. Prevention of constipation

The dietary fiber content in sweet potatoes is relatively high, which can promote bowel movements and help prevent constipation.

2. It is beneficial to lose weight

Sweet potatoes are low in fat and high in dietary fiber. Moderate intake can have a strong sense of satiety, which can reduce people's food intake and help control weight.

3. Auxiliary blood pressure lowering

Sweet potato is a typical "high potassium and low sodium" food, and high potassium can promote the blood to excrete excess sodium, thus playing a certain antihypertensive effect.

When eating sweet potatoes, it is recommended to use steaming and boiling methods, and use less deep-frying, wire drawing and other deep processing methods to avoid adding extra fat, sugar, and loss of certain nutrients; do not eat too much at one time, try not to exceed 150g.

These two kinds of melons can't actually reduce sugar, don't be deceived

Regarding hypoglycemic foods, many people are often confused. Some foods do not actually reduce blood sugar, especially these two. Don't be fooled.

1. Pumpkin

Although animal experiments have shown that pumpkin polysaccharides and pectin in pumpkin can regulate blood sugar to a certain extent, the glycemic index of pumpkin is 75, which is a typical high GI food . Therefore, if a diabetic patient eats pumpkin excessively and does not pay attention to controlling the intake of staple food, it is easy to raise blood sugar.

2. Bitter gourd

Animal experiments have shown that balsam pear saponin, an extract of bitter gourd, can play a similar effect to insulin, thereby assisting diabetic patients to lower blood sugar. However, it should be noted that the extract is not equal to the bitter melon itself , and its extraction process is relatively complicated. If you eat bitter melon directly, it may not achieve the effect of lowering blood sugar.

Therefore, friends who try to reduce blood sugar by eating these two foods, don't be fooled.

Summary: Diabetic patients want to lower blood sugar, not just by eating a certain food alone, but more importantly, a balanced diet, a reasonable mix of meat and vegetables, and combined with exercise and taking hypoglycemic drugs and other measures can effectively lower blood sugar.