Can a diabetic eat Yam? Is Yam bad for diabetics?
Yes, a diabetic can eat Yam. Yam is good for diabetics for many reasons. Moreover, yam has glycaemic index of 54 which is great. Yam is high in dietary fibre and offers many benefits for diabetics and others too. Yams are also rich in essential vitamins and minerals including potassium, manganese, copper and some antioxidants.
You can eat yam in many ways. You may boil, bake, roast or fry yams and flavour with your choice of spices. It may be helpful to stick to healthy ways of cooking when dealing with yam just like other vegetables. Boiling and baking yam is a healthier option than frying them. It is also a good idea to keep portion size moderate with any food that you eat. Afterall, over-eating any food no matter how nutritious can cause weight gain and other health problems.
Is yam high in sugar or carbohydrates?
Yams are low in sugar, sodium and calories. For example, 100 gm serving of boiled or baked yam contains about 116 calories, 27 gm carbohydrates, 4 gm dietary fibre. Moreover, low glycaemic index of yam means blood sugar levels do not rise due to eating yam.
What are the benefits of eating Yam?
- Yams are one of the tuber vegetables that are high in essential nutrients.
- Low glycaemic index means eating yam does not cause sharp spikes in blood sugar levels. Yam has glycaemic index of 54 which is much lower than potatoes that have glycaemic index of 80.
- Yams are high in fibre which means eating yam helps weight loss, regulate blood sugar levels and prevent cardiac health complications.
- Yams are very much diabetic friendly diet. Eating yam regularly helps fight insulin resistance. Thus, by eating yam, diabetics can prevent diabetes complications and others can prevent or delay diabetes.
- Yams offer many more health benefits including improved brain health, anti-inflammatory effects etc.
