Long ago I hated broccoli. It was a weird green tree on my plate that as a child I never wanted to eat. It looked weird and tasted weird and I always said no to eating broccoli.

Today? It’s one of my favorite foods. I try to eat it as often as possible because it’s one of my favorite veggies!

Broccoli photo by whologwhy on Flickr

Some of my favorite ways to eat broccoli:

• As a side dish
• Cooked into a main dish
• In chickpea salad
• Steamable microwave bags

Yeah, I love broccoli. It’s own of my favorite vegetables! It’s good by itself, mixed with things, baked into things, in salads… the list goes on.  I love it so much.

Reasons why I love broccoli:

1. It’s green. Green vegetables are so healthy and good for you!

2. It’s loaded with fiber, vitamins, and minerals. It’s high in vitamins C, K, and A… I don’t even know what Vitamin K is good for, but obviously it must be good for you!

3. It reminds me of trees and I like trees.

4. Broccoli may help prevent some types of cancer, diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis and high blood pressure.

5. It’s helpful to your immune system. I’ve been sick a alot since moving so I could use the help!

6. You can eat it so many different ways! Boiled, steamed, stir-fried, raw, etc.

Read more about broccoli and it’s benefits here.

The World’s Healthiest foods gives a good overview of exactly why broccoli is so awesome and it’s health benefits:

• Broccoli can provide you with some special cholesterol-lowering benefits if you will cook it by steaming. The fiber-related components in broccoli do a better job of binding together with bile acids in your digestive tract when they’ve been steamed. When this binding process takes place, it’s easier for bile acids to be excreted, and the result is a lowering of your cholesterol levels. Raw broccoli still has cholesterol-lowering ability- just not as much.
• Broccoli has a strong, positive impact on our body’s detoxification system, and researchers have recently identified one of the key reasons for this detox benefit. Glucoraphanin, gluconasturtiian, and glucobrassicin are 3 glucosinolate phytonutrients found in a special combination in broccoli. This dynamic trio is able to support all steps in body’s detox process, including activation, neutralization, and elimination of unwanted contaminants. Isothiocyanates (ITCs) are the detox-regulating molecules made from broccoli’s glucosinolates, and they help control the detox process at a genetic level.
• Broccoli may help us solve our vitamin D deficiency epidemic. When large supplemental doses of vitamin D are needed to offset deficiency, ample supplies of vitamin K and vitamin A help keep our vitamin D metabolism in balance. Broccoli has an unusually strong combination of both vitamin A (in the form of beta-carotene) and vitamin K. For people faced with the need to rebuild vitamin D stores through vitamin D supplements, broccoli may be an ideal food to include in the diet.
• Broccoli is a particularly rich source of a flavonoid called kaempferol. Recent research has shown the ability of kaempferol to lessen the impact of allergy-related substances on our body. This kaempferol connection helps to explain the unique anti-inflammatory benefits of broccoli, and it should also open the door to future research on the benefits of broccoli for a hypoallergenic diet.

You can read more about broccoli benefits and cancer fighting properties here.

With all that information about how good broccoli is for your body, there is no reason to skip out on it ever again! It’s one of the healthiest foods in the world, so find ways to work it into your diet. It’s pretty easy to work into dishes like stir fry or you could go simple and just eat it steamed as a side. No matter how you decide to prepare your broccoli, it’s worth it!