The major taboos when eating sweet potatoes, know to avoid if you don't want to "bring serious illness"

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, sweet potatoes have various names such as “camu” and “fiān chǔ.” Sweet potatoes are neutral in nature, sweet in taste, and have benefits such as nourishing the body, boosting energy, strengthening the kidneys, improving digestion, reducing inflammation, detoxifying the liver, promoting bile flow, and enhancing eyesight.

Sweet potatoes can help treat jaundice, abscesses, mastitis, irregular menstruation, nocturnal emissions, and dysentery. Additionally, consuming sweet potatoes can help prevent colds, aid in weight loss, combat oxidation, reduce inflammation, and guard against various other diseases. However, despite these numerous benefits, consuming sweet potatoes may be harmful to some individuals.

People with Kidney Issues

Individuals with kidney disease should absolutely avoid eating sweet potatoes because they contain high levels of fiber, potassium, and vitamin A. If the kidneys are weak, their ability to eliminate excess potassium is limited, leading to dangerous effects such as arrhythmias and heart weakness.

People with Poor Digestive Systems

You should only allow yourself to eat ‘under three taels’ of sweet potatoes.

Individuals with poor digestive systems who frequently experience bloating and stomach distension should limit their sweet potato intake, as eating them can increase gastric secretion, causing intestinal discomfort and more bloating.

Avoid Eating Raw Sweet Potatoes

Raw sweet potatoes can be difficult to digest in the body. Cooking them breaks down the starch cell membranes, and boiling sweet potatoes helps deactivate enzymes that can lead to bloating, acid reflux, and nausea after eating.

Do Not Overeat Sweet Potatoes

No matter how much you crave sweet potatoes, you should limit your intake to ‘under three taels.’ Sweet potatoes can cause the digestive system to produce large amounts of carbon dioxide (CO₂); overeating can lead to bloating and gas. It’s best to avoid excessive consumption when hungry and not to eat sweet potatoes alone, as this can stimulate gastric acid secretion and result in discomfort.

Eating at Night

Eating sweet potatoes at night can cause acid reflux, especially for those with weak stomachs or the elderly with poor digestion. This leads to feelings of fullness, and with lower metabolic rates at night, digestion becomes even more challenging, potentially leading to insomnia.

It’s recommended to consume sweet potatoes at breakfast alongside whole milk or yogurt, with some nuts and greens for a nutritious start to the day.

Eating on an Empty Stomach

Sweet potatoes contain sugars that, if consumed in large quantities, especially on an empty stomach, can lead to increased gastric secretion, causing intestinal heat, acid reflux, and bloating. To prevent this, sweet potatoes should be well-cooked, or you can add a little alcohol when cooking to deactivate enzymes. If bloating occurs, drinking ginger tea may help. Avoid eating sweet potatoes when hungry.

Eating the Skin

The skin of sweet potatoes contains many alkaline substances beneficial for those with constipation. However, eating the skin can be hard on digestion. Brown spots or black dots on the skin can lead to food poisoning if consumed.

Sweet potatoes and persimmons should be consumed at least 5 hours apart.

Do Not Eat Persimmons with Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes and persimmons should not be eaten together; they should be spaced out by at least 5 hours. Eating them together can cause the sugars in sweet potatoes to ferment in the stomach, increasing gastric secretion, which reacts with tannins and pectin in persimmons, leading to precipitation. This can result in severe consequences such as stomach bleeding or ulcers.

If Eating Sweet Potatoes, Reduce Main Meal Intake

Sweet potatoes contain a carbohydrate amount similar to rice. Therefore, if you have eaten sweet potatoes, it’s advisable to reduce your rice intake throughout the day to avoid excessive starch consumption.

When eating sweet potatoes, their components can easily produce a large amount of gas in the digestive tract, leading to bloating and belching. If you continue to eat regular rice, it is best to limit your sweet potato intake to about 100-200 grams. This will help balance nutrition and support health.

Combine Sweet Potatoes with Fruits and Vegetables

If you only eat sweet potatoes alone, you won’t have enough nutritional variety. When consuming sweet potatoes, try to incorporate various greens, fruits, and protein-rich foods to ensure a well-rounded meal. Additionally, combining sweet potatoes with other foods can enhance their health benefits.

For example, when eating sweet potatoes, you can add pork to improve nutrient absorption, which can help in the absorption of carotenoids and vitamin E. Eating sweet potatoes with savory dishes can also adjust flavors, reduce gastric acid, and alleviate discomfort caused by gas buildup in the stomach.

Avoid Sweet Potatoes with Black Spots

Poorly stored sweet potatoes can easily develop black spots. Many people cut off the affected areas and continue to cook and eat them. However, these spots indicate bacterial contamination that can be toxic to the liver.

This toxin will not be destroyed even if you boil or roast the sweet potatoes. Therefore, discard any potatoes showing these signs and do not attempt to salvage them!

Poorly stored sweet potatoes can easily become contaminated, and consuming them may be toxic to the liver.

