For those of you in the United States, you know that sweet potatoes often make their sweet appearance on the Thanksgiving table. Today, I want to share that the health benefits of this magnificent root vegetable make it deserving of a place at the dinner table more often than just once a year! In fact, I serve sweet potato as the main carb in my lunch or dinner at least 2 times a week!
Sweet potatoes can help lower risk for cancer, improve blood sugar control, reduce LDL (bad) cholesterol, lower chances of eye disease such as macular degeneration, and so much more!
How Do Sweet Potatoes Help Lower Blood Pressure Naturally? Long story short, sweet potatoes are a rich source of potassium and magnesium. Potassium helps to remove extra sodium and fluid out of the body. Magnesium helps blood vessels to relax. Both of these superstars join forces to lower your blood pressure naturally and make it easier for your heart to pump blood around the body! Of course, the science is more complicated than this. To prevent these blog posts from being too boring and textbook like, if you want more details, please do refer to the reference links toward the end of the page.
Tonight, I enjoyed roasted sweet potatoes (see recipe here; I left out the salt and it was still fabulous), steamed green beans, cabbage and tofu with just a dash of teriyaki sauce for flavor. Cooking doesn’t have to be complicated. I often like to think about it as bringing different pieces together. I happened to have these ingredients, so just decided it would be just find to serve them as a meal together!
Remember, keeping healthy meals simple can help you stay true to this habit of heart healthy eating! Don’t get sucked into making complicated healthy meals unless you have time to do so. Lofty goals of fancy meals too often might result in frustration and suddenly, McDonald’s drive through is looking more enticing! Focus on what’s reasonable for you.
See below for my simple dinner tonight! Heart healthy, delicious, good for leftovers and fantastic for this journey to lower blood pressure naturally!
How do you prefer to enjoy sweet potatoes? Would love to learn some new recipes!
References
Heart Happy Adventures 