TASTY TUESDAY!!!

Sweet Potato Fries and their magical powers!?

It seems common knowledge to a greater extent that a popular alternative for classic French Fries is Sweet Potato fries.

"But why??? They're sweet, doesn't that mean sugar? Candy bars have sugar and they're bad for you!"

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Short answer yes there are sugars, but there is also sugar in milk, bread, and carrots you just don't taste it. AND these are not the sugar you are thinking of (not a Jedi mind trick).

The sugars found in Sweet potato and better yet the sweetness itself is not derived from our societal understanding of sugar. When most people refer to sugar they are referring to added sugar, processed sugar, gula as they call it in Indonesia.

The sugars in sweet potato is, as most carbon based food sources, a carbohydrate. And this is where the differences lay.

When comparing carbohydrate food sources you'll hear people talk about simple carbs and complex carbs.

Well what does all that mean??? In essence when our body breaks down carbohydrates it can do two things.

Firstly, it can take the carbohydrate, in this example a SIMPLE carb or simple sugar, and break it down into a reduced state, glucose and fructose. When simple carbs are reduced they invoke a rapid and augmented insulin response thus they are denoted as having a 'High glycolytic' response. If we go back to our grade 9 science class we know that when 'sugar' enters our system it causes a rise in glycogen, our predominant fuel source, as a result insulin is activated to reduce circulating glycogen as too much can cause weight gain. Keep in mind from this point that the OG fries we get at McDonalds are high glycolytic simple carbs.

So! Knowing that simple carbs cause a rapid response and are turned into glucose/fructose and stored as sugars, then it is no surprise that complex carbs, as seen in sweet potatoes take longer to digest and "transform" states, and thus illicit a slower glycolytic response and storing the carbohydrates as a slower releasing energy substrate. Lastly, the thermic effect required to breakdown the complex carbohydrates is much higher than when consuming simple carbs. This means it takes more energy to burn less and/or equal amounts of sweet potatoes versus regular old french fries/potato wedges/cubes/baked/etc.That's a good thing;)

All this science mumbo jumbo just leads me to say that when you eat simple carbs you get all high on energy and then crash, the energy that wasn't consumed becomes adipose (bad) fat. When you consume complex carbs the slow release and cumulative thermic requirement to breakdown the food results in a "cleaner" and longer lasting fuel source.

Eat sweet potato= lowered calories+higher thermic effect= Healthier option

Enjoy, experiment, and learn everyday!

"Progression is built through consistency and tested by Passion"

Nope! No sugar