Sweet Potato vs Yam and their Benefits || Healthy Eats

Hello Beautiful People !

As a Chinese, I grew up eating sweet potatoes as dessert, as a meal, as a snack. It shocks me that I know so little of this amazing food. SO what are the difference and have we been buying the wrong stuff all along ?

What's a Sweet Potato?

There are many varieties of sweet potatoes, which come from the morning glory family. Skin color can range from white and yellow to red, purple and brown, while the flesh can be white, yellow, orange or even orange-red. These vegetables have an elongated shape with tapered ends.

Among the numerous varieties of sweet potatoes grown in the U.S. there are two major types:

Firm sweet potatoes, which have golden skin and paler flesh.
Soft sweet potatoes, which have copper skin and orange flesh.
The two types of sweet potatoes cook differently. After cooking firm sweet potatoes still remain firm and a little waxy, while the soft variety becomes creamy, fluffy, and moist.

What's a Yam?

Yams have a cylindrical shape with blackish or brown, bark-like skin and white, purple or reddish flesh. Compared to sweet potatoes, yams are starchier and drier. True yams can be tough to find. 



Quiz:
Which is which?


 (Answer : Left is yam . Right is sweet potato)

Benefit of Sweet Potatoes

• They are a good source of vitamin C that plays an important role in bone and tooth formation, digestion, and blood cell formation. It helps accelerate wound healing, produces collagen which helps maintain skin’s youthful elasticity, and is essential to helping us cope with stress. It even appears to help protect our body against toxins that may be linked to cancer.

• They contain Vitamin D that plays an important role in our energy levels, moods, and helps to build healthy bones, heart, nerves, skin, and teeth, and it supports the thyroid gland.

• Sweet potatoes contain iron. Most people are aware that we need the mineral iron to have adequate energy, but iron plays other important roles in our body, including red and white blood cell production, resistance to stress, proper immune functioning, and the metabolizing of protein, among other things.

• Controls blood sugar and maintaining energy

• Source of Vitamin A. This vitamin helps improve skin and hair growth. They encourage healthy, glowing skin and collagen growth

Benefit of Yams

• Blood Sugar and Weight Control. Yams' complex carbohydrates and fiber deliver the goods gradually, slowing the rate at which their sugars are released and absorbed into the bloodstream. In addition, because they're rich in fiber, yams fill you up without filling out your hips and waistline. 

• A good source of manganese,

• Yam contains small amounts of vitamin-A that maintains healthy mucus membranes and skin, night vision, growth and protection from lung and oral cavity cancers.

• It contains Vitamin C that plays an important roles in anti-aging, immune function, wound healing, and bone growth.

• Supports Female Endocrine System:

• Yam is particularly useful for menopausal women.  It contains an enzyme that provides a natural alternative to hormonal replacement in women who have reached menopause.Wild yam is also known to support the female endocrine system. Its root has been traditionally used in conjunction with lactation. Vitamin B6 is an important supplement for Premenstrual Syndrome (PMS) in women, especially the depression that is triggered by it.

hugs and kisses

Legend Series || Book Review

Legend Book Series Review

Days was the top wanted people in the whole country. The problem was, he didn't do anything wrong nor had he broken any rules, tho the government saw him as a threat. He was a lab rat, a lab rat that succeed the procedure, a procedure that killed ever kid who was tested on it, he was a survivor.

Tess was a rich girl who is taken cared by her brother after her parents died. Tess was smart, beautiful and perfect. One day, her brother got killed and she suspected Days. A young girl, nearly graduating, was out to find the country most dangerous and wanted person, Days, that the military could not even lay their hands on. Tho, Tess was smart, too smart. So she found him. Only then when getting to know him, she highly suspect that he was the one who killed her brother. But it was too late, armies, military and the government has already capture him because she lead them to him , because she was too cleaver that she was blinded by the truth. Days didn't kill her brother.

Holding on to what she believed in, she has to find a way to break Day out of jail. Tess trusted the government until she found out that the government were using them on test, using kids as experiments. It made her sick to find out that her own parents were killed because they went against the government. She was furious and that drive burn bright in her soul. She was now more determined to help Days, and to destroy the whole government.

People were willing to help but with a cost. Tess and Days has to find out who can be trusted and who was a piece of checker. Who was safe and who was the devil.

This book took me out of my seat! It is very exciting and the story line was absolutely memorizing. This book made me want to learn more of politics, which surprisingly, I never thought I would. A very nicely written book that is both moving and thrilling.

Rate : 4.3/5

hugs and kisses

15 Food That Banish Bloat || Healthy Eats

15 Food That Banish Bloat

1. Bananas
They may feel heavy but they don't make you gain weight but the opposite !

2. Cantaloupe
This fruit is full of anti-bloating potassium, low in calories and high in water content, so you can get away with eating a lot !

