Sweet Potato Power: Smart Carbs; Paleo and Personalized [Paperback]

Ashley Tudor (Author)

Book Description

Release date: April 24, 2012

If you want to look good, perform at your peak and be in tip-top shape, you must choose smart fuel for your body, not the processed "food" found on the shelves of every supermarket. Many have turned to Paleo and a low carb way of life to avoid the effects of these food impostors we were never designed to eat. Low carb diets, however, can leave you feeling as though you don't have enough gas in the tank.

Low carbs need to be smart carbs. Lucky for us, nature has given us the nutritious, delicious sweet potato. This super food gives all the benefits of other high energy foods with more nutrition and without spiking blood sugar. Plus, this humble tuber tastes great and is easily incorporated into your diet in seriously good ways.

Sweet Potato Power gives you the tools to run your own tests to determine the diet rules that work specifically for you and your unique biology. Through self experimentation you can cut through diet mumbo jumbo, and let science and your numbers speak for themselves to answer questions such as:

How many carbs should I eat to make me look, feel and perform at my best?

What foods spike my blood sugar the most and make me fat?

How do I eliminate craving?

How can I avoid mental fogs and post-lunch energy slumps?

How can I optimize my carbs with my athletic pursuits?

How can I get fit without getting fat?

What exercise is best for my body?

How can my kids become the most delightful version of themselves?

How can my doctor be a well-care provider instead of a sick-care provider?

Understanding a bit of science and incorporating new tools in your arsenal will make you an active participant in your health. Applying what you learn brings you closer to the ideal version of you. All of this and easy sweet potato recipes so you can incorporate this power food into your everyday life—making Sweet Potato Power a force to be reckoned with!

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Ashley Tudor is a Design Strategist who focuses on innovation in health. She has worked with Fortune 500 companies and small start ups to tackle tough health-related issues such as creating dieting programs, designing strategies to help food companies fight obesity, conceiving new medical devices for primary care physicians, and developing online tools to help people use food as medicine. In recognition of her work, Mayor Gavin Newsom named Ashley one of San Francisco's Top Innovators in Health in 2010.

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Victory Belt Publishing; Original edition (April 24, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1936608782
• ISBN-13: 978-1936608782
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 0.7 x 8.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (46 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #169,003 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #9 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Vegetables & Vegetarian > Potatoes

More About the Author

Ashley Tudor is a Design Strategist who focuses on innovation in health. Find her on the web #ashleytudor, http://www.facebook.com/SweetPotatoPower, or www.sweetpotatopower.com. She has worked with Fortune 500 companies and small start ups to tackle tough health-related issues such as creating dieting programs, designing strategies to help food companies fight obesity, conceiving new medical devices for primary care physicians, and developing online tools to help people use food as medicine. In recognition of her work, Mayor Gavin Newsom named Ashley one of San Francisco's Top Innovators in Health in 2010.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

159 of 160 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Unique, short, sweet, and with surprising flavors April 29, 2012

By JB

Format:Paperback

Full Disclosure:
I've been eating a strict Paleo diet for 2 years, and am probably the biggest fan (maybe consumer too) of sweet potatoes outside the North Carolina big sweet potato lobby (which I assume exists).

Bottom line:
The book is a unique and playful blend of two genres - cook books, and Paleo diet books that stimulates the reader both in the kitchen, and to reflect on life habits. I've read just about every book about high carb, low carb, fats, calories, Paleo, Zone, and the like, and Sweet Potato Power really fills a unique spot. There are very few books out there that are bold enough to try to bridge the gap between the science of digestion, nutrition, evolution, and every day cooking, and wellness. If you are one of the 99% of us who doesn't read the encyclopedia Britannica for fun, but wants to understand the big scientific and nutritional rocks that affect our health and wellness, and put these into practice in the form of self-experimentation, and the most exquisite and thoughtful recipes around, then this is a great book for you.

Things that really stood out:

* Hands down the most definitive collection of delicious (and beautifully presented) sweet potato recipes around. I've eaten every form of sweet potato I can, around the entire world (literally 4 continents) from ben imo to the American "yam" // my personal favorite is the Satsuma Imo. Sweet Potato Power has introduced a versatility to my favorite food that has renewed it's place in my diet. I'm the kind of guy that will eat a baked sweet potato in my hands walking down the street for practical nutrition on my way to the gym. My wife is the kind of person that for some reason doesn't always want to eat sweet potatoes and bacon walking down the street.... I'm also not much one for spending a lot of time cooking, but since reading the book's practical and delicious recipes, I've cooked 23lbs of sweet potatoes in the last three weeks in ways that I had no idea were possible. They are simply superlative, and reframe the basic ingredients for meals for the gluten free diner.

I imagine that back in some year BC, when some guy said, "Hey try this thing called flour - it makes bread and pastries and stuff, and you can put it in anything", a bunch of Roman's went, "Holy crap this is great." Well that's how this book is for me. Sweet Potato linguini - are you kidding me? Awesome.

* How Fructose was perceived to be a good sugar. I have a lot of books in my rich mahogany library, and this is the first intelligible explanation I've heard of this. Bravo.

* Hacking your body. I'm kind of a nerd deep at heart whether it is in the gym, or in the old internets, and this humble cook book has highlighted ways to hack and get metrics in succinct, clear, and practical terms that I can't wait to start using. No, my wife probably won't let me start peeing on ketosis urinalysis strips, but I can't wait to test blood glucose levels throughout the day. I've been the kind of person who goes 100% all the time, and have often wondered about cortisol's effect on my blood glucose, and insulin sensitivity. It's been a background concern of mine, and now I have a clear plan of action to get metrics on it's effect. To quote Bill Gates, "super cool."

