Yams Vs. Sweet Potatoes

[LittleMissPatient]

So, every night I eat 1 pound of sweet potatoes. My diet is so limited and I'm so sensitive that I have to eat the same thing every day, in mass quantities in order to keep weight on. I know that this is a problem, so I wanted to slowly try to diversify things. I've tried this before and I always fail, but I want to give it one last shot.

Sweet potatoes are the lighter fleshed potato, with the creamy yellow inside and light brown skin. Those are what I eat every night. I was wondering how different yams were from sweet potatoes (yams are the ones that are bright orange on the inside and have a stringier consistency, and a darker skin). Are they just as easy to digest as sweet potatoes? Or are they so different that they fall into a different category and may produce an entirely different reaction?

I can't eat white potatoes, but I can eat sweet potatoes (if that piece of info helps at all).

Thanks for your help. I'd appreciate any advice that you have!

[MaryJones2]

This is a fun read: Open Original Shared Link

Sweet potatoes are in a different family than white potatoes so it's not surprising that you can eat one and not the other.

[Sweetfudge]

I also can't tolerate white potatoes, but have had no problems with either yams or sweet potatoes.

Interesting post about Yams vs Sweet Potatoes:

"Today the U.S. Department of Agriculture requires labels with the term ‘yam’ to be accompanied by the term ‘sweet potato.’ Unless you specifically search for yams, which are usually found in an international market, you are probably eating sweet potatoes!"

I always thought it was the other way around...

[brigala]

This is a fun read: Open Original Shared Link

From reading this, it sounds like LittleMissPatient probably is really looking for different varieties of sweet potatoes (those which we call Yams in the US), not actual African/Asian yams. If that's the case, then the "yams" she's likely to find here probably are botanically related to the sweet potatoes she already eats, and most likely will be just fine. It might be nice to have different colors and textures of the same food even if nutritionally they're pretty much the same. I'd think (from my limited experience) these would be pretty safe for her to try.

I've never been able to tell the difference between "yams" and "sweet potatoes," and always used them interchangeably.

[LittleMissPatient]

From reading this, it sounds like LittleMissPatient probably is really looking for different varieties of sweet potatoes (those which we call Yams in the US), not actual African/Asian yams. If that's the case, then the "yams" she's likely to find here probably are botanically related to the sweet potatoes she already eats, and most likely will be just fine. It might be nice to have different colors and textures of the same food even if nutritionally they're pretty much the same. I'd think (from my limited experience) these would be pretty safe for her to try.

I've never been able to tell the difference between "yams" and "sweet potatoes," and always used them interchangeably.

Thank you so much, that was SO helpful! I'm going to try the orange fleshed potato (not sure what to call it now, haha) tomorrow!! Thank you to janet as well...you two really helped me to figure that one out