3. Leafy Greens
Examples are spinach, lettuce, Brussels sprouts, Artichokes, asparagus, celery and broccoli

4. Avocado
It if filled with healthy, filling monounsaturated fats. Spread it on a piece of toast if you are not use ti eating it raw and straight up.

5. Grains
Brown rice, quinoa, lentils, oats are all good to easy to bloating

6. Yogurt
Plain Greek yogurt are a good choice of snack to have during the mid day as they are rice in good bacteria that promotes gut health and makes your digestive track run smoothly

7. Fatty Fish
Salmon is my favorite fish, (if you hadn't notice) but besides that it has lots and lots of healthy, filling omega 3 fatty acid. Translate that to a non nutritional term is that fatty fish are actually less likely to be stored as belly fats.

8. Apples
You know when you have an apple, you immediately fill full and bloated? Well actually you aren't. Apple contains lots of fiber so having them before meals are nice if you are trying to keep your meals light.

9. Berries
I could eat a handful of berries and feel like I had a meal. Its so filling and full of antioxidant!

10.Watermelon
We all been there where we have a full bowl of watermelon and feel like we could keep eating but then when you stop for a few minutes, you feel super boated. This is because watermelon contains so much water and fiber. 98% is water. no wonder we feel bloated. But have no fear guys, melons are good and low in calories. No need to restrict them.

11. Egg
Eggs are filled with protein which wards off the urge to nosh. Scientist discovered that having eggs can help you eat less through out the day.

12. Nuts
Nuts are good source of protein and healthy fats. They keep you full and energized during those mid days where we just need a pick me up.

13 Tomatoes.
This fruit is high in potassium that it get rid of the belly-bloating sodium that we sometimes have. Plus, they also reverse leptin resistance that helps define those waistlines of yours.

14. Cucumber
Need I say more? These are mostly water content and keep you full when munching on them !

15. Egg plants
This veggie is very low in sodium and high in water so it helps fight bloating.

 

hugs and kisses

 

15 Random Facts to Start 2015 !

Hello Beautiful People!

So new years is approaching soon so here are 15 random facts to start our 2015 !

• reindeer like bananas
• a lobsters blood is colorless but when exposed to oxygen it turns blue
•  lemons contain more sugar than strawberries
•  8% of people have an extra rib
• the average person falls asleep in 7 minutes
• a bear has 42 teeth
• the least used letter in the alphabet is Q
• dreamt is the only word that ends in mt
• hippo's milk is pink
• macadamia nuts are toxic to dogs
• M&M's chocolate stands for the initials for its inventors Mars and Murrie
• frogs can't swallow with their eyes open
• elephants are the only mammal that can't jump
• a crocodile can't move its tongue
• the oldest word in the English language is 'town'

I hope you had a grate year and wish you another wonderful one ahead !

hugs and kisses.

 

Bones & All || Book Review

Bones & All

A novel with a touch of horror that leads you to a world of fantasy and a promising dark classic.

This book is about a girl, Maren, who has a dark secret , a secret that she herself was uncertain for. She did dark things, she knew it but she couldn't help it. She eats flesh;- human flesh. Her first was her babysitter and her mother freaked out. Since then, she was never left alone with anyone but that didn't last long. People make mistakes and accidents happen. She killed her first sweetheart, Luke. She killed her mother's manager's son. When her mother left her because she was scared and terrified of Maren, her own daughter, who was a monster. Maren packed up her things in search for her father, hoping that she was not alone with this dark secret, hoping tat her father was some what like her, hoping she could find a comfort of home again and hoping she could have answers to her darkest secret. 

-Spoiler Alert-

Maren then met Sully on her way. Sully was a hundred year old man who was her kind. Now, she knew she wasn't alone and she knew there was still hope. Sully was kind to her and advice her not to waste her time finding her father but Maren was determined so she left. Then she met Lee, who helped her along the was to find her father. She learnt many things about Lee and they grew closer together. Lee never liked Sully and warned Maren about him. Finally Maren found her father, he was in a mental hospital. She visited him and all her questions, all her endless questions were answered. When Maren had no where else to go, she went to Sully after she chased Lee away. Like what Lee had said, Sully wasn't a simple kind man who was willing to help a little girl in need. Maren learnt the true secret behind Sully's story that could kill her. And it almost did.

This book is utterly beautiful and nicely written. It makes us, fantasy-lovers craving for more. This book reminds me of the dark tales people used to told stories about but with a twist. The character Maren is a strong girl with intelligent mind and generous heart. She is easy to connect to and her character felt so real and alive. This book is brutally brilliant and unforgettable that leaves you wondering at night and even in your meals. 

