One small way to improve your health is by increasing ‘green leafy vegetables’ every day. These and only these, give you protection from disease that you will never get out of a bottle or from any other food!
These dark leafy greens have vitamins, minerals, folate, dietary fiber, plant sterols, carotenoids and these amazing ‘phytochemicals’ which increase, the darker green the leaves are. These phytochemicals are a very powerful protection to the plant and when we eat them actually start protecting us from disease.
Phytochemicals act as little soldiers in our body fight disease and imbalance.
Do you ever notice a bunch of spinach in the shop and it looks an abnormally pale green? This means that these protective nutrients have all but gone (too old) – and that’s why the leafy ‘green’ looks so sick!
The dark leafy greens I’m talking about are silver beet, rocket, kale, spinach, Asian green leaves, beetroot leaves, chard, mixed mesculin lettuce (not iceberg there’s very little nutrients in this lettuce) and anything else that you see that has dark green leaves.
These are different to other green vegetables e.g. brocoli, zucchini and beans, although these are good for us too, they don’t have the same important ‘protection’ nutrients as green ‘leafy’ vegetables. That’s the key!
In my practice as a Clinical Nutritionist, I notice that few people know about this critical ‘difference’ We tend to think vegetables are all the same, and end up having pretty much the same group of vegetables every night. If we do – we miss out on the protection nutrients that only dark leafy greens can give us and goodness knows we need this protection from disease now more than ever.
Studies have shown that the antioxidants (which stops oxidation in our body linked to cancer) are far higher in dark leafy greens than in other fruits and vegetables. These leafy greens can help protect us from cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, premature aging and many other conditions.
It’s amazing how some people think really?! Would food really do all that?
Really! The food we eat can either be our slow poison or our true medicine.
Just by adding one green smoothie in your day can make you feel more energetic, improve your digestion and even make you feel happier. Plus this will have accumulating effects, so that over time your health will improve from it too.
‘Alkalinity’ is very important too in our otherwise acidic lifestyle. Our body becomes acidic and has more chance of attracting disease. Dark leafy greens can help counteract some of our acid lifestyle because they are highly alkaline, thus making us more alkaline.
A more alkaline body will help reduce symptoms and fight inflammatory conditions including arthritis, autoimmune disease, endometriosis, psoriasis, acne, allergies, asthma, ulcerative colitis and many more inflammatory states.
IMPORTANT TIP: We not only need to eat a lot of greens every day but we also need to digest them. Without proper chewing (into a paste) green leafy vegetables do not release all of their nutrients, so you may be missing out on some of the benefit.
Salads are great, but make sure that you chew them very well. The easiest way to get high amounts of greens into your diet is with a green smoothie AND a salad. Imagine how much these 2 small changes every day will help change the environment in your body into a healthy state.
This is the biggest insurance you take out for your future health!
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