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Boost Performance and Recovery: Discover Gardyn’s Top Plants for Athletes

Published Jan 25, 2024

By: Lindsay Springer, Gardyn’s Head of Plant Health and Nutrition & Food Scientist

You’ve Got Goals. We’ve Got Plants.

Are you aiming for a half marathon, leveling up at the gym, or pushing your athletic boundaries? Gardyn’s Athletics collection is here to support your goals and fuel your progress.

Including more whole plants in your diet is fantastic for overall health, but certain plants in Gardyn’s portfolio go beyond – enhancing athletic performance and recovery. What sets certain plants apart is their abundance of specialized bioactive compounds. From fortifying against oxidative stress to regulating osmotic balance and promoting vasodilation, these unique benefits extend beyond what you typically find in your everyday produce aisle.

Top 3 Gardyn Plants for Athletes:

Bull's Blood Beet Greens

Both beets and their leaves contain a powerful osmolyte, antioxidant, and cell metabolism regulator called betaine. Consuming betaine before working out has been cited to improve exercise performance and recovery in multi-sport athletes, notably through improving antioxidant capacity and oxygen consumption.

Other compounds called Betalains give beets their deep, red color, and they have been shown to alleviate exercise-induced oxidative stress and fatigue. Our heirloom Bull’s Blood variety contains an enriched amount of betalains relative to other beet types – it’s hard to “beet”.

Other plants in Gardyn’s Plant Portfolio that can provide a betaine and betalain boost include Red Amaranth, Perpetual Spinach, and Swiss Chard.

Watercress

Ranked as the most nutrient-packed food by the CDC, watercress is a rich source of antioxidants. Watercress is also a rich source of glucosinolates – molecules that function in stress responses, detoxification, and inflammation regulation, aiding recovery from intense exercise.

Wheatgrass

Wheatgrass smoothies, often called “green blood”, contain iron and chlorophyll structurally similar to hemoglobin, the oxygen carrying protein in blood. Some scientific evidence suggests that frequent consumption of juiced wheatgrass stabilizes red blood cells to improve the oxygen carry capacity of blood.

Plant Collections for Athletes

Our list of powerhouse plants doesn’t stop here. The Gardyn Plant Portfolio is full of nutrient-dense varieties that offer a range of health benefits. With that in mind, our experts have curated some brand-new plant collections. This includes new Detox, Athletics, and Vitamin C collections that will guide you through choosing fruits and vegetables to match your goals! Explore our new collections in the app to match fruits and vegetables with your goals.