We all know we should eat more greens, because green vegetables are really good for us. Am I right? Unfortunately, greens are the most commonly missing food in our modern diet.
Adding dark leafy greens to your diet is important for a healthy body and immune system. But how do you add them to your diet without having to eat salad for breakfast, lunch and dinner? It’ll get pretty boring quickly if that’s what you have to do.
If you’re looking for optimal health (and since you’re reading this blog I guess you’d at least like to feel a tiny bit healthy), it is important to eat leafy greens on a daily basis. Why?
1. Greens are packed with micronutrients
Leafy greens contain a ridiculous amount of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants which boost your immune system. If you want to increase nutrient density in your diet, just eat more greens! Your body will get bigger doses of vitamins and minerals and will thank you for it. Here are some of the most important vitamins and minerals found in leafy greens:
Vitamin A
Vitamin A is important for immune function, cell growth, reproduction, and the health of your organs. This vitamin is found in spinach, turnip greens, swiss chard, and kale.
Vitamin C
Vitamin C is important for healing, immune function, iron absorption, and skin health. Cabbage, kale, and spinach are good sources of Vitamin C.
Vitamin E
Vitamin E is important for: cell interactions, blood vessel health, and immune system function. This vitamin is found in many leafy greens like spinach, swiss chard, beet greens, and mustard greens.
Vitamin K
Vitamin K is important for: heart health, healthy bones and to prevent blood clotting. This vitamin is found in lettuce, kale, and spinach.
Calcium
Calcium is important for: bone health, healthy hormones, and optimal functioning of your blood vessels. This mineral is found in kale, turnip greens, bok choy, and spinach.
Magnesium
Magnesium is important for lots of chemical reactions in your body. It controls blood pressure and glucose, and helps muscle and nerve function. We also need it for healthy bone structure, DNA, and energy production. A lot of people are deficient in magnesium, this causes nausea, appetite loss, and tired feelings. You can find Magnesium in spinach and swiss chard.
Potassium
Potassium is important for: communication between nerves and muscles, moving nutrients and waste in and from cells. Spinach, kale, swiss chard, arugula, watercress, endive, and cooked beet greens are good sources of Potassium.
Manganese
Manganese is important for: the formation of bones, connective tissues, and sex hormones. It’s found in spinach, beet greens, and kale.
2. Greens contain lots of fibre
Fibre is the part of the plant that’s not digested and absorbed by your body and your body needs lots of it. Unfortunately, most people don’t have enough fibre in their diet.
Greens contain lots of fibre. By adding more leafy greens to your meals, you will help your body to push the waste through your digestive system more effectively. This will help you to detoxify your body, regulate your digestion, and manage your weight. It also helps to restore and maintain gut health. Because the fibre keeps your blood sugar levels stable you will also feel full longer and are less likely to overeat.
Fibre is always best to get in a natural way, so drop the powdered fibre drink mixes and eat more greens.
3. Greens will help you lose weight
When you nourish yourself with greens, you automatically crowd out the bad things from your diet. If you eat a salad or drink a green smoothie, it’ll fill you up and you won’t feel like eating fish and chips afterward. You have naturally crowded out a low nutrient/high unhealthy fat meal for a nutrient-dense green meal. This is a great way to lose weight. So if you’re looking at shedding some kilos, just eat more greens. It’s easy to add some to your meals.
4. Greens prevent aging of your skin
Green vegetables support the health of our skin with their high vitamin, mineral, and antioxidant content. They promote cell regeneration, which slows the effects of aging. Dark leafy green vegetables like spinach, kale, and collards contain a large amount of the phytonutrient called lutein, which helps to prevent and minimise wrinkles.
5. Greens will give you a great natural energy boost
Due to the magnesium and vitamin B content in leafy greens, most people will notice a noticeable energy boost when they add leafy greens to their diet. This is because a lot of people are severely lacking these nutrients in their modern Western diets.
How to eat more greens without even noticing
After reading all this I can only imagine that you are super excited to add more greens to your diet. How do you do this in a way that doesn’t get boring though? Nobody wants to chew on plates full of spinach every day. With a bit of variety, you won’t even notice that you’re having greens.
Smoothies
You can’t go wrong when you start your day with greens, especially when you can’t really taste them. Smoothies are so easy to make, just put all the ingredients in your blender and let it run until smooth(ie). Try this one for breakfast:
Green Smoothie (1 serving)
Ingredients
- 2 cups of spinach
- 1 cup almond milk (250ml)
- ½ avocado, peel and seed removed
- ½ cup of blueberries
- Protein powder (optional)
If you live in an area where you have limited access to fresh leafy greens, try a green powder instead. I usually add this one to my smoothies to give it a nutritional boost.
Juices
Having a green juice during your day is another great way to add some more greens into your diet, without really noticing. Don’t get any of the commercial ones though as they’re loaded with “hidden” sugars. Always try to make them yourself or get them from a proper juice bar. Stick to 2/3 vegetables and 1/3 fruit, to go easy on the fructose. Limit your green juices to one a day. Even though you’re giving your body a great nutritional boost, the greens have been stripped from their fibre when being processed into juice. This is my favourite recipe for a green juice.
Soups
If you’re feeling like something hearty for lunch, just make a soup and add lots of leafy greens to it. You won’t even notice they’re in there. If you’re making your own stock, add some extra greens in there too. This is a recipe for green soup.
Don’t be afraid to play around with it and add more of the leafy greens you like.
Stir Fries
Another great way to add more greens into your diet is stir-frying, although it requires some chewing. Make sure you add lots of flavour by adding lime, tamari, coriander, cashews, etc. That way you won’t even taste the greens.
One warning with stir-frying: don’t leave the greens cooking too long, as they will lose their nutrients. This is a recipe for a green stir fry. Leave out the sugar in this recipe to make it healthier.
Salads
Having your greens raw is still the best way to guarantee the nutritional benefits, so try to squeeze a salad into your days as well. It’s very easy to quickly put a salad together, it just requires some extra time to chew your way through it. Just keep it interesting by adding some variety, don’t stick to the same routine as it can get quite boring.
This is a delicious and nutritious recipe. I leave out the cheese and honey/sugar to healthify this recipe. And don’t forget to massage the kale! It really tastes a lot better when you do.
Some important green sidenotes
• Dirty dozen. Spinach, kale and collard greens are on the “Dirty dozen” list of most contaminated produce. To limit your toxin exposure it’s important to get these leafy greens organic. Or talk to your local farmer and ask about the pesticides and herbicides they use. Even better and cheaper: grow your own!
• You need to eat fat. Vitamin A, E, and K are fat-soluble vitamins, which means they’re not absorbed properly when you’re not having them with some healthy fat. Make sure to sprinkle extra virgin olive oil on your salads for maximal absorption. Don’t eat your salads “undressed”.
P.S. If you really struggle to add greens to your diet and you need some extra support and motivation, check out my programs to see how I can support you.