Do Not Eat Old Sweet Potatoes

Many people prefer aged sweet potatoes, believing they taste sweeter than freshly harvested ones. Aging reduces the water content as it evaporates, significantly increasing the sugar levels in the sweet potatoes.

However, consuming excess sugar is not advisable, so do not intentionally store sweet potatoes for long periods before eating. Moreover, while old sweet potatoes are not as dangerous as sprouted potatoes, it is still recommended to avoid them since sprouted potatoes contain toxins that can cause vomiting and abdominal pain.

Can You Eat Sprouted Sweet Potatoes?

Sweet potatoes that are left too long or stored in a damp environment can easily sprout. According to experts, sprouted sweet potatoes do not produce toxins and are completely safe to eat.

However, it is advisable to peel away the sprouted parts and soak the sweet potatoes in diluted salt water for about 10-15 minutes before cooking. This helps to prevent any stomach issues, nausea, dizziness, or poisoning from fungi or brown spots that may develop when sweet potatoes sprout.

Many people tend to avoid sprouted sweet potatoes because they do not contain as many vitamins and minerals as before, and their flavor may not be as appealing, resulting in a less rich and creamy texture.

Do Not Replace Rice with Sweet Potatoes

Moderate consumption of sweet potatoes is beneficial for your digestive system. However, overeating them to replace rice without supplementing with other nutrients can lead to adverse effects. When the body cannot digest everything, the acids and proteins in sweet potatoes can accumulate in the stomach, leading to bloating, indigestion, hiccups, acid reflux, and even diarrhea.

The health issues arise from the digestive acid reactions, causing the stomach walls to contract and the area between the stomach and the esophagus to widen, leading to food being pushed upwards, resulting in acid reflux and hiccups.

Important Points to Note When Consuming Sweet Potatoes

1. For nutritional benefits, it is advisable to eat sweet potatoes with red skin and yellow flesh. To relieve colds and treat constipation, white-skinned and white-fleshed sweet potatoes should be used.
2. Avoid eating sweet potatoes (both the tuber and the greens) when extremely hungry, as this can lower blood sugar levels further, leading to fatigue.
3. Do not consume sweet potato greens frequently, as they contain high levels of calcium that may cause kidney stones.
4. It is recommended to pair sweet potatoes with animal and plant proteins to balance the nutrient composition.

4 Foods to Avoid Eating Together or Shortly After Eating Sweet Potatoes

1. Corn

People with weak stomachs should avoid eating corn after having sweet potatoes.

Corn is highly nutritious, containing over 70.6g of carbohydrates per 100g. Its vitamin content is significantly higher, about 5-10 times that of rice and wheat. Regular consumption of corn products can support the treatment of cardiovascular diseases.

However, it is important to note that individuals with weak stomachs need to produce more gastric acid to digest corn. If you have already eaten sweet potatoes, it is best to avoid corn at that time. Otherwise, the stomach will have to secrete excessive gastric acid to digest both, which can worsen the situation and lead to acid reflux.

2. Eggs

Many people eat eggs for breakfast, sometimes with coarse grains. Eggs are rich in protein and contain a small amount of fat, with nutrients that are easily absorbed by the body.

Whether eggs can be consumed with sweet potatoes at the same time varies. For those with better motility and digestion, both can be easily consumed together. But for individuals with digestive issues, it is best to avoid eating these two together. The high protein content in eggs requires a long time to digest. If consumed with sweet potatoes, it can increase the digestive burden and lead to stomach pain.

3. Tomatoes

Eating tomatoes after sweet potatoes can lead to excessive acidity in the stomach.

Sweet potatoes are high in dietary fiber. After consuming sweet potatoes, the body needs to produce a lot of gastric acid to digest the fiber and sugars. Eating tomatoes, which contain citric acid and other organic acids, can increase the concentration of gastric acid, thereby promoting digestion. However, if tomatoes are eaten after sweet potatoes, it can lead to excessive acidity in the stomach, causing adverse symptoms.

4. Bananas

Bananas contain thiamine, melatonin, and other nutrients. Thiamine can help prevent beriberi and promote digestion. The vitamin A in bananas helps maintain reproductive health and eye health.

Although bananas are rich in nutrients and can aid digestion, it is not advisable to eat bananas within 1 hour after consuming sweet potatoes, as this may cause bloating or acid reflux. Overconsumption can easily lead to digestive issues and chronic poisoning. If you wish to eat bananas, it is better to wait at least 4 hours.

5. Chicken

Sweet potatoes should not be eaten with chicken, as both are hard to digest. Consuming them together can easily cause bloating and stomach aches. In severe cases, it may lead to gastrointestinal discomfort.

6. Crab and Shellfish

Some individuals may experience diarrhea after consuming seafood, while sweet potatoes can easily cause a feeling of fullness. Eating both at the same time can lead to mild stomach pain and diarrhea, and in severe cases, it may cause internal stones.