Believe it or not, as a child I used to love to eat beets. My favorites were the diced beets in the can (okay they weren’t raw beets) because they were sweet, fun to eat and the red juice would run across the plate, coloring all my other food! Beets didn’t taste like any other food I had ever eaten. They tasted like the ground, but not exactly as i would have imagined dirt to taste. Little did I know that I was tasting the powerful punch of so many minerals and nutrients. Today I know more about beets so I include them in my diet for health reasons and not just because I like the taste. And I’ve discovered the best way to eat them–raw!
Raw beets are members of the spinach and chard family. The beetroot with it’s earthy taste and the bitter beet greens are high if folic acid and vitamins A, B, and C. Also they contain potassium, calcium, betacyanin (antioxidant), calcium, copper, iron, iodine, manganese.
Because of the iron content beets are powerful blood purifiers. This offers a multitude of health benefits and can improve the following conditions:
- constipation
- cancer
- anemia
- gallbladder and kidney ailments
- ulcers
- anemia
Detoxification
Beets and stimulate enzymes in the liver. For this reason they give support to detoxification and fight cancer. Juice cleanse recipes often utilize beet roots and greens for their detox qualities.
Heart Health
Beets create nitric oxide in the blood, which dilates blood vessels and thus lowers blood pressure. Healthy HDL cholesterol is raised by the fiber contained in beets. (Remember that fiber is removed when juicing, so to include the benefits of fiber you must eat the vegetable in its whole form.)
Energy
Beets increase the oxygen in the blood by as much as 400%. This provides you with energy and stamina.
Tip for Juicing Beets
It’s important to repeat that beets are powerful cleansers. When beets are juiced, the fiber is removed but the sugars remain. The detox process may be rapid and may cause you to become light-headed and experience detox symptoms. Drink plenty of water to help flush the toxins out.
Beets can be juiced with most any other vegetables. For your first juice cleanse with beets, use only 1/4 beet in a recipe to determine how your body will react. Then add more accordingly.
More Information
Nutritional information on beets Nutrition Data
Beet Pigments May Help Prevent Cancer Report
Beetroot Therapy from Annie Appleseed Project