The lovely relationship between your eyes and Sweet Potatoes.
Photo by Alexandru Zdrobău on Unsplash
Hey there loves, how has the year been taking you? It’s crazy how things at times can just shoot from zero to 100 without us even realizing and it’s even funnier to think that for most of us where we were in January is not where we are right now. This can be both good and bad depending on your situation. We have made some amazing wins and let’s face it, we can’t downplay them even if we wanted to. We have also had some low moments that have hit us amidst our plans and I guess as the saying goes life is what happens when you are busy making plans right?
All factors considered, we do hope that you’re doing well and fighting through whatever challenges that may come your way like the warrior you are.
Enough chit-chat for now, quick question: if you were to lose one sense among your 5 senses, which one would it be? What do you think you could comfortably live without? Is it hearing, touch, smell, taste, or sight? For me, I think I can do away with my sense of smell, but that is my bias, so what is yours? My friend feels that she can lose everything except her eyesight. To maintain healthy happy eyes she has an unbreakable lifestyle where she tries to always:
Points To Note;
Always ensure you read the ingredients and are not allergic to any one of them.
Always Store All Flours In a Cool Dry Place Away From Direct Sunlight and Contamination.
All Our Flours Are Natural and Have No Preservatives.
Eat Healthy Foods that are good for her eyes.
For instance Kale, Spinach, Carrots, Walnuts, Yellow Bell Peppers, Sunflower Seeds, Tuna, Oranges and Sweet Potatoes among others. Yes, we said sweet potatoes, we shall jump into that in a bit, hold your horses.
Maintain a healthy weight.
Being overweight or in extreme cases, obese increases your risk of developing diabetes. Having diabetes puts you at a higher risk of getting diabetic retinopathy or glaucoma.
Exercise Regularly.
Exercise may help to prevent or control diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol. These diseases can lead to some eye or vision problems. So if you exercise regularly, you can lower your risk of getting them. On the exercise part, to be honest, we are struggling but we haven’t given up yet, hehe!
Wear Sunglasses.
Sun Exposure can damage your eyes and raise your risk of cataracts and age-related macular degeneration. Protect your eyes by using sunglasses that block out 99 to 100% of both UV-A and UV-B radiation. Additionally, of course, we wear them too because sunglasses always make you look cool and amazing don’t you think?
Knows her Family Medical History.
Some eye diseases are inherited, so it is important to find out whether anyone in your family has had them. This can help you determine if you are at a higher risk of developing eye disease and get checkups done asap to mitigate the same.
Give her eyes a rest.
If you spend a lot of time using a computer, you can forget to blink your eyes and your eyes can get tired. To reduce eyestrain, try the 20-20-20 rule: Every 20 minutes, look away about 20 feet in front of you for 20 seconds. I bet you didn't know that your eyes need rest, and yes you’re welcome!
My friend is a professional photographer so you would understand why her eyes are important to her. We all need our eyes to experience life and even make sense of the world around us, remember seeing is believing, and most of us can relate to that. Hippocrates said this and I think he deserves an award for it but since I am not handing out awards yet let me quote it here, he said ”let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” We totally 100% agree.
In our discussions, I came across some interesting facts about healthy eating, especially when relating to eye care. Sweet potatoes! Yes, guys, they aren’t good for just a filling breakfast or even your daily dose of healthy starch, nope, sweet potato consumption plays a big role in making your eyes healthy.
Let us delve deeper into it;
The sweet potato is a large, starchy, sweet-tasting tuberous root used as a root vegetable. There are more than 1,000 species of sweet potatoes. It grows best at an average temperature of 24 °C (75 °F), with abundant sunshine and warm nights. Annual rainfalls of 750–1,000 mm (30–39 in) are considered most suitable, with a minimum of 500 mm (20 in) in the growing season. The crop is sensitive to drought at the tuber initiation stage 50–60 days after planting, and it is not tolerant to water-logging, as it may cause tuber rots and reduce the growth of storage roots if aeration is poor. Sweet potatoes can be prepared in a variety of ways in the mashed form and as flour from the dried tubers to replace part of the wheat flour and sugar in baked products such as cakes, chapatis, mandazis, bread, buns, and cookies.
A nutritious juice drink is made from the orange-fleshed cultivars, and deep-fried snacks are also included. They can be baked with their skin, boiled, and fried. Avoid storing sweet potatoes in the refrigerator, which will produce a hard center and unpleasant taste. Instead, store your sweet potatoes in a cool, dry, well-ventilated container. For best results, store them in a basement or root cellar away from strong heat sources. Sweet potatoes can be stored for up to two weeks.
Sweet potatoes are brimming with beta-carotene, an antioxidant that plays a key role in eye health. The body converts it to vitamin A, which helps the surface of the eye act as an effective barrier to bacteria and viruses. Just one cup of mashed sweet potatoes has almost 31 milligrams of beta-carotene—more than the same measurement of raw carrots.
Photo by Louis Hansel on Unsplash
After boiling a cut-up sweet potato, mash it with some olive oil and vegetable stock for an eye-healthy side. Other than just having the sweet potatoes mashed, how about using sweet potato flour as an alternative to your all-purpose flour for baking.
How? Well, Maalum Sweet Potato Flour is a whole food gluten-free flour that will help keep your eyes in great shape and also fill your hungry tummy. You can use it for your cakes, cookies, pancakes, and even for thickening stews.
The benefits of sweet potatoes cannot be understated. So I felt like learning ways we can normalize the use of Sweet Potatoes in our diet to ensure we are eating healthy which is essential, but also eating what we like, which is paramount and I know we like pancakes!
I’m going to leave you guys with this awesome recipe for sweet potato flour pancakes from Maalum Foods that you simply have to try:
One last fun fact before I leave is that February is National Sweet Potato Month.
Ingredients
1 Cup Sweet Potato Flour
1 Egg
1 Tablespoon Cinnamon
400g Margarine/Butter
1 cup Wheat Flour
1 Cup Milk
¼ Cup Sugar
Method
Mix all of the dry ingredients in a bowl.
Dig a well at the center of the flour mixture and add your egg and some of the milk, mix until desired consistency. Ensure it is not too runny.
Butter your pan slightly on a nonstick pan, place it on medium heat.
Spread the mixture on the pan and let it cook, wait for it to turn golden brown (the smell is heavenly!)
Repeat the process for the remaining pancakes. Serve with your desired Beverage or as a snack all by itself.
Enjoy and let us know how you liked it on our socials. Your feedback is welcome and highly appreciated.
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Contact Us Today For All Your Flour & Tomato Powder Needs!
Thank you for your interest in our Maalum Foods Products. 😊
We offer various varieties of Flour 🍠 and Tomato Powder 🍅
Kindly find our Price List Below;
FLOURS 🍠
Sweet Potato Flour 500gms - Ksh. 200/=
Arrowroot Flour 500gms - Ksh. 250/=
Green Banana Flour 500gms - Ksh. 180/=
Finger Millet (Wimbi) 500gms - Ksh. 100/=
Cassava Flour 500gms - Ksh. 80/=
Uji-Mix Flour 600gms - Ksh. 200/=
Uji-Mix Flour 300gms - Ksh. 100/=
POWDERS 🍅
Tomato Powder 200gms - Ksh. 450/=
Tomato Powder 100gms - Ksh. 250/=
Tomato Powder 50gms - Ksh. 150/=
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