Want to power-up your workout? Eat some watercress before you hit the gym

What’s your workout routine like? Can you slog it out at the gym non-stop for forty minutes at a time? Or do you start off well for the first twenty minutes, but then struggle with the last twenty?

If you fall into the latter category, you may want to read this. Research has shown that there could be a new way to keep your energy high throughout the entire course of a workout.

It’s not normally considered an energy-inducing food, but a handful of humble watercress could give you the boost that you need just before you hit the gym.

The Daily Mail reports research has revealed that nutrients in the leafy food could actually reduce exercise-related damage to DNA. This means that you can work out for longer and feel less pain when you drag yourself out of bed the next morning.

Exercising is great and it’s something that we all have to do if we want to stay fit and healthy. But the downside of exercise is the fact that it increases the production of free radicals in the body. Free radicals are dangerous molecules made up of oxygen which can have a negative impact on your health. They are said to be responsible for pretty much everything – ageing, cancer, diabetes, you name it.

If you eat some watercress ahead of your exercise though, you can keep any potential harm to your body at bay. Watercress is rich in antioxidant chemicals that can neutralize the effects of any free radicals produced by exercise. It’s also a powerful energy booster, which means you’ll be able to keep going long after you’ve hit the proverbial wall.

Sports scientists from Edinburgh Napier University figured out the exercise-related benefits by taking blood samples from ten healthy men who were asked to eat a small bag of watercress a day over the course of two months.

They were then stuck on a treadmill and put through their paces while some evil scientist-type-person gradually increased the gradient (and probably cackled evilly whilst doing so).

After the exercise, the men had their blood tested again and a few weeks later, the same process was repeated, only this time without the watercress.

The results showed that when the men had been eating the watercress, less damage was done to their DNA after exercise.

“Although we are all aware of how good exercise can be for our bodies, pounding the treadmill, lifting weights, or doing high-levels of training can take its toll,” said Dr Mark Fogarty.

“What we’ve found is that consuming a relatively small amount of watercress each day can help raise the levels of important antioxidant vitamins which may help protect our bodies, and allow us to enjoy the rewards of keeping fit,” he added.