Skip to Content Skip to Navigation Accessibility Policy Click to login to your Account
Get free shipping on all subscription orders + save 20% Shop Now
Bulletproof Bulletproof is a food and beverage company, known for Bulletproof Coffee and products that fuel your mind and body.
Menu
Shop
Shop
Coffee
Ground Whole Bean Single-Serve Pods The High Achiever™ Starter Kits Creamers & Mix-Ins Build Your Coffee Routine View all
MCT Oil
Brain Octane Oil MCT Oil View all
Proteins
Collagen Protein Protein Bars Collagen Protein Plus Support View all
Supplements
Greens Gummy Vitamins Daily Wellness Immune Support Stress & Sleep Gut & Digestive Health Energy & Brain Health Bone & Joint Support Build Your Wellness Routine View all
Other
Tech Coffee Mugs & Bottles Books View all
Shop All Products
Looking for a personalized product line up?
Take the Quiz
Health Upgrades
Health Upgrades
Guides
Immune Boost Sleep Hacks Brain Upgrades Weight Loss & Diet Anti-Aging View all
Supplements
Greens Gummy Vitamins Daily Wellness Immune Support Stress & Sleep Gut & Digestive Health Energy & Brain Health Bone & Joint Support Build Your Wellness Routine View all
Bulletproof Product Quiz
Product Quiz
Customize your routine

Personalize your product lineup in minutes. Plus, score 20% off!

Take Quiz
Looking for a personalized product line up?
Take the Quiz
Recipes
Recipes
Recipes
Snacks Breakfasts Main Dishes Beverages Desserts Keto Paleo View all
Shop All Products
Bulletproof Coffee Recipe
FEATURED RECIPE
BULLETPROOF COFFEE: THE OFFICIAL RECIPE
VIEW RECIPE
Beginner keto cookbook
Free eCookbook
21 Easy Recipes to Fuel Your Keto Journey
Download Now
Looking for a personalized product line up?
Take the Quiz
Learn
Learn
Where to Start
Take the Product Quiz About Bulletproof Bulletproof for Beginners Bulletproof Coffee: The Official Recipe What makes Bulletproof Coffee Beans Different? What are MCT Oils? What is Collagen Protein? Starter Kits Newsletters & Guides
Keto Kickstart
Keto Beginners Guide Calculating Carbs Alcohol Guide Keto Foods List Dirty vs. Clean Keto Weight Loss Troubleshooting Keto Recipes
Bulletproof Blog
Diet Recipes Coffee Supplements Sleep Gut Health Lifestyle View all
Books
Game Changers The Bulletproof Diet Bulletproof The Cookbook View all
Shop All Products
Looking for a personalized product line up?
Take the Quiz
Subscribe & Save 20%
Deals
Deals Take the Product Quiz Subscribe & Save 20% expand/collapse Store Locator Account Cart
Deals Take the Product Quiz Subscribe & Save 20% expand/collapse Account Cart
Search

Share

product
https://www.bulletproof.com/diet/superfoods/sweet-potato-nutrition-health-benefits/ article-25017 Sweet Potato Nutrition Info and Health Benefits https://www.bulletproof.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Sweet-Potato-Nutrition-Info-and-Health-Benefits_header-300x160.jpg 1 USD InStock SuperFoods Bulletproof Diet Nutrition article
Home / Diet / SuperFoods
|May 6, 2021

Sweet Potato Nutrition Info and Health Benefits

By Emma Rose

Sweet Potato Nutrition Info and Health Benefits
  • Sweet potatoes are a low-glycemic, nutrient-dense, Bulletproof-approved starch.
  • These tubers are high in antioxidants and low in anti-nutrients like lectin.
  • Compounds in sweet potatoes can improve blood sugar, insulin sensitivity, and fat storage.

Aside from the ongoing identity crisis between sweet potatoes and yams, the one big question around these orange tubers is: Why are sweet potatoes (and yams) Paleo and Bulletproof when purple, red, and white potatoes are not? What about the sweet potato nutrition profile makes them different than their other potato relatives?

These high-performance tubers store energy for the sweet potato plant, and provide clean-burning, low-toxin carbohydrates to fuel your body. Sweet potatoes are nutritionally dense as sources of starch, and, depending on the variety, can provide significant sources of antioxidants and compounds that improve blood sugar, insulin sensitivity, and fat storage.

