Red beets- energizing?

[shootingstar]

Every time I have a dish with red beets, I seem to feel energized. Or maybe it's the ginger root that's been grated abit into the beets... we do that when we have beet soup or roasted beets.

Maybe it's the natural sugar content or what? :confused: But I don't get a sugar crash.

[tulip]

When I lived in the Washington, DC area, I enjoyed a certain Indian restaurant that served amazing beet-juice smoothie things. Yeah, it always made me feel really good. I haven't found anything like that in these parts.

[Kalidurga]

I don't know about energy, but I've become addicted to having beets in the salads I get from Chop't (http://www.choptsalad.com/indexflash.htm). Considering that beets are one of those foods I was convinced my mom was trying to poison me with as a kid, that's quite a step.

[WindingRoad]

There is a LOT of iron in red beets. You may have slightly low iron in your blood. I get uber sluggish when my iron levels drop too low and can tell a drammatic increase in energy after taking supplements. Maybe I should just eat more beets ;)

[Grog]

Beets make me happy, period. The colour. And the iron, I guess. But the colour. And the taste. Happy.

[msincredible]

Yum, beets. :)

I remember one Thanksgiving I was all excited that there were beets being served, only to be incredibly disappointed when I bit into one and discovered it was sliced canned cranberry sauce. :o

[Jones]

Yum, beets. :)

I remember one Thanksgiving I was all excited that there were beets being served, only to be incredibly disappointed when I bit into one and discovered it was sliced canned cranberry sauce. :o

This made me laugh:)

[crazycanuck]

Are beets the same thing as beetroot?

I still giggle at beetroot on hamburgers...Where's the ASB bank commercial when ya need it.

[skinimini]

Considering that beets are one of those foods I was convinced my mom was trying to poison me with as a kid, that's quite a step.

Me too! Only my aunt tried to do that. I have a real mental block to beets. When I was 38 weeks pregnant with my son 22 years ago, my husband and I stayed with her for a week waiting for the closing on our house. She served beets every single night and being the polite southern girl, I made myself eat those things. They are the only vegetable that I really have a hard time eating. I won't touch canned cranberry sauce either. However, there is this fabulous veg restaurant near me that grates them raw on salads. Really pretty, and I have to say the beets are OK served in this way.

[shootingstar]

Me too! Only my aunt tried to do that. I have a real mental block to beets. When I was 38 weeks pregnant with my son 22 years ago, my husband and I stayed with her for a week waiting for the closing on our house. She served beets every single night and being the polite southern girl, I made myself eat those things. They are the only vegetable that I really have a hard time eating. I won't touch canned cranberry sauce either. However, there is this fabulous veg restaurant near me that grates them raw on salads. Really pretty, and I have to say the beets are OK served in this way.

I had same sort of relationship with kohl rabi..a green looking beet. Totally different. It was one of the few hard vegetables that could grow in our childhood garden that could survive...with my parents being lazy gardeners but wanting to feed their large family cheaply somehow. I didn't eat the stuff again until a few yrs. ago when my partner prepared the sliced beets in a different way.

Red beets are relatively new to me as something to eat at home in the last few years. If I see a dish that looks worthwhile on restaurant menu, I will order it.

I just am not comfortable to do the cleanup, preparation of beets at home. My partner does the beet dishes. Honest, I'm concerned I'll easily get the beet stain in areas that I won't be able to remove easily.

My partner also feels energized when he eats beets. It must be the iron.

[OakLeaf]

Okay, is this the thread where it's finally appropriate to talk about beeturia? :p

I experienced it twice this winter, both times immediately after long runs. Really freaked me out - I thought it was blood in my urine! The second time, I put two and two together with the beets I'd eaten. My urine was normal color at all times except for immediately after the long run. Looked it up on the Internets, didn't find anything directly on point, figured my kidneys just function differently on a long run.

[ny biker]

Okay, is this the thread where it's finally appropriate to talk about beeturia? :p

I experienced it twice this winter, both times immediately after long runs. Really freaked me out - I thought it was blood in my urine! The second time, I put two and two together with the beets I'd eaten. My urine was normal color at all times except for immediately after the long run. Looked it up on the Internets, didn't find anything directly on point, figured my kidneys just function differently on a long run.

