It breaks my heart a little bit when people say they don’t like a certain vegetable. Call me a super kookie nutritionista (if you haven’t already) but I feel like vegetables are all my little baballobabies. They’ve all got their own little quirks, their own times to shine, and they’re very own uniqueness. So when people tell me that beets taste like dirt, if you listen very closely, you can likely hear my heart break just a little bit.
Beets are the candy of the vegetable kingdom. They are sweet as can be(et) and remarkably, hardly anything has to be done to them to make them outrageously awesome.
So next time you are at your market, and you want pass on by the gnarly, funny looking roots, you remember this one little fact: Beets contain betaine, a substance that relaxes the mind and is used in other forms to treat depression. It also contains trytophan which is also found in chocolate and contributes to a sense of well being.
In the summer months- I tend to kick it with the golden beets. Red beets rock too and a specialness to red beets is that they enable you to track your transit time. What’s this?
Yes- eat a red beet and see how long it takes for traces to show up in your poop. Ideally, you’ll see it in the 18-24 hour range. Before that and it’s a sign that food is moving through you too quick. Longer than that and I hate to say it my friend but you are bunged up and are likely in need of a good dose of psyillium, some magnesium, a little relaxation and a long hard look at your diet and lifestyle practices that may be reducing the tone in the old colon.
On that transit time tracking note- here is one of my brand new recipes for Roasted Beets. Enjoy!
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It’s so funny you wrote this post because my body was literally craving beets yesterday, so I prepared two candy striped beets for lunch. I’m such a beet convert (along with kale), but I, too, once thought they tasted like dirt.
These days turnips and radishes perplex me. I dont care for radishes in a salad and find they have no taste. Turnips along the same lines. Any ideas?
We <3 beets in our house… we did have a little panicky moment when my son was about a year though and ate some beets. I totally forgot we had some at lunch the day before and had a little mini heart attack when I saw what I thought was blood in his diaper :s. So word to the wise… yes it can help you determine your "transit time", but don't forget to remember you ate them ;).
Totally agree that beets have the earthy smell and taste , kind like the smell of rain falling on warm dirt. I loooove it. Since I was a little kid they are one of my favorite vegetable and now my kids can’t get enough of it either.
Now, I’m not a big fan of green pepers (unless is cooked), okra is not on my list either but I’m getting use to.
Mmmm beets! I cooked up some chioggia beets for the first time the other day – they’re so pretty and stripey! I ate them with bitter greens and some goat cheese. Divine summer foods. :)
My veggie I don’t know what to do with and don’t really like – butternut squash. So cloyingly sweet, yuck!
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It’s so funny you wrote this post because my body was literally craving beets yesterday, so I prepared two candy striped beets for lunch. I’m such a beet convert (along with kale), but I, too, once thought they tasted like dirt.
These days turnips and radishes perplex me. I dont care for radishes in a salad and find they have no taste. Turnips along the same lines. Any ideas?
Love the recipe card design! Very sweet.
We <3 beets in our house… we did have a little panicky moment when my son was about a year though and ate some beets. I totally forgot we had some at lunch the day before and had a little mini heart attack when I saw what I thought was blood in his diaper :s. So word to the wise… yes it can help you determine your "transit time", but don't forget to remember you ate them ;).
i really need to try beets again! i always am intimidated by the tough skin and purple stained hands, clothes and countertops! haha
bok choy, cabbage, okra, I’d say
Totally agree that beets have the earthy smell and taste , kind like the smell of rain falling on warm dirt. I loooove it. Since I was a little kid they are one of my favorite vegetable and now my kids can’t get enough of it either.
Now, I’m not a big fan of green pepers (unless is cooked), okra is not on my list either but I’m getting use to.
Mmmm beets! I cooked up some chioggia beets for the first time the other day – they’re so pretty and stripey! I ate them with bitter greens and some goat cheese. Divine summer foods. :)
My veggie I don’t know what to do with and don’t really like – butternut squash. So cloyingly sweet, yuck!