Sweet Potato - Vit A??? - WOW

its an english word, based on a french word. She used it correctly, i wasnt saying anything about that, but likely in her lovely accent it sounded beautiful.

And I replied to Nathalie letting her know it was an English word because she questioned if it was.  Nowhere did I suggest you saying anything about the word.  I am very familiar with the root of the word but thanks for the info just the same!

I love it Monica, you truly are a wealth of information! 

i google well. i can't know everything. (tho sometimes i pretend)

Sweet potatoes are nutritional power houses.  Love them!  Ive only had them once post surgery.  They sat well but filled me up WAY too much!

At my most recent NUT visit (I'm 8 months post-op) I was told that my vitamin B12 was too HIGH (I didn't know you could be too high in B12) but that my vitamin A was low, as was my calcium.

As Karen M has already pointed out to me, munching on my chewable Caltrates won't do it  - I have to purchase CitriCal for the Calcium CITRATE. So after I finish this box, I'm going to invest in CitriCal.

But the sweet potatoes/Vitamin A discussion leads me to conclude that  this calcium + Vitamin A deficiency is a real potential danger to my 57-year-old bones, and the double whammy is something I really need to pay attention to. It's all a learning experience, right?

So thanks for both of you for the information - I love baked sweet potatoes, I add a bit of Greek Joghurt and nutmeg and mash 'em up - they're DELISH.

Not only are they good for you....but they taste great too! 

The vitamin A in a sweet potatoes, like the Vitamin A in any orange vegetable is beta-carotene, which is a very inefficient form of vitamin A. You body has to turn it into a usable form of vitamin A (retinol) through uptake in the small intestine, which RNY post-ops don't have much access to in their food digestion. I would guess you are actually getting almost none of the Vitamin A in the sweet potato due to this.

Make sure that you are taking a supplement with Vitamin A in retinol form, which can be used by the body directly, or at least are eating Vitamin A heavy animal products. This is another example of how a carby food might seem like a good idea, but in reality there is almost no benefit to a RNY post-op, particularly when compared to protein-dense alternatives like animal liver or an egg.

That's great info Pat, thank you very much for posting it.