How Sweet Potatoes Can Boost Immunity Health

Unlike many vegetables with a peak season that comes and goes, sweet potatoes can be found at your local grocery store year round with a consistent quality and freshness. Because they are available fresh, canned or frozen, sweet potatoes offer the ultimate flexibility for healthy and delicious menu options at any meal.

Sweet Potatoes: The Versatile Vegetable

With virtually no fat and low in sodium, sweet potatoes, sometimes called yams, fit perfectly into a low-carb lifestyle, with major nutritional bonuses that support immunity health. In addition to being a source of vitamin B-6, iron, potassium and fiber, sweet potatoes are rich in antioxidants and are packed with Vitamins A and C, providing twice the recommended daily allowance of vitamin A and more than one-third of the requirements for vitamin C.

Sweet potatoes also rank significantly lower than white potatoes in the glycemic index, which explains why many carb-counting diets encourage substituting sweet potatoes for white potatoes.

So, if you're looking for a little variety to spice up your life, cooking with a versatile veggie such as the sweet potato may give your menu the satisfying kick you crave, along with a healthy dose of the nutrients your body needs.

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Try this prize-winning sweet potato recipe, courtesy of Samantha Foglesong, a former winner in the “fresh” category in the national Louisiana Sweet Potato Commission’s Rewards Recipe Contest: 

Creamy Smoked Sweet Potato Soup Recipe

Servings: 6–8
 

Here’s what you need...

• 4 extra-large sweet potatoes (about 5 pounds)
• 4 cups seafood stock
• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 pound fresh jumbo lump crabmeat, picked free of shells
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tablespoon thinly sliced chives

Cooking Directions: Prepare smoker to 200°F.

Smoke sweet potatoes 2 1/2–3 hours. Let cool, and peel.

In large Dutch oven, combine sweet potatoes, stock and cream. Blend on high speed with an immersion blender until smooth.

Heat over medium heat, and add 1/2 teaspoon salt, then cinnamon and nutmeg. Strain mixture through fine-mesh sieve into large bowl; discard solids.

In medium bowl, combine crab, lemon juice, red pepper, remaining salt, butter and chives.

Divide soup among bowls and top with crab mixture.

Top photograph by Nataly Hanin / Getty Images