This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Health & Fitness

16 Health Benefits Of Beets & Easy Recipe For Stacked Beets With Herbed "Cheese"

Are beets on your shopping list?

They absolutely should be!

I fell victim to thinking of beets as either a bowl of fuschia-pink borscht with a dollop of sour cream floating on the top (a beautiful color but not an appetizing dish to me as a child) or the soggy canned burgundy balls sitting in salad bars. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Not that there’s anything wrong with borscht or salad bar beets.  But beets are so much more and, nutritionally, they cannot and must not be ignored! 

Find out what's happening in Yorktown-Somerswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

16 REASONS THAT BEETS CAN’T BE BEAT!

 1) Lowers Blood Pressure:   Research has shown that beets can lower blood pressure. Beets and beet juice is one of the richest dietary source of naturally occurring  nitrites, which are compounds which help improve blood flow throughout the body including the brain, heart and muscles.  These natural nitrates increase a molecule in the blood vessels called nitric oxide which helps open up the vessels and allows more oxygen flow as well as lower blood pressure.

Find out what's happening in Yorktown-Somerswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

2) Great Source of Folate:  A half a cup of beets provides 17% of the recommended daily folate intake. Folic acid is necessary for cell development and for metabolism of certain biochemical reactions in the body. Ingesting the proper amounts of folic acid is especially important to pregnant women and women of childbearing age.  

3) High in Powerful Antioxidant Properties: The pigment in beets is called betacyanin and it’s anti oxidative properties help reduce LDL cholesterolprotecting artery walls and reducing risk of heart disease and stroke, protect against development of cancerous cells 

4) Prevents Some Cancers: Tests have suggested that beets can prevent lung and skin cancer and that beet juice slows the development of tumors due to the high content of betanin in beets

5) Lowers Cholesterol:  Beets contain carotenoids and flavenoids which can also help lower LDL (“bad”) blood cholesterol by preventing from being oxidized and deposited in the arteries.

6) Treats Anemia and Fatigue: Beets’ high iron content can help treat anemia and fatigue.......

To read Reasons 7 - 16 why you should put some beets in your shopping cart and a wonderfully easy recipe that looks beautiful using beets, go to:http://veganamericanprincess.com/16-reasons-beets-cant-be-beat-ellens-easy-stacked-beets-with-herbed...

Debby Sunshine

Vegan American Princess

Voted #2 in Skinny Scoop's Top 25 Vegan Blogs of 2013

Website: veganamericanprincess.com

Twitter: @debbysunshine1

Instagram: #veganamericanprincess

Click Here to Like us on Facebook

Learning all about living a more vegan lifestyle---food, health, plant-based nutrition, recipes, restaurants, products, beauty, news, ideas---anything related to veganism!


We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Yorktown-Somers