As one of the few Bulletproof-approved starches, sweet potatoes also make an excellent addition for carb-refueling during cyclical ketosis (more on that later).

Read on to learn all the benefits of sweet potatoes, their nutritional info, and ways to incorporate them into your diet.

Sweet potato vs yam and white potato

sweet potato vs yamFirst: the age-old question… is that a sweet potato or a yam? Don’t worry, the sweet, orange, Thanksgiving-pie staple you know and love actually is a sweet potato (they also come in white and purple varieties). In fact, chances are you won’t come across a true yam in most grocery stores. While sweet potatoes, yams and regular potatoes may seem interchangeable in cookbooks, the three tubers actually come from distinct plant families.

Sweet potatoes: Sweet potatoes, members of the Convolvulaceae family, are actually more closely related to the flowering Morning Glory vines than to other potatoes. The greens of sweet potato plants are also edible and nutritious.[1]

Yams: Yams are another type of tuber, from the family Dioscoreaceae. They are starchy roots with thick, bark-like skins, native to Africa and Asia. Grocery stores often mislabel the classic, well-known, orange-fleshed sweet potatoes as “yams,” originally a way to distinguish this newer variety from the traditional white-fleshed sweet potatoes in the U.S.

White potatoes: Regular white potatoes belong to the Solanaceae family, commonly known as nightshades, and are close relatives of tomatoes, peppers and eggplant. Members of the nightshade family contain high amounts of lectins, proteins that bind to the sugars that coat the cells in your body and cause inflammation.[2] Potatoes are also notorious for harboring mold and mycotoxins, another reason they are a high-risk food. While regular potatoes are not included on the Bulletproof diet, small amounts of properly stored raw potato starch can be a useful supplement for adding prebiotic resistant starch to your diet.

More Diet Tips From Bulletproof

  • What Color Is Your Pee? This Urine Chart Explains What It Means
  • Complete Keto Food List: What to Eat on Keto
  • OMAD: Should You Do the One Meal a Day Diet?
  • Shirataki Noodles for Keto: Nutrition & Benefits

Sweet potato nutrition facts & benefits

sweet potato benefitsEven on a low-carb, high-fat diet like Paleo, keto or Bulletproof, your body still requires some amount of starch.

As Ashley Tudor, health innovator and author of Sweet Potato Power, mentions on this Bulletproof Radio podcast episode, “[Eating sweet potatoes] can be a really effective way to fill up your gas tank, without some of the negative side effects of eating high-carb foods.” What makes a sweet potato a high-performance starch?

Low in lectins: Sweet potatoes are low in anti-nutrients, like the protein toxins, lectins and patatin. Lectins are tied directly to inflammation and autoimmune reactions in your body.

Low glycemic index: The sugar content in sweet potatoes is low in both fructose and glucose.[3] Combined with slow-digesting starch, this gives sweet potatoes their relatively low glycemic index rating, meaning they won’t spike blood your sugar and insulin levels as high as regular potatoes or other starch-heavy foods.

High in beta-carotene: Sweet potatoes are also high in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. Notably, orange-fleshed sweet potatoes are an excellent source of vitamin A, specifically its precursor, the antioxidant beta carotene. This powerful antioxidant enhances night vision in people who are vitamin A-deficient.[4] (Pro tip: adding fat such as grass-fed butter to your sweet potato will increase your absorption of beta carotene!).[5]

Good for your gut: Sweet potato starch is also rich in soluble fiber, an important prebiotic for feeding the good bacteria in your gut.

