Crazy for Cauliflower
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It's been riced, baked, roasted, chopped, pureed and powdered. Cauliflower is everywhere. Wondering why? If you don't like strong smells or you just really like your carbs, then you may not understand why someone would use a cauliflower based pizza crust or choose roasted cauliflower over roasted potato.
But if you feel better eating low carb and you don't mind (maybe even love?) the taste of cauliflower, then you too may already be part of the craze. Chances are, you've noticed that when you eat it rather than high carb alternatives (white rice, white potato or wheat), you feel better. Scratch that. You feel amazing.
Come to think of it. Here's how you feel.
You sleep better. You wake up with...what's that feeling? Energy. Yep that's right. It's been a while, so almost just didn't recognize it!
Oh, and you have that 80's song in your head- Magic by The Cars. You know. "Uh oh, it's Magic!". And you think to yourself.....how the heck do I feel this good? Briefly wondering if it's magic. Then thinking, what did I eat?!
Maybe it's what you didn't eat. You didn't eat as many carbs as usual, so your body didn't have to release a flood of nutrients into your bloodstream just to metabolize the sugar. Your body was super responsible with these nutrients, and used them for other things.
The available nutrients went to your immune system, your detox pathways, your brain for neurotransmitter production (happy brain!), and the phyto-nutrients helped balance your hormones. Not only do you feel great when you wake up, but you will keep feeling better through the next day.
As a matter of fact, the benefits of eating a food as packed with nutrition as cauliflower can stay with you up to 2 weeks. That's right. All you wanted to do was try out this crazy cauliflower alternative (to see what the hype was about). You wind up feeling great and.....falling in love?
Cauliflower is simply amazing. It soaks up other flavors and can be chopped or riced into different sized chunks, so it's versatile. It winds up being delicious in all sorts of dishes, and makes a great low carb alternative.
My favorite ways to use it:
Just a side-note here. You will not like cauliflower unless you add seasoning to it. At least add olive oil, salt and pepper. You can also add Italian seasoning, garlic powder, cumin, turmeric, or any other of your favorite spices for an even better flavor. Like I said, it soaks up the flavor.
So, here's the nutrient breakdown on cauliflower for all you nutrition nerds like me that like to memorize this stuff.
For every 1 ounce of cauliflower, you get*:
Fiber, 1 gram
Folate, 16 mcg
Potassium, 84.8 mg
Protein, 1 gram
Vitamin C, 13 mg
Vitamin K, 4.5 mcg
The fiber helps keep your gut healthy. The folate is great for your heart and energy level. The potassium helps balance your minerals and supports adrenals. The protein is a complete protein, which is somewhat rare in plant based protein sources. The vitamin c boosts collagen production and the immune system. Vitamin k helps regulate blood clotting and can help strengthen bones.
The most important significant benefit from eating cauliflower is the phytonutrient content. Nutrients like indole-3-carbinol, which turns into di-indolyl methane in your body. This is an important nutrient for hormone regulation. In women it down regulates the tumor growth hormone (reduces cancer risk and can even help fight cancer). In men it down regulates harmful hormones that cause mid life weight gain and hair loss. It's almost like it's magic, but it's not. It's God's divine design. So perfect. It's so what we need. Maybe that's why we love it.
If you read this entire post, and learned something from it, PLEASE consider subscribing and sharing with a friend. As a nutritionist, my goal isn't to sell stuff. I just want to help people be healthier, and in particular avoid heart disease, cancer and diabetes. The more you know, the better decisions you can make for you and your family. Let's make better decisions together.
*Nutrition stats from The Illustrated Food Remedies Sourcebook by C. Normal Shealy
It's been riced, baked, roasted, chopped, pureed and powdered. Cauliflower is everywhere. Wondering why? If you don't like strong smells or you just really like your carbs, then you may not understand why someone would use a cauliflower based pizza crust or choose roasted cauliflower over roasted potato.
But if you feel better eating low carb and you don't mind (maybe even love?) the taste of cauliflower, then you too may already be part of the craze. Chances are, you've noticed that when you eat it rather than high carb alternatives (white rice, white potato or wheat), you feel better. Scratch that. You feel amazing.
Come to think of it. Here's how you feel.
You sleep better. You wake up with...what's that feeling? Energy. Yep that's right. It's been a while, so almost just didn't recognize it!
Oh, and you have that 80's song in your head- Magic by The Cars. You know. "Uh oh, it's Magic!". And you think to yourself.....how the heck do I feel this good? Briefly wondering if it's magic. Then thinking, what did I eat?!
Maybe it's what you didn't eat. You didn't eat as many carbs as usual, so your body didn't have to release a flood of nutrients into your bloodstream just to metabolize the sugar. Your body was super responsible with these nutrients, and used them for other things.
The available nutrients went to your immune system, your detox pathways, your brain for neurotransmitter production (happy brain!), and the phyto-nutrients helped balance your hormones. Not only do you feel great when you wake up, but you will keep feeling better through the next day.
As a matter of fact, the benefits of eating a food as packed with nutrition as cauliflower can stay with you up to 2 weeks. That's right. All you wanted to do was try out this crazy cauliflower alternative (to see what the hype was about). You wind up feeling great and.....falling in love?
Cauliflower is simply amazing. It soaks up other flavors and can be chopped or riced into different sized chunks, so it's versatile. It winds up being delicious in all sorts of dishes, and makes a great low carb alternative.
My favorite ways to use it:
- Roast cauliflower and eat it when my family eats their roasted potatoes or fries.
- Steam it then mash it, and eat it when my family has mashed potatoes.
- Rice it and steam it, and use it instead of rice when eating rice as a side dish.
- Cut into small chunks, steam it, drain, and then add organic cheese to make keto mac-n-cheese. To. Die. For.
- Steam it and use as a noodle alternative when my family has spaghetti or any type of noodles.
- Chop it up raw in a salad.
Just a side-note here. You will not like cauliflower unless you add seasoning to it. At least add olive oil, salt and pepper. You can also add Italian seasoning, garlic powder, cumin, turmeric, or any other of your favorite spices for an even better flavor. Like I said, it soaks up the flavor.
So, here's the nutrient breakdown on cauliflower for all you nutrition nerds like me that like to memorize this stuff.
For every 1 ounce of cauliflower, you get*:
Fiber, 1 gram
Folate, 16 mcg
Potassium, 84.8 mg
Protein, 1 gram
Vitamin C, 13 mg
Vitamin K, 4.5 mcg
The fiber helps keep your gut healthy. The folate is great for your heart and energy level. The potassium helps balance your minerals and supports adrenals. The protein is a complete protein, which is somewhat rare in plant based protein sources. The vitamin c boosts collagen production and the immune system. Vitamin k helps regulate blood clotting and can help strengthen bones.
The most important significant benefit from eating cauliflower is the phytonutrient content. Nutrients like indole-3-carbinol, which turns into di-indolyl methane in your body. This is an important nutrient for hormone regulation. In women it down regulates the tumor growth hormone (reduces cancer risk and can even help fight cancer). In men it down regulates harmful hormones that cause mid life weight gain and hair loss. It's almost like it's magic, but it's not. It's God's divine design. So perfect. It's so what we need. Maybe that's why we love it.
If you read this entire post, and learned something from it, PLEASE consider subscribing and sharing with a friend. As a nutritionist, my goal isn't to sell stuff. I just want to help people be healthier, and in particular avoid heart disease, cancer and diabetes. The more you know, the better decisions you can make for you and your family. Let's make better decisions together.
*Nutrition stats from The Illustrated Food Remedies Sourcebook by C. Normal Shealy
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