I Love Beets!

I never used to eat beets. As a kid, I only tried pickled beets and that didn't do it for me. I never tried them again, until last year when my husband asked me to make beets for him. I went to the store and bought yellow beets, roasted them, and tried again. I was hooked.  I'll say it loud and proud, I LOVE BEETS!

Beets are sweet and delicious and a great add on to any salad or side dish for any meal, hot or cold. They are colorful and jazz up the presentation of any plate. However, in addition to their appeal both in taste and visually, beets have nutritional qualities that make them a wonderful addition to anyone's diet.

Why eat beets?

Aside from being delicious, recently, the chenopod family of plants, including beets, chard, spinach and quinoa, has shown an increasing number of health benefits not readily available from other food families. Beets are a unique source of phytonutrients called betalains, that have been shown to provide antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and detoxification support. The antioxidant properties may have an anticancer effect and the anti-inflammatory properties may promote cardiac health.  Beets are an excellent source of folate and a good source of potassium, dietary fiber, vitamin C, vitamin B6, and iron.  Although you can see these betalain pigments in other foods (like the stems of chard or rhubarb), the high concentration of betalains in the flesh of beets provides a great source of the compounds that promote these health benefits.

Okay, I'll go buy some beets. But what do I do with them?

Go to the store and buy fresh beets, they really are very easy to make. Beets can be purchased either with or without the greens.   I prefer buying them with the greens, because I think they are fresher, and because you can make a second side dish out of the greens. If you enjoy sautéed spinach or Swiss chard, I encourage you to try the beet greens. You can sautée them with garlic and add mushrooms or you can simply boil them for a minute or two.  They are very good.

I have only ever prepared my beets 2 ways. Usually, I stick with the simple roasted beets.

Roasted Beets
1. Cut off the top and bottom of the beet and rinse well
2. Wrap the beets individually with aluminum foil and place them in a baking dish
3. Roast at 400 for an hour
4. The skin will peel of easily after the beets are roasted.

In my research for this article, I learned that the betalains are sensitive to heat and begin to breakdown with lengthy cooking. The next time I make beets I am going to try the 15 minute steam recipe.

15 Minute Steamed Beets
1. Cut off the top and bottom of the beets, rinse well, and cut into quarters
2. Place a small amount of water at the bottom of a pan and bring to a boil
3. Steam the beets for 15 minutes
4. Allow the beets to cool and the skin will come off easily
5. Toss beets with lemon juice, olive oil, and herbs.

Beets can also be consumed raw. They can be grated directly into a salad and are a great addition to slaws. Over the summer, I made a great carrot and beet slaw. I found the following recipe on the Spartan recipe website.

Carrot and Beet Slaw
Ingredients
2 medium beets
1 large carrot
2 tbs olive oil
1 tbs red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
1. Peel beets and carrot.
2. Coarsely grate beets and carrot into bowl (i used the grating attachment on my foor processor).
3. Pour olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt and pepper onto grated beets and carrot.
4. Mix thoroughly; serve, and enjoy!

So if your only experience with beets was out of a can or a jar, I encourage you to try again. You may be surprised.

If you are a seasoned beet eater, please share your favorite beet recipes here. I'd love to expand my beet repertoire.

Step by Step- It's a Way of Life

When I started this blog 3 months ago and called it the “No More Crap Diet,” I never outlined an actual diet for you.  This is because it isn't a diet, it's a way of life.  Almost three years ago, I started to change my life.  In that time, I have tried to cut the crap out- out of my diet and out of my life.

“What diet are you on?”

I hate the word diet. Mostly because people associate it with something you do for a limited amount of time. People say “I'm on a diet” or “I'm off my diet today” or “I quit that diet a while ago,” and then they expect the benefits that were associated with those diets to continue even though they are no longer “on the diet.”

Do you continue to make money after you quit your Job? No. Then why would you continue to lose weight after you quit your diet? A diet won't work, until you change your outlook on eating.

When I use the word diet, I am referring to the way I eat, day in and day out. It didn't all happen at once, it evolved over the last three years and continues to evolve as my body’s needs change.

So how did I start? Pretty much the way most people who are starting a diet would start. I started by cutting calories and logging my food intake. It didn't take the first time, I started and stopped about 3-4 times before it became routine. In that time, I learned that I needed to eat protein and veggies and that would let me still eat enough and stay under the desired calorie count.

I started to cut some things out of my daily diet. I stopped grabbing a bagel when I didn't bring lunch. I stopped snacking on the cookies and cake that my coworkers were bringing in even though it looked delicious.  I stopped grabbing a handful of pasta that I just made for the kids for dinner. I started teaching myself to have self-control and, in the process, I cut a lot of crap!

I also had to start doing certain things.  I started cooking more instead of take out during the week.  I made sure that I always had healthy snacks. There was always a bag of carrots and a bag of almonds available both at work and at home. I bought plenty of fresh fruit and veggies or at least had bags of frozen broccoli in my freezer just in case.   I found the best place around work to get a customized chopped salad so I had a back up plan if I didn't prepare my own lunch.

As my routine changed, my body’s nutritional needs changed as well. When I started running and lifting weights, I had to increase the number of calories that I was eating. I started reading about nutrition and macronutrients and the body’s need for different fuel sources at different times (this is a topic for a different blog post).  While I previously had cut almost all carbs (except those from fruit and veggies) out of my diet, I have recently started to bring the carbs back into my diet. Oatmeal, sweet potatoes and Ezekiel bread are now staples in my meal planning.

“But it's so overwhelming…”

If you feel like it is so overwhelming, then don't change everything at once. Remember you are making a long term change for the better, so make sure you set yourself up for success.

Here are a handful of changes that I have made over the last three years.

• No more pasta

(This started as "pasta is not the main course, maybe a little on the side", and then "no pasta"- going cold turkey would be too difficult)

• Switched coffee with whole milk and sugar to coffee with only skim milk or almond milk

(This took 2 years to change)

• Drink at least 2 liters of water per day

(This was my 2015 New Year's resolution - read about it here)

• No more diet soda

(The most recent change as of February 2015- so far so good!)

All of my changes have been gradual, every couple of months I cut something bad out or start doing something good.

So start small and change one or two things over time. It may take longer but it will last longer too.

What changes have you made and what is your next step?