What Are the Health Benefits of White Yams?

White yams are a healthy carbohydrate that can be included in a balanced diet. Yams are nutrient rich, low in calories, inexpensive and easy to prepare. White yams are in season during the fall but can usually be purchased year round at your local grocer.

Nutrient Rich

White yams are packed with important vitamins like A, C and B6 and antioxidants. They're also an excellent source of dietary fiber, potassium and iron. According to Nutrition-And-You.com, yams are a low-glycemic index, GI food, which could be good news for diabetics 1. High GI foods will cause blood sugars to spike while low GI foods will slowly release glucose.

Low Calories

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Yams are low in calories which makes them a healthy addition to any meal. For example, one cup of yams contains 177 calories, 0 g of fat, 42 g of carbohydrates and 2 g of protein. Include low calories carbs, such as white yams, into your diet to stabilize energy levels, suppress appetite and boost metabolic functions.

Inexpensive

White yams are typically an inexpensive vegetable, especially in the autumn. When yams are in harvest they can range between 60 and 98 cents per pound while off season yams slightly increase over one dollar per pound. Planting your own white yam seeds is another cost-efficient way to include this nutrient rich food into your diet.

Healthy Preperation

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Yams can be cooked in the oven on a baking tray at 400 degree Fahrenheit for about 40 minutes. Yams are naturally sweet and don't require additional topping to enjoy; however, man people add butter, brown sugar and sometimes marshmallows. Avoid adding unnecessary toppings to yams as they will greatly increase the fat, sugar and overall calorie content. Yams can be removed from the skin and mashed up, similar to mash potatoes, or sliced in half and consumed in it's natural form. Also, there are many free, low calorie recipes that can be found online that utilize yams.