Loving the BITE: Sweet Potato Burritos

11
Aug
2011

I’m having so much fun doing these Loving the BITE posts that I’ve decided to give Kelli one more week off….considering she just had her baby like three weeks ago, I really think she deserves it.  Kelli will be taking over the Loving the BITE posts again next week.

I’ve mentioned before that I’m about 99% vegetarian….and loving it.  But my wife just recently went down this path as well so now she’s coming up with all sorts of great vegetarian meals for our family to try out.  Living in Texas, and being a fan of some good old Tex-Mex has led to this new Family favorite.

Have a look at this one, and I’m pretty sure you’ll be loving it whether you’re a meat lover, vegetarian, or somewhere in-between.

Sweet Potato Burritos

Ingredients:

  • 1 tablespoon Grapeseed Oil
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 6 cups canned black beans, drained
  • 2 cups water
  • 3 tablespoons chili powder
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 4 teaspoons prepared mustard
  • 1 pinch cayenne pepper, or to taste
  • 3 tablespoons soy sauce
  • 4 cups cooked and mashed sweet potatoes
  • 12 (10 inch) flour tortillas, warmed (whole grain if available)
  • 8 ounces shredded Cheddar cheese
Directions:
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
  2. Be sure to prepare the Sweet Potatoes prior to using them in the recipe.  See below in the comments section for more details.
  3. Heat oil in a medium skillet, and saute onion and garlic until soft. Stir in beans, and mash. Gradually stir in water, and heat until warm. Remove from heat, and stir in the chili powder, cumin, mustard, cayenne pepper and soy sauce.
  4. Divide bean mixture and mashed sweet potatoes evenly between the warm flour tortillas. Top with cheese. Fold up tortillas burrito style, and place on a baking sheet.
  5. Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven, and serve.
Comments:

Be sure to cook the Sweet Potatoes prior to using them in this recipe. They actually don’t take as long to prepare as you might think.  If you cut them into 1/2 inch slices and then steam them for around seven minutes, they’ll be ready to go and also full of great flavor and nutritional value.

Antioxidant Nutrients in Sweet Potato – Sweet potatoes contain a wealth of orange-hued carotenoid pigments. In countries such as those around Africa, India, and in my second homeland….the Caribbean, sweet potatoes have been a great way to provide school age children with sizable amounts of their daily vitamin A.  In some studies on sweet potatoes, they have been shown to be a better source of bioavailable beta-carotene than green leafy vegetables. Because sweet potatoes are available year-round in a lot of countries, their ability to provide us with a key antioxidant like beta-carotene makes them a standout antioxidant food.

But beta-carotene is only one aspect of  the sweet potato antioxidants story.  If you use purple-fleshed sweet potato, antioxidant anthocyanin pigments are even greater. Cyanidins and peonidins are concentrated in the starchy core of part of purple-fleshed sweet potatoes, and these antioxidant nutrients may be even more concentrated in the flesh than in the skin. Extracts from the highly pigmented and colorful purple-fleshed and purple-skinned sweet potatoes have been studied, and research has shown they increased the activity of two key antioxidant enzymes—copper/zinc superoxide dismutase (Cu/Zn-SOD) and catalase (CAT).

Recent research have also shown that particularly when passing through our digestive tract, sweet potato cyanidins and peonidins and other color-relatedphytonutrients may be able to lower the potential health risk posed by heavy metals and oxygen radicals. That risk reduction is important not only for individuals at risk of digestive tract problems like irritable bowel syndrome or ulcerative colitis but for all persons wanting to reduce the potential risk posed by heavy metal residues (like mercury or cadmium or arsenic) in their diet.

Storage proteins in sweet potato also have important antioxidant properties. These storage proteins—called sporamins—get produced by sweet potato plants whenever the plants are subjected to physical damage. Their ability to help the plants heal from this damage is significantly related to their role as antioxidants. Especially when sweet potato is being digested inside of our gastrointestinal tract, we may get some of these same antioxidant benefits.

Anti-Inflammatory Nutrients in Sweet Potato – Anthocyanin and other color-related pigments in sweet potato are equally valuable for their anti-inflammatory health benefits. In the case of inflammation, scientists understand even more about the amazing properties of this tuber. In animal studies, activation of nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB); activation of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2); and formation of malondialdehyde (MDA) have all be shown to get reduced following consumption of either sweet potato or its color-containing extracts. Since each of these events can play a key role in the development of unwanted inflammation, their reduction by sweet potato phytonutrients marks a clear role for this food in inflammation-related health problems. In animal studies, reduced inflammation following sweet potato consumption has been shown in brain tissue and nerve tissue throughout the body.

What’s equally fascinating about color-related sweet potato phytonutrients is their impact on fibrinogen. Fibrinogen is one of the key glycoproteins in the body that is required for successful blood clotting. With the help of a coagulation factor called thrombin, fibronogen gets converted into fibrin during the blood clotting process. Balanced amounts of fibrinogen, thrombin and fibrin are a key part of the body’s health and its ability to close off wounds and stop loss of blood. However, excess amounts of these clotting-related molecules may sometimes pose a health risk. For example, excess presence of fibrinogen and fibrin can trigger unwanted secretion of pro-inflammatory molecules (including cytokines and chemokines). In animal studies, too much fibrin in the central nervous system has been associated with breakdown of the myelin sheath that surrounds the nerves and allows them to conduct electrical signals properly. If fibrin excess can trigger unwanted inflammation in nerve tissue and increase breakdown of the myelin wrapping the nerve cells (a process that is usually referred to as demyelination), health problems like multiple sclerosis (in which there is breakdown of the myelin nerve sheath) may be lessened through reduction of excess fibrinogen and/or fibrin. In preliminary animal studies, intake of sweet potato color extracts have been shown to accomplish exactly those results: reduction of inflammation, and simultaneous reduction of fibronogen levels. We look forward to exciting new research in this area of sweet potato’s anti-inflammatory benefits.

