Turns out mum was right – eating your greens is one of the best things you can do for your body, happiness, and longevity.
Chowing down on green goodness is cheap, easy, and the fastest way to supercharge your body with antioxidants and essential nutrients.
By greens, we mean green vegetables like spinach, kale, broccoli, cabbage, lettuce, parsley, endive, chard and others. Greens can also mean a greens powder, bottled and bought from a health food shop or supermarket – a great way to get green into your daily diet by mixing it into water or a smoothie.
Need more convincing? Here are 4 top reasons to eat your greens:
Healthy heart
Science recently discovered that many green veggies contain nitrate. This thins the blood, distributes oxygen around the body, and prevents cardiovascular problems like heart attack and stroke. And many greens like kale also lower cholesterol levels.
Chlorophyll is also found in green vegetables, which boosts red blood vessel production, increases the use of oxygen by the body, and gives you a healthy burst of energy. It’s also a super cancer-fighting plant pigment, keeping the blood as clean as a whistle and removing toxins.
Prevent diabetes
Another neat nitrate trick is that it makes blood vessels larger, so white blood cells can easily change into cells that burn more fat. This is crucial for warding off diabetes and obesity.
Live longer
Eating more greens can also add around two years to your life, according to a study published in the Annals of Epidomiology journal. The difference is staggering – compared to people who eat 20 grams of green vegetables a day, people who eat 60 grams a day live far longer.
Easy nutrients
In a salad, stirred through a stir-fry or pasta, or thrown into a blender – veggies are versatile, inexpensive, and super easy to ingest. There really is no better way to add essential vitamins and minerals to your daily diet. So skip the takeaway tonight and chow down on the green stuff instead. And if you’re trying to lose weight or be healthier, have a serve of green veggies before every meal; you’ll feel fuller and will be less likely to fill up on less nutritionally dense foods.
Originally published on Jun 29, 2015