This book is an advanced readers' edition that was sent to me by Minotaur Books. It will be on sale and in stores on March 2015 so mark your calender guys, it's a book worth every penny !

Rate : 4.5/5

hugs and kisses

Top 5 Healthy Eating Myth || Healthy Eats

Hello Beautiful People

Today, I will be talking and explaining to you about the Top 5 Healthy Eating Myth ! Believe it or not, it's true!

1. Eggs are bad for you because it is high is cholesterol

Seriously?
a. Egg yolk are the only ones with high HEALTHY cholesterol.
b. If you are a healthy and normal person, just eat the damn egg. Egg YORK are only not recommended to people with super high cholesterol.

Eggs are so good for you. They are fit foods that build muscles and help your nervous system

2 Carbohydrate makes you fat

Note: There’s no question that loading up on sugary and refined-carbohydrate-rich foods, such as white bread, pasta and doughnuts, can raise your risk of developing health problems like heart disease and diabetes. But if you cut out so-called “good-carb” foods, such as whole grains, beans, fruits and vegetables, you’re missing out on your body’s main source of fuel as well as vital nutrients and fiber. What’s more, for many people, a low-carb diet may be harder to stick with in the long run.

Everything we eat is carbs, fruits, vegetables, oats! When you break it down to just oat or fruits or vegetables, you can say they are healthy but really, they are all under the same family-carbs.

3. Calories eaten at night are more fattening than those eaten early in the day.

Your body doesn't have a watch. Your body doesn't know when the sun is up or when it's twilight. Your body only knows that it is hungry or full and if it needs food for fuel. That is it. Eating at night wont make you fat. Only watch what you eat because if you eat too much, you tend to find it difficult to sleep at night and feel really bloated. But you don't get fat or anything. Its not what time you eat, it is what you eat.

4. You have to count calories to lose weight

Your body is not a number. An apple is 100 calories and an oreo cookie is 60 calories. Don't tell me that eating an apple will make you fat. Value nutrition more then calories. Calories is a unit of energy your body needs. FYI, if people tell them you need 1200 a day to lose weight, ignore them.1200 Calories is for a new born baby. Woman under 25 years old need 3000 calories a day and 3500 for men. Why so much calories? Well, where do I start? You muscle need to move in order for you to move, your lungs need to contract and relax so you can breath, your brain needs to function for you to think, you body is growing everyday creating new cells and your heart requires calories (energy) to beep. See you dont realize that your body needs it, just because you didn't go for a run or didn't go to the gym, doesn't mean your body stop functioning.

5. Cheat days are bad and will ruin your diet

Cheat days, if you hadn't know already, is a day where you eat whatever you are craving. So lets say you eat healthy from Sundays to Fridays and on Saturdays, you have pizza or ice cream or anything you crave. Having a cheat day is not that bad, it keeps you sane and it actually motivates you, looking forward to the next workout and the next healthy meal. If one person goes on for months or even weeks without cheat meals, then he will be restricting himself and focusing too much on healthy eating. And if luck isn't at your side, this obsession of healthy eating all the time can lead to orthorexia and eating disorder.

hugs and kisses

After Light || Book Review

After Light Book Review

The people are hunting them, the government wants them dead, and it was up to them to save their ass.

Last two book was a wild rice from being in prison camp to fighting battles. Ruby and Cole caught Clancy and chain him up, digging information from him of his mother who was finding the "cure". Truth is, there wasn't any cure, just a device the government will plant into a small kid's brain so they wont be able to use their powers. The whole disease started with the government and now they are punishing the kids for their own mistake. The government wanted to experiment, so they place a chemical substance in drinking water with the main consumers were kids and pregnant women. Over generation, genetic mutation was formed and the ability of the kids begin to rise above the surface.

Ruby has been having endless sleep and migraines. Clancy was playing with her mind, moving her around, getting information for him and planning his escape like a little toy, a checkmate. Before Ruby could put together the missing pieces, it was too late, Clancy called back up, well, Ruby did, under Clancy's control. Because of that, Cole walked into a trap and was killed. Ruby couldn't face Liam or herself.  Now, Ruby has to go back to her nightmare, her camp, her room, her cell. She has to, to save her friends and to stop people from testing the kids like lab rats.So she head back into the camp, not because of guilt but because she wants to finish this. She wants to finish what she had believed in, what Cole had been putting effort on, and what all the kids in camp has been wishing each night before bed. Freedom.

In the end, they were still infected but they were all free.

Rate : 4.6/5

hugs and kisses