Beets or beetroots are by no means the sexiest superfood. To the uninitiated, they have a distinctly earthy taste – without the right preparation, they may turn you off after one taste. But the reason (or reasons) you should stick around and try to refine your beet consumption strategy is that these unassuming purple-red roots are packed with minerals and vitamins that give them tons of medicinal value.
Read on to learn about the 8 best reasons to add beets to your diet. They range from the mineral composition of beets to the effects its components have on your body’s functions. If you care about your health, you should figure out how to make beets as great for your tongue as they are for your body already.
1. Nutrient Profile
In terms of vitamin and mineral-rich foods, you want to look at the balance between nutrients and calories. Beets provide a ton of essential nutrients without hardly any calories. These include magnesium, manganese, folate, fiber, potassium, Vitamin B6/C, and even protein. This profile encourages beets’ productive health effects on your body.
2. Performance Boost
Improving athletic performance with diet requires a balance of efficient cell function and oxygen increases. Beets have been shown to slightly boost athletic performance by reducing exhaustion in comparison to oxygen consumption. 2 or 3 hours before training, drink beet juice to observe a slight performance boost in your next event or session.
3. Inflammation Reduction
Inflammation, particularly the kind associated with obesity, can be reduced by consuming betalains, pigments in certain plant compounds that reduce inflammation markers in your kidneys. People at risk for heart and liver disease, osteoporosis, or even certain cancers can reduce their risk with betalain-rich foods like beets.
4. Blood Pressure Improvements
Beets have been shown to reduce systolic blood pressure when consumed regularly, though the effect is more pronounced when the beets are raw as opposed to cooked. Since chronic high blood pressure leads to an increased risk for stroke, heart failure, and other problems, beets can be part of a heart-healthy diet that prevents you from becoming another statistic.
5. Improved Mental Health
Age-related cognitive decline can lead to memory problems and even dementia. While some aspects of this decline are inevitable, blood flow and oxygen levels in the brain can affect it. Beets contain nitrates which can improve age-related cognitive function by increasing blood flow to your brain and helping your blood vessels dilate more efficiently.
6. Better Digestion
Fiber is the hallmark of healthy digestion. Beets contain a good serving of dietary fiber, making them choice foods for people that want to encourage healthy colon function and prevent uncomfortable problems like constipation and IBS.
7. Weight Control
A lot of the above benefits add up to better weight control by improving your body’s ability to absorb and use nutrients. As a food source, beets are packed with water and skimpy on calories, making them great, low-cost sources of digestion-boosting fiber as well as essential nutrients.
They can also help you control your appetite, improving your weight indirectly by reducing your cravings.
8. Cancer Prevention
Beets contain antioxidants as well as anti-inflammatories. We don’t yet know in the long run if beets specifically have anti-cancer benefits, but limited studies combined with their composition suggests that they can reduce the growth of tumor cells and prevent cancers from forming.
The Takeaway
Whether you eat them as part of a salad or coleslaw, a dip blended with yogurt, or a juice, beets can add 8 show-stopping health benefits to your diet. To profit from beets’ beneficial effects, you have to consume them regularly. Get creative with how you improve their taste, including steaming, roasting, or marinating them. By incorporating them into salads or slaws, you can make them tasty enough to eat regularly and improve many of your body’s functions at the same time.
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