Wednesday, October 6, 2010

The healing power of...broccoli?

Absolutely. Bad news for people like George Bush the Elder, who, during his tenure leading this nation, asserted: “I do not like broccoli. And I haven't liked it since I was a little kid and my mother made me eat it. And I'm President of the United States and I'm not going to eat any more broccoli.” Despite the fact that for much of his life (and throughout his presidency) he regularly got high scores on health and fitness from his family physician, Bush missed out on some amazing health benefits.

So here's a few articles about the greatness of broccoli. If you have osteoarthritis, ulcers, cancer, or are at risk for any of these, it would be good for you to sit up and pay attention. And what about isolating the components like sulforaphane, di-indolylmethane, and selenium? Here's why it's better to get your nutrition from food than from supplements:

"It's probably a combination of ingredients in the plant that is responsible (for health benefits). When you try to extract them out to make a pill, it usually doesn't work." So says a randomly-named Steven Zeisel from the University of North Carolina. Dunno who he is, but the quote rings true.

Tip: either eat broccoli raw or only lightly steam it for 3-4 minutes. Cooking longer than that destroys the sulforaphane, hugely responsible for broccoli's anticancer effects.

UPDATE: Here's a great picture of a friend's son enjoying his broccoli. Seeing enthusiasm for vegetables among kids like this is cause for celebration!

4 comments:

  1. Glad my little one LOVES his broccoli! Now if only his daddy would eat it too...

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