By the time you read this, some of you will still be munching on Thanksgiving leftovers. But I wanted to take a quick look at one of the items on most people’s holiday plates: the sweet potato. Now, most of us are going to have it with all kinds of sweet treatments such as brown sugar, butter, or marshmallow, but if you can stand just adding a wee bit of butter or butter substitute, you are not only in for a treat, but a sweet nutritional surprise.

Maybe the most amazing thing about the sweet potato is how highly regarded it is by health professionals. In fact, the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) ranked the sweet potato the most nutritious vegetable of all.
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You know you can mash them with cream and butter. You’ve heard of au gratin – butter and cheese. But did you know that there are plenty of ways to prepare everyone’s favorite starchy vegetable without added fat and calories?

Despite their reputation as diet delinquents, potatoes can actually be a healthy side dish, especially in the winter when people tend to crave comfort and carbohydrates. Instead of letting them derail your healthy eating plans, learn how to prepare them so that they can be part of your healthy, balanced diet.
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We’ve heard the jingle, but few of us know what makes beans such a healthy food. Beans are packed with fiber and protein to help keep you strong and prevent disease. While a lot of people eat their legumes in the form of calorie-laden Mexican refried beans or barbecue baked beans, there are plenty of other ways to enjoy the nutritional powerhouse.

Black Beans: Like most beans, black beans are a good source of fiber, which lower cholesterol. When combined with whole grains, like brown rice or whole-wheat pasta, black beans are filling and delicious. They’ve also been said to be as rich in antioxidants as grapes and cranberries, two foods that have been touted as “super fruits.” Try them in a fish with black bean salad with a figure-friendly white fish like tilapia.
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If you’re like me and have a serious sweet tooth, sometimes baked goods are just too hard to resist. But with many baked goods being high in trans fats (especially the processed ones or recipes with shortening) and low in nutrition, they’re really best eaten rarely- very rarely.

There is a loophole, though — making your own! When you bake at home you know exactly what’s in your food, so you can nosh guilt-free. In fact, there are tons of tricks to turning a regular recipe into a low-fat recipe! All it takes is a little ingredient experimentation and some time in the kitchen.
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Potatoes get a bit of a bad rap. Lately, I’ve come to realize how much I love a baked potato now and again as a satisfying side dish to a lean protein and tossed salad. But, in a post-Atkins world, that would seem like a diet taboo. Not so, says a new study.

“When it comes to weight loss, it is not about eliminating a certain food or food groups. Rather, it is reducing calories that count,” said study leader Britt Burton-Freeman of the University of California, Davis.

The study’s leader went on to say that not only is there no evidence that a healthfully prepared potato is bad for your diet, it can actually be a part of your weight loss plan.
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