Beeturia

My exposure to beets has been limited. Growing up I would see my grandma eat canned beets *shudders* and that was enough to keep me away from said tubers.

I changed my mind as I 'grew up', by that i mean, as I got older, the growing up part is debatable. My first grown up encounter with beets was at Earls, they were roasted and delicious but tasted slightly like dirt (earthy might be a more apt word, but at the time all I could think of was dirt). My second encounter with beets was, as most new food adventures are, with Katie - again roasted beets - again, deliciously earthy. I made a mental note to strike beets off my Do Not Eat list, but went no further.

Earlier this week, after realizing my freezer was empty and my fridge even more so, I decided to grocery shop and *gasp* cook some food. I purchased a whole array of vegetables, mini potatoes and chicken. Filled up one casserole dish with chopped bell peppers & zucchini,  another with onions, mushrooms & beets, a third pan with halved baby potatoes and a fourth with chicken breasts covered in pesto sauce. Stuck everything in the oven on super hot and took the pans out at varying times when they started to burn... i mean brown. Everything in the dish with the beets ended up a delightful pink colour.

I ate a king sized plate and packed the rest up in Tupperware for my lunches for the next 6 days.

Now here comes the real reason for the blog. For those of you who are squeamish, get out now- this blog will be out of your comfort zone.

My first pee the following morning was slightly pinkish. Interesting, I thought to myself...must drink more water. Later that day, pink pee again! Hmmm.. slightly concerning... but then it hit me, perhaps it was the beets causing this strangeness. I rushed immediately to a doctor to find out... and by doctor, of course, I mean google.

Here's what I discovered:

When some people eat beets, it turns their pee and poop red. Only 14% of the population experience this. Beeturia is the real name for this phenomenon, and it may be genetic, the majority of the time however, red pee after eating beets is a sign that your body needs a little more iron in your diet.

On the other hand, beeturia may be genetic, as the capability to metabolize the betalaine, or betaine, the red pigment, is a recessive gene, and with two recessive genes, a person would inevitably pee red each time he or she ate beets.

I don't eat enough red meat for sure and god knows I don't eat a lot of spinach or other salady things, so it could possibly be the fact that I'm low on iron. Conveniently, last night my parents were bbq'ing steak for dinner, so I stopped by and visited. I also inquired with my mom if she pees pink when she eats beets, but she doesn't eat a lot of beets and doesn't recall that ever being a problem. Odds are good I need more steak in my life. I don't see that as a bad thing. Perhaps I will have beets as a side dish with my steak, seems like a good pairing.

Stay tuned - I'm planning to bake with beets very soon! Either beet chocolate brownies or red velvet cupcakes with beets (which eliminates the need to use food coloring).