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.

Two minerals found abundantly in spinach are potassium and magnesium. Both these minerals are vital for your heart to beat properly and have been shown to help bring down blood pressure levels. If potassium levels fall too low in the body, a heart attack can result.

Spinach also contains the nutrient folic acid (folate). Folic acid is needed to lower the blood levels of a chemical called homocysteine. High blood levels of homocysteine is a powerful factor for the development of heart disease. If the homocysteine levels in the blood increase too much, it can cause heart desease. Folic Acid’s job is to change homocysteine into harmless molecules.

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.

Also, broccoli is bountiful in the cardioprotective phytochemical sulphoraphane. Sulphoraphane is somehow able to trigger the release of thioredoxin. Theioredoxin is a protein that has been proven in a study by the University of Connecticut to protects the cells of the heart from harm.

Juicer recipes idea: Be sure to juice the stalks as well as the flower heads to get more juice out of this vegetable. This will also increase the variety of nutrition in the juice.

TOMATOES

Is it a fruit? Is it a vegetable? Either way way its great for your heart! It’s high levels of a phytochemical known as lycopene that makes tomatoes an awesome vegetable for a healthy heart. Research at Harvard discovered that giving women lycopene over a period of five years reduced their risk of developing heart disease by 50%. Lycopene has also been shown to lower blood pressure

Juicer recipes idea: You can use the left over pulp from your tomato juice to make soups or salsa.

Darren Haynes enjoys writing about health topices and especially about food and its healing qualities. Check out my juicer recipes blog juicing benefits

Tags: Nutrition

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