Endive for slimming

Endive for weight loss? Yes… if you make it your only “meal” for a month, you’re guaranteed to melt away. Seriously?! Endive is well known as a light, low-calorie food with a perfect place in a slimming diet. In fact, there’s no diet worthy of the name that doesn’t feature endive as a weight-loss food – it’s one of the so-called “negative calorie” foods. However, to give it its own slimming virtues, you need to know more about this particular “salad”.

When you take a closer look at its composition and the nutrients it contains, you realize that endive for slimming should be included in the panoply of essential foods for a healthy slimming diet without deficiencies.

Endive for slimming, fact sheet

Scientific name : Chicorium Intybus Var.follosum

Common name: chicory goes by several names, depending on the terroir in which it is grown. Northern France, Holland and especially Belgium.

Endive is also known as Chicorée de Belgique or Chicorée de Bruxelles. Other names include witloof chicory, capuchin beard and Brussels chicory.

Growing chicory

Endive is full of surprises. First, it’s not a salad, it’s a vegetable! Secondly, endive doesn’t grow naturally; it’s obtained by forcing nature. To explain all this, here’s the history of endive:

Endive cultivation probably began in the 18th century. It was almost invented by chance, when a farmer wanted to hide his harvest in the dark. He was surprised by the transformation of his chicory roots and leaves into an interesting new species.

However, endive cultivation was codified by a royal gardener from Brussels some time later, making endive cultivation a skill in its own right.

How to grow chicory

Chicory seeds are sown in spring, producing a large root with green leaves. These roots are harvested in autumn and stored throughout the winter, when the endive’s real adventure begins, in the dark and at a temperature of 20°.

The roots are planted in tubs, or in dark rooms for large-scale production. It takes just 3 weeks to develop these beautiful leaves, which are white at the base and yellow at the tip.

Since everything happens without photosynthesis, the leaves don’t turn green. The result is a salad vegetable with tight, crunchy, stiff, brittle leaves and a more or less bitter taste.

With various manipulations, you can obtain endives with almost no bitterness, appreciated by young and old alike. Nevertheless, lovers of rustic tastes will appreciate the more typical varieties.

Buying and storing endive for weight loss

Fresh endive is packed with nutrients. They should be firm, almost hard, white at the base with no brown spots, and pale yellow at the top. Unless you like particularly bitter endives, avoid buying them with green leaves, evidence of exposure to sunlight.

Easy to store, just wrap in a cloth, they can be kept for up to 5 days in the refrigerator crisper.

Endive composition for slimming

The undisputed queen of low-calorie foods, endive for slimming is nonetheless packed with essential nutrients, making it an ideal choice for detox and slimming cures.

Micro-nutrients

• Minerals: endive for weight loss is rich in minerals such as magnesium, calcium, phosphorus, potassium, zinc and manganese.
• Vitamins: source of vitamin B9, also known as folic acid, which is very important for fetal health. Vitamin B9 is also involved in oxygen transport during hemoglobin production. Vitamin C helps maintain a healthy immune system and is involved in collagen and bone metabolism.
• Trace elements: endive contains an interesting portion of selenium. This trace element is known for its role in protecting cells against aging. It is an antioxidant and protects against heavy metals. It plays an important role in protecting against free radicals in athletes in the recovery phase. Endive stands out for its proportion of selenium, as this essential trace element is found in nuts, offal and seafood, and few vegetables contain it.

Nutrients

• Fiber: with 2.5 g of fiber per 100 g, endive for weight loss is an ally for intestinal transit. Its well-tolerated cellulose and hemicellulose fibers are soft enough to facilitate digestion. What’s more, these fibers improve the condition of the intestinal flora by stimulating the good bacteria that protect the intestinal wall.
• Water: with over 95% water content, endive is almost like a pocket of water containing essential nutrients. Crunching its leaves to quench your thirst is an excellent idea for rehydrating after exercise. It’s a pity that endive for slimming is not readily available in summer.

A special fat-burning compound

chicory contains chlorogenic acid!

