Do you hate the taste of broccoli? Relax. It’s good for you. These healthy facts about the vegetable may be enough to overcome your childhood aversions.
‘Tis the season for broccoli and we’ve been eating a whole lot of it lately.
While it’s common knowledge that this vegetable is very much maligned by children the world over, I think that just goes to show that parents are having a hard time actually teaching their children what’s good for them.
Broccoli can be prepared in dozens of ways and they’re all delicious. You can eat it raw, you can bake it, you can boil it, you can steam it, you can grill it, you can broil it, you can stew it, you can even fry it. Broccoli is a very versatile vegetable and including it in your recipes will provide them with a giant dose of health.
Broccoli is a vegetable that is available year-round at most grocers, making it one of the easiest vegetables to source — even in the dead of winter.
What makes broccoli so nutritionally important?
For one, broccoli contains substantial carotenoids. The more purple the tops of the spears, the more carotenoids the broccoli contains. Carotenoids provide a dietary source of Vitamin A, are known to help protect your cells from the damaging effects of free radicals, and help support your immune and reproductive systems. Lutein, a carotenoid in brocolli, has shown that it can help stave off cataracts and prevent age-related macular degeneration.
Broccoli also provides a high amounts of essential vitamins like Vitamin E, K, B6, and, of course, Vitamin C. Vitamin C assists your body in absorbing iron and has been shown to reduce the effects of the common cold virus among other things.
Rich in both calcium and potassium, broccoli has been shown to help reduce blood pressure levels of those suffering from hypertension. For people suffering from bone density loss, the calcium in broccoli has shown to help combat the effects of osteoporosis.
As if all of that wasn’t enough, broccoli also contains folic acid which is great for women of child-bearing age to consume both during and prior to pregnancy. Taking the daily recommended amount of folic acid prior to and during pregnancy has been shown to reduce the occurrence of serious neural tube defects by up to 70%.
Need even more great news about the health benefits of eating this amazing vegetable? Recent studies have indicated the indole-3-carbinol (I3C) in broccoli might help combat hormone-related cancers such as prostate and breast cancer.
If you’re not eating broccoli; give it a shot. Those childhood aversions are all in your head.
