lsanderson | Sweet Potatoes Step Out From Under Marshmallows (Reply)

Sara Broadwell sells sweet potatoes in Durham, N.C. The tuber is making a comeback.
By KIM SEVERSON
Published: November 24, 2010

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — After generations of being smothered by a blanket of marshmallows on Thanksgiving and then forgotten for another 11 months, the irrepressible sweet potato is having its moment.
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But the sweet potato’s recent appeal stretches beyond the deep-fat fryer. Both the South Beach Diet and Weight Watchers have promoted eating them, preferably roasted with healthy oil. Doctors and nutritional experts recommend sweet potatoes for people with diabetes or who want to eat low on the glycemic index, which measures the effect of carbohydrates on blood sugar.

“Within the diabetic community, it’s become pretty common knowledge that sweet potatoes are good for you, so there’s a groundswell because so many people have diabetes now,” said the chef Michel Nischan, who owns the Dressing Room in Westport, Conn., and helps host “dLife TV” on CNBC, the first television show for people with diabetes.

“It’s a vegetable that has protein, which is fairly unusual, but it also has complex carbohydrates that don’t spike insulin,” said Clare Hasler, a nutrition and environmental toxicology expert at the University of California, Davis.More