Platelume

A boiled sweet potato can be praised as a healthy breakfast in the morning. Put the same sweet potato into a curry at lunch and suddenly people start asking whether it has become too starchy, too rich or simply less healthy. But did the sweet potato really become unhealthy when it entered the curry pot? For many Sri Lankan families, bathala is not something we eat only boiled. Sweet potato curry can appear beside rice, dhal, fish, mallung and several other dishes. That changes the question completely. Does cooking sweet potato as a curry destroy its nutrients? Does coconut milk make it unhealthy? What happens to beta-carotene during cooking? What about blood sugar? And if there is already a large serving of rice on the plate, should sweet potato curry really be treated like just another vegetable? The answer is not a simple yes or no. Sweet potato curry can absolutely be part of a healthy Sri Lankan meal. What matters is how you prepare it, how much you eat and what else is on the pla...

Does the More Expensive Fruit Give You More Nutrition? What if one of the most impressive fruits in the supermarket is not the shiny imported one, but the guava sitting quietly beside it? For years, the apple has carried a powerful healthy-food image. It appears in lunchboxes, advertisements and almost every conversation about eating more fruit. In Sri Lanka, it is also usually an imported fruit. Guava feels much more ordinary. Many Sri Lankans have grown up eating it. Some of us have had guava trees in our own gardens. It does not always get the same attention, and it certainly does not have the same premium image. But nutrition is not decided by image. Put 100 grams of raw apple with skin beside 100 grams of raw common guava and some of the differences are surprisingly large. According to USDA reference food-composition data, guava contains more than twice as much dietary fibre, less total sugar, almost four times as much potassium and dramatically more vitamin C per 100 grams. App...

One person says sweet potato is one of the healthiest foods you can eat. Another says it is full of sugar, causes weight gain and should be avoided by anyone with diabetes. Both views sound convincing. Neither tells the whole story. Sweet potato is nutritious, but it is not a miracle food. It is also a carbohydrate-rich food, but that does not make it unhealthy. What matters is how much you eat, how it is prepared and what else is on your plate. The quick answer Sweet potato does not automatically cause weight gain, and people with diabetes do not always need to avoid it. It is a starchy vegetable that provides carbohydrates, fibre, potassium and several vitamins and plant compounds. However, it still affects blood glucose, so portion size and meal balance matter. In our previous article, we looked at the differences between white, orange and purple sweet potatoes commonly found in Sri Lanka . This time, let us examine the claims that often surround them. Myth 1: Sweet potato contains...

Most of us in Sri Lanka know bathala as a simple breakfast food. Boil it. Peel it. Eat it with coconut, lunu miris or an egg. Then orange and purple sweet potatoes appear beside the familiar white ones. Suddenly, the bathala we have eaten for years starts to look rather ordinary. The brighter varieties certainly look healthier. But are they? Does purple sweet potato deserve its “superfood” reputation? Is orange sweet potato really better for your eyes? And should people who are worried about blood sugar avoid the sweeter-tasting varieties? The answer is not as simple as choosing the most colourful one. Each type has a different strength. Orange sweet potato stands out for beta-carotene. Purple sweet potato is rich in anthocyanins. White sweet potato is less colourful, but it is still a useful whole-food source of carbohydrate. Let us look at what the evidence actually says. The Quick Answer Sweet potato type What makes it ...