Beets: Your New Best Friend

Why Beets?

Eating seasonally is one of my favourite ways to keep a varied diet, get more connected to my terroir and farmers, and learn new recipes.

Beets with their decadent red colour, their juicy sweetness, and their undoubtably fun finger-paint-ability, have been my food focus through August & September.

They contain Betaine (named after its discovery in sugar beets).

Betaine is also known asTriMethylGlycine. It is a fantastic natural source of methyl, which is valuable in cardiovascular health, DNA function and detoxification in the liver. If you want to learn other reasons why methyl is so important, check out my post on epigenetics.

Chock full of deep red pigments called Betalains (different from the common blue-red anthocyanins), which regulate oxidation and decrease inflammation. Betalains are also found in chard stalks & amaranth leaves, but beets by far are the reddest. I think we could benefit from a little bit of support in being less inflamed and less reactive, and especially if we can find it in local and delicious food.

Excellent source of Folate & Manganese – both important for cell function & mitochondrial health. The mitochondria – an organelle deep inside each of your cells – where energy is literally created. It is the source of your life.

Also, mind your mitochondria, it is the only place in you where your mother’s ancestry resides.

Isn’t your body amazing?

I like to emphasize that food is much more than nutrients or medicine. It’s nourishment. The nutritional/medicinal benefits are like a bonus!

Enjoy nourishing yourself.

My mother always told me, there are hidden nutrients in food that we will never know, and never find. Cherish your food, not your nutrients.
Thank you mom.