Why cruciferous vegetables are good for you

/

Here is a comprehensive list of cruciferous vegetables (family Brassicaceae, also called Cruciferae). I’ve grouped them for clarity and completeness.

Side note: I wanted to point that the Fascia is super healthy as well!

🥦 Common & Widely Known Cruciferous Vegetables

  • Broccoli

  • Cauliflower

  • Cabbage (green, red, Savoy, Napa/Chinese)

  • Brussels sprouts

  • Kale (curly, lacinato/dinosaur, red Russian)

  • Collard greens

  • Mustard greens

  • Turnip greens

🥬 Asian & Leafy Varieties

  • Bok choy (pak choi)

  • Baby bok choy

  • Napa cabbage

  • Chinese broccoli (gai lan)

  • Tatsoi

  • Mizuna

  • Komatsuna

  • Choy sum

  • Yu choy

🌱 Peppery Greens & Salad Greens

  • Arugula (rocket)

  • Watercress

  • Land cress

  • Garden cress

  • Upland cress

🧅 Root & Stem Crucifers

  • Turnip

  • Rutabaga (swede)

  • Radish (red, daikon, black, watermelon)

  • Horseradish

  • Kohlrabi

🌼 Less Common / Specialty Crucifers

  • Romanesco

  • Broccolini

  • Broccoli rabe (rapini)

  • Kai-lan stems

  • Sea kale

  • Abyssinian mustard

  • Ethiopian kale

  • Tronchuda cabbage

🌱 Seeds & Sprouts (Still Cruciferous)

  • Broccoli sprouts

  • Radish sprouts

  • Mustard sprouts

  • Kale sprouts

🧂 Condiment & Culinary Crucifers

  • Mustard seed

  • Wasabi

  • Horseradish root

Functional Nutrition Note

Cruciferous vegetables are rich in:

  • Glucosinolates → isothiocyanates (e.g., sulforaphane)

  • DIM & I3C (estrogen metabolism support)

  • Nrf2 activation (detox & antioxidant signaling)

Preparation matters:

  • Light steaming preserves benefits

  • Overcooking reduces enzyme activity (myrosinase)

  • Adding mustard seed powder can restore sulforaphane formation

Why cruciferous vegetables are good for you

🥦 They contain special natural compounds that:

  • Help your body detox better
    Think of them as clean-up helpers that tell your liver, “Time to take out the trash.”

  • Support hormone balance (especially estrogen)
    They help your body process and get rid of extra estrogen instead of recycling it.

  • Turn on your body’s own antioxidant system
    Instead of just adding antioxidants, they help your body make its own protection against inflammation and damage.

Why how you cook them matters

✅ Light cooking is best

  • Light steaming (just until tender-crisp) keeps the good stuff active.

  • Raw can be good for some people, but not everyone digests it well.

❌ Overcooking reduces benefits

  • Long boiling, mushy veggies = many benefits destroyed.

  • Heat can shut down the “activation switch” that makes them powerful.

🌱 A simple kitchen trick that helps

If you cook cruciferous veggies:

➡️ Add a pinch of mustard seed powder after cooking

Why?

  • It helps “turn back on” the helpful compounds that cooking can turn off.

  • Even a small amount works.

(Plain yellow mustard seed powder — not prepared mustard.)

Who may need adjustments

Some people do better with:

  • Smaller portions

  • Cooked instead of raw

  • Certain types (not all crucifers)

This includes people with:

  • Sensitive digestion

  • IBS or bloating

  • Thyroid issues

  • Hormone imbalances

If you want, I can also:

  • ✔️ Show which cruciferous veggies are easier on digestion

  • ✔️ Rank them by how powerful they are

  • ✔️ Build a thyroid-friendly or gut-friendly plan

  • ✔️ Turn this into a one-page patient handout or simple table

Just tell me what you want next.