Say goodbye to Viagra, for experts have discovered a more natural way of boosting life in bed – Cabbage.
According to Croatian nutritionist Dr Lejla Kazinic Kreho, pickled cabbage nearly works the same wonders as the popular drug.

Cabbage is a sturdy, strong and abundant vegetable. Hardy and easy to grow, it is almost universally available in all countries and cultures. Cabbage belongs to the all important family of cruciferous vegetables. The members of this family of vegetables are so named for their cross shaped (crucifer) flower petals. Rich in nutrition and fiber, cabbage is an absolutely phenomenal source of Vitamin C. Even more impressive is that cabbage is famous for a specialized, naturally occurring, nitrogenous compound known as indoles. Current research indicates that indoles can lower the risk of various forms of cancer.

Cabbage was popular with the ancient Greeks and Romans. An early Roman medicinal preperation blended lard with the ashes of burnt cabbage to make an ointment for disinfecting wounds. Throughout history, the Asian diet has been rich and abundant in cabbage and its various varieties. Epidemiological studies have found that men living in China and Japan experience a much lower rate of prostate cancer than their American counterparts. Similar data has been uncovered regarding breast cancer rates among women.

It is no wonder that the lowely, plain, boring cabbage gets rave reviews from the world of nutritionists. Cabbage is relatively cheap yet one of the richest when it comes to protective vitamins. Talk about the original weight loss food! One cup of cabbage contains only around 15 calories.

Cabbage is rich in the following nutrients:

Vitamin A: responsible for the protection of your skin and eyes.

Vitamin C: an all important anti-oxidant and helps the mitochondria to burn fat.

Vitamin E: a fat soluble anti-oxidant which plays a role in skin integrity.

Vitamin B: helps maintain integrity of nerve endings and boosts energy metabolism.

Modern science has proven beyond a reasonable doubt that the health benefits and therapeutic value of cabbage, which also plays a role in the inhibition of infections and ulcers. Cabbage extracts have been proven to kill certain viruses and bacteria in the laboratory setting. Cabbage boosts the immune system’s ability to produce more antibodies. Cabbage provides high levels of iron and sulphur, minerals that work in part as cleansing agents for the digestive system.

There are many different varieties of cabbage, so please, be brave and innovative. Green cabbage is the most popular, common and of course the one we are most familiar with. Take a walk on the wild side with Savoy cabbage. With yellow crinkled leaves, you can use this variety of cabbage as an alternate in many recipes. Let’s not forget Bok Choy, a routine addition to Chinese recipes that has a sweet, light, celery type familiarity. Red Cabbage. It goes without saying in that it simply has to be good for you given all that beautiful plant pigment where the majority of nutrition is stored. Red cabbage is good in salads and is commonly pickled. Napa cabbage has a mild sweet taste and is incredible in stir fry dishes.

Whatever your choice of cabbage may be, enjoy a serving at least once a week along with your other valuable and health promoting cruciferous vegetables. Try to cook your cabbage lightly. Steaming and quick stir fry dishes are considered to be the best methods for preserving the power packed natural nutrition given so freely by Mother Nature. Cabbage soup anyone?

whether Cabbage is more nutritious cooked or raw. Having no life and lots of free time, I decided to explore this topic more thoroughly in order to answer the question, “To cook or not to cook??”

The first thing I learned is that there are many researchers with less of a life than me. They have researched hundreds of studies on the nutritional benifits of cabbage. Luckily, these researchers with less of a life have more of a budget than me so they’ve come up with some answers. Of course, like researchers everywhere, they’ve then proceeded to argue with each other about whose answers are right and since researchers all want to think their research is the “right” research. As a result very little of this research has been fully proven accurate. Isn’t grant money grand?

But I digress so let’s leave those silly researchers behind and get back to our nutrition question….How should Cabbage be eaten?

The answer?

“YES“.

Eat it cooked, eat it raw, the one thing both camps agree on is that you should eat it. It is probably better for you than the latest nutritional celebrity, pomagranites, although I can’t see anyone marketing a juice made of it.

Cabbage is loaded with Vitamin C, contains Calcium, Vitamin A, Iron and a healthy dose Fiber. It also has loads of phytochemicals, those compounds said to fight cancer.

The answer to how to prepare it, it turns out, depends on what you want your cabbage to do for you. Below is a brief outline of the benefits of one over the other.
To Cook
Iron:
Researchers report that the act of cooking helps to increase the availability of iron already contained in such vegetables as asparagus, broccoli, cabbage, and tomatoes, making it easier for your body to absorb. Cabbage, increased from 6.7 percent to 26.7 percent
Not to Cook
Vitamin C:
According to the USDA Consumer and Economics Institute Agricultural Research Service, if the water used in cooking cabbage amounts to 1/3 the amount of cabbage, 90 percent of the vitamin C is retained. Use four times as much water and ascorbic acid retention drops to less than 50 percent. If you drink the liquid it was cooked in the vitamin C is not lost.

Cancer Fighting:
Cabbage provides anti-carcinogenic glucosinolates, which are formed by the activity of myrosinase enzymes released when cabbage is sliced or chopped. Cooking denatures the myrosinase enzyme, thus stopping the production of glucosinolates.
Not to Eat

Cabbage Soup Diet:
This diet was dreamt up based on the unproven principle that cabbage is catabolic. This does not mean that they shed or tear up the curtains. What it means is that they take more calories to digest than what you get out of them. Research has shown that the diet works, but only because it provides less than 1,000 calories a day which is basically considered starvation level subsistence.

The basis of the diet revolves around drinking endless amounts of a cabbage soup it provides the recipe for. I personally think the diet works because the mere thought of eating any more of that soup puts you off of all food for the rest of the day.