What are superfoods? They are foods that are perfect in the nutrition that they provide to you. One of the best is broccoli. Read on to find out why.

You’ve probably heard since childhoo to always eat your green vegetables. Maybe you were the type to secretly feed them to the dog to get them off your plate or came up with some other ideas. But that meant you were missing out on the health benefits of your vegetables.  As adults, it’s common to adopt the same eating habits as you did as a child.

Well, it’s time to look at vegetables as the healthy food that they are. You might have heard mention of superfoods, but do you really know what they can do for you? Today, the superfood of the hour is broccoli.

It looks like a small tree with a thick trunk that happens to be green and not brown. The head is made up of tiny tight projections that form the florets. But beyond the outside lies a powerhouse of health for everyone.

Broccoli is classified as a cruciferous veggie because it is crunchy. The same goes for cauliflower. It smells bad when it is cooking (due to the sulfur compounds it contains), but it tastes good with or without anything extra added to it.

Broccoli can work wonders on your body. First of all it is an antioxidant. That means that it fights the damage in your body done by free radicals. Free radicals come from the environment, cigarette smoke, toxins in the air, stress and eating the wrong foods. Over time, they can increase the incidence of cancers and other age-related diseases, and make you act and feel older than your years.

Eating broccoli can help reverse that process before it even begins to be a problem. Here are some of the other benefits of this superfood.

  • It contains flavonoids – These are a particular type of antioxidant. In broccoli they help shield you from lung, breast and GI cancers.
  • It can preserve your memory – Broccoli contains substances that can help to reduce the incidence of Alzheimer’s disease. It inhibits the enzyme acetylcholinesterase from doing its job which is to break down acetylcholine. This is a brain neurotransmitter that is responsible for memory pathways. Eating broccoli performs the same action as some drugs that are given to Alzheimer’s patients to retard that process. Other foods – apples, oranges and even potatoes – also help, but not as much as broccoli.
  • It cleans out the liver – The liver is a filtering organ but it can become overwhelmed. Eating broccoli helps to clean out the liver so it can function better.

Eating broccoli raw or steamed will give you the most nutrients of all. The less amount of processing done, the better. And remember to eat the stalk and the florets.

So if you’re looking for a food that can fight disease, slow the aging process and restore your memory in one single bound, eat broccoli.