A nutrition professor once told me that it was common for our ancient ancestors to eat up to six pounds of leaves per day. He imagined them walking along from one place to another, just picking and eating leaves as they went.
Can you imagine eating a grocery bag full of greens each and every day? Few of us even eat the minimum recommendations of 3 cups of green vegetables per week.
Green leafy vegetables are, calorie for calorie, probably the most concentrated source of nutrition of any food.
They are a rich source of minerals (including iron, calcium, potassium, and magnesium) and vitamins, including vitamins K, C, E, and many of the B vitamins .
They also provide a variety of phytonutrients including beta-carotene, lutein , and zeaxanthin, which protect our cells from damage and our eyes from age-related problems, among many other effects.
Green leaves even contain small amounts of Omega-3 fats and perhaps the star of these nutrients is Vitamin K.
A cup of most cooked greens provides at least nine times the minimum recommended intake of Vitamin K, and even a couple of cups of dark salad greens usually provide the minimum all on their own.
Recent research has provided evidence that this vitamin may be even more important than we once thought and many people do not get enough of it.
Benefits of Green Leafy Veggies
1.Regulates blood clotting
2.Helps protect bones from osteoporosis
3.May help prevent and possibly even reduce atherosclerosis by reducing calcium in arterial plaques
4.May be a key regulator of inflammation, and may help protect us from inflammatory diseases including arthritis
5.May help prevent diabetes
6.Vitamin K is a fat-soluble vitamin, so make sure to put dressing on your salad, or cook your greens with oil.
Green vegetables have very little carbohydrate in them, and the carbs that are there are packed in layers of fiber, which make them very slow to digest.
Great news about green leafy vegetables is the fact that you can combine veggies with most food.
A cup of blended Spinach taken early in the morning and late at night before bed rejuvenates the body cells and aids weightloss.
Think Veggies for great health...
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