Sweet potatoes, both tasty and healthful

Health experts can talk all they want about the nutrition benefits of sweet potatoes, but I don't care. For me, they'll always be a guilty pleasure, a food so sweet and sticky and yummy (even without marshmallows melted on top) that they can't possibly be good for you.

Even though, actually, they're really really (really) good for you.

Sweet potatoes are not low calorie, nor are they low carb.

But even diet and fitness experts say that they offer so many nutritional benefits that they're worth splurging on.

And they do feel like a splurge (even without maple syrup and lots of butter).

What's so great about them? This will be an abbreviated list, because the list is lengthy.

They're remarkably high in beta-carotene, which is one of the super cancer fighters. That beta-carotene comes in the form of vitamin A, which is often deficient in lung cancer victims.

They have loads of vitamin C. Aside from the obvious cold-and-flu protection, vitamin C is also a cancer fighter, like beta-carotene; it helps wipe out cell-damaging free radicals.

Vitamins A and C are also believed to reduce inflammation, which means they can help keep conditions such as asthma and arthritis under control.

The vitamin B6 in sweet potatoes can help prevent heart attacks and strokes.

And despite their name and taste, sweet potatoes are now being touted as an antidiabetic food that can help lower blood sugar levels and insulin resistance.

They do take a long time to cook, especially if they're not fresh. You can speed the process up by cutting them into 1- or 2-inch long slices before baking them. They can also be boiled in a pressure cooker. And they cook much, much faster in a microwave oven - about six minutes.

But they taste best if they're roasted slowly in a 325-degree oven (preferably wrapped in foil or in a pan that won't be ruined by the dripping sugars) until they're soft and deep orange, with a bit of caramelized sugar clinging to their nutty brown skins.

Japanese families snack on roasted sweet potatoes the way that Americans eat apples.

They are often served as part of a traditional Japanese breakfast.

Sweet potatoes taste almost as good at room temperature as they do hot from the oven, so go ahead and roast a bunch of them and keep them out on the counter.

This soup recipe is adapted from one found online at recipezaarcom, adapted from one found in "Entertaining: Quick Short Recipes" and "Bowl Food: The New Comfort Food for People on the Move."