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Categorised under the cruciferous vegetables along with cabbage, broccoli and brussels sprouts, Cauliflower is the one ultimate vegetable that serves many kinds of vitamins, fibers and minerals. Health benefits of cauliflower includes strengthening the bones, boosting cardiovascular muscles, reducing the risk of cancer and many more. Cauliflower is not only consumed as boiled vegetable but it can also be used as the addition in your salad. In addition to being very healthy, the Choline in this veggie keeps your memory in trail and boosts your brain functioning. Ever wondered if any normal vegetable would help in improving your sleeping pattern? Well! Cauliflower does. As the structures of cellular membranes are maintained, sleep and the transmission of nerve impulses are improved. click for info
Cauliflower nowadays are too rotten and are available any time of the year. So, to know if the cauliflower is fresh, look for the one which has a firm head with no dark spots, and bright green leaves attached to the stem. You can also then store in the refrigerator in a plastic bag for up to 5 days. This vegetable can be enjoyed in various ways- steamed, baked, fried or as the main ingredient in curries.
Nutrition Value of Cauliflower-
Below is the division of nutrition as per 1 cup (nearly 100 grams) of raw chopped cauliflower:
- 27 calories
- 2 grams (g) of protein
- 0.3 grams of fat
- 5 g of carbohydrate, including 2.1 g of fiber and 2 g of sugar
- 24 milligrams (mg) of calcium
- 16 mg of magnesium
- 47 mg of phosphorus
- 320 mg of potassium
- 51.6 mg of vitamin C
- 16.6 micrograms (mcg) of vitamin K
- 61 mcg of folate
- 77 percent of daily vitamin C needs
- 20 percent of daily vitamin K needs
- 10 percent or more of daily needs for vitamin B 6 and folate.
8 Health Benefits of Cauliflower
1. The Fiber in Cauliflower Helps In Weight Loss:
Consuming fiber filled foods helps you majorly in weight loss; it prevents bloating in your body. Having at least 30 grams of fiber each day can help you in losing weight along with lowering your blood pressure and having positive effects on your insulin. Let me explain the concept of fiber here – so there are trillions of friendly bacteria in our gut, majorly in the large intestine. Well, these bacteria need to be fed well to keep our body healthy and when the fiber enters our body, specifically in the gut, passing through the digestive system- almost unchanged, the bacteria consume the fiber giving enough usable energy to body and increasing the metabolism rate. Hence, reducing the weight. That’s how fiber and its characteristics work in our body.
2. Reduces Risk of Heart Diseases:
Carotid Artery is an artery situated in the neck connected with the heart and the head. When the artery wall thickens, it increases the risk of heart diseases as the blood vessels get difficulty to pass by. The intake of cauliflower, results in the thinness of the carotid artery walls making the blood vessels clearer and easy to move around, therefore, lowering the risk of heart diseases. Vegetables are always the best friend to get rid of the heart and brain related diseases. Consuming three portions of vegetables are proven healthy for thinning the carotid artery walls than that of consuming less than two portions. Select your meal wisely and let the risks not bother you.
3. Improves Eye Health:
Vitamin C helps our body form the connective tissue along with collagen which is found in the cornea of the eyes. Consuming cauliflower is like winning the antioxidant and phytonutrient lottery. It’s jammed with vitamin C, beta-carotene, kaempferol, quercetin, rutin, cinnamic acid, and much more. This vitamin helps your bones to be healthy, your skin gets glow-y and the delicate capillaries in the Retina gets better. So eat well, see well!
4. Fights Inflammation:
As mentioned earlier, that Cauliflower is highly rich in fiber, this characteristic of cauliflower also helps in reducing inflammation. Inflammation is a major key to ultimate weight gain and obesity because of its possible effect on the hormone leptin. Therefore, this veggie helps you in reducing inflammation because of its high tendency in fiber. Also, junk foods are the best friends of inflammation and are major cause of this disease. Inflammation doesn’t leave you easily until you start eating healthy foods. Also, don’t forget to drink lots of water while suffering through inflammation.
5. Improves Digestive Health:
As this vegetable offers a high amount of fiber, it is proven beneficial for the better digestive health. This vegetable gives you 10% of fiber (1 cup or 100 grams) out of total recommended fiber for a day. To avoid problem like constipation, fiber rich foods are much needed as it helps in keeping the bowel movements regular and easy. Fiber is the fuel for the colon cells which keeps them healthy, again improving the bowel movements. This benefit not only gives a lifetime solution but also improves your colorectal health.
6. Proves Healthy for Pregnancy:
As informed above, cauliflower is rich in vitamin C, which is a big green sign for pregnant ladies. It is quite usual for pregnant women to get their blood pressure elevated during the last trimester of pregnancy, Cauliflower helps reduce that risk keeping the mother and the baby safe. Also, the risk of bad cholesterol decreases keeping the good cholesterol healthy. Cauliflower has plenty of Calcium in it and while you are pregnant, 1000-1300 milligrams of calcium should enter into your body to form strong bones for the baby. Few people know this fact that cauliflower helps in growth of cells in your body, thus, being beneficial for the foetus development. Also, it contains zinc, phosphorus, selenium, sodium- all the minerals that help to keep up a healthy child in the womb of a mother. So don’t forget to add cauliflowers in your meals to have a healthy baby.
7. Boosts Brain Health:
Introducing Choline to you all; it is that chemical that do wonders in your brain and that wonder is, it makes your brain work in a hasty manner! Choline supports memory of the brain very finely, in short, it is the memory enhancer. It also increases the level of Acetylcholine in the brain which, again, helps in boosting brain. Other than improving your brain health, Choline also helps you focus on things with proper brain functionality. Cauliflower, however, is one of the few vegetables that contain choline in it.
8. Keep Hormones in Balance:
Cauliflower is certainly one of the foods to keep your hormones under balance. Usually, hormonal imbalance could occur anytime in different stages of your life. It can be noticed by finding any purple or pink stretch marks on your body or thinning of hair or hair loss, puffy face or round face, sudden weight loss or weight gain or during menopause in women and many more symptoms can say that you are going through hormonal imbalance. Therefore, cauliflower helps you in balancing the hormonal change. This vegetable, including the remaining cruciferous veggies like broccoli, cabbage and Brussels sprouts, helps in preventing the testosterone levels from decreasing. Also, they assist in good muscular growth offering in reverse again and proper emotional health.
Add this vegetable in your daily routine and boost up your energy, brain and life. Eat healthy, stay healthy!
