You’ll Love the Veggies You Hate
Don’t judge food like broccoli, spinach, and brussel sprouts until you’ve tested their benefits.
If you’re as scared of these veggies as your kids are, blame Mother Nature: the very phytonutrients that make some vegetable so healthy are what give them that bitter taste.
Eggplant – that bitter taste comes, in part, from chlorogenic acid, which helps prevent cancer and can also keep heart threatening plaque from building up. What’s more, lab studies show that eating eggplant lowers cholesterol and helps artery walls relax, which can cut your risk for high blood pressure.
Cabbage – eating it a few times a week can cut your risk of breast, lung, and colon cancers. In one study of 30 Chinese women, those with the highest levels of cancer-fighting isothic cyanates found in cabbage-had a 45 percent lower risk of breast cancer than those with the lowest levels.
Broccoli – a super source of vitamins C and K (one cup has more than a day’s worth each), broccoli also helps ward off cancer. Sulforphane, one of its compounds, disarms cancer-causing substances. In lab studies, a different compound called indole-3-carbinol, prevented tumor growth in animals.
Beets – just one cup of this super veggie packs 34 percent of your daily need for folate (which can help lower levels of heart threatening homocysteine), 15 percent of potassium (which reduces blood pressure levels), and 27 percent of manganese (which helps maintain your bones).
Spinach – popeye had the right idea; thanks to high levels of beta-carotene, vitamins B2, B6, C and K – plus generous amounts of manganese, folate, and magnesium. Spinach is possibly the healthiest vegetable in the world.
Brussels sprouts – this veggie, broccolis first cousin, also helps ward of cancer. Sprouts daily for three weeks had 28 percent less genetic damage (a root cause of cancer) than those without didn’t.
Liked it
