Camote: Your Anti-Aging Agent

CEBU, Philippines - Let not expensive facial creams, lotions or food supplements deceive you. With P50 or less, all you need to stay youthful is camote.

Sweet potato or camote is a least considered beauty agent. Mostly it is because we are deceived and bombarded too much with cosmetic advertisements and worldly standards of beauty. Honestly, we are vulnerable to deception because we like quick-fix solutions especially in looking pretty and handsome. Let us unmask ourselves of deception just this once.

It is the antioxidant element in camote that makes it an effective and risk-free anti-aging agent. When the body undergoes metabolism, toxic and vicious byproducts are secreted. These come by the name of free radicals – so called ‘radicals’ because when these invade the body, aging hastens and degenerative diseases are triggered. Diseases like cancer, heart diseases, diabetes and cataract, to name some of the most dreaded.

If radicals are such bad guys, why would God allow free radicals to roam the body? In the marvelous and mysterious way He created man, God deployed free radicals to help kill bacteria and other harmful microorganisms in the body. In excess though, these free radicals can damage nucleus of cells. Hence these must be neutralized.

When these free radicals are not neutralized, these can disrupt the production of protein and carbohydrates for the body, and so damage cell production that unnecessarily hastens aging. God then created antioxidants to neutralize these notorious free radicals. The human body produces antioxidants from the food a man eats. Though there are many food supplements, drinks and capsules that claim to contain anti-oxidant, studies have proven that camote is rich in producing antioxidants. Besides there is no assurance or guarantee that these food supplements actually contain antioxidants because so much human intervention is involved in the process.

Antioxidants in camote are higher in their leaves. The root crop camote is rich in beta carotene, Vitamin A and potassium while camote leaves and tops contain protein, lipids, iron, calcium and vitamins A and C. Taken all together, these help to fight free radicals, protect cell production from damage and hence hasten cell regeneration. Camote is low in calories and have no fat so you can indulge without getting the bulge.

Cure And Appetizer

As a cure, the Department of Health said that camote tops or sweet potato greens are effective cure to dengue fever. Platelet count decreases to a dangerous and critical level when a person is afflicted with dengue fever that it becomes fatal. Camote tops have been proven to stop and attack platelet decline. All that needs to be done is take a sheaf of about 20 camote top cuttings, wash these thoroughly, put in water, boil for five minutes and let the patient the drink slowly and gradually.

Camote tops can also be prepared as salad or appetizer. Camote can be cooked boiled or sliced and fried. These can be added as food extenders to staple like rice and corn.

Age management is lucrative business. People grapple on anything and everything that makes them look young or stay young. The secret to youth is a nutrition and mindset issue. It has least to do with aesthetics and cosmetics. God created the human body perfect. It is often in food and indulgence in unhealthy food that the human body loses its holiness and imperfections set in. Aging is an imperfection that cosmetics and aesthetics cannot hide for good. ?