An essential component of green coffee, the name “chlorogenic acid” is directly linked to slimming thanks to its proven fat-burning effect.

While green coffee contains between 5 and 10g of chlorogenic acid per 100g, chicory contains the modest amount of around 100mg, but it’s still easy to eat 500g of chicory without any problem.

If you’re interested in products containing chlorogenic acid, here’s an example: Green Coffee Bean Extract

Benefits of chicory

With a composition like this, endive is the health and slimming ingredient you absolutely must have. Because it doesn’t contain 100 components sparingly, but some minerals, selenium and vitamins, in just the right quantities to make all the difference.

Health benefits

• Diuretic, rich in water, which represents over 95% of its weight, it has a diuretic effect that is appreciated for eliminating toxins. It is also indicated for cystitis, where it stimulates the evacuation of urine.
• endive’s high potassium content makes it an excellent kidney cleanser. Its potassium-sodium ratio is ideal for kidney drainage.
• Balances blood pressure: thanks to its potassium content, which is essential for regulating blood pressure, endive is ideally suited to diets designed to improve blood pressure. As a result, its role in protecting heart function is well established.
• Improves digestion: fiber and its ability to be digested without weighing it down make endive a gentle transit regulator. What’s more, these fibers are prebiotics capable of regulating intestinal flora.
• Endive’s slightly bitter taste stimulates bile production, helping to improve overall digestion.

Endive’s slimming properties

Eating chicory to lose weight is a reality. If you incorporate it into a healthy, balanced diet, it’s even one of the ingredients of that balance.

– Contributes to weight loss

Endive for weight loss contains very few carbohydrates or lipids. It provides very few calories. Yet its wealth of metabolism-boosting nutrients, light fat-burning effect and satiating power make it a “smart” slimming food.

Unlike some vegetables and fruit which, when low in calories, stimulate hunger and make you want to eat, endive for slimming doesn’t encourage snacking.

As part of a slimming diet, endive can be used in a variety of ways, as it can be eaten raw in salads, or cooked, braised or steamed, or grilled on the barbecue. Cooked, it becomes tender and very pleasant to eat.

By creating a caloric deficit, endive for weight loss encourages the body to draw on its reserves to meet its energy needs.

– Endive for a slimmer stomach

Thanks to fibers that facilitate digestion and biliary stimulation, the belly is less bloated and firmer. In addition to stimulating abdominal fat mobilized during a diet rich in chicory.

– The detox effect of chicory on weight loss

Endive is rich in anti-oxidants. Group B vitamins, vitamin C and selenium are compounds that reinforce the fight against cell ageing.

Chlorogenic acid is a recognized powerful anti-oxidant, and combined with other anti-oxidants, endive is a detoxifying food for the body.

Speaking of detox, don’t miss our test of Fibre Select, a 3-in-1 solution.

– Fighting deficiencies

Endive for weight loss is not just an empty slogan. Not only does it enable real weight loss when incorporated into a slimming diet, it also contributes to nutrient balance through its richness in minerals, vitamins and prebiotic fiber.

– Improves recovery from physical exertion

The potassium, calcium and magnesium contained in endive for slimming help athletes rapidly repair muscle fatigue, facilitating recovery.

– Endive, a friend to pregnant women

Thanks to its high vitamin B9 (folate) content, endive is highly recommended for pregnant women. This vitamin is essential for the proper neuronal development of the unborn child. Deficiencies in folate can have unfortunate repercussions on the production of healthy cells.

Endive recipes for slimming

Despite its apparent simplicity, endive for weight loss can be used to make light but delicious dishes. Its slight bitterness and legendary crunch add freshness and make a simple salad more elegant.

Endive leaves presented whole, filled with grilled vegetables and drizzled with just a little lemon juice, is an example of a recipe off the beaten track.

Endive and walnuts make an excellent marriage, complementing each other’s nutrients. This recipe often contains blue cheese, which you can do without if you’re on a diet. Otherwise, this combination is truly delicious.

Endive steamed or stewed to make it soft is another way to accommodate endive and eat it hot. Braised as an accompaniment to roast beef, it’s the perfect marriage.