Why Eat BEETS

[liveonearth]

Great website here on nutrition of beets, right down to the cytokines and blood markers affected by some of the nutrients: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=49

I never used to eat beets. I bought my first beets to prep for my spring cleanse this year. I was eating smoothies of beet, celery and carrot. I think I'm going to learn a few more beet recipes. Got any?



NUTRIENTS IN BEETS
(in order)
folate
manganese
potassium
fiber
vit C
magnesium
tryptophan
iron
copper
phosphorus

color = betacyanin, shown to fight cancer esp CRC and gastric

EFFECTS OF BEETS
incr glutathione peroxidase and glutathione S-transferase --> better detox in liver
decr chol 30%, TGs 40%, incr HDL
choline (found in eggs) is metabolized to betaine (found in beets)
pts with >310mg choline qd in diet: 22% lower CRP, 26% lower IL-6, 6% lower TNFalpha
pts eating >360mg/day of betaine: 10% lower homocysteine, 19% lower CRP, 12% lower TNFalpha

OFF THE TOP OF MY HEAD
WHY BEING OVERWEIGHT CAUSES YOU TO BE ANXIOUS
IL-6 is an interleukin that signals the body to have fever, be anxious
yep, that's right, it's inflammatory, it's supposed to make you uncomfortable
IL-6 usu from T-cells and macrophages-->immune response to trauma
BUT it is also released by visceral adipose cells, so it called an adipokine
so I just lost a bunch of adipose, and ate a bunch of beets
and I feel substantially less ANXIOUS

from wikipedia:
IL-6
one of the most important mediators of fever and the acute phase response
can cross BBB
causes synthesis of PGE2 in the hypothalamus changing body's temperature setpoint
in the muscle and fatty tissue IL-6 stimulates energy mobilization-->incr temp
mb secreted by macrophages in response to pathogen assoc molecular patterns (PAMPs)
PAMPs bind to pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), incl Toll-like receptors (TLRs)
PAMPs are on cell sfc & intracellular-->induce intracellular signaling-->inflam
estrogen inhibits IL-6!! used to tx postmenopaus osteoporosis
(adipose also secretes estrogen)
IL-6 produced by adipocytes, mb why obese individuals have higher CRP
2009 study: intranasal IL-6 improved sleep-associated consolidation of emotional memories
wiki doesn't say anything about anxiety! THAT I learned from Dr Zwickey.

Comments

[neptunia67.livejournal.com]

I love beets. Another great juice is beet, celery and apple. It's delish.

I boil whole, unskinned beets (tops removed about 1/2 inch above the root) until tender. I drain the water and let them cool until I can handle them (or run under cold water), then slip the skins off with my hands. Then I slice them up and serve warm with butter and salt, or on salads.

The greens are delicious, too. I remove the stringy stems, wash well and chop them up. Then I take a few chopped green onions and saute them with a shredded carrot until soft, add a couple cloves chopped garlic until aromatic, and then add the beet greens and stir until wilted. Then I put a couple tablespoons of water into the pan, cover and simmer on low for about 15 minutes. Yum.

Here are some beet recipes from the Flag CSA blog - a few of them are mine: http://flagcsarecipes.blogspot.com/search/label/beets

[neptunia67.livejournal.com]

I forgot to mention that I saute the greens in olive oil.

I just read that article and wow - I'm glad I love beets!

beet stain?

[liveonearth.livejournal.com]

How hard it is to get that beet color out of your cotton clothes when you accidentally fling it on there? I'm such a messy eater I'm scared of bright colored food.

Re: beet stain?

[neptunia67.livejournal.com]

That's a good question. I haven't gotten beet stains on clothing before. This article makes it sound fairly easy to remove using bread, of all things (and a stain stick): http://housekeeping.about.com/od/laundry/a/stain_beets.htm

My fingers get stained when I work with beets. I find that washing my hands gets rid of about half the stain, then washing the dishes later takes care of the rest of it.

I'm going to dye some Easter eggs with beet juice today.

[liveonearth.livejournal.com]

Cool! Thank you for the recipes! Now I need to learn how to make BORSCHT. OK, found a traditional Russian recipe for that, and also found this recipe for

Beet HUMMUS:
http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/beet_hummus/

[neptunia67.livejournal.com]

Mmm - that beet hummus looks fantastic. I'm going to make some today. I'll let you know how it turns out!

[neptunia67.livejournal.com]

The beet hummus turned out great! I adapted the recipe to my tastes:

Ingredients

* 1/2 pound beets (about 4 medium sized beets), scrubbed clean, cooked, peeled, and cubed*
* 4 Tbsp tahini sesame seed paste
* 2 Tbsp lemon juice
* 2 small cloves garlic, chopped
* 1 tsp ground cumin
* 1 Tbsp lemon zest (zest from approx. 2 lemons)
* Generous pinch of sea salt or Kosher salt
* Fresh ground pepper to taste

Method

Place all ingredients in a food processor (or blender) and pulse until smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings and ingredients as desired. Refrigerate for a few hours to allow flavors to fully blend. Serve with pita chips, or with sliced cucumber or celery, or on a crostini with goat cheese and shaved mint.

Next time, I'm going to add a couple tablespoons of chopped cilantro on the last couple pulses of blending. Fresh mint would be nice, too.

[liveonearth.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I agree that it needed more TAHINI. Yum.

[calizen.livejournal.com]

Having been forced to eat yucky canned beets as a child, I gag at the thought of anything with beets. But more power to you. And oh I hear beet sugar is hard to find in the US but utterly scrumptious.

[liveonearth.livejournal.com]

Aw. I'm sorry you suffered from canned beet abuse. I missed that horror, instead being fed canned green beans and corn along with my macaroni and spam. =-]

[hausfrauatu.livejournal.com]

I like beets cooked and then sliced with feta cheese crumbles and a bit of oil and vinegar. A bed of greens is nice, too. And mint. Mmmmmmm.

I've been waiting for the beets to look better around here. They haven't been fit to eat. (Slimy!)

[liveonearth.livejournal.com]

You could get me to eat coal if you put enough feta on it.

[neptunia67.livejournal.com]

me too!