Beets

Last night I made a smoothie that was sort of nasty but tolerable. It was a bit on the nasty side because it contained a whole, raw beet. I had recently read about the health benefits of beets and discovered they are in the chenopod family which is the same a quinoa. So it has to be healthy right! Healthy maybe but they taste like dirt when raw. Ew. I didn't know this so I bought 3 beets home and last night finally got the courage to put one into my smoothie. I combined a serving of Fage Greek yogurt, splash of OJ, a few frozen peach slices and strawberries and lastly a beet. I cut it up into a few cubes and it immediately smelled like dirt. I figured I hadn't washed it enough but when I smelled the center it was full on dirt. I knew this was going to be rough so I added a banana to the mixture. My first taste was not good...it really was like mud. So I added some more OJ and got used to the flavor. It was much better when consumed with a straw so the dirt could bypass my taste buds.

I know these veggies are healthy but I just did not really enjoy this drink except for the fantastic fuschia color that the beet made the smoothie. That was fun. This BEETS article is a good one as it describes the health benefits. I also read in a Triathlete magazine that the antioxidant properties of these guys is high so they would be good to eat more of when training picks up again to speed up recovery. Although I will for sure need to come up with a tastier way to consume this super food.