Cauliflower Health Benefits & Recipes

Cauliflower health benefits are plentiful. Here’s a few reasons why you should be eating cauliflower along with 33 terrific low carb recipes.

Ever wonder what the “white broccoli” looking dishes are that some like to serve during Thanksgiving and other family gatherings? I used to wonder this myself when I was younger but was later told it was cauliflower. Like with all new things, I yearned to learn more about what this vegetable is and what is the good of eating it. Below are cauliflower health benefits that I found.

By labeling it as “white broccoli,” I was not far off with my description; cauliflower is a cousin to broccoli and is part of the cruciferous family of vegetables. Cauliflower should be incorporated to everyone’s diet because of the high levels of nutrients, vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other phytochemicals. Another great aspect of cauliflower is its versatility; cauliflower can be consumed raw, cooked, or mashed up as a healthier alternative to mashed potatoes.

What are the cauliflower health benefits?

1. Heart Health

Especially around the holidays when the feast of delicious foods come out, cauliflower health benefits should be sought out to promote heart health. This benefit will help combat the heavier holiday foods often present on the dinner table.

Sulforaphane is the component of cauliflower that promotes kidney function and lowers high blood pressure. This is because sulforaphane addresses issues at the cell level and allow for healthy cell functions to occur.

2. Anti-Inflammatory

Too often these days are patients being diagnosed with chronic diseases because they had a history of inflammation. Yes, inflammation throughout the body is naturally occurring (in small levels). Inflammation is necessary periodically for such things as fighting infection. However, what happens when the body flares up all of the time due to no threat leads to organ damage and chronic diseases.

Cauliflower contains indole-3-carbinol (I3C) which reduces inflammation at the genetic foundations preventing the body from harming itself. Eat your cauliflower regularly for fighting inflammation is one of the key cauliflower health benefits.

Cauliflower Health Benefits and Low Carb Recipes

3. High in Nutrients

The American diet of the 21st century contains too many processed foods which are often stripped of essential nutrients and minerals. Cauliflower health benefits are largely due to its abundance of high dose nutrients.

Just one serving of cauliflower contains 77% of the recommended values of Vitamin C and is also high in protein, thiamin, riboflavin, niacin, magnesium, phosphorus, fiber, vitamin B6, folate, pantothenic acid, potassium, and manganese.

4. Digestive Help

Another issue that plagues many Americans is they are not consuming high enough levels of dietary fiber. For this reason constipation and other digestive issues are becoming more prevalent.

Cauliflower is a great source of dietary fiber to keep your colon running strong. However, that is just a small benefit, digestive speaking. World’s Healthiest Foods says this:

“Researchers have determined that the sulforaphane made from a glucosinolate in cauliflower (glucoraphanin) can help protect the lining of your stomach. Sulforaphane provides you with this health benefit by preventing bacterial overgrowth of Helicobacter pylori in your stomach or too much clinging by this bacterium to your stomach wall.”

Not only does cauliflower keep your colon strong but it also promotes stomach health too. Such amazing cauliflower health benefits!

5. Brain Health

Cauliflower contains high levels of choline, a B vitamin that has been shown to increase brain health. On a study performed on developing animals during pregnancy, choline intake showed a trend for boosted brain activity. Although research is still young, studies also suggest that the choline found in cauliflower can diminish the risks of age-related memory loss.

Small cauliflower image courtesy of James Barker at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

No matter which of the many cauliflower health benefits you are for, everyone should incorporate low carb cauliflower into their daily eating habits. Since I found out about the health benefits of cauliflower I willingly grab the cauliflower when it comes out during Thanksgiving. Give it a try and feel for yourself!

33 Terrific Low-Carb & Gluten-Free Cauliflower Recipes

To help you get started with eating more cauliflower, I’ve put together a terrific list of 33 delicious low-carb and gluten-free recipes for you and your family to enjoy.

These are some of the best low carb cauliflower recipes available from around the web from my favorite food bloggers. You are bound to find at least a handful of recipes to try. Remember that you should always include consuming raw vegetables into your diet as some nutrients are lost when cooked. Salads and veggies with dips are always healthy appetizers to begin any meal.

So, without further ado, I give you the list of our favorite cauliflower recipes so you can reap all the cauliflower health benefits!