The Benefits of Beets

So I’m sitting here eating a beet salad and I thought: "what better thing to talk about in a health article than the beautiful beet"?

Beets are an amazing health food. They contain powerful nutrient compounds that help protect against heart disease, birth defects and certain cancers, especially colon cancer. They increase liver antioxidants that detoxify your body and promote a youthful body, inside and out. They have also been shown in studies to drop total cholesterol by 30%, drop triglyceride levels by 40%, and significantly raise HDL (beneficial cholesterol) levels.

Eating beets (a good source of betaine), especially when in conjunction with foods high in choline (egg yolk, soy beans), helps to significantly lower markers of chronic inflammation that have been linked to a wide range of conditions including heart disease, osteoporosis, cognitive decline and Alzheimer's and type-2 diabetes.

Beets are a wonderful source of numerous minerals, vitamins and fibre. Grate them raw onto a salad or sandwich or have them in a traditional borscht soup. You can even juice them along with other vegetables for an amazingly energizing drink (try Booster Juices' Red Sunrise - it is SO tasty and very good for you!). Even beet leaves are nutritious and can be used in your cooking.

There is yet another benefit to eating beets: you can see how long your "transit time" is for your food, to establish how well your colon is functioning. It should take 18-24 hours for the bright red of the beets to show up in the toilet, if your colon is functioning properly. (Please consult a holistic health practitioner if it's not!)

The beet is woefully overlooked, easy to grow, readily available in our climate and is one of the best nutrient powerhouses you will find, so embrace stained red fingers and eat up!