This humble cruciferous vegetable has featured on Irish dinner tables for many many years. It may not be considered the sexiest or tastiest of vegetables, but if it’s glowing skin that you’re after (let’s face it, who isn’t!), then it’s time to get the good old cabbage back into your regular meals!
Why cabbage?
Cabbage is a great source of that triad of super skin nutrients, the ACE antioxidant vitamins. Compared to oranges, cabbages contain over 10% more vitamin C by weight.
Vitamin C helps to build younger-looking skin as it’s needed for collagen production, while vitamin A helps to heal skin cells and reduce wrinkles. Sulphur-based cruciferous vegetables are especially important for their powerful detoxification abilities, and this combined with the vitamin C in cabbage means an extra boost for your skin cells.
Low in fat but high in fibre, cabbage helps to maintain the health of your digestive system and prevents constipation, helped by its levels of magnesium to help relax the muscles in and around your gut. Exciting stuff!
The calcium and potassium in cabbage helps to keep your bones strong and prevent water retention by boosting kidney function, while cabbage’s B vitamins give you a blast of energy.
Cabbage is a decent source of iodine, which is is needed by your thyroid gland to produce thyroxine. This hormone controls the metabolism of every cell in our body and is really important for so many functions, including temperature control and fertility.
I often make sauerkraut with raw cabbage for its many probiotic and digestive benefits, but young cabbage leaves also make fantastic healthy, low-carb tacos! Fill them with your fave wrap ingredients, veggies, avocado, salsa, guacamole or my Smoked Coriander Hummus for a satisfying lunch 🙂
