One of my top nutritional tips is to add more greens to your diet today! And even better if you add the 8 super greens that I am going to talk about today.
So, why do we really green to pack our diet with greens? Because it’s one of the most health preventative steps you can take. Out of every food on the planet, researchers have deduced that greens give you the most protection against chronic disease. That’s huge! Imagine if there was an expensive supplement that promised your protection against a plethora of diseases? We’d probably all find a way of factoring it into our monthly budget, right? But, greens are an expensive way to avoid expensive drugs later in life. I call them super greens because with all the trending super foods that we talk about, we often miss what’s sitting in the stalls of our local farmers markets.
Greens contain chlorophyll. Researchers have found that this bright green plant pigment might be our first line of defense against cancer. Greens might also help regenerate an important antioxidant in our body called coenzyme Q10.
Also, greens such as collards, turnip/mustard greens and bok choy contain a lot of calcium – a huge added bonus.
But, before I mention my 8 super greens, which I try to incorporate into my diet on a weekly basis, make sure you eat your green with some kind of fat! Yes, I did say FAT – and there’s a very good reason why we use salad dressings and dips with our greens: many of the nutrients in greens are fat-soluble. This means they will be better absorbed when eaten with a fat such as avocado, seeds, nuts, or a light nut oil. This is the reason why I don’t recommend fat-free dressing.
If you find your greens too bitter and course in texture (sometimes Kale can be a bit much), try blanching them: I strip the leaves off the stalks and plunge them in a bowl of just boiled water for a couple of minutes. I then rinse in icy cold water, and bingo, I have a more digestible and sweeter green.
Here are my 8 favorite super greens to add to your diet in descending order of nutritional content:
- Watercress: Add to salads, wraps, and sandwiches.
- Chinese Cabbage: Chop and add to salad or stir-fry.
- Chard: Steam and drizzle with Tamari Sauce and a tiny bit of good quality oil.
- Beet Greens: Toss in your juicer.
- Spinach: Add to smoothies, salads, wraps, soups, casseroles etc.
- Chicory: Gives a delectable bitter crunch to salads.
- Kale: Try every different kind of kale, including black, and purple.
- Lettuce: Try to buy it organic, and toss in smoothies, as well as your salad and wrap (Romaine, and Radicchio being my faves)
I recommend varying your greens every week because different greens contain different nutrients.
Is there anyone who shouldn’t eat greens? If you are taking a blood-thinning drug called Warfarin, you should chat with your doctor before introducing more greens into your diet, because the introduction of Vitamin K (in greens), could interfere with this medicine.
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