Why Are Beets Awesome?

Beets are taking the world of health and wellness by storm. This superfood is being added to supplements, salad mixes, drinks, and just about anything else you can think of. If you're on the fence about why you too should be partaking of your daily dose of awesome, then allow me to shed some light on exactly what makes beets so great.

Beetroot aka red beet, table beet, garden beet, or more commonly just as beet, have LOADS of nutrients that are vital for your body to perform its routine functions. Some of the most important nutrients found in beets are folate (Vitamin B9), manganese, potassium, iron, vitamin C, and Inorganic nitrate. Many of us are familiar with things like potassium, iron, and vitamin C, but what about manganese? What do these actually do for the body that is making people flock to beet-based products?

Folate (Vitamin B9)

Folate is a compound that many pregnant women are very familiar with. Doctors and pregnancy books alike espouse the importance of getting enough folate in your diet. This is because folate is a vital resource in normal tissue growth and cell repair/function. There is no more intensive tissue production in our lives than when we are forming in the womb and so it is critical that our bodies have the resources they need to form properly. Outside of the womb, our bodies continue to require this resource as our cells continue to reproduce and repair themselves.

Manganese

This lesser-known trace mineral is a resource used in the production of connective tissues, bones, blood clotting factors, and sex hormones. Have you ever broken a bone, cut yourself, or damaged a ligament? Thank manganese for its help in bringing you back to full function and stopping you from bleeding out.

Additionally, if you're ever feeling that lack of "desire" or suffer a lack of estrogen or testosterone, a potential cause could be a lack of manganese needed to help produce these hormones.

Potassium

Bananas are a very common recommendation for anyone that is low on potassium, but did you know that beets and their associated products such as juices can also help you out? Potassium helps to reduce our blood pressure and is an electrolyte that serves in the function of our nerves and muscle contractions. It also helps in the proper synapse transmissions that regulate how regularly and effectively our hearts beat. So if you need to remember why beets are good for you, just remember that beets keep you beating.

Iron

Perhaps one of the most commonly known minerals needed in our bodies, iron is required to produce several necessary compounds. For example, iron is used to produce hemoglobin which transports oxygen via red blood cells, and myoglobin which takes oxygen directly into the muscles.

Iron also contributes to the production and regulation of several hormones. Being out of balance on your iron can be caused by not getting enough of it or with issues related to the primary hormone hepcidin which helps with iron uptake in the body. Hepcidin can experience problems when inflammation levels are high in your body which causes hepcidin levels to rise and trap iron in irrelevant cells in the body that don't normally need or use the iron.

Vitamin C

We won't spend a lot of time here because it seems the relative benefits of vitamin C have been well established. Suffice it to say that this vitamin is at the core of a strong and healthy immune system that is capable of protecting your body from exterior threats. Did you also know though that vitamin C is an antioxidant that helps your skin stay healthy too?

Inorganic Nitrate

This is actually a family of compounds that include things like nitrites. You may be familiar with the recent efforts to remove nitrites from our diets, but this is not the whole story. Nitrites found in processed meats are commonly held to be bad for our bodies. Nitrites found in other foods such as beets though are resources that are required for our bodies to function.

Our body takes nitrates and turns them into nitric oxide and other building blocks which the mitochondria in our cells use to make energy that our body burns as it works. By providing more of these raw materials, you are allowing your body's energy production to stay efficient and store more energy. The end result is more stamina, better oxygen uptake, and boosted baseline performance.

Nitric oxide also acts as a signaling device to the small muscles controlling our arteries' abilities to constrict or open up. More nitric oxide in the body means that these small muscles will be receiving more signaling to relax which causes them to open. More open arteries increase blood flow and reduce blood pressure.

Conclusion

Now that you have this new wealth of information it should be clear as to why beets should be next on your list of superfoods to add to your daily food intake. The trouble with beets though is that a lot of people find the taste or texture of a traditional beet to be problematic. My suggestion is to find a way to incorporate them in via a powder or other supplement that can be hidden into your other food and drink. My personal favorite is Plexus Slim which I have been using now since 2016 and is a simple powder added to water which tastes wonderful.

If I can help answer any questions for you or if you'd like to get your hands on your own superfood supplements send me a message here on LinkedIn today!