While potato is one of the most important vegetables in every household, its distant cousin sweet potato is one the most nutritious foods when it comes to health and beauty benefits.
Sweet potatoes contain Omega 3, fatty acids, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium, zinc and vitamins A, B, C, K and E. Sweet potato is considered as an excellent source of natural,health-promoting compounds known as beta-carotene and anthocyanin. Beta-carotene is known to reduce risk of several chronic diseases, including cancer, cardiovascular diseases, age-related macular degeneration and cataracts. Anthocyanin fights pigmentation and provides anti-inflammatory benefits to the skin. Vitamin A, B and C have anti-oxidant properties that help in fighting against damage caused by free radicals.
Some of the amazing benefits of sweet potato can be gotten by using the vegetable raw or cooking it,which ever way you want. Take a look at these----
1.Treats Oily Skin:
Boil sweet potatoes. Let them cool and then mash them. Add a tablespoon of honey and spread this over your face. Let it stay for 20-30 minutes and wash off. You can also add 2-3 teaspoons of lemon juice to it in case you have oily skin.
2. Improves Skin Texture:
After boiling sweet potato, do not throw away the water. It is packed with nutrients that can help in improving your skin texture and clear your complexion. After boiling sweet potatoes, strain the water. Store this water in a bottle and keep it in the refrigerator to cool down. Use this sweet potato water as a toner for skin. This natural toner will help to absorb impurities, deep cleansing your pores and soothing irritated skin.
3. In case you have dry feet and cracked heels,instead of cooling the water in which the sweet potatoes were boiled, completely let it remain a little warm and soak your feet in it. It will help in getting rid of painful cracked heels.
4. Heals Dark Eye Circles & Eye Puffiness:
The next time you decide to eat this tasty vegetable,just take two slices and place them on your eyes.As mentioned before, anthocyanin helps inreducing pigmentation and has anti-inflammatory properties that will help in getting rid of dark circles, wrinkles and puffiness of eyes.
5.Prevents Pre-Mature Ageing:
To rejuvenate your dry skin, take one big sweet potato and boil it until it is soft enough that the skin can be pulled of easily. Take 1 tablespoon honey, 1tablespoon of milk and 1 tablespoon of ginger juice extracted by grating the ginger root and then sieve the juice out using a muslin cloth. Blend all the ingredients together until you have a smooth paste.
Apply the mask to your cleansed face and neck. Let it sit for 20-25 minutes minutes. Rinse off with warm water. This mask will leave your skin fresh,hydrated and prevent pre-mature ageing. Also you can easily refrigerate the remaining unused facemask in the refrigerator for up to 2-3 days.
6. Moisturizes the Skin:
To make a mild scrub that doesn’t dry out your skin, take half a cup of boiled sweet potato cubes, 1tablespoon oats and 1 tablespoon yogurt and blend them together to form a thick, coarse paste. Use this to scrub your skin in slow circular motions and wash it off with lukewarm water followed by moisturising your skin with your favourite moisturizer.
7. Treats Hair Dryness:
Sweet potato works really well for your hair as well. With the abundance of different nutrients, the nourishment it provides to thirsty strands is almost unmatched. Take one big sweet potato, 1 cupyogurt, 1 tablespoon honey and 1 tablespoon of olive or almond oil. Blend all the ingredients until the mixture is smooth, apply it and let it sit for 15-20 minutes. For those who have very dry hair,you can also add 2-3 tablespoon of coconut cream with the rest of the ingredients.
8. Maintains Elasticity of Skin:
Sweet potato is a very rich source of vitamin C which is known to produce collagen. Collagen helps in maintaining the elasticity of the skin and makes it look youthful.
9. Antioxidants:
Sweet potato consists of beta-carotene or vitamin A which is an important anti-oxidant and is known to prevent different types of cancer. It repairs cell damage caused by excessive UV exposure and provides an internal layer of protection to the skin from harmful UV rays of the sun.
10. Anti-stress Agent:
Sweet potato contains a good amount of minerals such as magnesium and iron. Magnesium is believed to help in relaxation and acts as a stressbuster for the skin.
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