I don't eat beets. I vaguely recall not liking them as a kid. But I have read that after eating them, you may be alarmed by what looks like blood in your stool. I hadn't heard about the urine thing, though.

[Kalidurga]

Oh, and I just remembered... Another place where I'll always eat the beets is a Mediterranean restaurant I go to that serves pickled beets as a garnish with appetizers. They're terrific pickled.

[7rider]

mmmmmmm....beets.

There's something I haven't had in a while (wait....I think I have a jar of them in the pantry!).

My mother used to make wonderful borscht (beet soup). We'd put sour cream in it and it was always a riot to be eating "pink soup" - but wow! Was it good.

[Kalidurga]

Oh yeah, I forgot borscht, too! Guess I like beets more than I thought I did...

[shootingstar]

The bathroom result...well, just colouring in the end. :o


There's some great recipes out there which we've tried...roasting red beets (very easy) and serving them with abit of balsamic vinegar, bits of goat cheese on top. So easy and different. Epicurious.com has some great recipes. So does Cooking Light magazine at their website.

As for dearie, he's added crushed aniseed along with ginger root into the beet soup. It makes a unique soup with a spike of spiciness.

We even tried a recipe which was a red beet ravioli. No the pasta dough was not homemade..it used won ton wrappers.

[cylegoddess]

beet and carrot juice, mmmmm

[ClockworkOrange]

Hoooray, beetroot is one of my favourites but nobody else I know likes them.

Yes, gorgeous when put in juicer with carrots and apples..........got to be my favourite drink.

I eat it most days AND have actually planted some, never grown them before, so it is all exciting.

BTW crazycanuck. "also known as the table beet, beetroot, red beet or informally simply as beet, is one of the many cultivated varieties of beets and arguably the most commonly encountered variety in North America and Britain"

Check out this link, really interesting: http://www.lovebeetroot.co.uk/healthy_info/

Clock

[Selkie]

I don't care for beets.

My mother used to make pickled eggs with beets. The smell of them made me gag.

[ZenSojourner]

As a kid, I LIKED beets.

As an adult, even the smell makes me gag sometimes.

My dad loves Harvard beets but I swear that man would eat anything if you put enough sugar on it. We go through 5 lbs (of sugar) a week, and it's ALL HIM.

[shootingstar]

Thx for the link, Orange. So it's not the iron in it, but the "better" sugar, slow-burning, natural sugar. Good stuff.

But pickled eggs (though I love them too) and beets, wouldn't be the tastiest way to introduce a kid to beets.

I probably didn't eat much red beets before...simply because it was never part of traditional Chinese cuisine at all. And I was afraid dealing with the staining possibilities.

Still am. Thank goodness dearie loves beets and doesn't mind handling them to make our lovely soups, etc. (He used to can lots of them years ago.)

[OakLeaf]

The bathroom result...well, just colouring in the end. :o

True, but it was interesting to learn that for the most part, some people experience beeturia because of the way their kidneys function, and most people don't. As I said, on a cursory search I found nothing about anyone like me, who experiences it only after long hard exertion.

I honestly think the energizing effect comes from the enzymes. There are very few vegetables most people eat raw and grated in large quantities; beets being one and cabbage being another. Not being much of a raw foodie, I don't get that rush often, but I recognize the beet rush as the same one I get when I eat at a raw food restaurant.

[Selkie]

T
But pickled eggs (though I love them too) and beets, wouldn't be the tastiest way to introduce a kid to beets.



You know it! But I think the dislike of beets was independent from those putrid pink pickled/beet eggs. The last time I had beets was when I was 11 or so, and IIRC, I stealthily spit them into my napkin instead of eating them.

[cylegoddess]

ZENS -for gods sake, get your Dad off the sugar! Or at least some of it.
He will get insulin resistance, then Type 2 diabetes, not good!
I was a sugar junky for years. He may have adenal burnout, so seeking a rush from sugar. Chinese herbs can fix this, if prescribed by good naturpath.

Stevia is good - I use it in tea and to sweeten small things( it also helps insulin go back to normal, if levels are buggered).
Or I use honey. Still a bit bad but white sugar( or brown or blonde) is just bad. Its killing the barrier reef, too, with nasty washouts from crops over here in Australia too.
Ok enough meddling! No kids and I turn into everyones mother!