{"id":2745,"date":"2021-05-18T08:57:21","date_gmt":"2021-05-18T08:57:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/?p=2745"},"modified":"2021-05-18T08:57:21","modified_gmt":"2021-05-18T08:57:21","slug":"eating-green-leafy-vegetables-boosts-leg-muscle-strength","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/2021\/05\/18\/eating-green-leafy-vegetables-boosts-leg-muscle-strength\/","title":{"rendered":"Eating Green Leafy Vegetables Boosts Leg Muscle Strength"},"content":{"rendered":"

Summer is here and so are colourful salads. New research suggests that eating those green leafy veggies can have benefits for your cycling leg muscles. Let\u2019s see how much you need to get a benefit.<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Researchers from Edith Cowan University published a study<\/a> in the Journal of Nutrition that evaluates the effects of eating nitrate-rich vegetables, such as leafy greens, on muscle function. They examined data from 3,759 Australians taking part in Melbourne’s Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute AusDiab study over a 12-year period to find some answers.<\/p>\n

\"Healthy<\/a>
Eat your greens and grow your muscles. \u00a9 Profimedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One cup of leafy green vegetables every day<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The research found that those with the highest nitrate consumption had 11% better lower limb strength than those with the lowest nitrate intake. They also observed up to 4% faster walking speeds.<\/a> You can only imagine how much faster the cycling speeds would be if they observed those too.<\/p>\n

The study suggests that eating just one cup of leafy green vegetables every day could boost muscle function. Lead researcher Dr Marc Sim said the findings reveal important evidence for the role diet plays in overall health.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur study has shown that diets high in nitrate-rich vegetables<\/a> may bolster your muscle strength independently of any physical activity. Nevertheless, to optimise muscle function we propose that a balanced diet<\/a> rich in green leafy vegetables in combination with regular exercise, including weight training, is ideal,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"Spinach\"<\/a>
Just one cup every day can boost your muscle function. \u00a9 Profimedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lettuce, spinach, kale, and beetroot<\/strong><\/h2>\n

\u201cLess than one in ten Australians eat the recommended five to six serves of vegetables per day. We should be eating a variety of vegetables every day, with at least one of those serves being leafy greens to gain a range of positive health benefits for the musculoskeletal and cardiovascular system,\u201d Dr Sim said.<\/p>\n

All nitrate-rich vegetables can have this effect, the researchers suggest. If you don\u2019t enjoy dark leafy greens such as spinach or kale, you can also get some beetroot to increase your nitrate intake.<\/p>\n

He also recommends veggies above supplements.<\/a> \u201cIt’s also better to eat nitrate-rich vegetables as part of a healthy diet rather than taking supplements. Green leafy vegetables provide a whole range of essential vitamins and minerals critical for health.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Kale<\/a>
If you don’t like leafy greens, try out beetroot. \u00a9 Profimedia<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

How can we eat more leafy greens?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Will you eat more nitrate-rich veggies now that you know it could benefit your leg muscles? Some people drink a lot of beetroot juice<\/a> to improve performance!<\/p>\n

But not everyone is after faster cycling times. Dr Sim wants to convince more people to include nitrate-rich veggies into their diet, citing health benefits. \u201cWe are currently recruiting for the MODEL Study, which examines how knowledge of disease can be used to prompt people in making long-term improvements to their diet and exercise,\u201d said Dr Sim.<\/p>\n

