Juicer Recipes – 3 Powerful Vegetables For Cardiovascular Disease

Juicing vegetables is a superb way to get heart healthy nutrients. Which vegetables are best for fighting heart disease? Researchers has shown these 3 vegetables have wonderful benefits for your heart and arteries.

SPINACH

Spinach contains vitamin C and vitamin A (beta-carotene). These are two important antioxidants that disarm free radicals that can attack artery walls. Vitamin C is a water soluble nutrient and beta-carotene is fat soluble. Together they provide a powerful combination that can prevent cholesterol from oxidation. When oxidized, cholesterol becomes sticky and can attach itself to artery walls, leading to blocked arteries. This can cause heart attacks and strokes.

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 other blood lowering components – peptides. Research has found that blood pressure levels in animals was lowered in as little as two to four hours. The animals consumed just 20 – 30mg of peptides for each kg of body weight each day

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

Sulforaphane is an antioxidant plant chemical that is found abundantly in broccoli that can indirectly safeguard the heart from cellular damage. Research from the University of Connecticut has shown that sulforaphane some how activates a release of the protein thioredoxin into the body. It is then thioredoxin that protects the heart’s cells.

In addition to this, broccoli is also abundant in vitamins A and C, which carries the heart health benefits described above for spinach.

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

Lycopene is the amazing phytochemical that makes tomatoes so heart healthy. Lycopene is also the pigment that gives tomatoes and other red fruits and vegetables their red coloring. Many studies have shown lycopene to considerably reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, lower blood pressure and protect the arteries from cellular damage. One study conducted at Harvard proved that giving women lycopene every day for 5 years, decreased their risk of heart disease in half!

Juicer recipes idea: You can make soups or salsa with the left over pulp.

Darren Haynes enjoys writing about health topices and especially about food and its healing properties. Check out my juicer recipes blog vegetable juice recipes