Fights cancer and inflammation: Studies have shown that sweet potatoes boost anti-cancer, anti-diabetic, and anti-inflammatory activities in your body.[6]

Improves blood sugar and cholesterol: Compounds found in their skin also improve insulin sensitivity, blood sugar control, cholesterol, and triglyceride levels in diabetic patients.[7]

Helps regulate weight: An extract called Caiapo found in white-skinned sweet potatoes improved glucose control and insulin sensitivity, in addition to upregulating adiponectin, the fat-regulating hormone that stops your body from packing on extra pounds.[8]

A caution for those especially sensitive to mycotoxin exposure: Starch is a preferential food for mycotoxin forming fungi.[9]Depending on their harvesting, processing and storage, sweet potatoes (like other potatoes) can end up harboring fungal contamination or mycotoxins.

sweet potato nutrition benefits

How to add sweet potatoes to your diet

sweet potato recipesOn a keto diet: One of the best uses for sweet potatoes in your diet is as a fuel for carb re-feed days on a cyclical keto diet. Keto is the high-fat, low-carb diet that causes your body to burn fat, instead of glucose, for fuel. Cyclical ketosis, or carb cycling, simply means going in and out of ketosis on a weekly basis. Full ketosis doesn’t suit everyone, so introducing clean carbs like sweet potatoes one day a week helps support your body systems that need a little extra glucose to run smoothly.

How do you know if your body needs that boost? Some of the first symptoms of cutting carbs for too long include having very dry eyes and poor sleep quality. Eating no carbs for extended periods can also damage your thyroid.[10]

Outside of a keto diet, if you are an athlete, or aiming to maintain your current weight, one or two servings of carbohydrates a day will bring you the benefits of low-carb dieting, with the extra energy you need to stay fueled. After a workout is a great time to show your body some sweet-potato-love. This Protein-Packed Sweet Potato Smoothie is perfect for refueling your glycogen stores post-training session.

As a clean carbohydrate source, sweet potatoes are also awesome for transitioning comfortably to a low-carb diet. “If you’re just starting out on your weight-loss journey,” says Tudor, “sweet potatoes are a great way to replace some of the more egregious carbs in the diet like wheat and rice.” Satisfy your sweet carb cravings without hitting the grains with recipes like our Savory Sweet Potato Waffles or Cinnamon Pecan Sweet Potatoes.

Join the Bulletproof Revolution

Sign up for early access to sales, product launches, the latest Bulletproof news and more!

Statements made on this website have not been evaluated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Products sold on this website are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Information provided by this website or this company is not a substitute for direct, individual medical treatment or advice. It is the responsibility of you and your healthcare providers to make all decisions regarding your health. Bulletproof recommends that you consult with your healthcare providers regarding the diagnosis and treatment of any disease or condition.

About Emma Rose

Emma Rose is a nutrition and food policy nerd living near Portland, OR. Rose received her B.S. in Biology and B.A. in Visual Arts from the University of Washington. When she’s not deep down a research hole for a biohacking article, she’s out practicing acro-yoga, cooking with friends, or creating art.

References

[1] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24629984
[2] https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/proceedings-of-the-n...
[3] https://nutritiondata.self.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetabl...
[4] https://books.google.com/books/about/Nutritional_Sciences_Fr...
[5] https://academic.oup.com/ajcn/article-abstract/48/2/298/4695...
[6] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24921903
[7] http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/27/2/436.full
[8] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17645559
[9] https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/pharmacology-toxicology...
[10] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7096916

TAGS

Bulletproof DietNutrition

Related Bulletproof Diet Tips

How to read your pee, urine color chart
What Color Is Your Pee? This Urine Chart Explains What It Means
Sliced steak and asparagus
Complete Keto Food List: What to Eat on Keto
one meal a day diet omad
OMAD: Should You Do the One Meal a Day Diet?
shirataki noodles
Shirataki Noodles for Keto: Nutrition & Benefits
Sign up today & save 15%
SHOP
  • Coffee
  • MCT Oils
  • Proteins
  • Supplements
  • Other
  • All Products
Learn
  • Bulletproof for Beginners
  • Recipes
  • Newsletters & Guides
  • Bulletproof Blog
  • Books
CUSTOMER CARE
  • Contact Us
  • Shipping Policy
  • Return Policy
  • Accessibility Policy
COMPANY
  • About Us
  • Press
  • Careers
  • Customer Reviews
  • Rewards
  • Give $15, Get $15
PARTNERS
  • Store Locator
  • Wholesale
  • Ambassador Program
  • Affiliate Program
Discover What Better Feels Like
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • YouTube

†Statements made on this website have not been evaluated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. These products are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease. Information provided by this website or this company is not a substitute for individual medical advice. | ©Bulletproof 360, Inc. 2013–2023

  • Privacy Policy|
  • Terms|
  • Reseller Policy|