Blood Sugar Benefits – Many people think about starchy root vegetables as a food group that could not possibly be helpful for controlling their blood sugar. That’s because many people realize that food starches can be converted by our digestive tract into simple sugars. If foods are especially concentrated in starch, there can often be a risk of too much simple sugar release in our digestive tract and too much pressure upon our bloodstream to uptake more sugar. (The result in this situation would be an overly quick elevation of our blood sugar level.) What’s fascinating about sweet potatoes is their ability to actually improve blood sugar regulation—even in persons with type 2 diabetes. While sweet potatoes do contain a valuable amount of dietary fiber (just over 3 grams per medium sweet potato) and if boiled or steamed can carry a very reasonable glycemic index (GI) rating of approximately 50, it may not be either of these factors that explains their unusual blood sugar regulating benefits. Recent research has shown that extracts from sweet potatoes can significantly increase blood levels of adiponectin in persons with type 2 diabetes. Adiponectin is a protein hormone produced by our fat cells, and it serves as an important modifier of insulin metabolism. Persons with poorly-regulated insulin metabolism and insulin insensitivity tend to have lower levels of adiponectin, and persons with healthier insulin metabolism tend to have higher levels. While more research on much larger groups of individuals to further evaluate and confirm these blood sugar regulating benefits, this area of health research is an especially exciting one for anyone who loves sweet potatoes.

Other Health Benefits – One of the more intriguing nutrient groups provided by sweet potatoes—yet one of the least studied from a health standpoint—are the resin glycosides. These nutrients are sugar-related and starch-related molecules that are unusual in their arrangement of carbohydrate-related components, and also in their inclusion of some non-carbohydrate molecules. In sweet potatoes, researchers have long been aware of one group of resin glycosides called batatins (including batatin I and batatin II). But only recently have researchers discovered a related group of glycosides in sweet potato called batatosides (including batatodide III, batatoside IV, and batatoside V). In lab studies, most of these sweet potato glycosides have been shown to have antibacterial and antifungal properties. To what extent these carbohydrate-related molecules in sweet potatoes can provide us with health benefits in these same antibacterial and antifungal areas is not yet clear. But we expect to see increasing interest in sweet potato’s batatins and batatosides and their potential to support our health.

I’m nowhere near as educated on nutrition as Kelli is, so I obtained the help of WHFoods for some of the content in this post.
Photo c/o Coni Fitness
Enjoy Your Ride

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5 Responses to “ Loving the BITE: Sweet Potato Burritos ”

  1. Kelli Myers Jennings on August 11, 2011 at 4:04 pm

    And, BTW, you’ve done a bang-up job on these posts – I’m a little worried about job security:)

    • Darryl is Loving the Bike on August 11, 2011 at 5:25 pm

      Hahahaha, you definitely have nothing to worry about.  We’d be lost without you, “Sweets”.  I’m so excited about having you back and can’t wait for your post next week.

  2. Kelli Myers Jennings on August 11, 2011 at 4:03 pm

    Looks awesome, Darryl!  I’m excited to try this recipe this week.  I’m a huge fan of sweet potatoes.  In fact, I was even misquoted in Mtn Bike Action once stating that “Sweets are the best food on earth.” They are certainly very healthy, and I didn’t really dispute it, but I didn’t exactly say it that way and I surely didn’t give them a cute shortened nickname like sweets.  My friends made fun of me and called me sweets for months. 🙂 

  3. Anonymous on August 11, 2011 at 11:12 am

    Really liking the look of this one mate! I don’t advertise it (and I don’t hide it either), but my wife and I have been 99% vego’s for around 3-4 years now. Around six months ago we decided to cut all animal products from our diet and honestly, I’ve never felt better. My performance on a bike has improved, I’m happier, I sleep better – essentially my overall quality of life has gone through the roof.

    Shortfalls? Socially you are forever explaining to people why you do it, but if you hang with the right people they aren’t pushy about it.

    Love it mate!

    • Darryl is Loving the Bike on August 11, 2011 at 1:29 pm

      It seems like we have more and more in common the more I get to know you.  I feel the same way as you about going vegetarian and the shortfalls are nothing compared to all the benefits.  Live to Ride.

      Darryl

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Question: I am using the homebrew sugar formulations (sometimes added to green tea).  I am also trying to wean myself off 1/2 dose adrenalean “lip tonic delivery system” (biorhythm brand- caffeine, hoodia g, synephrine, yohimbe) capsule for energy.

My question is other than juice, can you suggest modifications in lieu of table sugar for energy and hydration.

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Both raw/organic honey or agave can work great in the homebrew (substitute in the same quantities for the sugar, or to taste), but you do have to shake well in order to make sure they don’t settle out.  Have you tried either of these?  Also, make sure to use at least the minimum amount of salt recommended in the homebrew as the temps rise, you need the sodium replacement if you’re sweating.

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