* The four pillars: Food, Hormones, Inflammation, Activity - is probably the best, and clearest framework for understanding the critical interplay of systems in the human body. If I were king for a day, I'd laminate the explanation on page 42/43, and hand that out in every hospital in America. Health care crisis mitigated. Adult onset diabetes solved. Childhood obesity solved.

* The sweet potato bars recipe.

* The sweet potato bars recipe. (Again).

Conclusion:

If you are looking for the most in depth scientific explanation of statistical bias, research bias, cholesterol, and calories - read Good Calories / Bad Calories - another fantastic book.

If you are looking for the definitive Paleo diet history and lifestyle guide, you can't go wrong with Loren Cordain's or Robb Wolf's books.

If you are looking for a fun, easy to understand, easy to read practical guide to living and cooking well with the Paleo diet, and probably the world's most important carbohydrate, look no further than Sweet Potato Power.

Suggested reading for the beginner:

1. Buy The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf, Sweet Potato Power by Ashely Tudor, and Good Calories / Bad Calories by Gary Taubes.
2. Read the Paleo solution.
3. Start cooking / living Paleo.
4. Miss eating starches / get burned out in the gym / struggle to explain concepts to friends, and understand why you eat the way you do.
5. Read Sweet Potato power.
6. Enjoy new food variety, increased athletic performance, understand why you eat the way you do, and explain it to friends.
7. Encounter arguments to justify the way you eat.
8. Read Good Calories / Bad Calories - understand the implication of hormones and carbohydrates in the bigger nutritional context.
9. Win at life.
10. Help a friend. Read more ›

30 of 32 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The Incredible Edible Sweet Potato! April 21, 2012

By Pon S.

Format:Paperback

As an Ultrarunner and CrossFitter, I have tried a multitude of powders and gels to fuel my workouts and help me recover from my long runs. These have worked well enough, but can be costly and full of preservatives.

Since reading Sweet Potato Power, I have incorporated a sweet potato a day into my diet. In just two weeks I have already noticed a difference. I'm less hungry between meals, have increased energy throughout the day, am less moody, and have faster recovery from CrossFit workouts and long runs. My wallet is happier too - because potatoes are inexpensive.

There are a plethora of sweet potato recipes in this book. The sweet potato cupcakes were blissfully tasty. I am looking forward to trying the sweet potato sports gel. I am running the Miwok 100K in two weeks and I plan to have the gels on hand and sweet potatoes waiting for me in my drop bags.

Sweet Potato Power is a 10/10 - a non-pretentious, intelligent, and accessible guide to take charge of your health.

46 of 52 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Good paleo primer - not much sweet potato specific nutrition April 28, 2012

By Michael McKee TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I was misled by this book's title. To be sure, it is an interesting book. As the subtitle tells us, it's about the Paleo Diet. As such it does a nice job of explaining the basics. As a sweet potato book it's more than a little thin. In fact, except for the recipes in the back of the book there's almost nothing specific about sweet potatoes or sweet potato nutrition. We're told that sweet potatoes are high in fiber and contain beta-carotene. That's true. What I had hoped for and didn't find was any in-depth exploration of what some people call a super food.

Beta-carotene is one of about 600 known carotenoids, many of which are a boon to human health. Carotenoids have been shown to possibly (I say possibly, because surprisingly little has been proven with nutrition) help with lowering plaque, helping eyesight, healthier skin and a host of other real and potential gains. There are other phytonutrients in the lowly sweet potato that look to be beneficial, too. Yet, about all we're told is that sweet potatoes have beta-carotene. And there's not even a mention that the best source of that nutrient comes from dark yellow or orange sweet potatoes. White ones have little. In fact, the entire sweet potato specific nutrition information contained in the book could be found in a 5 minute Google search.

The book covers mostly insulin response and the associated health problems that arise when the insulin system gets messed up. This is helpful information and addresses one of the biggest health problems faced by much of the industrialized world. However, sweet potatoes are just a plot device. The paleo diet is the real star of the story. Oh, we get references to the lowly vegetable in phrases like, "Eat healthy carbohydrates, like those in the sweet potato," and similar platitudes.... For a book titled after a vegetable it seems a little off to me that the main dietary focus is on eating meats and fats, not vegetables.

On the good side, this is a nice primer on insulin response. The history of the European discovery of the sweet potato is interesting. Some of the recipes look appealing. And the chapter on self-monitoring (n=1) some blood sugar factors has got me looking at blood glucose monitors.

What the book lacks is how to continue to get healthier after after a weight problem is addressed. What's the next step? Current research suggests it can come from focusing on maximizing our consumption of phytonutrients. (plant based nutrients) What we get instead are a few platitudes about sweet potatoes and a whole lot of paleo diet meat eating strategies. I've already lost a lot of weight and brought my LDL/HDL, triglyceride and total serum cholesterol numbers into a good range by cutting out sugar, as well as most grains and starches. I'm looking for the next step. This doesn't have it. Read more ›

15 of 18 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Paleo and Personalized April 15, 2012

By The Lazy Caveman

Format:Paperback

Ashley has done a fantastic job of teaching us how to take responsibility for our health by blending biochemistry, physiology, n=1 experimentation, playing medical detective, and harnessing the power of real food. The graphics and design are simply the best I've seen in a Paleo book to date, and the food pictures border on pornography. What really distinguishes this book from many others is the focus on self-testing and interpreting lab results. We rely entirely too much on the health care industry to take care of us when we should be doing more to take care of ourselves. Ashley does a great job of outlining various tests, how to conduct them, and how to get the most of the results.

Also, having personally tasted several of the recipes, I can vouch for their sheer awesomeness

Disclaimer: I was involved in the development of this title. That only makes it all the more awesome.