Beetroot

Autumn is the time for beets! Another little little excerpt from mine, Ida and Emelies book Moonvalley Diaries. The book follows the season of the year and autumn really the time for root veggies. And Beetroot is the queen of all roots I might say, nordic superfood royal! It has so many health benefits and might even boost your training.

The book can be found Gawellforlag in paper format and as an e-book.
/Mimmi

Beetroot
Beetroot belongs to the amaranth family, which means that it is related to spinach and quinoa. It may be the most nutritious root vegetable we have, loaded with fibre and with minerals like potassium, manganese and vi- tamin C. Beets also contain plenty of nitrate, which itself confers a number of health benefits. The nitrate in beetroot is converted to nitrogen when we eat it, and nitrogen has a dilating effect on our blood vessels. This means that beetroot can have an anti-hypertensive effect and increase blood flow throughout the body. Increased blood flow in the body improves oxygen supply to the muscles. The ni- trogen also causes the mitochondria to work more efficiently, so that your cells consume less oxygen when producing energy. Mitochondria are the cell’s power plant, where oxygen and food are turned into energy, heat, water and carbon dioxide. 

Increased oxygen supply and more efficient energy production are a great combi- nation for a runner, and it is understandable that drinking beetroot juice before a race has grown popular among endurance athletes, as the increased nitrate content has been shown to extend a runner’s time to exhaustion in both workouts and races. 

But keep in mind that there are rarely any quick fixes. You cannot compensate for lack of exercise and otherwise poor eating habits by downing beetroot juice just before a race. It is more effective for your well-being – and your performance too – to always eat plenty of nitrate-rich vegetables, such as leafy vegetables, beetroot and rhubarb