Broccoli doesn’t quite have the Popeye-creating properties that spinach does, but it holds its own in the superfood department. Jam-packed with powerful vitamins and minerals essential for your body, this vegetable should be part of everyone’s daily diet.
Still, even with all the benefits it provides, it’s often the victim of many anti-broccoli jokes and puns.
While it’s not something everyone loves (what is, anyway?), broccoli’s bad reputation is undeserved. There are endless ways to cook and eat it, from florets to stems, and countless reasons, like these, why you should add it to your daily meals.
1. You Get Almost All Your Nutrients in One Serving
Is your pill container loaded with various supplements to help you get all the nutrients you need each day? If so, consider switching those expensive bottles with a serving of broccoli.
The vegetable’s nutrient content is loaded with nearly everything your body requires to function optimally. One cup provides energy-producing carbs and protein. It gives you the fat and fiber necessary for digestion.
You’ll also get more than enough of your daily required Vitamins C and K, plus a portion of Vitamins A and B9, potassium, phosphorus, and selenium.
No matter how you eat it, whether raw, steamed, baked, or otherwise cooked, broccoli holds most of its nutritional composition. Opt for raw or steamed broccoli for the best nutrients with the least detrimental effects.
2. Broccoli Can Help Prevent Aging
You won’t see broccoli on the ingredients list of a face mask, but the antioxidants in the vegetable do the same job.
Antioxidants are the molecules that reduce the damage to your cells that occurs from contact with free radicals. These unstable atoms are linked to aging and illness, but we’re exposed to them nearly every day.
When you eat broccoli and other foods with high levels of antioxidants, your body has a stronger defense against free radicals. In addition to slowing down the signs of aging, antioxidants also aid in reducing blood sugar and cholesterol levels.
3. Broccoli Can Reduce Inflammation
Are you dealing with symptoms like chronic pain or inflammation? Broccoli may be part of your solution.
The bioactive compounds in this green vegetable are linked with inflammation reduction. Antioxidants have some power to reduce cellular swelling, but when paired with the other compounds in broccoli, this benefits, well, compounds.
Flavonoids like kaempferol have substantial anti-inflammatory properties that could be advantageous to people with chronic inflammation and general pain.
Since these two conditions can be treated with medical marijuana, it’s also handy to know that eating broccoli can boost the effects of weed. It has a terpene called beta-caryophyllene that acts as an anti-inflammatory and pain reducer while enhancing the various effects of THC.
4. Cancer-Fighting Properties Are Found in Broccoli
The same bioactive compounds and antioxidants that reduce cell damage and inflammation could also help you fight cancer.
Studies have shown that eating broccoli and other cruciferous veggies benefit your body on a cellular level. At its very core, cancer is a disease caused by cell damage. When you protect your cells, you can avoid or minimize the effects of cancer.
While more research is necessary, currently, broccoli is linked to reduced levels of breast, prostate, gastric/stomach, colorectal, bladder, and kidney/renal cancer.
5. Broccoli is Good for Your Heart
You’ve heard of “good” and “bad” cholesterol levels and their role on your heart health. But how do you know what kinds of foods are okay and which kinds to avoid?
Eating broccoli solves the dilemma. It reduces the “bad” triglycerides and LDL cholesterol levels and improves good HDL cholesterol. In general, the only way to boost those HDL levels is to get exercise, so if you’re relatively sedentary in your daily life, broccoli could be your saving grace.
The nutrients in broccoli have been connected to lowered oxidative stress and cell damage in heart tissue. If you’re trying to prevent cardiac damage and heart disease, eat more broccoli.
Conclusion
Broccoli is a food that provides significant health benefits for your entire body and can be eaten in almost any form. Steam it, dip it, or blend it into a pie, but be sure you get your daily dose of broccoli.