Beetroot is a close relative of the sugar beet. The plants store glucose in the root, which is what we tend to eat.
It tastes of soil but can spike your blood sugar. 😰
Beetroot is often referred to as a superfood and has been used to treat everything from constipation to fever through the years. But when you’re wearing a CGM, you might notice a spike.
Beetroot is a close relative of the sugar beet. The plants store glucose in the root, which is what we tend to eat.
In 100g of beetroot, you get:
10g carbohydrates (2g is not digestible, it’s fibre)
1.7g protein
A lot of root vegetables can create spikes because they are made mainly of water and glucose. Our bodies break the bonds down quickly and extract the energy efficiently from these, despite how healthy our intentions were (ever tried sweet potato chips as a ‘healthy’ option with a sensor on?)
Interestingly, even the colour of beetroot is glucose-related. The main pigment in red/purple beetroot is betanin. This is a ‘glycoside’ - a molecule formed by joining glucose to something else.
That soil taste comes from a chemical called geosmin by the way. It’s something humans are particularly good at noticing and it’s responsible for the smell of rain on dry ground.