Spoiler Alert: Healthiest Foods Of October: Beets are NOT actually gross!

Beets
When I was a kid, beets came out of a can. I thought they GREW in there. Weird, right, how beets come pre-sliced and pre-canned. 

I had no idea A) that they were a root veg just like a carrot, or B) that they did not taste like dishwater. 

Now that I’m older (read, ancient) and wise to the ways of the world, I love them … but NEVER from a can. Do you know why? Because dishwater belongs in the sink, not in my mouth. 

The only real downside to beets is also the massive upside. The incredible beautiful color stains like crazy. AND if you’re wearing a white shirt when you’re cutting a beet, there is some gravitational pull, some fundamental force of physics that causes the beet juice to splash onto your clothes. Science is so strange sometimes. 

The really good news is that the compounds that give beets that violety, carmine color are called “betalains”. They’re incredibly powerful as an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and for detoxification. By the way, betalains will kill cancer cells … KILL them. Here’s the research on that. 

You know those people who do detox diets, and take detox pills, and a search for a billion other species of weird detox things?  The detoxification slurry of green goop is slimy, for sure, but it’s not necessarily bad for you. 

But does it actually detoxify your body? Sure, but it’s no more or less that having that ground up spinach and flax and whey and raw egg and whatever in a salad (please cook your eggs, people). Sometimes we totally overthink things.  

In fact, did you know that there’s actually a detox foot patch. You see this, and you think, “really”? That the Detox Foot Patch exists MEANS that people purchase this. Really? 

In any case, if you want to detox your system, just “include the food”. Have beets, by themselves, or in a salad. 

Include The Food 
(don’t eat a ton, just make sure you have some)

This beet salad is great (Click here for the recipe), but, there’s something you can do to this salad to make sure it is even better. Sure, sure, try the salad as per the recipe at first, but then give it a twist the next time. Then, when you cook the beets, instead of boiling them, roast them in a foil packet with S&P and some oil/vinegar. They’re awesome. 

 For more information: Click here to visit Will Clower’s website.