What I'm Eating: Root Vegetables

While there's an enormity of information out there about eating your greens, many of you will find that it's much easier to digest root vegetables, such as carrots and beets, than it is to digest a raw green salad. Feeling like you need a little detoxification and cleanse? Looking to lose weight? Root vegetables can help. Beets, carrots and other root vegetables, with their high levels of soluble fiber, are incredibly helpful in both the digestive process and the detoxification process within the body. How? Quite simply, the better you digest your food, the fuller you feel (and the less you'll eat). And the better you eliminate your food, the less toxic you'll be, which significantly reduces your stress levels and aids in the fat loss process (after all, toxins are stored in fat). 

Many people who switch too quickly from an unhealthy diet to one loaded with vegetables and high-quality proteins and fats often experience diarrhea or constipation, both of which can be the result of too much insoluble fiber (found in broccoli, brussels sprouts and many other raw vegetables). Root vegetables, on the other hand, are incredibly easy to digest and absorb, often leaving you feeling more satiated post-meal. While they are often misunderstood as "too sweet for fat loss," root vegetables, having grown underground, absorb all of the vital nutrients and minerals from the soil, making them highly nutrient-dense foods that are loaded with free-radical-fighting antioxidants.

I bought some gorgeous (as gorgeous as underground vegetables can be) beets from my local farmers' market this weekend and roasted them, a super quick and easy way to transform beets into a warm or cold salad. With just a handful of ingredients, this recipe couldn't be easier:

Roasted Beets Drizzled with Walnut Oil and Sea Salt

-Pre-heat your oven to 375 (you can even go higher if desired)

-Clean the beets and cut off their greens, allowing an inch or two of the beet stems to remain

-Cover a baking sheet with foil and a layer of parchment paper and place the beets on top

-Coat the beets in a thin layer of olive oil

-Roast beets in the oven for 30-40 minutes, or until a butter knife easily goes through them

-Let the beets cool, cut off their stems and peel off their top layer

-Drizzle the beets with La Tourangelle roasted walnut oil, add a pinch of sea salt and serve!