My great friend Teri is about to run the NY Marathon, so I made sure she is filling her body with the one food that will help her make it to the end – and that food is the lowly beet. The beet might be better for endurance than any expensive supplement, protein powder or sports drink when it comes to running that extra mile.
It’s all about the energy extraction from oxygen. Dr. Greger from Nutrition Facts explains the following fascinating study:
Researchers put eight guys on bikes and measured their oxygen consumption before and after a few days sipping two cups of beet juice. Before this series of experiments, there was no known drug, substance, steroid, intervention, nothing that could actually increase energy extraction from oxygen. Yet this is what they found.
After a couple of cups of beet juice, they could do the exact same amount of work with less oxygen. Same work with 19% less oxygen. Then when they ramped up the bike, for an intense bout of what they called “severe cycling”, time to exhaustion was extended from 9:43 to 11:15. Greater endurance with less oxygen in the beet group. 16% improvement in their time, with only about 4/5 the oxygen requirement! In short, the beet juice made their bodies’ energy production significantly more efficient.
It has been subsequently discovered that whole beets (1 1/2 cups of baked beets) can significantly improve running performance (listen up Teri!!!)
So if you are doing any kind of vigorous exercise, consider sipping on beet juice, or even better, chomp down a a huge baked beet salad – you could toss a few toasted walnuts on for good measure!
