Can sweet potatoes and pumpkins be eaten together?

Sweet potato and pumpkin are two common delicacies. Sweet potato and pumpkin can be used together to cook dishes and soups, but the most important thing is that they can be eaten together. Both sweet potato and pumpkin are melons and fruits. They are extremely rich in starch, which helps promote digestion and absorption. There is no need to worry about the two foods counteracting each other and having a bad effect on the body. Eating them regularly can also help with bowel movements and lubricate the intestines, speeding up the body's recovery.

Benefits of sweet potatoes

1. Nourish the liver and kidneys and help the body recover. Sweet potatoes can improve the function of the digestive organs, nourish the liver and kidneys, and have a restorative effect on the body's weakness. They can effectively treat hepatitis and jaundice.

2. Sweet potatoes have anti-cancer effects. The most anti-cancer nutrients in the diet are beta-carotene (a precursor of vitamin A), vitamin C and folic acid, and sweet potatoes are rich in all three. Rich in lysine and carotene, it can promote the normal maturation of epithelial cells, inhibit abnormal differentiation of epithelial cells, eliminate carcinogenic oxygen free radicals, prevent carcinogens from combining with proteins in the cell nucleus, and promote the enhancement of human immunity.

3. Sweet potatoes are good for the heart. Sweet potatoes are rich in potassium, beta-carotene, folic acid, vitamin C and vitamin B6, all of which help prevent cardiovascular disease. Potassium helps to balance the fluid and electrolytes in human cells and maintain normal blood pressure and heart function; β-carotene and vitamin C have the effects of anti-fat oxidation and preventing atherosclerosis; folic acid and vitamin B6 help to lower the level of homocysteine ​​in the blood, avoid damage to arteries, and eliminate the risk factors for cardiovascular disease.

4. Laxative. Sweet potatoes contain a large amount of cellulose and pectin that are not easily broken down by digestive enzymes. They can stimulate the secretion of digestive juice and gastrointestinal motility, thereby playing a laxative role.

5. Enhance resistance, promote sexual desire and delay aging. Sweet potatoes contain vitamins C and E with special properties, that is, only the vitamins C and E contained in sweet potatoes have the special property that they will not be destroyed under high temperature conditions. Among them, vitamin C can significantly enhance the body's resistance to several viruses such as colds, while vitamin E can promote sexual desire and delay aging.

6. Lose weight. Sweet potatoes are also an ideal weight loss food. It contains only one-third of the calories produced by the same weight of rice, and is fat-free. Therefore, eating sweet potatoes regularly is beneficial to human health and has a certain weight loss effect.

Things to note when eating sweet potatoes

1. Do not eat sweet potatoes raw. The starch in raw sweet potatoes is difficult to digest, so they must be steamed or baked thoroughly. It is recommended to use steaming and less frying.

2. Don’t eat too much sweet potatoes. Although sweet potatoes can be used as a staple food, if they are used as a staple food for a long time, it may cause malnutrition, especially for special groups such as those who have just recovered from a serious illness or are pregnant. People diagnosed with dampness blocking the spleen and stomach, or qi stagnation and food accumulation in traditional Chinese medicine should also eat it with caution. Diabetic patients should consume it according to doctor's advice.

3. Don’t eat sweet potatoes on an empty stomach. Eating sweet potatoes on an empty stomach can easily cause heartburn and acid reflux. In addition, sweet potatoes should be eaten while hot so that the stomach and intestines will feel comfortable.

4. Do not eat sweet potatoes with the skin on. Nowadays, hot roasted sweet potatoes are sweet and delicious, and some are even roasted to the point of oozing sugar and oil. Sweet potatoes with crispy skin are even more popular, and many people eat them with the skin. Experts say that it is best not to eat baked sweet potatoes with the skin, because the skin contains more bioalkali, and eating too much can cause gastrointestinal discomfort. In particular, sweet potato skins with black spots should not be eaten as they can cause poisoning.

5. Avoid eating sweet potatoes alone. Sweet potatoes should be eaten with other cereal foods. If eaten alone, it will lead to unbalanced nutritional intake due to the low protein content. Therefore, the traditional method of cutting sweet potatoes into pieces and cooking them into porridge with rice is actually more scientific. Therefore, because sweet potatoes are low in calories and quite filling, they are a good weight-loss food whether used as a staple food or a side dish.