If you love sweet potatoes, I have some good news — sweet potatoes love you back with their robust nutrition profile. They’ve got everything you need to round out a healthy meal, including fiber and loads of vitamins and minerals.

Orange and purple varieties give you even more antioxidants that help stop oxidation and keep you healthy and youthful, inside and out. While you might know they’re a good-for-you option on your fall plate, you may learn a thing or two about sweet potatoes with these five benefits I’m going to share with you today.

Here are five benefits of eating sweet potatoes and tasty ways to enjoy them.

1. They help your gut health

With plenty of fiber and antioxidants, your gut is happy when you eat sweet potatoes. With both types of fiber (soluble and insoluble), the good bacteria in your gut ferments it to create short-chain fatty acids and keep your intestinal lining strong. Antioxidants encourage more healthy gut bacteria to proliferate too, so enjoy those sweet potatoes.

2. They could help prevent illness

While more tests need to be conducted, the antioxidants in sweet potatoes, particularly anthocyanins, may be the key to slowing down the occurrence of illness. It’s not confirmed, but science does know that these antioxidants have other beneficial health benefits for you, so it surely can’t hurt to eat more of them.

3. They help you keep your eyes on the prize

Filled with beta-carotene, sweet potatoes help you keep your eyes healthy. Your body turns that beta-carotene into vitamin A so your eyes can stay healthy and youthful. Even the purple variety of sweet potatoes can be beneficial for your eye health.

4. Your brain will thank you

If you want to keep your mind healthy and young, eating more sweet potatoes could be the key even as you age. The anthocyanins that are so plentiful in the purple variety are ideal for reducing inflammation. All the antioxidants you get can help you reduce your cognitive decline chances, and sweet potatoes are an excellent way to get more of them.

5. They can help boost immunity

Remember what we said about vitamin A? Your immune system really needs it, and your gut does too. Taking care of both is easy enough by eating more sweet potatoes.

There’s nothing like a baked sweet potato with just a dash of cinnamon sprinkled on top. Even with a little butter, it’s still nutritious enough. You can make sweet potatoes in so many other ways too. Try mashed sweet potatoes, spiralize them to take the place of your noodles, use them in baked goods to add moisture without the fat, use your air fryer to make them into fries, or create a vegetarian stew that warms you up when it’s cold outside.

Sweet potatoes are delicious, nutritious, and very versatile. Pick some up the next time you stock up your kitchen essentials!

Whether you struggle to eat enough veggies yourself or the obstacle involves the rest of your household, it never hurts to find sneaky ways to get them into your meals. Eating an array of whole foods regularly is the perfect equation to a healthier you, but I fully realize living with a picky eater can make it challenging to make this a part of your every day.

On the other hand, even if you regularly put a salad bowl on the table at dinner time, it can get tiresome eating the same things. That’s when I utilize my tricks for sneaking veggies into meals, or simply switching up how you cook them to trick your taste buds.

Here’s how to make sure you take in more vegetables every day.

– Try roasting them

Root vegetables take on a whole new texture and flavor when you oven-roast them. All it takes is just a little brush with olive oil, and you’ll be snarfing down more carrots and beets! A good rule of thumb is cooking them at 400F for about 30 minutes. If you like them more tender, continue cooking until desired tenderness. Topping with fresh herbs and garlic makes them irresistible!

– Go for a super-stealth move

Kids and picky adults alike won’t know when you blend carrots, spinach, or even lentils into pasta sauce. This also works while making soups and stews. Next time you have pasta night, try this trick by blending up some spinach and another veggie or two into your pasta sauce.

– Serve it with a healthy dip

Salsa and hummus are two all-star dips that even the pickiest people tend to adore. Vegetables are more fun to dip and dunk anyway, whether you’re a kid or just a kid at heart.

– Blend away your apprehension

Sometimes the chunky vegetables in soups can be off-putting to little ones or picky eaters. Lucky for you, if you puree them into a smooth consistency, nobody will notice. It’s great for white beans and cauliflower, for example, both of which can mimic a rich and creamy soup base.

– Slurp it in smoothies

When you put green veggies in smoothies with sweet fruit, you won’t even know they’re there. If you or your kids can’t stand the thought of trying to eat vegetables, blending them up in your blender will be the game-changer you need to get your essential vitamins and minerals.

– Try quinoa

Quinoa is a sneaky plant all on its own. It eats like rice, but it has tons of nutrition like more obvious vegetables. This can be mixed in with most recipes, too, without changing the flavor. You can also try getting pasta made from quinoa, paired with your hidden veggie pasta sauce trick — you’ve got a slam duck on your plate.

Now’s the time to start sneaking in more nutrition in the way of veggies for you and your family. Try working with these tips to have a more well-rounded plate to help you maintain a healthy lifestyle.

Are there picky eaters in your house, or do you eat mostly anything?

Let me know in the comments below what it’s like in your home

Do I have any fellow carb lovers here? Just about every comfort food you can think of involves carbs — there’s just something about carbs that we tend to love. With the rise of the low-carb trend, people have gotten very creative with recreating their favorite carb dishes in a “healthier” way.

One magical ingredient is usually at the root of these recreations — cauliflower. It’s so versatile and can be used in so many ways. You likely know it can replace white rice, but what else can cauliflower do in your kitchen to beat your carb cravings? As it turns out, a lot.

Here’s where you can swap this cruciferous veggie in place of carb-filled options.

1. Mashed potatoes

Some people go full cauliflower while others go half-and-half with potatoes. Either way, you’ll turn out that favorite comfort food through cauliflower and won’t feel as bloated afterward. I love adding loads of fresh garlic and herbs to it to fill it full of flavor.

2. Alfredo sauce

Dreaming of a plate of fettuccine alfredo? There’s a way to liven up a regular alfredo sauce with cauliflower to lighten the load of the heavy dish. Use cauliflower to lighten it up without sacrificing any flavor, with only a few ingredients. Cauliflower alfredo sauce consists of cauliflower, garlic, your favorite non-dairy milk, and that’s about it! Look up some recipes on Pinterest and give it a try.

3. Pizza

Look on YouTube, and you’ll find a ton of cauliflower crust recipes just waiting to be tried. All you need is a whole head of cauliflower, cheese, and egg whites. Don’t want to make it yourself? They sell cauliflower pizza crusts ready to go in the frozen section of the supermarket, and you can even substitute cauliflower crust in many pizza parlors.

4. Tater tots

If you’re struggling to get the kids to eat veggies, try replacing the tater tots with cauliflower tots. You can make these yourself with minimal ingredients or buy them in the frozen section of your local grocery store.

5. Fried rice

Sure, you can make fried rice healthier with brown rice. But if you really want to maximize your veggie intake and cut carbs further, try making it with cauliflower rice. Add shrimp and egg for a satisfying switch-up on this Chinese takeout classic. Drizzling toasted sesame oil while cooking will add a pop of flavor you’ll love.

6. Sushi

Yes, you read that right! You can substitute cauliflower rice for sushi rice. It only takes just a touch of coconut milk to render it to the same texture that sushi rice has. What a game-changer. Fill it with your favorite raw or cooked fish, or keep it strictly vegetarian.

7. Cheese sauce

You can make cheese sauce that’s lighter and still cheesy, all with the help of cauliflower. Steam cauliflower in chicken stock, then puree it with a little cheese. Use vegan cheese if you’re dairy-free. You’ll find plenty of uses for this one like topped on veggies or even with elbow macaroni for a healthier version of everyone’s favorite, mac n’ cheese.

See? Eating healthy doesn’t have to be all about salads. Let cauliflower help you fix your cravings for tonight’s dinner!