Besides the occasional salad, most of us don't have beetroot in our diet, but this humble, often forgotten vegetable should definitely have its place on your plate, as it is full of antioxidants, has anti-inflammatory properties, improves endurance, lowers blood pressure and improves blood flow through your veins.
Beets and beetroot juice are great sources of folate and manganese, and they also contain plenty of potassium, as well as more nitrates than any other vegetable. Nitrates are converted to nitric acid through a series of reactions, which dilates your blood vessels to improve blood flow. This increase in blood flow gives your body the opportunity to receive more oxygen and other nutrients through the bloodstream.
A recent study found that adding beetroot juice before a moderately intense treadmill walk improves brain function. Dietary nitrate intake leads to increased oxygen efficiency during exercise, while at the same time improving performance and increasing endurance. One study proved that consuming 500 ml of beetroot juice before cycling increased performance by 3%, and two recent studies showed that consuming 500ml of beetroot juice over six days improved endurance by up to 25%.
Research from 2015 found that beetroot can dilate blood vessels and reduce the amount of oxygen that certain muscles need to function properly, reducing blood pressure, leading to workouts that last up to 16% longer than usual.
Now that we've hopefully convinced you to put beets on your grocery list, make sure you prepare them properly - first peel the outer part and to cook them, wrap them in foil and put them in the oven at 200 degrees for an hour.
You can season any salad with beets with lemon juice and olive oil, and you can mix it with spinach and other healthy ingredients to make a super smoothie, Nezavisne reports.
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