The American Heart Association recommends that people consume at least 5 servings of vegetables per day. But not all vegetables are created equal. Eating dark, leafy green vegetables in addition to other whole foods can be an easy way to take in more vitamins, increase your fiber, improve your vision and immune functions, and offer variety to your diet.
One of the biggest advantages of leafy green vegetables is that they can tell you a lot about their nutritional value. The darker the color of a leafy green, the higher the antioxidants. Eating more salads is great. But take it a step further and learn to try spinach, arugula, and other greens rather than iceberg lettuce.
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Eating more of these dark, leafy greens means you will get more vitamins A, B, C, E and K. Vitamin A helps with your vision, B increases metabolism, C with your immune system, E reduces free radicals, and K can help with osteoporosis just to name a few benefits.
The fiber found in dark, leafy greens helps with digestion. Fiber actually has 2 benefits. First, it cannot be digested by your body. That means that it cannot be broken down so it will give you a feeling of being full longer. Second, it helps your digestive system actually move food more quickly.
Despite the unfair reputation that vegetables, especially leafy greens, have gotten over the years they taste great and have many uses other than salads. You can add spinach, kale, romaine lettuce, bok choy, and other mild flavor greens to smoothies. This will not add much flavor to your homemade smoothies but will add a ton of nutrition, making it an easy way to increase your vegetable consumption. Heartier green vegetables like kale, spinach, turnip or collard greens, or chard can be added to soups giving them a slightly different flavor and texture as well as adding all of these great health benefits.
And rather than having stuffed cabbage, try a darker green like stuffed grape leaves for a bit of a Mediterranean flavor. If you can find fresh grape leaves simply simmer them in water for 45 minutes to an hour until they are soft and then cut off the stems and the hard middle part of the leaf. Take a little bit of lean ground beef and add in a small amount of salt, pepper, olive oil, cinnamon, allspice, mint, and brown rice and mix it up thoroughly. Take this mixture and stuff a tablespoon or so into the leaves and roll them tightly. Then put them in a pot, weight them down with a heavy lit so they do not fall apart and simmer them lightly in salted water or chicken broth until the rice is cooked.
One of the best things you can do for your body is to eat more whole foods including dark, leafy greens. With all of their antioxidants, vitamins, fiber, and lean sources of protein it may seem like they are "health foods" that you have to force down just to feel better. In reality these dark green veggies can taste great and add a lot of variety into your diet. Stop giving the leaves a bad reputation, try them for yourself and see how many uses there are for tasty leafy, green vegetables.
The Benefits of Eating Dark, Leafy Green Vegetables
Healthy eating habits are very effective in improving the overall health of you and your family. Learn how to easily implement a healthier lifestyle by visiting my website at http://EverydayHealthGirl.com