Whether it\u2019s for performance or health, it won\u2019t hurt to try our beetroot hydration drink recipe.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Summer is here and so are colourful salads. New research suggests that eating those green leafy veggies can have benefits […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":96,"featured_media":2757,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67],"tags":[],"global-categories":[],"class_list":["post-2745","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nutrition-training"],"yoast_head":"\nEating Green Leafy Vegetables Boosts Leg Muscle Strength - \u0160koda We Love Cycling - Ireland<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"New research suggests that eating those green leafy veggies can have benefits for your cycling leg muscles. Let\u2019s see how much you need!\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/2021\/05\/18\/eating-green-leafy-vegetables-boosts-leg-muscle-strength\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Eating Green Leafy Vegetables Boosts Leg Muscle Strength\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"New research suggests that eating those green leafy veggies can have benefits for your cycling leg muscles. Let\u2019s see how much you need!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/2021\/05\/18\/eating-green-leafy-vegetables-boosts-leg-muscle-strength\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling - Ireland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-05-18T08:57:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/14\/2021\/05\/Leafy-vegetables-profimedia-0610476362-CVR.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1366\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"ciarabreen\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jiri Kaloc\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/2021\/05\/18\/eating-green-leafy-vegetables-boosts-leg-muscle-strength\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/2021\/05\/18\/eating-green-leafy-vegetables-boosts-leg-muscle-strength\/\",\"name\":\"Eating Green Leafy Vegetables Boosts Leg Muscle Strength - \u0160koda We Love Cycling - Ireland\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/2021\/05\/18\/eating-green-leafy-vegetables-boosts-leg-muscle-strength\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/2021\/05\/18\/eating-green-leafy-vegetables-boosts-leg-muscle-strength\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/14\/2021\/05\/Leafy-vegetables-profimedia-0610476362-CVR.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-05-18T08:57:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/#\/schema\/person\/77414fc27b78622bdf4fc3a165b44d08\"},\"description\":\"New research suggests that eating those green leafy veggies can have benefits for your cycling leg muscles. Let\u2019s see how much you need!\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/2021\/05\/18\/eating-green-leafy-vegetables-boosts-leg-muscle-strength\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/2021\/05\/18\/eating-green-leafy-vegetables-boosts-leg-muscle-strength\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/14\/2021\/05\/Leafy-vegetables-profimedia-0610476362-CVR.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/14\/2021\/05\/Leafy-vegetables-profimedia-0610476362-CVR.jpg\",\"width\":1366,\"height\":600,\"caption\":\"Leafy veggies\"},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/\",\"name\":\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling - Ireland\",\"description\":\"Just another \u0160koda WeLoveCycling Sites site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/#\/schema\/person\/77414fc27b78622bdf4fc3a165b44d08\",\"name\":\"ciarabreen\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f751ecb0138da6f10fd321bedfa1aba0407cbf92d86ef61dbc2c27e63991f457?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f751ecb0138da6f10fd321bedfa1aba0407cbf92d86ef61dbc2c27e63991f457?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"ciarabreen\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/author\/ciarabreen\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Eating Green Leafy Vegetables Boosts Leg Muscle Strength - \u0160koda We Love Cycling - Ireland","description":"New research suggests that eating those green leafy veggies can have benefits for your cycling leg muscles. Let\u2019s see how much you need!","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/2021\/05\/18\/eating-green-leafy-vegetables-boosts-leg-muscle-strength\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Eating Green Leafy Vegetables Boosts Leg Muscle Strength","og_description":"New research suggests that eating those green leafy veggies can have benefits for your cycling leg muscles. Let\u2019s see how much you need!","og_url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/2021\/05\/18\/eating-green-leafy-vegetables-boosts-leg-muscle-strength\/","og_site_name":"\u0160koda We Love Cycling - Ireland","article_published_time":"2021-05-18T08:57:21+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1366,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/14\/2021\/05\/Leafy-vegetables-profimedia-0610476362-CVR.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"ciarabreen","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jiri Kaloc","Est. reading time":"5"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/2021\/05\/18\/eating-green-leafy-vegetables-boosts-leg-muscle-strength\/","url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/2021\/05\/18\/eating-green-leafy-vegetables-boosts-leg-muscle-strength\/","name":"Eating Green Leafy Vegetables Boosts Leg Muscle Strength - \u0160koda We Love Cycling - Ireland","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/2021\/05\/18\/eating-green-leafy-vegetables-boosts-leg-muscle-strength\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/2021\/05\/18\/eating-green-leafy-vegetables-boosts-leg-muscle-strength\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/14\/2021\/05\/Leafy-vegetables-profimedia-0610476362-CVR.jpg","datePublished":"2021-05-18T08:57:21+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/#\/schema\/person\/77414fc27b78622bdf4fc3a165b44d08"},"description":"New research suggests that eating those green leafy veggies can have benefits for your cycling leg muscles. Let\u2019s see how much you need!","inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/2021\/05\/18\/eating-green-leafy-vegetables-boosts-leg-muscle-strength\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/2021\/05\/18\/eating-green-leafy-vegetables-boosts-leg-muscle-strength\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/14\/2021\/05\/Leafy-vegetables-profimedia-0610476362-CVR.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/14\/2021\/05\/Leafy-vegetables-profimedia-0610476362-CVR.jpg","width":1366,"height":600,"caption":"Leafy veggies"},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/","name":"\u0160koda We Love Cycling - Ireland","description":"Just another \u0160koda WeLoveCycling Sites site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/#\/schema\/person\/77414fc27b78622bdf4fc3a165b44d08","name":"ciarabreen","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f751ecb0138da6f10fd321bedfa1aba0407cbf92d86ef61dbc2c27e63991f457?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f751ecb0138da6f10fd321bedfa1aba0407cbf92d86ef61dbc2c27e63991f457?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"ciarabreen"},"url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/author\/ciarabreen\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2745","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/96"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2745"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2745\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2755,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2745\/revisions\/2755"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2757"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2745"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2745"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2745"},{"taxonomy":"global-categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/global-categories?post=2745"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}