Healthy Diet Plans >> Articles >> Diet and Wellness

Cabbage Health Benefits

Submitted by Loring A. Windblad on February 2, 2010

Adding Cabbage To Your Meals

The cabbage is said to have originated in Southern Europe and Mediterranean areas and was introduced by the Romans into the lands conquered by them. The Greeks too considered it an important vegetable. It is now cultivated majorly in Central and South America, Africa, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and the Caribbean. It is cultivated for its large edible, terminal buds and is eaten worldwide.

Benefits Of Eating Cabbage

Cabbages are known to help build muscles and as a cleanser.

Valuable for its high vitamin and mineral content and alkaline salts, cabbages with green leaves also have a very high Vitamin A content. High content of sulfur and chlorine and a comparatively large percent of iodine make the cabbage a superb reducing and cleansing agent. The sulfur and chlorine combination cleanses the mucus membranes of the stomach and intestinal tracts when cabbage or its juice is consumed raw without salt.

Cabbage juice is not very tasty as it is rather bitter and so it is often mixed with an equal quantity of beetroot juice. This mixed juice is used in the natural treatment of disorders of the digestive system, ulcers and infections. Cabbage provides the very essential roughage, which stimulates the small intestines for proper bowel movements, hence, is a very good remedy for constipation.

Finely chopped raw cabbage with a little salt, black pepper and lemon juice will act instantly without any side effects. Duodenal ulcers (stomach ulcers) can be cured by having cabbage juice three times a day.

The juice can be mixed with celery juice, tomato juice, citrus juice or pineapple juice to make it taste better.

Cabbage has tartonic acid, which slows down the conversion of carbohydrates and sugars into fat. Hence a cabbage salad would be a simple way to stay trim. Skin disorders have also been treated successfully with cabbage compresses.

Strips of the thick, green and outer leaves of a cabbage can be warmed and applied smoothly on ulcers, blisters, skin eruptions, skin sores, minor burns and psoriasis too. Research has found that cabbage also contains several elements that enhance immunity, help arrest premature ageing, prevent patches from forming on the blood vessel walls and prevent formation of gall bladder stones.

The best results are in eating it raw as important nutrients are lost on cooking, boiling or steaming. It is also easier to digest raw cabbage more than the cooked one. Nevertheless, cabbage or its juice should never be a major part of the diet, as it is known to cause goiter - a thyroid disease, if it is consumed in excess.