August 29, 2017
Today I cooked a cauliflower and beet deep (recipe on my next post), practical to have it as a snack at work or at school or when in you’re in a hurry and want something easy to take with you.
It is also a super cool way to include more vegetables in your diet. Especially if you’re the one who only eats lettuce. That’s why I want to tell you a little bit about the benefits of one of the ingredients. Beetroot, one of my favorite vegetables for its color and taste, has many benefits for our body. It is high in sugar compared to other vegetables but this type of sugar is better assimilated than that of sugar cane.
10 Beetroot Benefits for Your Health!
Some benefits are…
It’s an Antioxidant
This is important because Antioxidants help us fight free radicals that damage our organism. These antioxidants protect us against cancer (flavonoids) and protect our DNA (betacyanin). Betacyanin is the antioxidant responsible for giving the beet its color.
Aids in Liver Detoxification
Because it has betaines which help eliminate toxins and purify the blood.
Protects Against Cardiovascular Diseases & Helps Regulate Blood Pressure
Increases HDL (good cholesterol) and lowers LDL (bad cholesterol) which is one of the causes of heart disease. This is due to its high fiber content that “sweeps away” LDL cholesterol. It also helps to lower blood pressure after drinking its juice.
Beetroot contains natural nitrate that our body converts into nitric oxide which once it enters the bloodstream helps dilate and relax blood vessels and improve blood pressure.
It Contains Potassium
It protects against heart attacks since it is a vasodilator and relaxes the arteries by lowering blood pressure.
Fights Inflammation
It has nutrients (choline) that help reduce inflammation which is how the body cleanses and protects itself from environmental agents, pathogens and irritants that harm your health.
It Improves Your Exercise Performance
Due to its sugar content, (don’t be alarmed, it’s not too much) it gives you energy. It also helps your body use oxygen better when training as it contains nitrate which as I told you above, relaxes the blood vessels thus helps the blood circulate better. (Bailey SJ1, 2009)
Vitamin C
A super antioxidant good for the skin because it helps create collagen.
Iron
Part of the hemoglobin that carries oxygen throughout the body. Iron is important for the growth of new cells and if your iron levels are low you can suffer from anemia.
Future moms, this may interest you! Beets contain betaines that help eliminate toxins from the liver that can cause headache, fatigue and nausea. It also has folate which is supremely important for the production of neurons, prevents neural tube defects, helps the baby to have an adequate weight and protects the babies from congenital heart disease. (Remolacha en el embarazo)
Betacyanins Pigment
Beets also help prevent cancer because it has pigments called betacyanins that do not let cancer cells grow. When you eat meat and sausages you are eating nitrites, which are preservatives. When nitrites enter your body, they stimulate the production of nitrosamines that produce cancer. Beet juice prevents cell mutation produced by nitrosamines.
Prevents Cataracts
It is high in betacarotene which is a form of vitamin A. This vitamin is responsible for protecting our eyes from degenerative diseases like cataract and macular degeneration that is produced by high levels of free radicals.
I hope this post encourage you to include beets in your diet!
References:
Bailey SJ1, W. P. (10 de 2009). Dietary nitrate supplementation reduces the O2 cost of low-intensity exercise and enhances tolerance to high-intensity exercise in humans. Obtenido de https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19661447
(s.f.). Remolacha en el embarazo. Elembarazo.net.
