How to magically increase the nutritional value of your yam

[Walkie]

I just read, on an NHS website, that yams don't count towards your 5-a-day, but sweet potatoes do! Well, l I normally call them sweet potatoes, but if anybody here prefers to call them yams, may I suggest adjusting your vocabulary  to make them into a more-nutritionally-rounded veg?

Actually I was trying to find out why potatoes don't count. This appears to be a question of intention. It's because people add potatoes to their meal to bulk it out and increase the starch content, so say the NHS, and this magically  negates all the vitamins and minerals contained therein . So...if you can manage to think of potatoes as just another vegtable, you should be alright.

Rice doesn't count either, by the same logic. And there was I thinking that a vegan like myself didn't need  to worry about her 5-a-day . But given that I often throw potatoes , yams and rice into the same pot, looks like I might have a problem, after all,  and need to sprinkle in a bit of mumbo-jumbo to help me out.   

[Minister Of Silly Walks]

I strongly suspect that the reason why potatoes don't count is because it might encourage people to eat potatoes served or processed in very high calorie ways. Like french fries (hot chips) or crisps.

On sweet potatoes vs yams:
https://www.livescience.com/46016-sweet-potato-nutrition.html

Sweet potatoes and yams are often used interchangeably in recipes, but in fact the two vegetables are not even related. Sweet potatoes are members of the morning glory family, while yams are closely related to lilies and grasses, according the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (HSPH). Yams are native to Africa and Asia, and there are more than 600 varieties. They are also starchier and drier than sweet potatoes.

Why the confusion? According to the Library of Congress website Everyday Mysteries, sweet potato varieties are classified as either "firm" or "soft." In the United States, the firm varieties came first. When soft varieties were first grown commercially, there was a need to differentiate the two kinds. African slaves began calling the soft sweet potatoes "yams" because they resembled the yams they knew in Africa. Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture requires labels with the term "yam" to be accompanied by the term "sweet potato." Unless you are specifically searching for yams, which can be found in international markets, you are probably eating sweet potatoes.

Sweet potatoes are more nutritious than yams. Sweet potatoes and yams are both healthy foods, and they look similar. Sweet potatoes, however, have higher concentrations of most nutrients and more fiber.

In the Philippines they make a lot of pastries and desserts out of ube, which is a purple yam. Ube ice cream is the best ice cream.


I always thought sweet potatoes and yams were the same thing as well, I learned something new today.

[Gopher Gary]

I once heard calories eaten over the sink don't count either. 

[Gopher Gary]

I strongly suspect that the reason why potatoes don't count is because it might encourage people to eat potatoes served or processed in very high calorie ways. Like french fries (hot chips) or crisps.

Then why the rice? It sounds like a promotion for obesity in general, telling people that bulking up their meals with high carb foods doesn't count toward their vegetable and grain sevings. 

[Walkie]

I strongly suspect that the reason why potatoes don't count is because it might encourage people to eat potatoes served or processed in very high calorie ways. Like french fries (hot chips) or crisps.

On sweet potatoes vs yams:
https://www.livescience.com/46016-sweet-potato-nutrition.html

Sweet potatoes and yams are often used interchangeably in recipes, but in fact the two vegetables are not even related. Sweet potatoes are members of the morning glory family, while yams are closely related to lilies and grasses, according the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (HSPH). Yams are native to Africa and Asia, and there are more than 600 varieties. They are also starchier and drier than sweet potatoes.

Why the confusion? According to the Library of Congress website Everyday Mysteries, sweet potato varieties are classified as either "firm" or "soft." In the United States, the firm varieties came first. When soft varieties were first grown commercially, there was a need to differentiate the two kinds. African slaves began calling the soft sweet potatoes "yams" because they resembled the yams they knew in Africa. Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture requires labels with the term "yam" to be accompanied by the term "sweet potato." Unless you are specifically searching for yams, which can be found in international markets, you are probably eating sweet potatoes.

Sweet potatoes are more nutritious than yams. Sweet potatoes and yams are both healthy foods, and they look similar. Sweet potatoes, however, have higher concentrations of most nutrients and more fiber.

In the Philippines they make a lot of pastries and desserts out of ube, which is a purple yam. Ube ice cream is the best ice cream.


I always thought sweet potatoes and yams were the same thing as well, I learned something new today.

ooh, very informative!  but I'm disappointed. i thought ""yam"' was the proper word for a sweet potato, cos they're not actually potatoes are they? no more than they're yams.  i guess some things don't have any  proper word.  Also i'm disappointed that my efforts to take the piss out of the NHS fell flat.  Unfair! They take the piss out of me, often enough.

Am i getting deja vu? or are you getting amnesia?   seems to me you've  gone on and on about that weirdo icecream before 

[Minister Of Silly Walks]

I strongly suspect that the reason why potatoes don't count is because it might encourage people to eat potatoes served or processed in very high calorie ways. Like french fries (hot chips) or crisps.

On sweet potatoes vs yams:
https://www.livescience.com/46016-sweet-potato-nutrition.html

Sweet potatoes and yams are often used interchangeably in recipes, but in fact the two vegetables are not even related. Sweet potatoes are members of the morning glory family, while yams are closely related to lilies and grasses, according the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health (HSPH). Yams are native to Africa and Asia, and there are more than 600 varieties. They are also starchier and drier than sweet potatoes.

Why the confusion? According to the Library of Congress website Everyday Mysteries, sweet potato varieties are classified as either "firm" or "soft." In the United States, the firm varieties came first. When soft varieties were first grown commercially, there was a need to differentiate the two kinds. African slaves began calling the soft sweet potatoes "yams" because they resembled the yams they knew in Africa. Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture requires labels with the term "yam" to be accompanied by the term "sweet potato." Unless you are specifically searching for yams, which can be found in international markets, you are probably eating sweet potatoes.

Sweet potatoes are more nutritious than yams. Sweet potatoes and yams are both healthy foods, and they look similar. Sweet potatoes, however, have higher concentrations of most nutrients and more fiber.

In the Philippines they make a lot of pastries and desserts out of ube, which is a purple yam. Ube ice cream is the best ice cream.


I always thought sweet potatoes and yams were the same thing as well, I learned something new today.

ooh, very informative!  but I'm disappointed. i thought ""yam"' was the proper word for a sweet potato, cos they're not actually potatoes are they? no more than they're yams.  i guess some things don't have any  proper word.  Also i'm disappointed that my efforts to take the piss out of the NHS fell flat.  Unfair! They take the piss out of me, often enough.

Am i getting deja vu? or are you getting amnesia?   seems to me you've  gone on and on about that weirdo icecream before 

Yes I have gone on and on about that ice cream before. How could I not mention it again in a thread about yams?

The thing about the Philippines is that you really notice when food tastes good. Because most food there is bloody awful.