You know that you don’t get enough nutrients and that the best place to get what you need lies in those beautiful dark leafy greens. But you’re just not satisfied with a constant diet of salad, and smoothies just aren’t your thing. So, what to do?
Experts say you need between a half and a full cup of dark, leafy greens every day for their health benefits and to detoxify your system, and your brain needs those nutrients to protect it from cognitive decline. Leafy green vegetables come packed with minerals and vitamins. They’re low in caloric content too so you can eat as much as you like.
Adding greens
-Make a “lite” pizza on a thin crust and add basil, arugula, or spinach with feta.
- Sautee spinach and garlic in olive oil and add a dash of red pepper to give it some zing.• Toss a handful of spinach into vegetable soup or throw some basil into your Thai curry.
- Jazz up some slaw with Brussels sprouts and chopped kale.
- Make a taco salad and add in arugula, cilantro, and romaine with plenty of diced avocado.
- Scramble some eggs and throw in spinach or arugula and some cherry tomatoes for color.
- Or make a spinach omelet.
- Add spinach or chopped kale to a quiche and bake until golden brown.
- Bake up a batch of kale chips.
No matter how you add it, increasing your greens will bring you more benefits than just drinking powdered greens. You’ll increase your fiber content which is excellent for your colon health and your blood vessels. Greens improve blood pressure, help reduce obesity, and You’ll increase your fluid intake because greens hold quite a bit of water. Greens add folate, a B vitamin that works in our bodies to switch on and off parts of our genes (called epigenetics), and to synthesize amino acid productions.
Not only are the low in calories, but they also burn fat because they contain nitrites, which research associates with converting the fat-storing white fat cells into the fat-burning brown ones. Also, they are anti-aging with their high concentrations of Vitamin K, beta-carotene, and lutein.
Best of all, dark leafy greens fight diabetes. The magnesium, ALA Omega-3 fatty acid, and polyphenols that you find within greens help manage the glycemic load and improve insulin sensitivity that help your body respond appropriately to insulin.
Greens are easy to grow in your garden too. Stop at your local nursery and pick up a few pots of greens for your patio garden or window sill and start enjoying their health benefits today.
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