Beyond Spinach – Tasty Greens For Your Green Smoothie (or Juice)
“…it is better to vary your greens so that you can benefit from the slightly different nutrient profiles from different leafy greens. Variety is the key to proper nutrition, especially if you are on a vegan or raw foods diet.”
I used to stick primarily to spinach as my go-to leafy green before branching out to kale, chard, collards, herbs, lettuces, bok choy, cabbage, sprouts, and more. Now I’m addicted to a good variety, and will try just about any leafy green. Just today in my juices I’ve already had dandelion greens, beet greens, bok choy, parsley, and cilantro.
Swiss chard, kale, and collards.
Leafy greens are some of the most nutritionally integral foods you can eat, and very few people get enough of them. They’re in season now, so get while the getting’s good!
Sauteed spinach with Toasted Sesame Seeds
- Spinach has 50% fiber, as in percentage of its carbs. Compare that to brown rice with 4% or whole wheat with 12%.
- A cup of cooked spinach has 240% of the RDA (recommended daily allowance) of Vitamin A (beta carotene).
- High in folic acid, ladies (just don’t boil it!), antioxidants, protein, magnesium, Vitamin B2 and B6, and many more.
- It’s also very high in iron and calcium, but the oxalic acid content of it prevents the body from absorbing much of the iron or calcium. Bummer, I know, but there are still a million other reasons to eat spinach.
