A great way to get the healthy nutrients you need from vegetables is to juice them. Here are three vegetables that have been researched and shown to have heart healthy benefits. What are they you might ask?
SPINACH
Spinach adequately supplies vitamins A and C and together these are both powerful antioxidants that protect artery walls and cholesterol from free radical damage. Cholesterol becomes sticky if it is oxidized by free radicals and will then adhere to the artery walls leading to possible blocked arteries and a heart attack.
The muscles of the heart will not function properly with out magnesium and potassium. If our potassium and magnesium levels get too low, this can cause irregular heart beats and even a possible heart attack. The good news is that spinach contains potassium and magnesium in abundance. Further more, these two minerals also help lower blood pressure.
Further more, spinach contains a vitamin called folate. Folate is essential for keeping the blood levels of homocysteine at safe levels by converting excess homocysteine into more benign chemicals. High blood levels of homocysteine is a definite risk factor for developing heart disease.
Juicer recipes idea: Adding an apple to your spinach juice will make it a lot more tasty. You will also need a considerable amount of spinach to produce enough juice, 5 or more cups will do it.
BROCCOLI
Broccoli contains good amounts of the cardio-protective vitamin C and vitamin A (see spinach above for benefits). Broccoli also contains sulforaphane, a phytochemical that can protect the heart. It appears that sulforaphane "tells the body" to release a protein called thioredoxin.
In addition to this, broccoli is also abundant in vitamins A and C, which carries the heart health benefits described above for spinach.
Juicer recipes idea: Both the flower heads as well as the stalks can be juiced. This is a good way to get more variety of vitamins and minerals from the plant.
TOMATOES
Are tomatoes a fruit or a vegetable? Well it is heart healthy enough to make it to this list, so I will leave the answer at that. Tomatoes contain a plant chemical called lycopene which is responsible for its vibrant red color. Lycopene is a powerful antioxidant which protects the tomato from the harmful effects of heat and light from the sun. Lycopene is equally powerful at protecting our arteries from cellular damage. In a recent study from Harvard women taking lycopene were 50% less likely to develop heart disease over a five year period. Furthermore, lycopene is considered to have beneficial effects on blood pressure.
Juicer recipes idea: You can use the left over pulp from your tomato juice to make soups or salsa.
SPINACH
Spinach adequately supplies vitamins A and C and together these are both powerful antioxidants that protect artery walls and cholesterol from free radical damage. Cholesterol becomes sticky if it is oxidized by free radicals and will then adhere to the artery walls leading to possible blocked arteries and a heart attack.
The muscles of the heart will not function properly with out magnesium and potassium. If our potassium and magnesium levels get too low, this can cause irregular heart beats and even a possible heart attack. The good news is that spinach contains potassium and magnesium in abundance. Further more, these two minerals also help lower blood pressure.
Further more, spinach contains a vitamin called folate. Folate is essential for keeping the blood levels of homocysteine at safe levels by converting excess homocysteine into more benign chemicals. High blood levels of homocysteine is a definite risk factor for developing heart disease.
Juicer recipes idea: Adding an apple to your spinach juice will make it a lot more tasty. You will also need a considerable amount of spinach to produce enough juice, 5 or more cups will do it.
BROCCOLI
Broccoli contains good amounts of the cardio-protective vitamin C and vitamin A (see spinach above for benefits). Broccoli also contains sulforaphane, a phytochemical that can protect the heart. It appears that sulforaphane "tells the body" to release a protein called thioredoxin.
In addition to this, broccoli is also abundant in vitamins A and C, which carries the heart health benefits described above for spinach.
Juicer recipes idea: Both the flower heads as well as the stalks can be juiced. This is a good way to get more variety of vitamins and minerals from the plant.
TOMATOES
Are tomatoes a fruit or a vegetable? Well it is heart healthy enough to make it to this list, so I will leave the answer at that. Tomatoes contain a plant chemical called lycopene which is responsible for its vibrant red color. Lycopene is a powerful antioxidant which protects the tomato from the harmful effects of heat and light from the sun. Lycopene is equally powerful at protecting our arteries from cellular damage. In a recent study from Harvard women taking lycopene were 50% less likely to develop heart disease over a five year period. Furthermore, lycopene is considered to have beneficial effects on blood pressure.
Juicer recipes idea: You can use the left over pulp from your tomato juice to make soups or salsa.
About the Author:
Darren Haynes enjoys writing about health subjects and especially about food and its healing properties. Check out my juicer recipes blog Juice Recipes
