Last Updated on November 22, 2020 by Ed Joven

Learn the Benefits of Eating Broccoli

Fancy a bowl of sautéed broccoli? How about steamed? Boiled perhaps? Whatever sort of way you want it served, be sure to have a healthy proportion of this veggie every day to invest on your health and well being. Did you know what you could get out of munching this green treat?

First off, Broccoli is quite a reputable vegetable. It has been attributed to a lot of benefits like arthritis relief, and detoxifying properties. Second, it’s classified as a cruciferous vegetable. Everyone should bear in mind that these crucifers are quite known for their anti-cancer properties. Third, it goes without question that Broccoli is listed as a super food because not only does it contain major anti-cancer chemicals, but it is also very rich in minerals, vitamins and proteins that are needed by your body. It sounds really good right? Take note, there’s more!

Here are the Top 10 Health Benefits of Broccoli:

1. It can lower Cholesterol Levels

High cholesterol levels increase, your chances of developing fatal diseases like Hypertension, Heart Problems, and Diabetes. These are all debilitating diseases that could later affect your jobs and your finances. But did you know that Broccoli can help you stay away from all these? This is all thanks to its high fiber content. Fiber induces your stomach to feel full, in that way, you lessen your food consumption. Soluble Fiber also helps the liver to produce bile. Bile is a substance that breaks large fat molecules into smaller droplets which are absorbed by your body.

2. Improves Bowel Health

As mentioned earlier, broccoli is quite rich with the dietary fiber that your body needs. Fiber is constantly needed by our body not only in lowering cholesterol levels, but also in maintaining a good bowel movement. Eating too little would result to a fewer toilet sessions, eating a lot would result to more frequent bowel movements. Your stool consistency would also significantly change as you adjust your fiber intake. Make sure you include Broccoli with your fiber sources!

3. Reduces your risk in developing Cancer

According to Colon Cancer Alliance, Cancer is the second killer disease in the US. Even when there are conventional medicines and therapy used to cure it, would it not be best to prevent it from ever developing by eating the number one cancer prevention vegetable, Broccoli. This vegetable is very much celebrated by people worldwide for its high concentration of sulforaphane, a powerful anti-tumor substance. Research reveals that Broccoli and Broccoli sprouts when combined together in a diet provides twice the amount of sulforaphane, which would mean doubling your chances of lowering your cancer risks.

4. Great detoxifier

Toxins accounts for most of the diseases that we contract if we could get them out of our system, we increase our chance of achieving an illness free body and broccoli is just the food you need to achieve that. We all owe that to the three essential detox agents it has namely, glucoraphanin, gluconasturtiian, glucobrassicin. These three substances function for the two phases of detoxification which are direly needed to be applied by the body to strong toxins that we intake, in order to flush them out of our system.

5. Good source of vitamin C

People would always associate Vitamin C to citrus fruits, since there’s a common notion that Ascorbic Acid should taste sour. So, it would probably surprise you that 100 grams of this veggie has more Vitamin C than a 100 gram orange. You just need to make sure that you won’t overcook it, otherwise you lose all these precious vitamins along with the other minerals that it has.

6. High in Protein

Vegans would never forget putting broccoli in their weekly grocery list because it is quite rich in protein. In fact, eating a cup of broccoli would give you 5% of your RDA of protein without the guilt of fat and extra calories. What’s more is you get a good portion of dietary fiber and Vitamin C. Now wouldn’t that be cool?

7. Food for the Heart

Heart diseases are a big killer all around the world. Countless of people are trying to do their best to avoid developing this disease. The good news is, there are a handful of ways to achieve that goal. One of which is eating broccoli. Researchers suggest that this is made possible by the sulforaphane, which activates the protein that helps in reducing heart inflammation and ridding of fatty plaques inside the veins.

8. Enhances Eyesight

Our eyesight tends to get blurry as we age. This is because our eyes undergo macular degeneration as we grow old. There are plenty of ways to slow down this process. One is through drinking eye supplements that contain vitamin A. Others resort to eating carrots. If you ever get tired of this regimen, then try broccoli. It gives you a good dose of Lutein, a popular carotenoid known for helping eyesight improve.

9. Great for joint pain

Just when you thought you had enough about sulforaphane, you would then realize that this chemical from broccoli is capable of all so much more. Apart from the other things mentioned above, it’s also great in fighting off osteoarthritis. Sulforaphane also slows down the wear and tear of the cartilages found between our joints. So start now while you’re still young, munch a serving of this to stay away from joint pains.

10. Boosts immune system

Broccoli is known for boosting the immune system thanks again to the sulforaphane. Sulforaphane acts more like a signaling molecule as it activates genes for anti-inflammation, it also activates genes that codes for the immune system. The immune system slowly weakens among aging people as the genes that codes for this is deactivated, which is why eating broccoli is just great because it switches them back.

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Having read all these benefits would surely convince you to have more broccoli in your diet. Just make sure you prepare them correctly to avoid all loosing these important chemicals. It’s best to have them served as a smoothie, since raw broccoli maintains all these essential substances that you would need, but if you don’t like the sound of it, then go for steamed, or blanched.

Check out our collection of Broccoli Recipes:

• Cheesy Baked Broccoli Recipe

•   Broccoli Tempura Recipe

• Spicy Shrimp Broccoli Sti-fry Recipe

• Chinese Beef Broccoli Recipe